2018 Project Recap

As I was laying awake the other night (that seems to be becoming a thing), I thought it would be cool to put together a post that highlighted the memory keeping projects I worked on/completed in 2018. 

As you read this I don't want you to start playing any comparison games. These projects are things that I love to work on and are definitely simply a part of the way I live my life, but they are also how I earn a living and I think that's important for you to keep in mind. You don't have to do all these projects to be a "successful" memory keeper. "Success" is going to be defined for each of us differently (always like to recommend checking out my post about establishing your own enough in memory keeping) and in different years and times in our lives certain projects will make more sense or simply fit better into your overall life. Maybe just one of these projects fits into your life and if that's the case - awesome. 

My hope in sharing this look back at the last year of projects is to (1) help you think about what you might want to participate in during 2019, (2) celebrate storytelling, and (3) take a little time to recognize what I did do instead of focusing on anything that didn't get done. 

I want you to celebrate the stories you did tell vs. focusing on what you might not have finished too. 

I'm not including Project Life® progress in this post but you can see the spreads I shared publicly here (I do share additional Project Life® spreads in the Story Kit™ classroom each month). You can read about my 2019 Project Life® plans here. 

WEEK IN THE LIFE™

This year I completed my 13th Week In The Life™ album. This is a project I do once per year and I started embarking on this one back in 2005 as a workshop focus for an in-person event. It's one of my favorite projects that I return to again and again because I love seeing this kind of in-depth time capsule of our life each year. Who are we? Who am I? What goes into our days at this particular point in time? 

The big differece between Week In The Life™ and Project Life® is the depth of storytelling. I include significantly more details and photos in this project than I do in any weekly spread for Project Life®. 

Highlighted blog posts: 

Completed album overview.I did my first Week In The Life™ vlog. View all my past Week In The Life™ projects here and learn more about the project generally here. 

I'll be doing this project again in 2019 most likely in late spring. 

DAY IN THE LIFE™

This year I did two different Day In The Life™ documenting days and put those completed stories into my Project Life® album. 

Day In The Life™ is a one-day documentation project that encourages us to slow down enough to capture the stories from one single day. Over the years I've approached it in a variety of different ways from no structure to hourly (stop each hour + take a photo + write down what I'm doing) to using different themes as the lens through which I look for stories over the course of the day.  

Here are a couple blog posts from this project in 2018: 

March Day In The Life™ completed project. This one focused on using single words as jumping off points for telling the story of your day. November Day In The Life™ completed project. This one focused on the lens of gratitude - I loved that approach so much! View all my Day In The Life™ posts here. 

We've got a plan in place to mix things up a bit for 2019 and will share that in the new year.

ONE LITTLE WORD®

This is a project I don't post much about here on my blog but it's something I work on each month and share in the One Little Word® workshop (registration is now open at a reduced rate of $26 through December 31 - after that it increases to $31). This is more of a marathon project vs. a sprint, with the goal of helping to make our chosen words visible over the course of the year. 

Each month during the year I return to my album to review past months and to respond to a creative prompt from the workshop. That little bit of documentation each month keeps me connected to my word and gives me the gift of being able to look back at the end of the year and actually see growth (sometimes it's really small and sometimes it's much bigger). 

I use a 6x8 album for this project along with products we offer in the shop and downloads from the workshop. 

I've been doing this project every single month since 2011 (and I've been choosing a word since 2006). I absolutely love looking back at these very personal albums that really show my own personal ups and downs over the years and the ways I've used my words to help guide me through it all. You can watch a video walkthrough of many of my past albums that I put together last year here. 

I love this project. It has become so much a part of the way I live my life - I honestly can't imagine not having a word each year. 

Check out a recent Feel Good Effect Podcast episode where I chat with the host Robyn about living with a word for the year. Also, check out an episode of Elise Gets Crafty to hear Elise and I chat about our 2018 and 2019 words. 

DECEMBER DAILY®

I just finished up my December Daily® album for 2018 this past week. My commitment to the project is to share my stories of Days 1-25 here on my blog during the month. I know that many of you work on this project at different times in the year - some in January and some in the summer right before we release new products. 

This year my album was a 6x8 again which is my personal favorite size for the project. I also loved putting together the travelers notebook I used for documenting our NYC trip in early December. 

To get ready for this project each year I create "Foundation Pages" that give me a heads up on some of the crafty parts of my storytelling. You can see those here.

You can view all my December Daily® blog posts here. 

TRAVEL PRODUCT PLAY WORKSHOP

This year I also put together an online workshop for travel documentation and created a 3x8 album from a trip to France back in 2013. It was a super fun way to approach travel documentation. I'll be doing another travel themed workshop in 2019 featuring a new travel collection in the summer. 

I'm looking forward to telling stories with you in 2019. 

Which projects did you participate in this year? Which projects do you enjoy most?