My 2018 Memory Keeping Plans

Hi Ali, I loved reading your plans and the plans of those who posted as well. Coincidentally, I just wrote a blog post about my memory keeping plans for 2018 yesterday (http://www.circleplusarrow.com/2018/01/2018-creative-goals.html), but in summary:

- Project Life in 12x12" format - still one of my favorite projects ever
- Travel albums - likely in a traveler's notebook (discovered these last year and I love them!) and 4x4" albums for shorter trips
- December Daily - although I'm still finishing up my 2017 album I will likely do another this year
- OLW - my first time doing this project and I'm super excited about it
- Story Album - I'm starting to do smaller 6x8" layouts to document the longer stories that didn't make it into my regular Project Life album. I also want to start telling some of the longer stories from my past. Most of my memory-keeping started with the birth of my daughter, but I had a life before her (!) and I want to tell those stories too (and mayhe she'd want to read about them someday).

Related goals?
- I'd also like to get better about my photography - taking more intentional and better photos

Thanks for reading and always for your encouragement to tell our stories!

Change is going to be the hallmark of 2018 for me. Bloom is my OLW, but change is certainly going to be the theme. We are retiring and leaving our Southern CA home 35 years for Arizona. So packing up and moving and creating a new home - and setting up a new craft room! I have done a little PL in the past using my story stamp kits - have done WITL and December Daily some years - some years not. And that's ok with me. My biggest memory keeping achievement this past year is getting 43 years of our photos, 85+ years of my in-laws photos in 12 x 12 books. Every size and shape photo you can imaging - scrapbook pages, keepsakes, you name it. I have had these boxes of photos for decades! And just made up my mind a year ago I was NOT going to move with them like that. 43 albums later - they are sorted and in albums that make sense to me and where I can put my finger on just what I need in minutes. My biggest frustration in memory keeping was being able to find the photo I needed. My next task is to organize all the digital ones - but that will be much easier. So my goal for this year is to start telling some of those then and now stories since I can finally find the then photos! I too find rejuvenation in the new year and look forward to the chance to bloom in a new location.

I have a lot of memory keeping plans, but seeing as my OLW is "focus" I am confident that I will be able to make them work without becoming overwhelmed.
- I'm attempting PL again, but this time in a 6x8 with a monthly overview. I'm finding it a lot easier on myself to just put in random stories without having to worry about filling up a whole week.
- I'm doing OLW for the first time this year. As I mentioned, I chose "focus" for the specific hope that I would be able to teach myself to get things done (especially memory keeping).
-I will do WITL in April. Regardless of when Ali does it, I've chosen to always do mine on the week starting with Easter Sunday. I like the fact that Easter always falls differently each year, yet it still gives me some sense of continuity (I like things to be the same). I'll probably take the photos and write down the stories and then order the kit whenever it's available and fill it in then.
- I'm planning to do all three of the DITL. I'm thinking about putting all three in one 6x8 album of their own. We'll see if/how that works out.
- December Daily, of course.
- I turned 40 this year, so I am doing an All About Me album to document who I am right now. I'm planning on ending it with a page of "40 selfies @ 40". I'm currently on selfie #8.
- This week I'm starting an 8-week fitness challenge with work. I'm planning on documenting my journey in an 6x8 album. I'm taking inspiration from the OLW idea. I'm looking forward to seeing how I do and how I change over the course of the challenge. Also, doing the memory keeping of it will keep me motivated to complete the 8-week challenge (who wants to do an album of a half finished challenge?)
- Then there's all the other stories I'll end up telling from the Story Kits. I've recently figured out how to do my pages digitally, which saves me a lot of time, so I will probably do most of these in that form, but I'll print them out and regardless the size of the page (12x12, 6x8, 8.5x11), I'll keep them in a 12x12 album until I find themes to sort them out by.

I'm incredibly excited to see what stories I end up telling this year.

Just took a minute to write down 3 memory keeping goals for 2018...3 to keep it simple. #1 Finish 2016 DD and 2017 DD #2 finish 2016 DD, I've just completed Sept. As I work on it I've pulled photos out to tell specific stories for my grandkids albums...make a copy for each album...I want them to celebrate family and having cousins to play and grow up with! #3 I want to do an album about ME. .my childhood pic, school pics, etc. I subscribed to Story Kits to keep me motivated! ♡

A new year....love! I will continue in my 12x12 project life using design G pages. I also will do Day in the Life and Week in the Life as I have done in the past. I have a 12x12 album that sometimes I put stories in that are about me and not so much about the rest of the tribe here. I am also doing a TN that is #52favorites just as a fun super fast documenting about one thing that bring joy from the week. I still love my DSLR and am taking photos most days with it. I love my phone for convenience and incorporate those photos in my PL. I love my time scrapbooking and will fit in in any small spaces of time that these five kiddos allow! Thank you for all you do! I love it so much!

Love to hear your plans! I will continue 12x12 Project Life on a mostly weekly basis using Design A page protectors. I will use Story kits, Stories by the Month and old Studio Calico and Becky Higgins kits. This will be my 4th year. I have to re-do three months from last year because of a basement flood. I hope I do it! I love PL! I will continue to put any DITL in my PL album. (I did two last year.)
I will do WITL for the 4th year in 6x8. Love these albums!
Will finish my 4th December Daily. Just finished 2017. Love these too!
I also do a listing project called 30 Lists three times a year in a TN or mini journal. Great snapshot of life through lists.
I'm also planning to do a gratitude/commonplace journal this year. We'll see how that goes.
I have lots of past projects to do but without pressure - just if I get to them.
And I'm doing Story Camp this year - so can't wait for that!

