My 2016 Project Life Plans

I'm not entirely sure calling it "project life" is entirely accurate. You'll see what I mean in a minute...but let me back up a bit.

I've never really done a traditional full size 12x12 Becky Higgins style Project Life. Oh sure, I got the big ass album and the jumbo pack of letter A protectors...I just didn't use them. I gave them away actually. Instead I went small opting for a 6x8 Snap album and a monthly approach. The whole point of this thing is to find what works and that took me a little while.

I have 2013 and 2014 nicely represented. Yes, there are gaps, but I'm okay with them. I decided to sit 2015 out. Why, you ask (I know you really didn't ask)? Well, I had just moved in December 2014 and I wasn't entirely happy or motivated to document the tundra I now called home, All my stuff was still packed away when January arrived and was still pretty much packed away in...well, I'd rather not say. Plus...I got distracted by art journaling my guts out and making layouts...lots and lots of layouts. I didn't forget Project Life though. I still watched tons of process videos and followed amazing Lifers on Instagram...it felt like enough, until it wasn't.

At the end of the year...Just a few weeks ago to be exact, I was organizing my 2015 projects and sensed something was missing. I was happy with the layouts and minis and art journal pages, but it felt incomplete. Everyday was missing. The in between was missing. The details. Life happens in those details and I didn't have them documented. Not like previous years. It made me realize that simple daily documentation is important to me on a gut level. Taking the time to observe, ruminate and savor is important to me. I knew what I needed to do.

If 2015 taught me anything, it taught me that memorykeeping comes in many shapes and sizes. Sometimes just observing and absorbing can be valuable. I wanted to try something new this year. Something that embraced the Project Life concept minus the pockets. I wanted to write and write like Doris Sander did in her hobonichi. I wanted to use stickers and lettering like Florence Antoinette did in her planner. I wanted to mix it up like Stephanie Bryan and add simple touches like Hopscotch Lane. I wanted a mix of colors and patterns like Elizabeth's December Daily. I wanted it to sometimes be less and other times be more. I wanted it all. A delightful papery mash-up. An art journal, traveler's notebook, planner, project life, minibook mix of real, colorful life.

Here's a little flip through and chat...