The "Why" & a Giveaway Winner

Thank you everyone for your comments talking about why you are doing Project Life. I so enjoyed reading them as they came through over the week. Your stories made me smile, laugh and several touched my heart. Thank you for sharing of yourself.

According to Random.org the winner of the Clementine album is comment #43.

Congratulations Heather Emans I'll be sending you an email shortly! Heather said.....

I've kind of given up on scrapbooking the last 2 years. I am not an artist or very creative. I make a layout and it never turns out how I'd like it to. I see "pro" scrapper layouts and just feel defeated. I did the online version of project life the last two years, but really missed the feel of the paper and embellishments. In one short week, I've learned that I don't have to be an artist or uber creative to make this album. I just have to love sharing the stories of my family.

Because I can't help but share and I think it is always good to know we are in this together here are some of the other reasons why you guys are doing Project Life this year. I hope you are inspired by them as I was.

• I'm giving PL a go this year and while it is a bit daunting, I feel the results are well worth it. I have stepped away from scrapbooking for a while, partly because three kids keep me running, and partly because of burnout and overload from all of the fabulous stuff I was seeing on the blogs. I admit it did give me a bit of inadequate feelings.but very recently my 6 year old son discovered my scrapbooks and loved them. We spent a long time going through them and he read the stories and asked so many questions. It gave me the spark I needed to get going again. Enter Project Life. I am super excited to see everyone's perspective. And I may even post some of my own on my blog this year.thanks for the inspiration.
  




• Project Life is the easiest way I have found to capture what is happening not only in our lives, but in the lives of our immediate family. We're sort of spread out all over the place and only come together a few times a year. Those pictures are a part of Project Life. Reunions, weddings, new babies, plays, football games. It's all a part of one book. I'd never find the time to scrap those in a traditional scrapbook. But I have three years of books thanks for Becky and the relaxed way of doing Project Life. I love it.
  




• I am doing Project Life to challenge myself......I find it hard to finish alot of projects so I will not pressure myself to do it every week but my commitment is to finish the year.
  




• I absolutely LOVE project life. I used to scrapbook a lot-before I started my PhD. Now, I have years worth of photos to sort out. I did a DIY PL last year, and it is my absolute favorite album ever (so far!). I am hoping to get the real product this year, to document my last year of university (year 10 lucky!) before job applications, moves, and working full time.
  




• This year is a full year for me. From an infant son (asleep on my chest as I type this), to taking the physician licensure exam, to applying in a hospital, to having our own place for the first time, this is a busy and eventful year. I have made scrapbooks before, but it was way before my son was born and it centered on me and my life. Then when my son was born, all I made when I had the time was all about him. After months of plotting out how to get the page protectors and core kit from amazon to Cebu, I finally found a way to bring the 'me' back into the picture without leaving out my husband and son. It's a perfect way to bring our family into paper and to put the little memories we collect as we shuffle through the bills, exams, jobs, spit ups and diapers into actual paper to relive years from now. In an eventful year ahead of us, it encouraged 'me to not forget the simple everyday memories.
  




• I'm so grateful that for some reason the thought of starting Project Life has been basically SLAMMED into my face (in a good way!) over the past week or so. I've been so drawn in by Becky's posts (and links to everyone else's awesomeness) and love what you have to say about your Project Life experience! I'm just like so many...paper scrapper, overwhelmed momma with busy kids, beautiful supply hoarder...But I just want to keep up with the stuff and the stories. I am eagerly awaiting the day the Amazon store is re-stocked so I can place my order! ;)
  




• I am doing PL this year because I love to capture the everyday for my family. It is a great simple system that is so doable. Love that!
  




• I'm doing PL for the first time. I want to capture the crazy fun of our lives now that we are a family ~ life is certainly different and my baby daughter is so amazing. There are so many little things to capture, and it looks like PL gives me the best tools to capture them quickly :)
  




• Why am I doing Project Life? I am doing PL for my family. I want them to look back and see what life was like. I barely remember when I was little and I don't want that to happen with my children. I want to document what life was like "way back in the olden days" for their children. Plus I love to take pictures and scrapbook. PL is the best of both worlds. ;)
  




• I'm doing PL not so much for me (though i love doing it) but for my 3 girls. while i will occasionally flip through our 2010 album, my kids are constantly looking at it. and that's what i want: them to have a tangible presentation of their life, their memories
  




• I am doing PL so that I won't forget anything. We have some pretty huge challenges and some pretty huge blessings and I want to make sure to document them all as a way to express my gratitude for this wonderful life I am living. :)
  




• I've discovered it's hard for me to do standard 12 x12 pages, there are too many design decisions, and journaling is my main goal--that doesn't always work on a larger format for me. So this year, in an effort to be more organized, documents our everyday lives, capture growth and change, and focus on enjoying the here and now and being present in the moment--Project Life. I'm from an Alzhemer's family, and in the back of my mind, I'm afraid one day I won't remember all the little things, so I photography as much as I can every day and try to tell the stories, large and small. It also helps me focus on this year's OLW: "Act." I want to see that I am planning more and doing more and not letting any days pass me by! And hopefully my children will appreciate these glimpses into their world when they are older.
  




