With just under a year and a half of Project Life under my belt, it wasn’t even a question that I’d keep it going in 2014. I’m sure, like every thing else, I’ll have to reimagine how I approach it once this baby arrives, but for now, full steam ahead.

I haven’t changed much about my approach for 2014, other than adding some new supplies. I’m now subscribing to the Studio Calico Project Life monthly kit, and definitely enjoyed my January kit. (Especially since I’m not normally much of an embellisher; having embellishments that not only coordinate with cards but are fun/cute has been an interesting adventure so far.) I now have three core kits: Seafoam, Honey, and Midnight. I’m especially obsessed with Midnight, which I’ve only been using since this year began, and am loving the simple, clean lines. I also bought Ali Edwards’s weekly title card overlays. Last year, I just used Photoshop to add text with the week number to a photo, but I’m loving how these overlays look so far this year.

I wanted to go simple but bold with this year’s title page, and I was super inspired by the triangles featured in both Elise Blaha’s 2014 title page and Trish Harrison’s 2014 title page. I probably could have used a template, but instead I created this in Photoshop myself, painstakingly dragging black rectangles around the canvas, erasing corners of my photo… even though it took over an hour and I nearly went cross-eyed in accomplishing it (self taught isn’t always the best way…), I just love how it turned out. Stripes, black and white, me being weird and Dan being awesome. It’s perfect.

Week one was a short week, so I was glad to have such fun cards from Studio Calico to fill in the spots. I also used part of Elise Blaha’s 2014 photo calendar for the monthly calendar card on the left side. I tend to fill my 3×4 slots with journaling cards and photos, so when I’m planning my pages, I have to make a concentrated effort to leave space for “filler” cards or I’ll never end up using them. So far I’m liking it. (I also included the feather from one of Luna’s toys, since I had the photo of her with said toy, and the toy only lasted two days before she ripped the feather completely off anyway.) (Sidenote: I was putting this page together at our crafternoon last weekend, and could hardly stand how PINK it was. I don’t hate pink, but I really, really avoid it in my pages, for whatever reason.)

Lots of black, white and yellow this week – so the Midnight kit was perfect alongside the black and white cards from the Studio Calico kit. This was an instance in which I ended up converting the photos to black and white so they’d look nicer together. It was all over the place before I did that, for sure.

Week three was another simple week. Sometimes I look at pages like this, with so many of the “filler” cards, and feel like I phoned it in, but there’s really a ton of journaling in this week’s spread, so it’s just a matter of adjusting my thinking to be able to include some stuff just because it’s pretty.

Week four included our one year anniversary. We celebrated in a few different ways over a few days, so I included two inserts: one with photos from our celebrations (and some confetti) and one for our cards. This week also includes a photo that illustrates how my approach to Project Life is so inherently different than how I used to approach daily photo projects – the blurry, not “cute” photo of Luna on the right hand side with her neon green shoelace is simply not what I’d ever consider a “good” photo or one worth posting on flickr or instagram at ALL. But I didn’t hesitate to print it for my album, because someday she won’t be so small and so crazy, dragging her green shoelace up the stairs and onto our bed to roll around with and play.

Green is another color that I rarely gravitate toward, but it pulled the photos together in a way that I really loved, and I had so many green cards that worked so nicely.

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.

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I have been so many weeks behind on Project Life for the bulk of 2013; it was a little like I just never overcame the deficit caused by the wedding. Luckily, planning the pages in real time has saved a ton of time in putting them together after the fact. I finished the June pages in my two days off before we left for our honeymoon, which mean that I left for the honeymoon 100% caught up. It was a great feeling, and I’m even more happy with these pages than I was with April’s.

Week 18 was a strange week; Dan was in Dallas for work the whole week. But it was the first time we’ve both had iPhones, so we used FaceTime almost every night. It’s always a little rough when he travels, but I never realized how different video chat is from just hearing his voice. I took screenshots each night while he was gone, and like how the page feels just like that week did. (Also, it’s really hard for me to resist using numbers from my giant Stendig calendar for each week’s title card… I may have to start doing that more often, because I love how it looks.)

I did a Day in the Life while Dan was gone – just pictures this time, all taken on my phone when I remembered. This insert really reminds me of my days living alone.

The right side, featuring the crazy diorama Dan and I constructed for a work presentation of his, and photos from our most recent trip to Princeton with Eleanor and Liz.

Week 19 was busy for both of us; we were both sick and dealing with big work events.

An insert to document our trip to the Washington Crossing Beer Fest, which was a ton of fun. We tried so many beers, dodged rain showers, and mostly just marveled at how beautiful it was.

This is one of my favorite pages so far; I have always had issues in not taking enough photos of friends and family, so I insisted that Dan and I each take a photo with our moms on Mother’s Day. And I’m really glad I did that.

Week 20 wasn’t too special; we watched a lot of playoff hockey and basketball, and finally watched The Office series finale.

And another of my favorite pages so far; again, super simple but documents a lot of the every day details. I had just gotten my hands on the Honey core kit, and all three of these journaling cards are from that set. I love how there are lots of multiples like this that can look so nice used together.

And the last page of May, the few days before we left on our honeymoon, aka days that were really hard to focus on much of anything. But one of the bigger milestones was Dan’s last day at the job he’s had for the last 5 years (he’s at the same company, but a new department now). It was a really memorable day, and I asked Dan if he would mind writing down how it went so that it was in his words, rather than re-told by me. He was totally game, and I love it.

