This week’s project was made last week. I needed a full week for it so here it is:
I’ve attempted to make this project several times before but I was never successful. I realized there were two things that held me back:
1. I felt my life wasn’t interesting enough. I was worried all my days were the same. I was worried I was going to have to spice it up for the week which killed the whole point. I decided that my boring life now would be so interesting to me years from now and would be worth preserving.
2. I felt like I had to keep track of every minute of everything. I’m anal and I always worried I wouldn’t have enough time for that. So I decided to just focus on a few activities each day. One day, our meals, routines. Another day, our play, etc. I didn’t stress. I just decided to go with the flow.
There are a lot (A LOT) of photos here so you’re warned. Feel free to skip.
I pre-made most this book in two days over a weekend. I picked all of my favorite things that I’d been saving. I sewed the stuff on, put almost all of the embellishments on ahead of time, too. During the actual week, all I did was print photos and glue them and do some manual journaling. I did add some final touches to each page but 85% of the work was done ahead of time. I promised myself I would hand journal the whole thing. I also wanted to print my photos small. I added a few large ones throughout and I love my whole book.
Here’s the overall look. Detail on each page to follow:
Here’s the cover:
and a little detail:
This is the inside of the front cover. In that little pouch is the embroidery sampler I did that week in Teresa’s class. Photo of that:
Monday: No big theme for Monday, just sentiments.
Tuesday: our routine, our walk, my grandmother, david’s ladybug.
Wednesday: Nathaniel’s recent milestones, kids playing, headshots of each boy.
Thursday: David’s 100 day celebration at school, goings on around the house – nathaniel playing, david coloring and watching pink panther, me embroidering and the cleaning lady.
Friday: chat with mom, more embroidering, david highlighting, my kids together, our trip to the park
Saturday: David and I did crafts, the directions for the craft are in the pouch, time with Daddy, haircut, Wii, and then a photo of Jake with Nathaniel and one of me with the boys.
Sunday: a trip to the craft store for beads (receipt in the little envelope) David playing with them, and Nathaniel playing, too.
Back cover inside: sorry for the blur. Just a recap of how much I cherished doing this project.
And finally the back cover:
I HIGHLY recommend doing this. Loved every minute of it.
An absolute TREASURE.
I so wish I would have done something like this when I was your age and had little ones under foot. It breaks my heart to realize how that time can never be recaptured, but you have managed to do so in a beautiful and heartfelt way. Wait til they are in their 20’s and can look back at these special days, and honestly it will happen in just a blink. Just a beautiful and extra special treasure.
Beautiful mini-book. I love the whole project, your pictures, color theme and choice of papers. Like Janel, comment above, I wish I had done more to capture and document my kids every day life when they were younger, because you can never recapture it. Thanks for sharing.
I love your take on the Week-in-the-life, Karenika. It was really well thought out to do most of the book in advance, leaving you to enjoy the photos and journalling as you went. The sewing and fabric details are breathtakingly beautiful and so very inspiring. I am putting of my current energies into a 365-project, and I love capturing the every-day stuff. I noticed you are doing a similar one for Nathaniel’s baby book, and wondering if I might do something similar for my babies albums, which I STILL haven’t started, and admit, am really putting off. They’re two-and-a-half, and 16 months. Debbie 🙂
What a wonderful way to record all the details that are so easy to forget. Using smaller photos is a great idea for making it all more manageable
this is so beautiful! i really love all the texture and the small photos. i also really like how you used a photo as a page. i too wish i had done this when my children were little.
Hi just came across your blog and have been reading some of your entries and just wondering why you selected a WordPress blog dont you find it difficult to do anything with? Been thinking about starting one.
Absolutely gorgeous! I never did week in life, you inspired me.
it’s so worth it, i highly recommend it!!
I love your take on this project! The book is adorable!