enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

Weekinthelife

I am so excited to document a week in the life this year. This is a concept created by Ali Edwards (you can read more about it here) that focuses on capturing a detailed account of one week. I did this project for the first time last summer while Paul was away training in Mississippi and I loved it. This year will be different because hey! – Paul is home.

A question you might have is, "what's the point?" I already do Project Life each week and get a decent record of everyday life there. But I think my answer is another question, "what's the point of any of this?" And the answer to that is, "I LOVE the process." Sure, it's rad to have a record of weeks and years past, but much more than that, I love taking photos & I love playing with paper. I love documenting anything and everything and so embarking on this adventure sounds just right. Plus, even though I do document on a weekly basis, this is a much more "intense" project and involves a lot more photos.

I am not making a special album for this project. I am probably not going to take notes on what's going on throughout the day. I will be taking lots of photos (and I've set a ridiculous goal to take 90% them with my big camera – not my phone).

Witlnumbers2
Witlnumbers

The plan is to add extra inserts to our Project Life album this week and that's it. I've prepped four baseball card pocket pages (I'll be using one side per day) with date numbers cut from my Stendig calendar in the top two pockets. To each side I will be adding seven photos / found papers each day. Not sure how journaling will be added yet. The baseball card pockets are small – 2.5"x3.5" so I'll be cropping my photos accordingly and printing at home.

Witlsample2
Witlsample

I will not be doing a "normal" weekly spread this week, but because these pages are in my PL album they will be bookended by the back and front of other week spreads. I am going to use each of those spaces for two giant photo (cut into pieces using this method).

Weekinthelifetitle

Because there is an odd number of days in a week I was left with an "extra" pocket page side and used that as sort of the title page for the week. It matches pretty well with the album's title page which wasn't intentional. I think I've just learned that black, white, kraft & metallic work with everything. I did something different in each pocket and I love the look.

Witltop

Top three : covered a card with striped washi tape from Freckled Fawn (something cool : save 15% off the entire Freckled Fawn website with coupon code enJOYit through 4/30) & added number brads and an Ormolu page flap / wrote on a diagonal our names over and over again (love that this looks like a pattern) with black pen on white cardstock / used a pattern piece of Crate Paper and added a circle label with my "THIS" arrow stamp on top.

Witlmiddle

Middle three : that "cheers" guy came with something I ordered years ago. I've been saving it forever and this seemed like a good spot for it / cut down a piece of Amy Tangerine paper and added a circle journaling spot from Elle's Studio on top with text / cut down a Project Life clementine kit folded journaling card.

Witlbottom

Bottom three : added two flair buttons (camera from American Crafts and "we" from ormolu) to white cardstock / added an Amy Tangerine "C" chipboard sticker to gold glitter paper (c/o Scrapbook Circle) / stamped each day with a date stamp and sewed on an Ormolu tag with a zig zag stitch.

I can't believe how much I love playing with paper. Creating this week in the life title page was much more fun than it should have been. 🙂

So that's the plan! I'll be sharing the complete inserts next week and extra "daily life" photos throughout the week here.

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23 responses to “documenting a week in the life.”

  1. Pink Ronnie Avatar

    Love this Elise – can’t wait to see how your week turns out. So impressed that you’ve worked out how you’re going to lay it out – I love the whole beginning with the end in mind. The giant date numbers are awesome, as is the title page! Bet you’re going to have fun with this. Hope to be able to do this later on in the year myself.
    Ronnie xo

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  2. Shawna ~ North Olmsted, OH Avatar
    Shawna ~ North Olmsted, OH

    TOTALLY.doing.this.
    i [attempted] WIL last year…never finished…i think i got too caught up in the details and trying to make it PERFECT. LOVE this simplified, but very perfect, approach. thanks for the inspiration!

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  3. Dawn Avatar

    PERFECT! Been trying to figure out how to incorporate WITL with PL and you have given me some great ideas! Thanks again Elise!!

    Like

  4. Julie Avatar

    I decided not to do WIL this year because I could not figure out how to work it into Project Life. Now, I will be choosing a week and adopting this great method. Thanks, as always, for the inspiration!

