Aggie Shoots. Aggie Scraps.

So I promised myself that I won’t over think and complicate my P365 project. My only goal is to make sure I complete my year and have it printed by the end of the year. Right? (rrrrriiiiiiight!) But look what I saw when I was reading blog posts on my Reader (and saw some weight loss products I like to try):

It’s the album I’ve been secretly lusting after once I read about it from Karla Dudley’s blog. So very minimalist and the design is just awesome. It’s only $4.40 right now (20% off!) and you bet I am buying this, even if I dont get to use it for P365. It is a steal!

This kit is designed to make your yearly memories shine with ease yet you have total creative control. Designed as a hybrid kit for an 8.5×11 protector album. Grab a template and alter with brushes that give a uniform sophisticated feel.

You can choose to use this album for 365 days or to record weekly for 52 weeks! That way you don’t have to feel the pressure of falling behind. There is a template cover page that you can use to start each week. And there is a journaling template that you can use to sum up your thoughts for each week as well. In between you can record all seven days or just one! It’s all up to you! I hope you enjoy!

Kit Includes
• 97 Brushes -(handwritten words, text words + sentiments, 2 flourishes, decorative) All in .png and .abr files.
• Two word page templates in .png files
• 2 blank templates both in strait and round corner designs. All in .png files
• 1 Wave page template with strait edges in both .tiff and .psd files
• 4 Page templates all in both .tiff and .psd files (8 templates total)
• Tip document as a .jpeg

During the first week of January when I committed myself to trying out P365 again, I searched forums around for completed books on P365 for 2009 and for scrappers who did it and if they had tips. They were a lot and I admire their tenacity, perseverance and how they really captured “life” in a year. So they were assembling their books by that time and their books had awesome photography, beginning and day-in-the-life quotes. I thought I’d share them with you.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving.
Kahlil Gibran

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.
Thornton Wilder

Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Author: Robert Fulghum

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

I get up. I fall down. Meanwhile, I keep dancing.

LIFE is what happens while you are making other plans. -John Lennon

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you."

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
Ralph Waldo Emerson

This is actually one of the many reasons why I quit my teams and now am focusing on my being a Sugarbabe over at SSD. I really want to make P365 work for me this time around. I have to be honest that I cannot scrap as much and as often as I used to, but I still want to document my stories. P365 will be perfect for me, since I still take pictures. Flickr helps me blog and share about it – I just need to have an outlet to make sure it’s printed and my family sees it. If I try to do everything still, I might need anti aging products early (not that I do NOT need – I am using an eye cream already) – my first decision this year is to let go of stuff I cannot handle so I can focus on things I “need” to do. This is one of them.

It’s too soon to tell, but I am writing this on the 14th day of January and I am still on track with P365 (Hurray!). It is easier for me I think this time because I didn’t overthink things and make it complicated. I am sure you are so overwhelmed with the number of P365 kits, templates, word arts and brushes in digi-land these days. I am too. But one thing I do whenever I tend to entertain something complicated like scrapping them every week (I am sorry I think that won’t work with me – my photos are too different and I would not want them to be sharing spotlight with other POTDs. I also need to be honest that scrapping them every week might be such a drag for me Id end up stopping the project altogether.). It is very much like when I am reading about appetite suppressant reviews – I get bored immediately.

For now, I have developed somewhat of a system in making P365 work.

• I import pictures, delete, choose the POTD and edit them once a week. In the ideal world, that should be every Sunday.
• I upload them to my Flickr gallery. Journalling goes in there too.
• For now, I haven’t decided on what format or what I will do with them. Many scrappers are raving about Blurb (most of those who completed the P365 last year printed their books there) so let us see.

I tried doing it last year, and just lasted until January 22, I think.It was just too much for me, and I actually just put my heart half-heartedly to the project. There were days that I never even bothered to think about the picture I wanted. I had so many things to take a picture of – from patio furniture cushions to the mess that is constantly in my house. What I realized was I just didn’t set up a system that worked for me. I had grand plans at the start of the year, only to fall short.

So I am giving it a try again. Actually, I didn’t want to publicly announce it up until I completed at least the month of January but realized maybe announcing it will help me stay committed.

Here are some things I will do with Project 365:

• I will just go with photos + words. No scrapping them. Really. It is still scrapping, right? (Photos + Words = Memories Kept and Preserved) I plan to compile them all into a book like Janet Phillips did with her 2008 P365.
• Sharing with different galleries will be weighing me down and taking most of my time. I have decided to upload all P365 pictures at my Flickr gallery. What I like about Flickr is I can upload my hi-res files there, serve as a back-up, put the story in the description field and even link it to publish into a chosen blog. There are days I will blog about, days when I won’t. It will be public. Maybe if I get more feedback about Blurb I will try it out. I can print my pictures there directly to Blurb I think.
• Edit. Delete. Edit. Delete. This year I want to banish my OC-ness and get rid of multiple pictures that have the same pose. Really. Promise. Trimming them down will help me scrap more.