• I would love to do project life this year! I am using the online project life (old version) to make a month by month baby book for my son (he's 10 months) and I'd like to now use it in the traditional sense!
  




• I am doing Project Life this year because I love scrapbooking and documenting life, but I always seem to get bogged down trying to be fancy and create amazing works of art and then I end up years behind. I'm excited to try something new and simple.
  




• I have contemplated several times on doing Beck's Project Life and have always been afraid I don't have the commitment it takes to do it. I would love to win Clementine (my fav) as motivation to jump right in and DO IT!!!
  




• I could lie and say that I do it for my family but I really do it only for me. I don't even like to show it to other people. It is personal, the journaling is honest and it is just for me! I love to read back back months/years and see how things have changed, grown, moved on and sometimes stayed the very same.
  




• I am doing project life because I feel like I am missing things. I keep thinking "oh I should make a layout about that" and never do...then I forget what it was I wanted to do a layout on. This will hopefully be faster and give my family a real picture of who we were this year.
  




• i did P365 in 2009 and LOVED it. i haven't been prepared to start up again for 2012 but am drawn to PL. the 2012 kits are beautiful.
  




• I'm on my 3rd year of doing PL. I first did it for my son to document his first year and now I'm doing it to document our family. The day to day, the stuff that gets over looked. The little stuff, the details, the stuff that really matter, the stuff the makes up family life. I enjoy reading you and look forward to your updates/posts.
  




• I'm doing PL again this year because I did it last year and I am officially addicted. Addicted to seeing it happen right before my very eyes! Addicted to saving the memories/stories/stuff in one place, accessible to anyone who want to look. Addicted to hearing my husband say "Hey! I forgot about that!"
  




• I'm doing PL this year because it is fast and easy and it's the only way I could be able to document the little and big things in our hectic life without falling to far behind since it is so easy. For some years now I had been doing something similar, scrapbooking with photo protectors but just the regular ones and inserting my pictures and a few cards for journaling. Now with PL and all it's accessories it is certainly much more fun!
  




• I did Project Life for the first time in 2011 and LOVED it! I'm doing it again this year because I love how simple the process can be of saving memories, one day at a time!
  




• I'm doing PL to capture the every day stories. I've realized my kids are growing up much too quickly and I only took pictures of the big events, now wishing I had the every day. Better to start late than never. I completed 2011 digitally, but want to switch to the paper version for 2012. Love what everyone is doing with the new versions:)
  




• I'm a 3 year veteran project 365'er. I have yet to scrap my photos. In fact I haven't actually scrapped in over a year. I really miss it and this project life is all new to me and looks really cool. I'd love to try it out.
  




• I would like to start a project life for my nanny, a woman who has raised me since I was little. She has become very Ill this past year and we dont know how much time we have left with her. I would love to be able to document the time we've had with her so I can remember the best person Ive ever known.
  




• This is my first year using Project Life and I jumped in with both feet and, I too, am involving my children (ages 11 and 4)and my husband even is a little ore interested than he's ever been in my scrapbooking. I am really excited that my kids can share in the picture taking, journaling and selection of what goes into each week. This is OUR story as a family and I love that it is being told from all of our perspectives... Not just mine. I love that Project Life can work for anyone. Becky's philosophy is so simple it is genius!
  




• This is my first year using Project Life and I'm involving my 10 yr old son too. When I finished the first week (on Monday!!) it left me with a sense of accomplishment - go figure! This is what fits in our busy lives right now and I'm so happy that I'm capturing the stories of our family and not waiting to make a scrapbook page - missing out on remembering the full details.
  




• I am doing Pl because I want to soak in and savor these moments with my boys (Bowen is 5 and Wilder is 3).
  




• I did my first attempt at PL in 2009 I made it through January but kept comparing myself to others. I have had some health issues this last year and I have learned that I need to focus on the positives in my life so I decided to give PL another try. My goal is to use what I already have on hand, focus on the positive and enjoy the process.
  




• I am using Project Life this year as a simple way to document the many things we do as a family. I can preserve all the little (and Big) things without too much hassel or needing to spend hours working on my scrapbook!
  




