Sharing Project Life® | Becky Higgins

Hi there, Studio Calico friends!

I’m popping in to say hi from my home office in Arizona …through the Studio Calico blog …which is based out of Kentucky …and coming through to you …all over the world. How fun is that?!

First of all, THANK YOU for being a part of what we do! Seriously. I know many of you subscribe to the Project Life® by Studio Calico program and I love seeing glimpses of what magic you’re making with the products when paired with your memories! I am blown away by what I see sometimes, and think it’s pretty amazing to see so many people share in their love of memory-keeping. Such a beautiful thing.

Aside from feeling just plain grateful, the other thing that is mucho on my mind as I share a few thoughts with you today, is how beautiful it is when we can share this whole scrapbooking thing with those we love most. And I don’t just mean in a “look at what I made”sort of way (although that’s awesome too). I mean - if people in your life are old enough and capable, let’s get them more involved in the memory-keeping! Let’s make this more of a family affair.

Here are a few ways I like to involve my kids in my ongoing efforts to document our family’s memories with Project Life.

1. Give them supplies & set them free. Each of our 3 children have a Project Life® Mini Album, access to lots of Project Life cards, and they are encouraged to add to it anytime. My role is to help them get a handful of photos printed upon request, and the rest is up to them. They choose which photos they want, which cards to use, and what they’re going to write. These little scrapbooks are very, very “them”.

2. Include their handwriting. I do this as much as I possibly can. My kids are relatively young, so their handwriting ranges from just starting out to pretty well established, but all are growing and their handwriting will continue to evolve for years to come. There’s nothing like capturing that right now - just as it is. And …directly on Project Life cards that can easily be slipped into their albums.

3. Capture their “here & now”. What I mean is, jotting things down immediately after they happen. Sometimes it means right at that moment, writing down exactly what they said because it should be recorded word for word. Sometimes it means at the end of the day, making a note or two about something that you recall about your child from the day.

I recently blogged about how I keep these “We Noticed”Journals for our kids. This is my best resource for pulling things into the kids’12x12 albums that I put together for them (different than their little albums they do for themselves). There’s no way I can remember next month, let alone tomorrow, what Crew said today that was so funny. But I can pull from my notes and add it to his album anytime I’m working on it.

Just a few examples of things from the kids’journals that were recorded immediately:

Porter (11 years old): I found a note with money that was left for me. He wrote, “THANK YOU for the donuts and sorry me and Claire ate most of them. PS I gave you $5 because that’s how much the donuts cost. My money - not yours.”

Claire (8 years old): I was hanging out with Claire and our dog Oreo at bedtime and she very matter-of-factly said, “I’m the reason we got a dog. You’re the one that didn’t want a dog. And now look at you. The lesson you learned is …Get another dog, Mom!”

Crew (5 years old): In our home we have a saying - You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit. Crew turned that into something different one day when he wanted to do something other than what I was asking him to do. “I’ll do what I do you’re not going to throw a fit!”

Involve your children. Your spouse. Your boyfriend. Your parents. Your best friend. Whoever you love that is near and dear would probably be delighted to share the experience with you. Invite them. Have them write something on a card or share a few of their own pictures to include on the next layout.

At the end of the day - and if we choose to make it this way - scrapbooking not only keeps our treasured memories very much alive, but it builds connections and strengthens relationships, too. And that right there is precisely what makes this hobby of ours so remarkable.

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9 comments

  1. toribissell says…
    06/27/2014

    Thanks for sharing Becky! Love your posts!

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  2. 1Djc says…
    06/27/2014

    Thank you for sharing here. I love project life. It's so flexible to meet all of our needs. I greatly appreciate all you've done to support and create for this great hobby. (Lovely "snap shots" of your children.) You've done a Great job in both departments of mommy hood and creative genius!

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  3. cgail1989 says…
    06/27/2014

    That is truly a great idea! I do let my Grandkids do there own journaling cards & I will start using them in my scrapbooking. Thanks for such a great idea.

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  4. prueger6 says…
    06/27/2014

    I always wrote the cute and funny things my kids said in their baby books when they were toddlers. I love that PL is a way for me to keep recording those funny things now that they are teenagers and adults!

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  5. natalieelph says…
    06/27/2014

    Oh my gosh! It's things like this that make me really excited about memory keeping and make me want to fully commit to Project Life! I'm half way there! I've bought the albums and subscribed to the kits... now I just need to do it! I think this is how I'm going to start - I'm giving cards to the kids today!
    Thank you thankyou thank you Becky!!

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  6. ShellyJ says…
    06/27/2014

    Love this! Thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

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  7. blueyedscrapper says…
    06/27/2014

    This is great! I am new to Project Life, finally jumping onto the PL wagon. I really want to have my family more involved; these are really great ideas!!

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  8. threekidneys says…
    06/27/2014

    We are getting ready for a trip and this was a great reminder to capture my child's thoughts about our adventure. Now I gotta make a last minute trip to the store to get a cute little album to take with us!! I loved reading your post about your "We noticed" books. I think I need to try doing something like that...

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  9. Hayrhea says…
    07/01/2014

    I love this. One of my justifications to start scrapbooking was for my future kids. Right now I enjoy capturing just me and my husband as we are now. Our parents have very few photos from pre-kids and cannot recall everyday things from so long ago. This made me realize I didn't want this moment to slip by for us either. Thanks Becky for the ideas, I'm adding this to my pinterest! :)

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