I first heard about this whole Project Life business back in December, and the idea of simplifying the scrapbooking process sounded fun but I didn’t think it was super necessary for me. The minibooks have been working so well for the past few years; 12×12 binders always seemed like overkill to me anyway. And then a few months went by and I still wasn’t crafting…. but I was reading posts written by awesome people like Jodi and Kelly and Elise, all who had jumped whole-hog into Project Life (and who are craft superstars I’d like to grow up to be one day), and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I figured I would start on my birthday, or maybe wait until January 2013 and document our first year of marriage… or something. When I hung out with Jodi and Kelly in Brooklyn they completely, 100% sold me on how fun, addictive and doable Project Life was, and the rest is history. Seeing Jodi’s book in person really sealed the deal; it was so cool seeing the weeks documented in such a tangible way, and the idea of filling in some of the pockets with pretty paper, or book covers really appealed to me. (And made it seem like less pressure.) Jodi convinced me that I wouldn’t fall apart if I started, say, in June. “Just pick a Sunday and start!!” she kept telling me. I knew I had a lot of fun stuff booked for Memorial Day weekend, and since I’ve always loved summer books (2009, 2010), I had my perfect solution. So here it is, my first week of Project Life: Summer.

My cover page isn’t anywhere close to finished (I figure I’ll add photos and paper as the summer goes on), but I am pretty jazzed about the banner I made. (Even more that I’m still new to Photoshop Elements.)

I made weekly date cards, inspired by Jodi’s (but a little stripier); I figure I will change the color each month. I printed a copy of the Long Branch postcard that Mike and Ellyn used for their save the date, and the bicycle built for two is from their wedding ceremony program, which I loved; the beach photo and drink photo were instagrammed (and the “you’re my favorite” stamp is from Elise’s awesome stamp shop)

I had way more Cape Cod photos than slots left (the problem with squishing a holiday weekend in with my first week, I suppose), so I used a 6×12 insert and printed 3 photos for each side… except I didn’t realize I’d printed them 4″ wide instead of 6″, so I just trimmed the divider down to size.

I like the idea of having weekly space to jot things down, especially if some weeks become more photo-heavy (which I fully expect; I had a lot to say this week, as it seems); I also like being able to have a list of what I’m reading and watching each week.

And even funnier about including this awesome drawing from My Mets Journal is that I’d spent a looooong time on Friday night while Dan was stuck at work putting this together. Just when I’d finished for the night, with some spots left for Saturday’s funtimes, I happened to check twitter to learn that it was ABSOLUTELY time to turn the Mets game on, because Johan had a no hitter going into the 7th. After texting my brother and parents to make sure they were watching, I then got to enjoy the first no hitter in Mets history, and it was AMAZING and seriously the best ever. And it couldn’t have happened to a better guy, that’s for sure. So I had to include this to commemorate a night in baseball history that I certainly won’t forget, but also as a nod to the fact that I almost missed it…because of Project Life. 🙂

All in all, this project is exactly as fun as everyone said it would be… and I can’t wait to start working on week two.