Week in the Life: Completed Album

It's done...the album is completed. I'm ready to put it away for a while, knowing that I will enjoy looking at it again in the future. Like most projects I work on, I am tired of looking at it, and want to move on. But, before I do that, I thought I would share how it turned out.

I used an 8 1/2X11 American Crafts album and for the full pages, I used the page protectors that came with the album. I got the divided page protectors from a local stamp and coin shop (who knew?...and they were only 20 cents a piece!!). The only problem is the spine of the divided page protectors were must thinner than the AC page protectors. And of course, being the type A that I am, I couldn't handle that. So, I added some patterned paper from the line that I was using to match them up.

Sunday

Basically each day has the same 4-page layout. Each day starts with a single shot, enlarged photo (about 5X7) and then a timed run-down of the day. This, by far, was the biggest job. I also used a few embellished cards in the divided page protector, including one on each bottom left corner with the initial of the day. That was supposed to be it.

As I was putting it together, however, I realized that I wanted to add a bit more journalling. So, I added another half page (I just sewed the edge of the page protector to size and trimmed the excess) with my thoughts and a butterfly for an embellishment.

On the back of the skinny journalling page, I just used a piece of patterned paper and a strip with the handwritten day of the week.

Monday

The same layout...

I also included some 'ephemera'...a fancy word for 'everyday stuff', including my shopping list and reciepts. I tried to add a bit of this throughout the week. This is definitely something I would like to get better at. It all seems so silly now, but when I think about it, I would love to know what my mom's shopping lists looked like. So, I include these things, in the hopes that my kids will be as sentimental as I am...

Tuesday

Again, the same format...

I wrote out a bit of 'life right now' for each of us in the family. I included our ages and what fills our days. I think this will be one of my favourite things to read when I have three teenagers in the house.

A close up of the altered page protector. I didn't have room for the big butterfly, so I improvised a bit.

I had the last page printed off as an 8X10 (I used a template and layer masks in Photoshop to make my job a bit easier). At first, my plan was to cut them all out and paste them on again, but I decided to leave them as one piece. On most of these block templates, I cut out a piece here and there and filled them in with patterned paper and/or embellishments to add a bit of interest.

Wednesday

Thursday

Same layout again. I included a tea bag, just because I drink this tea most days in the afternoon. I did journal a bit about tea time as well, so it fit.

Friday

I included a quote that I have on my fridge at the moment. In the past, I have mostly used the computer for my journalling (it is so much faster and space efficient!), but am being more and more drawn to using my own handwriting. So, I wrote the quote out after the other journalling.

Saturday

Back

I used something I wrote on this blog as the closing journalling. Actually, that is mostly what I used for the journalling pieces - most of what I wrote out in the moment of uploading the pictures was so perfect for including in this album. And I rarely include these kind of self-portraits in any of my albums (and if I do, it is usually a different part of my body). It isn't a fabulous picture, but it is me.

So ends the Week in the Life adventure. I'm happy to be able to put the album - completed - on my bookshelf and get on with life.

I am, however, already planning what the next one will look like...