Project 2010 - Keep it Simple - A Freeing Approach

Project 2010

Designed to help you:

Create Memories,
Share your Memories,
Preserve Your Memories.

You have permission, to simplify in 2010! Please don't make memory keeping harder than it needs to be. You have heard me say this almost a million times now, but I'm going to say it again! "They won't care what company the patterned paper is from, or what technique you used, or whether you spent 15 min or 2 days preserving the memory.  They will care that you did it, and they get to enjoy it!"

That is it - that is all that matters. I guarantee you, that it won't matter if you decide to do this as a scrapbook page, or in a regular photo album, or in a photobook.  Choose the one that works for you, or choose a combination of them.

I know it is hard to let go of those perfectionist tendencies, but the reality is, most people don't have tons of free time to dedicate to memory keeping. Don't stress out for 2 hours over the "perfect shade of blue" to go with your photos". It doesn't matter! You could even put green with your photos, and they won't care! They are going to look at the photos and your story. And however it is done, they will love it!

Try an experiment with me (humour me!). If you don't like it, you can always not do it this way the next time.  But promise me you'll try this once. It is very freeing. And the end result, is that in a week, in 55 minutes, you will have a great layout done in a few minutes a day. You may get so excited, that you do all the steps in one day and repeat them over again.  That is okay too. If you are a scrapbooker, follow these steps. If you would like to use a regular photo album or are short on time, skip down to the bonus step.

Here are your steps for the week:

Fri - Saturday:
Go to your printed photos pile and pick out 10 photos that you love that you would love to do something with. They don't have to be the same theme or subject, and they definitely don't have to be chronological.  Remember, you are humouring me here. Just go with it. Total time 15 min (more if you sit there and smile and reminisce over your photos. - See how nice PRINTED photos are!) Note I gave you two days, in case you don't have any PRINTED photos, to give you an extra day to get some printed!) You may or may not use them all on your layout.

Sunday:
Go to your stash of products (I know you have one!) Now this is important:
  -set a timer for 5 minutes. NO MORE. Now take your photos, and pick out 3 sheets of cardstock and 2 patterned papers that roughly go with your photos. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. It has to be done! Time 5 minutes.  That is it!!!!!
  -Now take another 2 minutes, and pick out some letter stickers or a die cut font, or a preprinted title you want to use for a title.
  -Take another 3 minutes and pick out any embellishments you want to add to the page - ribbon, brads, buttons etc.

Total time 10 minutes = 1 page kit done! I'm not kidding here - challenge yourself to do it within these time limits.  It actually isn't hard when you let go of the pressure that it has to be perfect.  Yes, if you spent 2 hours, you MIGHT come up with a combo that is a little more perfect, but that is 2 hours of your life wasted, when what you can come up with in 10 minutes is great.

Monday - go back to your space and roughly layout your papers and photos and embellishments into a layout. (Hint, a page map or sketch is very helpful here.) Again, don't stress out over making it perfect. Go with your first gut feeling. Crop any of the photos that need cropping. Total Time = 10 minutes.

Tuesday - adhere the parts of your layout down to the page, add any embellishments, title etc.  Total Time = 10 min.

Wednesday - Journal - yes JOURNAL. (preferably in your own handwriting, but if you must, the computer is okay.) Take 10 minutes, and write down why you love these photos. Slip it into a page protector. Total time = 10 minutes. Smile!

Thursday - share your completed page with someone.  They will love it. Time spent sharing - as much as you like!

End result - 55 minutes spent over the course of one week to get a memory down on paper with some photos that you love. Anyone can do this!

Bonus: Even quicker way: Use a photo album or scrapbook album with 4x6 page protectors - pick your photos, slide them into the page protectors, take one or two of the pockets and add in some journaling and maybe a decorative piece of paper and embellishment. Share with someone. Total time - under 30 minutes. Yes this counts as a memory preserved!