I will continue doing 12x12 monthly PL for our family album (it doesn't really end up any less than doing it weekly, I still fill an album each year, it just allows me to add more pages for big events or trips), also 12x12 monthly PL that just focuses on each of my 2 boys (I fit a couple of years into each of these albums).
I am also doing OLW (third year), will do WITL (4th year), and all the DITL within my PL.
But I am making some changes, as follows:
- I will sell/give away a lot of my products that aren't being used, allowing me to focus on what I do like
- I WILL use the Stories by the Month kits in my PL albums instead of hoarding them.
- I WILL start using all the Story kits I have collected - starting with focused stories, and then in my PL pages
- I WILL make the most of attending Story Stamp in April to help me tell my stories.
So thankful for this community and all it entails.

I’m super excited to continue with weekly project life spreads for 2018. After 2 years in 9x12, i’m switching back to 12x12. It was a nice change to try 9x12 (and a huge space saver) but I want more space for stories and room to PLAY with stamps, mixed media, etc. I’ll also do OLW, finish up a travel album from 2017 and end year with December Daily. I love the variety. Thx Ali for all the inspiring projects!

I do a monthly 12x12 PL, WITL (also 12x12 with multiple years in one album) and December Daily -- which I've done for the past 7 years. I usually do one DITL and put it into my PL album. Sometimes it's a 12x12, but sometimes it's a smaller insert. I also do a summer album, similar in size and approach of December Daily. It covers the last day of school (all 3 of my kids are in elementary school) to the first day of school. I keep it free and loose. As many events and pages per event as I feel at the time -- no rules, just experiments.

I'm still loving Project Life and my monthly Story Kits...after adjusting to life and the change in number of photos, different faces, and kid activities as an empty-nester I have found my new normal. My kids in college and beyond send me photos to I can include them in my spreads because they know how important it is for me to see their faces among my pages. I've loosened up and allow some weeks to be full and some to be combined...and not let it bother me that sometimes the only photos I've taken are of me, my husband, or my cats!! :-) That's where OLW comes in, helping me to see the big picture! I'm so grateful for this creative and meaningful outlet and community, and for Ali, for always keeping me inspired.

I actually kept up with weekly 12x12 PL last year and am looking forward to the same process this year. Traditional 12x12 layouts using Story Kits because I love playing with paper and embellishments to tell stories. DITL and WITLgo in PL. OLW is getting incorporated into PL. i also print an 8x8 calendar collage from Collect app and add to PL- a fun addition in 2017.

My memory keeping plans for 2018:
- Traditional 12x12 LOs using my stash and AE Story Kits.
- Week in the Life. 2017 was my first time. It's intense but I enjoyed the end product. I will do it again in 2018.
- Day in the Life. I did it twice in 2017. I'll do it in 2018, but not sure how many times.
- December Daily. 2018 will be my 4th year participating in this project.
- Pocket pages for our trips in a 12x12 travel album.
- I want to do a monthly layout of everyday stories in a PL type format. This will be new for 2018. It will go in my 12x12 album.
- I did OLW year project in 2017, I will not do this project in 2018. Instead, I will do a 12x12 LO for my 2018 word. I realized I took on too many projects in 2017 and my traditional LOs suffered.

Thanks for all the inspiration Ali!

Ali,

I would love to know how you go about saving all your pictures? I know that you wrote about it before but I wanted to know if there were any changes since then? Kind of struggling to come up with a good system, and a good cloud backup service. Currently using Crashplan but they will be transitioning to only provide service for business accounts this year :(

My girls birthdays are a week apart, so last year I decided to do my first Week in the Life and document the week from my youngest daughter's 1st birthday to my older daughter's 3rd birthday. It turned out wonderful and I am definitely going to make it a tradition. My husband even commented after I showed him what I put together that he was glad I memory keep like this!

J-6 months
I 'll leave a part of my job !
I need it... slow down!
and I hope having time to scrap
always WITL, day in the life and DD
and i would like finish oldest project
and the most important for me : to tell, more words, more the essential
thanks ali to inspiring me

For 2018, I'm moving to a 6x8 format for Project Life. The plan right now is for monthly, but it may turn in to however many photos I take, that will be good enough. Of course, I reserve the right to change my mind and go back to the 12x12. My oldest is in college and my youngest is a Junior in High School. Both my boys are over me taking lots of photos of them, so I am going with the flow and calling us "empty nesters" now. I am using my Story Kits to tell my stories.
I'd like to do more traditional layouts (whatever that means!). Not sure what sizes I'll be using, but I definitely want to get back to doing more of those.
I am doing OLW this year (my word is WHOLE). I like that this doesn't take a lot of time each month. I'm excited to work on my January prompts soon.
I think I will give WITL a miss this year. I seem to do better when I do it every other year.
I will do at least 1 of the DITL. I did 2 of the 3 last year and enjoyed the process.
2017 was the first year I actively said "I'm not doing December Daily" and you know what? I was actually relieved! I have tried to do it several times over the last few years and never can get past the first couple days. What I've come to find out about myself is December is a month that I just don't do much scrapbooking or any photo taking. I spend more time just hanging out with the family. And you know what? That is OK!

I absolutely love how you listed out what you plan to do this year. Even more, I love that you included a link to your previous blog, which encourages each of us to find our own "enough." Thank you for always encouraging us, and for providing the space here to participate.