It has been a while since I posted here, and I never know how to start again when that happens. It has also been a really long time since I posted any of my Project Life pages, and I am still loving this project so much that it seems like such a shame to leave them hiding away unseen by anyone but me. I thought it would be neater to just start with April’s pages, which are all pretty simple, for the most part.

Week 14 was a week in which I had very, very few photos. I was obsessed at the time with my brand new gold boat shoes, especially when combined with brightly colored pants. I really love how this page turned out.

I really enjoyed the two books I flew through this week, so it was a great way to get to include them, as well as a quote I particularly loved from The Fault in our Stars (which you should REALLY read. I know I’m late to the party on this, and yes, it will make you cry like a fool, but it’s so worth it). We also went on our first house hunting trip this week, which was huge news.

Week 15 showed signs of spring (finally), and I had to include the photos I took of those signs. We also had some crazy and turbulent weather, and Dan and I fell into some pretty serious Candy Crush Saga obsession that is still going strong two months later.

I’m enjoying the Monday starts this year especially because it means that I often get to leave the entire right page just for weekend activities (which is great, as there are often more interesting photos of that stuff). We had a great time on Friday night with my sister and her husband and my brother and his girlfriend. We saw some more houses, and then hung out with one of Dan’s friends in NYC.

Week 16 was SPRING, finally. And the bombings at the Boston Marathon. I never know whether to include much about current events, but this is a good example of one that we couldn’t stop thinking about, watching news, and the fact that it spanned so many days in what felt like some sort of awful action movie come to life, it wouldn’t have been right to exclude it. The 3×4 card is a folded card that tells the story of that house, which I fell in love with, HARD, and which we seriously considered bidding on, until we went back and admitted what buying it would really mean. I was brokenhearted, and really wanted to tell the story (even if it makes me feel awkward thinking about it and that house now).

Our 3 month anniversary! Hanging out with family and one of the happiest babies on the block, and our first in-person baseball game of the season.

This week gave me a great place to save the card that came with the flowers my colleagues sent me for Administrative Professionals Day – flowers which completely took me by surprise and really meant a lot, especially during such a busy time of year.

Lots of photos of food and Dan, which I love. Another book cover, as I became obsessed with The Passage all over again as I re-read it to prepare to read the sequel.

Many of these pages were super simple because I got so behind and was putting these together using my notes, but sometimes I find that the simplest pages are the best. Seeing all of the Project Life kits and blog posts and photos everywhere, and design team inspiration… it can all get really overwhelming. People are doing some amazingly creative, beautiful things with Project Life. Sometimes I feel like I should have more supplies, or subscribe to a kit, or embellish more… but then again, then it wouldn’t be me. And isn’t that the whole idea anyway?

I’m still behind on Project Life, but working hard to catch up, both in blogging it and in actually creating the pages. I’ve created pages through the end of March, but then again… April is over in only a few more hours. Baby steps… right? I do still really love this project; sometimes I wonder if planning the pages is one of the best parts. (At least they’re all planned!)

But anyway. Week 9 was all the way back in February, and that means we’re going back in time to the era of my name change. The best part, though, of Week 9 was definitely the fact that I got Dan to participate in Day in the Life. This is exactly the kind of thing that I’m going to be SO glad he did in ten years. Hell, even two months later it’s fun to look back on. (And how cool is it that he was willing?) Looking back, I’m so happy to see so much Dan in this week’s pages; that was definitely one of my goals for this year’s album.

Yes. I totally saved my old credit card in one of the pockets. That thing was in my wallet for years! I also can’t seem to stop saving the cardboard sleeves from coffee cups.

Week 10 involved some regular (and more stressful than usual) days, but the big exciting, documentable thing was for sure our weekend getaway slash mini honeymoon to Washington, DC. The trip was made possible thanks to an awesome wedding gift from my sister, brother-in-law, brother, and brother’s girlfriend, and even though we may have wanted to travel sooner, it was exactly what we needed, exactly when we needed it most. It was great to get away, and I took a million photos of our adventures. Full page photos, two inserts on top of the regular pages… just awesome. (Also fun: collecting every single bit of paper we could through the four days; I had so much to work with!)

The middle of February seems so long ago, but I do love how the pages for Project Life came together rather simply, yet full of color. (I’m also trying to let go of needing to document something from every day, in favor of things that are more fun, like all of the Valentine’s Day stuff this year.)

Valentine’s week! I’m sure other things happened, but our first married Valentine’s Day, featuring flowers, pink pants, a heart painted on my nails, and Jodi’s Valentine’s postcard was much more fun to document. I wanted to include things from the other days, but couldn’t eliminate any of these and decided that was totally okay.

This page is all weekend. I totally swiped that placemat menu from the bar where we had dinner with my sister and her husband and my brother and his girlfriend on Friday night. (I kinda love that my loved ones are now 100% used to me swiping any and all available papergoods whenever we’re out. Sometimes they even spot them; I’m fairly sure my brother asked why I wasn’t going to take this menu home.) We also got to visit some of my college friends and their adorable daughters on Sunday afternoon, which was such a great treat.

Week eight didn’t include too many photos, but I made up for it with some cute paper, washi tape, and the envelope that included some mail at work. (Mail from Europe looks so much more fun than US mail.) It was also our one month anniversary, which seems crazy.

But this page is my favorite. Dan spent the weekend at Dreamation, which is a gaming convention in northern NJ. He loves it, and did a pretty fantastic job of saving me his badge and taking a few pictures for the album. The top two slots are a photo from my Saturday afternoon at work to catch up, and a napkin and business card from my Saturday night out with friends while Dan was in the midst of a 12 hour gaming session.