Project Invisible Pocket

One of my goals for the year was to stay on top of my current photos and to motivate myself I'm determined to print the book out at the end of the year. I don't actually own any photobooks of my layouts, and I've decided that this is the year that changes.

But being determined and knowing what you're doing are apparently two different things. I've had this goal set in my mind for a while now, but how exactly it was going to look remained elusive. I was mostly comforting myself with the idea that I could just do whatever I wanted and then at the end of the year I'd print it out. But as usual complete freedom just wasn't that great and I wanted some sort of plan.

Project Life was the obvious solution to my problem, because that's what it was made for, keeping up with the everyday. But ever since the system came out, I've had a small attitude towards it. Not for the system in general, but just in relation to me. I scrapbook and make layouts because I love to do it. Having a memento or record of my life is a nice byproduct, but I'm really doing it because I love it. And the simplicity and get it done mentality behind Project Life turned me off. I don't want to lessen my scrapbooking time. I want to make beautiful things. Not just stick a bunch of stuff in pockets and move on.

And I really clung to this interpretation of Project Life. It didn't matter that lots of really gorgeous layouts were popping up using the Project Life system, full of detail and excitement. It didn't matter that I saw all these layouts and loved them so much that I made my own Pinterest board to keep track of them. It didn't matter that I was becoming slightly obsessed with pockets cards. Nothing I actually saw mattered. All that seemed to stick in my mind was that Project Life was for people looking to accomplish a goal, rather than experience the process.

Obviously, I had a (not so) small attitude towards Project Life.

It wasn't until I listened to this podcast where Peppermint from One Little Bird talked about how she liked using the smaller 6x8 album because the 12x12 felt too large for those everyday photos. She felt like all those small moments we capture now with our phones belonged on a smaller scale. That caught my attention because the photos I'm scrapping have changed, and my scrapping habits haven't. I started digital scrapbooking when we spent an epic year traveling around the world. Those photos were fantastic, and each one could easily fill a 12x12 spread. But now most of my photos are recording smaller moments, certainly not less important moments, but the scale is different. Each photo I take of my teacup doesn't really need it's own 12x12 spread.

So I was trying to figure out how Peppermint's scale idea could translate to digital, since even if I shrunk the square I was working in to 6x6, it would still feel the same while I was doing the layout. And I didn't feel like making the switch away from the square format to something random that maybe I couldn't get printed. Then I thought, "hey, I could do four mini square layouts on one page..." (You are probably quicker than me and know where this is going.) Anyway, eventually I realized, "I could just use those Project Life templates! Then I can use all those really cute pocket cards I'm obsessed with making! I could make more! I could try to make those really cute PL style layouts I have pinned to my board on Pinterest!" Etc.

So yes, I did just write a whole post about how I realized I could use Project Life to capture my everyday moments. I feel like soon you may all tire of my blog as I insist on relating to you all my idiotic realizations. But I feel it's my duty to share these thoughts just in case there's someone else out there struggling just like I was.

I'm currently playing around with things and I'm hoping to mix in regular 12x12 layouts, with some pocket templates. I'll be relying on our Winter Layout Madness to kick things off to a big start. I'm looking forward to sharing my pages with you, and getting inspiration from yours.