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!!