• I am doing Project Life to have fun and be creative!! I love all the little stories my son tells and want to capture them, along with his burgeoning collection of artwork/school projects. We all have so much fun looking back. I am taking a laid back approach, just doing it here and there, not strictly week by week. I started with my son's birthday in October and going on from there randomly!
  




• I'm doing Project Life this year because I want my kids to know our story & see our life from this time when they are older. My 4yr old has some major lower spinal issues & is currently recovering from spine surgery & is in a body cast for the next few months. I want him to see his progress, the highs & lows and to know how much we loved him through all of it! Also, it's a way as a family we can process through this journey with him and see our highs & lows & how we are working to have it knit us closer together. I LOVE Project Life because you can record the pretty AND the not so pretty parts of life!!!
  




• I'm a first-time PLer. I'm going to be doing two albums. One will be P365 and the other for all my 2011 pics. I just got week 1's pics and all of 2011 pics from winkflash and ANY minute now UPS will bring me my first binder (black signature) and 2 different styles of plastics. At least I can get started on my 2011 album now! I'm dying for amazon to get more PL in stock. I desperately need to start my P365.
  




• I am doing project Life, to try and catch up on all my photos! I have 2 kids a daughter 7 and a son 3.5 ( 4 this month) and I have not finished his first year of life, and I stopped at my daughters second. I am using this as a way to catch up ..HOPEFULLY seems to be working im moving alot faster.
  




• I'm doing PL because it is simple. Might not be able to do a spread every week (life gets busy :) ), but will make it work for me.
  




• Last year I did PL to tell the stories behind the photos I would normally take (no memorabilia), this year as my eldest son starts Kindy it's all about documenting life. What I love about this difference is that I can tell the stories behind the memorabilia - as it's not always the photos that have a story.
  




• For me PL urges me to slow down and appreciate the little things. My kids won't be this young forever. I am so thankful for this tool.
  




• I wish, wish I had Project Life when my sons were small, but now that they are grown, I am finding it a perfect way to chronicle my days.
  




• I lost my mom almost four years ago to multiple sclerosis. I was 29 at the time. The memories we have of her are so precious. I chose to do Project Life because I want to remember the sweet normal days of life. Most of all, I want my kids to be able to have those memories close to them when I am no longer here.
  




• I am doing PL because I want to be more intentional with my picture taking. I want to take pictures of the everyday and not just birthdays and Christmas. I want to document our family life so that we can look back at this year and really remember what we were about.
  




• I am doing PL in order to capture the moments the I think "oh I will remember this" but in reality know that I never will! My sons are 4 and 2...so many of the little things are already forgotten!
  




• I'm doing PL because I want my kids-ages 10, 9, 7 and2 -to have pics to look back on and I've noticed I haven't been taking many pics in the last couple years:( much less taking time to scrapbook. And I LOVE scrapping. So this is perfect for me!
  




• I'm doing Project Life again this year because I hadn't scrapped for about 5 years until I found PL last year. Now I have 2010 & 2011 done! PL helped me find my joy in creating again.
  




• I am doing Project Life because I want to create something for my girls to look back on and see the everyday...so they know that each and every day with them is special.
  




• This may sound trite but I am doing PL for my children and their children and so on. The most cherised items I possess are scrapbooks my grandmother created chronicling her life.
  




• I'm doing PL because I love to capture the everyday moments. My favorite thing to do is to see how much my kids have grown through the year.
  




• I'm doing PL to capture my first year out of college since I just graduated in December. I love the set up of PL!
  




• I'm doing project life so I can have a place to put all my pictures of my sweet baby boy.
  




• I'm doing project life to help preserve memories for my children. I don't recall a lot of my early childhood and want me children to have plenty of memories. Project Life has allowed me to not feel as overwhelmed as scrapbooking made me feel at times.
  




• Right now I can't order all the goodies from Becky so am doing it a little simpler and with the supplies I have on hand. The good news is ... I'm SCRAPPING again!
  




• I am doing project life as a way to capture our family life for my young son.
  




• I want to capture all the little details that are often overlooked in my regular scrapbooking.
  




• I am doing PL so that not only will my kids remember what life was like but so will I! The everyday can easily be forgotten and the little memories can go by the wayside. With Pl they are in safe keeping! I so love PL and am glad for the simple memory keeping it promotes.
  




• This is my first year doing PL and I'm doing it because its not as overwhelming as traditional or digital scrapbooking is, I struggle when it comes to scrapping! And my whole family can be involved as well, instead of just me. Also because I want to capture our life in a way that enables me to enjoy our life as it is right now, to remember and count our blessings and to document us in whatever season we are in.
  

See you guys tomorrow with two weeks to share. Also, have you seen all the great inspiration from the Creative Team on Becky's blog today? Loved everyone's layouts :)

Monica