Project Life 2019 Album Project | Full Album Flip Through
Hello everyone and welcome to the final post in our series, Project Life 2019! Today I am so excited to share a full album flip through of our completed album project. This project has been a full year in the making, and it is both bittersweet and happy and feels incredible to have another family album completed. If you’d like to see all the blog posts related to this project, check out this link here: Larkindesign Project Life 2019. Have a look at the flip through video here.
Looking back:
I had a few thoughts while going through the album and thought I would share them with you. Documenting family memories is a goal we all share, and figuring out how to do that in a way that works well, keeps us inspired, and makes us feel proud is definitely a journey we are all on together. I have been using Project Life as my main style of scrapbooking since 2013, and pocket pages continue to keep me inspired! 2019 marked a devastating announcement from Becky Higgins that she will no longer be producing physical Project Life products. That has left many questions about what future scrapbooking might look like.
I think that successful memory keeping, meaning completed albums throughout the years, is memory keeping that is flexible, able to be changed up, and works with family lifestyle and schedule. Memory keeping does not have to be attached to a particular brand, nor should it be, because specific brands come and go as they always have throughout time. And even in the midst of global pandemic, unpredictable economic conditions, and major social changes, scrapbooking continues so long as we are willing to change with the times.
Looking at my albums over the past 7 years, from 2012 which was my transition year, and all the way into this new year of 2020, I can see remarkable growth and change. I see that growth in our family, in our home, and in the way I have documented our lives. Project Life as a weekly creative exercise has served me and my family so well, to have an organized, easy to consume way of remembering these important years. When Alan and I joined our two families in 2012, I promised myself that I would take regular photos and that I would find a way to keep telling our stories of how our family has grown and blossomed. You can see how I have evolved, as a Mom, as a photographer, as a memory keeper, and I continue to evolve and learn and pivot.
Looking towards the future:
Finishing our 2019 Project Life album feels like a major pivot. The kids are growing up and, as teenagers typically do. They spend more time with their friends and cooped up in their rooms. When the camera comes out they cover their faces and express their disinterest in being photographed, and I try to respect that. I also try to encourage them to document their lives with their own cell phones, to take their own photos, and to become their own memory keepers in their own way. And of course, staying at home means no fun outings right now, no trips through town, no days at the beach, and opportunities to photograph each other seem a bit limited. 2020 has changed us, and it will change the way we keep memories as well.
I don’t know what exactly those changes will look like. At this time I am putting Project Life on pause. It is time to focus on being healthy, it is time to focus on other projects, and in time I will pick back up when I am ready. I am so thankful for Project Life and the opportunities it has afforded me to get our wonderful memories into books that I am so proud to share. I am so thankful for your support and love along this journey! I am not going anywhere, and the plan for now is to continue with Disney, continue with our kids’ albums, and continue with Light The Path. Thank you all so much for following along and for supporting Larkindesign! There are exciting things in the works and I look forward to sharing all these wonderful projects with you soon! Until then!
~Theresa