Week in the Life 2011: The Initial Plan

So I wanted to share a little of the backstory. The behind the scenes. The dirt. ha ha. I always love it when people share not only the completed projects, but also the prep stage and also some of those plans that may have taken a different direction.

I initially had an idea to do Week in the Life with an old Franklin Covey planner binder. My hubby had one he said he would never use and wanted me to take it to Goodwill. When I saw it a lightbulb went off and I thought, "How cool would this be to use an actual planner binder to document my actual week in it?!" Wheels turned. The office product lover in me just got so excited. So I worked with some page protectors I had from C-Line and trimmed down some baseball card protectors. "This could work," I thought.

The initial plan: an old Franklin Covey planner

Then on a retail therapy trip to Office Max I saw these lovely business card holders and even more lightbulbs went off! So cool. I am always collecting business cards wherever we go.

Lovely business card holder. Note to self: Eat at Sunflower Cafe whenever possible

I knew I wanted to use these Ali Edwards templates, but initially had trouble re-sizing them. I initially just tried the Resize Image function and that doesn't work so well. So I googled it and found an awesome tutorial on Designer Digitals. You can find it here. I spent one evening just resizing them and then had to tweak them a bit when I actually added the photos to the template just to make them look right. I bought the Sentiment Tabs for 2011 and these journaling cards from Ali. 

I added the Little Circles transparencies in black from Hambly and the weekly badges from Ormolu (idea from Ali Edwards), and I thought I had found my perfect plan! Here is the initial plan:

2011 initial plan title page

Love these flair buttons from Ormolu.

Initial plan: Each day is a two page spread with a trimmed baseball card protector in between. Four pockets on each side seemed like a lot less to fill than nine.

Or so I thought. After taking all the photos and scribbling notes, etc like you do for Week in the Life, I did a few of the templates and cards, then just got busy with other things. I guess I just wasn't feeling it. There were too many holes for one thing and it made the pages hard to turn. I just didn't love love it. So away it went in my Ikea box for unfinished projects (idea from Noell Hyman). 

Until this January. I saw photos of the Martha Stewart labels popping up on Instagram and had to check them out. I ordered the bookplates and thought I could use them for something. The blue mini binder looked too cool, so I ordered it thinking it would be a good place to plan projects, etc. 

Then it came in. Hello lovely binder. So nice to meet you! My mind immediately jumped to my abandoned Week in the Life project and I started adding the pages. Voila! It was like magic! Suddenly I had excitement and desire to finish this project! I ended up going with the black, but the blue one is way cool. The red one looks awesome too. By the way, I like the smooth one, not the bumpy one.

Yay for finishing projects!

Week in the Life 2011

So there it is, a little behind the scenes. So have hope for unfinished projects. Sometimes they just need a boost like a Martha Stewart mini binder and suddenly all is fresh and new!


A few people have asked for the dimensions:

• C-Line page protectors: sold as 5x5 x 8.5, but I measured them and then resized my templates to 5.7 x 8.5 so they wouldn't slide around. I wanted a snug fit.
• Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Small Format Binder: 5.5 x 8.5 inches.

Also note: the awesome bookplate does not come with the binder. It comes in a package of 6. I got the silver vertical 1 1/16 x 2 1/8. 

• Bookplate from Martha Stewart with Avery 

I hope that helps! Please let me know if you have any questions! I would be happy to help. By the way, I think there are many many ways to complete a project like this. I am seeing all kinds of approaches, from mini books to full 8.5 x 11 and 12 x 12 to just adding it in Project Life. I even think just taking a regular photo album like from Target and getting a pack of 4x6 index cards would be cool. Add your photos, write a bit and you are done. Of course, you can always add labels!

I am planning on updating my original post to share my favorite layouts from the project and a little more of the story when I have time. I am also happily planning my 2012!! Remember it is next week if that works for you!!

Product Picks: Office Themed Goodness

Okay, so last post I revealed my love of office supplies. I may be a disorganized mess but at least I have cute notepads! Something I am really excited about are several new lines of my favorite companies coming out with office themed products. Here are two in no particular order:

October Afternoon 9-5 

This is the cutest collection. I am really hoping my local Archivers will have it, otherwise I will be watching closely for it to be available at various online retailers. Here are some of my favorite parts of the collection. I also love their label stickers as well as the tin pins. Click on the link above to go directly to the whole collection.

This is the Here & Now Chapter. Looks like a mini book in the making!

These are called Tidbits. Take note, these are adorable and so versatile!

Here are the Doo-Dads. Love the photos/stories enclosed. Love using library cards. Then add the little cassette tape? That is just awesome.

And my latest obsession: Washi tape! I absolutely love this stuff and am so excited about companies coming out with more of it. I like ribbon to some extent, but this stuff is way more me. What I love on these are the pattern, also the date: you can write on it! And I love the days of the week one. Perfect for Project Life, Week in the Life or A Day in the Life or lots of other projects.

If I had to pick just one of the patterned papers from the line it would be Coffee Break: the B side. Yep, I'm a B side scrapper too. This will go great in my current Project Life.

Studio Calico Take Note

This is a beautiful new line and should be available soon at Studio Calico.

 This is just a gorgeous collection. The papers are so beautiful, I can't wait to get my hands on it!
I love the label card paper. Also the floral with the grey background and the blue lattice. 

And what would an office be without paperclips? Hello cute! Hello great addition to my projects!

For the love of badges these are so cute! I am loving using flair buttons or badges in my Project Life. They slip right in the page protectors and create emphasis without eating up white space.

And the finale: the potty people! I adore these! Super cute.

Can you tell I'm excited about these? These are really fun. Go check out these lines. You will love them too. Thank you Studio Calico and October Afternoon for designing such awesome products!

As I have been looking into it, there are a lot of options out there right now with an office theme, as well as actual office products. Heidi Swapp's new line is actually using file folders kind of as a mini-book of sorts. It is called Memory File and looks amazing. I think that might be its own post if I can get my hands on some of it, or maybe just start using some of the ones I have on hand from the office supply store.

I found a post that Melissa Stinson did (the Scrappy Jedi)- about office products. You can check that out here. I have known about shipping tags, but hello library card happiness! Just love that idea. Seriously, go check out her blog. It is awesome.

One quick note: I just saw that Amazon has Project Life style A page protectors in stock. I am really loving Project Life. It is a great approach for me right now and I am having a lot of fun with it. I would say grab them while you can!

You can also check out my Pinterest boards: Scrapbooking Product Love and Project Life for more inspiration. Also note all of these products are just things I am hoping to add to my stash!