Memory Keeping Made Easy

My plan for 2016 is simple and easy memory keeping. I know I want to document our days in some way, and I think I'm at the point where I mentally want it to be easy. I loved each of my Project Life books from last year and each and every one tells a different story about a different month. They are SO fun to look back on and time and energy I put into them was so worth it.  But for this year, I really want to focus on photography, so instead of just tossing memory keeping aside altogether, I've planned to incorporate some easier and simpler means for memory keeping.

One of my main projects for this year is to record ONE story per month using Ali Edwards' Story Kits. I am a BIG fan of kits and limited supplies.  The "collector" (i.e. hoarder) in me loves to grab all the new products and hot items, but I know when it comes to actually using them, I often feel overwhelmed and exhausted with all this "stuff".  Narrowing down the products I want to use helps me tremendously when it comes to creating; and Ali's Story Kits are just such a great foundation for telling a story.

I'll be using a 6x8 album and a variety of page protectors (mostly likely the 6x8 size). Each month, my plan is to pick one story, or tell one "overall" story of our month.  I will most definitely be using lots of photo collages because I love how they alone can tell the story of our month.  Other months, I'll stick to one story, or maybe write a letter or something.  And if I feel I have more than one story to tell, while then, I'll create extra pages.  The goal here, though, is not worry about which story I tell or which story gets left out, but to get my thoughts and our memories down on paper.  I am a firm believer that there is no right or wrong way when it comes to memory keeping. 

This is a look at December in my album. We took a trip to the mountains right at the end of December (after my December Daily album officially ended), so I decided to start with this story. To the left, I used Picmonkey to create a simple collage and then typed up my journaling on a piece of 6x8 card stock for the right hand side. So so easy.

For the first part of January, I wanted to talk a little about our "right now", our goals, etc...  I did this page right at the beginning of the month, so I'm actually thinking about doing an additional "collage-type" page at the end. Or maybe not...we shall see!

This process is SO simple and SO easy, and if you've been on the fence about memory keeping, or journaling, I couldn't recommend this approach more.  You really only need limited supplies and your photos - and you could use any supplies here, old or new! Remember, it's not about how many pages you make, or how many memories you record.  It's about living your life and recording those moments you want to record!  Whatever you do, I promise you will never regret getting your photos off of your camera and writing down details of your days. 

Happy Monday, friends!