Week In The Life™ 2023 | Images Of Ali's Design Plan + Prep Day + Storytelling With Week In The Life™ Workshop

A couple weeks ago I shared a quick look at my initial design plan for Week In The Life™ via video here. 

As we get closer to the documenting week (coming up April 24th) I wanted to share a look at that plan via images. 

Also,our $5 Week In The Life™ Prep Day is happening this Saturday, April 15th! Here's a look at the schedule: 

Each hour will have either live or recorded content and a free download. Can't make it this Saturday? No problem! All content is recorded and archived for you to refer to on your own time. 

We wanted to try something new with this Prep Day by having a community zoom. We are allocating two hours for this and would love for you to bring your favorite tip to share with the group. The zoom details will be included in the classroom on Saturday. 

The classroom will open at 6:30am Pacific with the first lesson live happening at 7am Pacific. Sign up here.

ALI'S DESIGN + STORY PLAN FOR 2023

Setting up a design plan + story plan in advance of the documenting week is a great way to get organized and ready for this project.

Here's a look at how I'm setting up my 10x8 album for 2023: 

I'm starting off my album this year with the plastic circles and alpha stickers inside a 2x2 page protector. My plan is to take photos of each of my people and add them here (most likely punched into circles). I love incorporating details like our ages each time I embark on this project. 

I'll be sharing my reason why during the Prep Day! 

The next page is the Highlights page from the Main Kit (the Main Kit is sold out but we do have the digital option available if you like this design). I'll be working on this page after I've experienced the week. 

Now let's take a look at my Daily Design Plan: 

I always come up with some kind of daily design formula for Week In The Life™ which helps me both plan and organize my content. When I set up a Design Plan like this I'm able to estimate how many photos I'll actually have space for (knowing that I often add some in adhered back to back and/or often create photo collages on some of the bigger pages to incorporate more photos). 

Each day of the week will start with a transparency. 

The next piece in my Design Plan are the die cut number cards. I stamped "loving" on each of the cards and will write on there each day. This year I'm planning to handwrite on a few of the journal cards during the week vs. corralling all my journaling together and printing it out on one page as I've done in some past years. I will also likely add in some typed journaling (you'll see more about that below).

I like having a Design Plan and then also leaving some space to be inspired when I'm bringing all my content into the album. 

Next up is the four pocket page protector. I'll be using the 4x6 card each day as part of my Story Plan and will be handwriting directly onto that card. 

Flipping the page over reveals one of the 4x4 cards from the Main Kit. Each day I'll be documenting three things I'm thankful for as part of my Story Plan. The other pockets will hold 4x6 photos. 

Next up in my Design Plan is one of these grid Kraft pages (these are sold out but we have a digital option here). I'm planning to collect and cut up ephemera (things from the mail, packaging, handwritten notes, etc) and add that here. During the documenting week I'll just be collecting and will work on bringing it all together after the week is finished. 

Don't want to include ephemera but still want to include this page? Be the boss of your project and designate this page for something you want to highlight each day. 

In addition to the Repeated Story Lenses shown here (the journal cards I'll be writing on directly) I'm thinking that I'll do Monday's are for.../Tuesday's are for../Wednesday's are for... for my typed journaling each day (which will either be added directly to my photos and/or typed up and added to one of these pockets). 

Love those 10x4 journal cards. 

Followed by the full page protector. Most likely I'll be adding either a full page photo or a collage of photos. 

I also wanted to share a cool idea from Kelly for using the pockets + plastic circles + chipboard from the Main Kit. I'm thinking I might do this too! This is a great example of a way to organize a story in advance of the documenting week: 

She used this Basic Prompts Stamp to stamp onto the journal cards inside the pockets. 

STORYTELLING WITH WEEK IN THE LIFE™

Want to go deeper into the history and thought behind Week In The Life™? Looking to be re-inspired and remember why you started embarking on this project in the first place? Are you brand new to this project and have no idea where to start? 

I've been working hard behind the scenes on a brand new workshop Storytelling With Week In The Life™. Modeled after Storytelling With December Daily® and Storytelling With Project Life®, this workshop is designed to be a comprehensive look at our Week In The Life™ project. 

Registration will open for this on Saturday, April 15th during Prep Day. People who are participating in Prep Day will be given a promo code for $5 off Storytelling With Week In The Life™. 

The first two lessons will be live in the workshop on Saturday. Lesson Three will be live on Wednesday, April 19th. Lesson Four will be live on Wednesday, April 26th. 

Here's the lesson break down: 

• LESSON ONE | Looking Back: Video walk-throughs of all my past Week In The Life™ albums along with thoughts on what I've learned over the years
• LESSON TWO | Before Documenting: Establishing your mindset, setting up your Design + Story Plans (based on what's most important to you to document in any given season)
• LESSON THREE | During Documenting: Tips and ideas for capturing your words + photos during the actual week
• LESSON FOUR | After Documenting: Bringing your words + photos into your album (basically how to tackle completing the project after you've collected all your content)

This workshop isn't specific to any documenting year and is meant to be a more comprehensive and evergreen look at the project as a whole. My hope is that you'll be encouraged, inspired and empowered to approach telling the story of your week based on your own season of life.