I haven’t posted about Project Life in a while, which is not to say that I abandoned the project. In reality, I was keeping up pretty steadily, right up until I packed up my craft room before we moved back in September. And then between unpacking a whole house, finding out I’m pregnant, being tired all the time, waiting for my new furniture… I didn’t touch it until almost halfway through December. I had a LOT of catching up to do.

But like I mentioned in this post, I planned each week’s pages during those three months in my little notebook. That’s the ONLY reason I was able to catch up without too big of a headache. I spent one long afternoon on my laptop editing photos, and then a few long afternoons at my new desk building the pages themselves. (Incidentally, I was amazed, sitting in that crafty space, working with photos and paper again, at how much it felt like a relief. Like I finally recognized myself after all of the upheaval of moving and impending motherhood and all that crap. It was a pretty cool moment, and one that really hammered home for me- even if it’s obvious to people who care about me- how important crafting is for my sense of self. And knowing how much my life will change all over again this spring, I’m going to hold onto it.)

Anyway! With a few afternoons of happy crafting (dodging a curious kitten) in December, I finished up my 2013 album. I’m not going to post all of my pages here, because honestly. So I am posting my favorite pages, instead. I’m absolutely continuing this project in 2014, and I can’t wait to get started.

I was really happy with the pages I created for our long weekend in Cape Cod – I strayed from my normally strict two pages per week format because I had so many fun photos and paper bits to include.

The week we moved was a big one, of course, and I included a bit about us as we nervously prepared, a huge full page photo (the one that we used for our moving announcements, too!) of us on our first night in the house, and an insert saying goodbye to our apartment and hello to our new house.

Week 38 was pretty quiet in the beginning of the week, but I included notes about how our new commutes had been so far. I also added an insert with some envelopes from moving cards at our new address – because seeing it written out was just so surreal. And of course, the big whammy on Sunday.

I’m including this one here more for techniques – I love how the color scheme turned out (it’s amazing what can happen when I actually TRY to make it cohesive, rather than just choosing sort of randomly). I also made my first flip pocket (albeit in a kind of ghetto manner, by cutting up a 12×12 page protector and gluing it to the front of the left page) to share photos of my parents’ new puppy. The right side includes our first ultrasound photo (in the actual album, it’s a scan that I reprinted, because I want to preserve the real ones in another way, or maybe just in an envelope page).

Week 42 was a good one, partly because of color scheme again, but partly because I think I hit my stride with my weekly “oh baby” journaling. I started emailing these to myself once we found out, so it was super easy to format them in Photoshop to include in the album. Seriously – if you ever get behind, just start emailing thoughts to yourself. Even if you don’t end up using them, it’s faster and easier than trying to journal two months after the fact. I also included my first belly shot here, and some pretty fall leaves that I pressed in a big book for a see-through effect.

You know how much I can’t resist a 12×12 photo (and I’m even more glad I did this now, because they actually cut that tree down just before Christmas!!). On the right page, I used Cathy Zielske’s instagram 3×4 templates as a guide, and added some phone photos from the weekend. I love how cohesive this page looks, with all the little moments gathered together.

Thanksgiving week! I stuck with orange (again) on the left side, and used my 2012 Thanksgiving page as a guide. I was so glad I included what we ate and who was there, and I know that will be really cool to look back on in future years. (Although as I’m putting this photo in the post, I realize I forgot to date stamp that card. Whoops!) The right side documents some of the fun we had while Dan’s friends stayed with us for a few days. (And I added a bit of tinsel from the decorations I put up on Sunday of that week, too).

Obviously, adopting Luna was a big event, and one that demanded an insert with TONS of photos. I love the square page protectors, and cut this one down so it would feel more like an insert.

And finally, a page for Christmas Day. (Don’t get me started on how annoyed I am that those thickrs didn’t fit in one line on the title card, or that I didn’t have a red 2. Grrrr.) But just like last year, I included 3×4 pieces of the wrapping paper I used for all of our gifts. I feel like things like that are exactly the kind of random, small tidbits that will be extra special in the years to come.

So there you have it! A probably-too-long look at the second half of my Project Life albums for 2013. I’m not changing too much for 2014, because I just love it so much, but I’ll post about that in the next few weeks.