project life | full circle - weeks of July 21 and July 28

A year ago I started a project that I knew would be a tough job to follow through. I still wanted to give it a go. I wanted to document my last year as a 30-something. I started doing Project Life. What I didn't know then was that just about a month in, my whole world as I knew it would change and I would be faced with enormous struggles with my mental and physical health.

It's been a hard, hard year for me, this past year. There have been moments where I thought things just could not get any worse. There have been moments where I didn't even have the strength to lift my head from my pillow. There have been moments where all I did was cry. Later there were moments where I worked hard on facing my inner demons and owning up to what I have done to myself for most of my life, and where I tried to find new ways of thinking and doing things.

Through all this, I kept on working on my Project Life pages every week (well, almost). Some weeks I wanted to throw the computer out the window and some weeks it was a welcome break for a stressed out brain. Throughout the year doing Project Life helped me be consistent with taking photos and writing down details of my life, however sad or uneventful it may have seemed at first glance.

A few weeks ago, I looked through all my pages and it struck me that in the midst of all the darkness and hardships, there were indeed little glimpses of light and joy as well. Some weeks they were tiny and some weeks they were monumental. But they were there if I only looked hard enough to see them. That realisation was so very important to me and my continued road to being a better, healthier, and happier me.

As I hit save on my last latest page, thus concluding a full year of Project Life and my first PL album, I cried. This project has been a crutch for me this past year. I was filled with so much emotion as I put together the spreads for the last two weeks of July. I have so much respect for how much it has given me to do this. I am also immensly proud of the effort that I have put in; the many hours that I have spent working on my pages and creative work that has gone in to the project.

So with these words, I am moved and proud when I say that here are the last two spreads of my first Project Life album:


(Supplies: Becky Higgins Project Life Boys Rule, Becky Higgins Project Life Coral, Becky Higgins Project Life Midnight, In Stitches Neutral Basics by Robyn Meierotto, Homebody by Shannon McNab)


(Supplies: Becky Higgins Project Life Boys Rule, Becky Higgins Project Life Coral, Becky Higgins Project Life Midnight, In Stitches Neutral Basics by Robyn Meierotto, Homebody by Shannon McNab)


(Supplies: Becky Higgins Project Life Odds & Ends, Becky Higgins Project Life Amy Tangerine Plus One, Becky Higgins Project Life Midnight,  In Stitches Neutral Basics by Robyn Meierotto, Homebody by Shannon McNab, Life 365 The Buttons by Karla Dudley)


(Supplies: Becky Higgins Project Life Odds & Ends, Becky Higgins Project Life Amy Tangerine Plus One, Becky Higgins Project Life Midnight,  In Stitches Neutral Basics by Robyn Meierotto, Homebody by Shannon McNab, Life 365 The Buttons by Karla Dudley)

Naturally, I had to create an album cover and a title page for the album.
I chose to step away from the templates that I have used in the book, but tried to keep them both consistent with the rest.

The cover:


The title page:


Now, this is not the end of Project Life for me. I have decided to keep on going. From next week until the end of the year I will keep doing Project Life in the format that I have been doing so far. Once the year is up, I will put those last four months in an album on its own. What format I will be using next year is yet to be decided. I figure I've got time to worry abou that later.

So, until next week, this is me signing off the Project Life duty! See ya!

Do you want a full overview of all the pages for this album? Just check out my Project Life page.
Do you want to read about my process and approach? Check out my comprehensive post.