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  5. Rose Avatar

    It sounds like you have a great plan for the project. I so wanted to do this, but I felt really daunted by the process. I’m not sure where my creativity has been hiding? I look forward to seeing what you create, and I’m sure it will inspire 🙂

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  6. alexandra Avatar

    looks fabulous!!
    can’t wait to see it in it’s entirety at the end of the week
    )

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  7. Skye Avatar

    I love how you have everything ready at the beginning of the week, and how well you worked it into your PL album!

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  8. Michele H. Avatar

    this looks amazing already elise! love the use of the calendar for each of the days.

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  9. Erin B Avatar
    Erin B

    awesome idea for incorporating into your PL. I have done this project twice and always love looking back at the pages. Thinking this year will need to be super simple as I am chasing around an increasingly mobile 9th month old. A twist on your plan might be perfect for me. Thanks for the inspiration.

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  10. jodi Avatar

    such a great plan for week in the life. thanks for the inspiration!

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  11. Abby P. Avatar
    Abby P.

    What a great idea – I actually decided to NOT do WITL this year b/c I’m doing PL. Didn’t want to get overwhelmed. Your idea of making this week ONLY WITL is great. I think I’ll to it at a later date. Thank you for the inspiration!

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  12. Katie Avatar
    Katie

    I’m hoping to follow through with Week in the Life this week and incorporate a Ali’s 8 1/2 x 11 digital spreads with the page protectors you’ve shown here and include it as my “week” for Project Life as well!
    I’m wondering – are there any specific details you’re hoping to capture this week that you’ve enjoyed looking back on in your past Week in the Life album or that you wish you had captured last time?

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  13. CeciMami Avatar

    Great minds think alike! I’m doing something similar…can’t wait to see your finished week! 😀

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  14. elise blaha Avatar

    great question! nothing too specific … I would love to grab a few more photos of Paul and I than usual.. but really, we will see what happens. 🙂

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  15. Jessica at Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping! Avatar

    Loving the black and white so much.
    I am playing along with a week in the life, as well. I wish I had thought to organize my layouts this way beforehand.
    (So happy about the Freckled Fawn discount. I bought a few rolls of tape today).

    Like

  16. J3SS1C4 Avatar

    I love how you’re fitting this in with project life! It would annoy me if I tried to use the big pages since they’d all be the same size throughout the album, and I wouldn’t have liked having them in the middle of a spread, so I really like what you’ve come up with for enlarging photos for the project life pages. Are you going to put your weekly quote in still? I can’t wait to see the finished pages!

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  17. Acompton Avatar

    LOVE this. the big number on each card. GENIUS!

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  18. elise blaha Avatar

    not sure yet if there will be a quote – we will see! 🙂

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  19. casey @ campfire craft Avatar

    Oh my gosh, I love this approach! I had initial thought I would make some sort of photo book of the photos from this week but now you have got me thinking about my initial idea, adding some sort of page proctor to my project life album.
    Thanks for the fantastic inspiration 🙂

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  20. iHanna Avatar

    You have a real plan, and somewhere to put it all, so pretty and nice! I don’t have a real plan, but snapping along for the first time too.

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  21. Tegan Avatar

    okay, i read your blog daily and am an avid scrapper/crafter/card maker…and i just can’t take it any more! i NEED these plastic sleeves with all of the nifty little pockets and a great binder to store them all in. but i live in australia…and i’ve seen nothing like it here before – elise, can you help me out? i’m in a creative spot of bother haha 😦

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  22. Amy B Avatar
    Amy B

    Love the big numbers…not doing WITL, but will have to incorporate it into PL somehow. Also love the little week album within the big album idea!
    To those feeling overwhelmed by WITL (as I am), try a day in the life. I did this on Feb 29 (seemed a good day to do it) and it was a great little, tiny, self-contained piece of WITL that I popped into my PL album. Highly recommend that as a good place to start.

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  23. elise blaha Avatar

    hey Tegan, they are part of Project Life, a system created by Becky Higgins. Check out her website (beckyhiggins.com) for more information about international shipping options.

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