I've been feeling extra nostalgic lately...I suppose now that I'm a year older, I have a little more years to be nostalgic about. Sometimes this nostalgia turns into feeling a bit blue and during these cold winter months I believe it's important to make more of a conscious effort to be happier and brighter.
The weekend after Christmas, Josh & I drove up to Illinois to visit his grandparents. I always enjoy these visits because they are such lovely people and have lived so much (not just with age) and have so many stories to tell about their past, their family's past... they have so many documented memories. It's such a joy hearing them tell these stories, show me the many, many albums... walk through nearly every photo...
I want that for myself too. Compared to them, and probably my parents generation included... my life is so full of "instant" documentation. Social media, smartphones... instagram... it takes such little effort to just snap a photo and it's done. To go through these memories I have to take out my phone (I am way too attached to it) or laptop to scroll through photos. This is adding to the excessive screen time that is already a part of my life (from work, from keeping in touch with friends and family, pinterest, netflix...television...). It feels so much less personal when I go through these photos, it feels less tangible and I don't necessarily feel as much joy from looking through them as I think I should. 20 years from now, will I really want to rely on these photos to reflect back on? Not really. I want to feel that personal connection. I want to someday show my future children something tangible and personal.
Traditional scrapbooking is daunting. I don't "think" I have enough time to go through all that cutting and pasting. I've done it before and was REALLY into it for the first hour or two, getting very intricate and detailed with stickers, nice writing, paper cut-outs, etc. A few more hours in I was getting really worn out. It was taking so long to see enough results to motivate me further and towards the end my work was looking more haphazard and minimalist... not cute anymore.
That's why I decided to get into ProjectLife by Becky Higgins. Print some photos, order photo album layouts and pre-designed decorated cards for accents & notes... and voila! Documented memories, with a personalized touch ... and in a snap!
I ordered a 12x12 album, a large set of album pocket sheets, and a core kit (the design cards) from the website. I bought some more decorative items from Hobby Lobby and picked up some bits from Wal-Mart. I didn't realize this stuff is sold everywhere!
I printed out a ton of photos after I organized them by year ... So far, it's been really enjoyable and I'm excited to continue filling out my album!
Here's to a happy, healthy, and memorable 2016!
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