2015 will be my fourth time doing my Monthly Faves project, after doing it in 2009, 2011 & 2013. So what is it about this project that keeps me coming back for more?

Well, one of my favorite things about The Faves Project is how my faves layouts capture a snapshot of my life. So today I wanted to show you how they do exactly that.

To start, I give you exhibit A: my first ever monthly Faves layout from January 2009:

On my January Faves list at the time:

1. Top Chef
2. American Eagle Jeans
3. Crafty/decor blogs
4. Hybrid scrapping
5. Lady Gaga CD (which I was actually listening to when I made the page)
6. Quesadillas
7. Phone calls from Adam
8. Hitting the gym
9. New episodes of Psych
10. Driving my car

Now let’s fast forward to January 2011:

A couple of notables on my list: driving the Murano again (aka my car referenced in the first layout) and reading Young House Love, which I’m pretty sure was my newest crafty/decor blog obsession at the time.

Now let’s time hop again, this time to January 2013:

Well, look at that, Number 8 on my list is Meeting Young House Love. In the two years since I discovered their blog I went from new fan to actually meeting them at a book signing. How cool is that?

I’m not ready to share my January 2015 layout just yet but, spoiler alert, my Faves list includes Top Chef, which oh yes, appears on my very first January Faves layout from 2006.

Seeing these layouts – ten faves, two, four and eventually six years apart – reminds why I LOVE these Faves layouts so very much.

(And not just because my drop shadowing has clearly improved, haha.)

In the six years from when I scrapbooked that very first January Faves layout I’ve:

• been through a year-long deployment
• sold a car & bought another car
• sold our first house
• lived in three cities and two states
• made three trips to Disneyworld, trips to Chicago, Hawaii, New Orleans, New York and Seattle and numerous trips to California
• said goodbye to two grandmothers and hello to one adorable baby of my own

To say my life is different today from how it was in January 2009 would be an understatement.

And yet when I look at these layouts, I’m reminded again that, while my world around me may have changed , so much about me has remained the same.

Like my love for driving my Nissan Murano, home decor blogs and reality TV.

This is why I love the Faves.

If I were to ask you today what your top-ten favorite things were back in January 2009, would you be able to tell me?

Lord knows I wouldn’t be able to remember. But the beauty of these Faves layouts is I don’t have to.

Because my Faves? They are right there on these layouts capturing a mini snapshot of what my life is like right then and documenting all those little bits and pieces that would otherwise be forgotten. Those little bits that truly make up who we are.

And that right there, my friend, is what scrapbooking is all about.

The Faves express is on it’s way! On Monday February 9th, The Faves Project: 2015 Monthly Faves will be going live! Want to get it in the ground floor?

Get yourself on the exclusive Faves Project list.

You’ll be the first to hear when it opens and may even get a special bonus when you sign up.

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Let’s chat about your scrapbooking albums for a second. When you look at them, what do you see?

Your family? Your travels? Your everyday life?

Now take a closer look. If you had to take a guess, what percentage of your layouts would you say capture YOUR personal story? As in, how many pages are actually about you?

Me? I’d say 75%. But I’ve also had the luxury of being a child-free scrapbooker for the last eight and half years before my son was born last June.

Odds are if you’re like 99% of scrapbookers out there, your albums are full of adorable kid photos, family adventures and not a whole lot of you.

Why is that?

Well I have a couple of theories:

1) You think your story is boring.

As a new mom, I totally get it. When so much of your life is wrapped up in taking care of someone else, it can be tough to step back and think about yourself. We get caught up in the monotony of day-to-day life and assume that routine=boring.

But I’d argue that your life isn’t boring, it’s normal. And despite what you might think, normal doesn’t mean you don’t have a story worth sharing.

2) You don’t like having your photo taken.

Ah, the irony that is the scrapbooker who takes photos of everyone but themselves. What’s that they say about the cobbler having no shoes?

If you’re a camera-shy scrapbooker, know this: you aren’t alone. In fact, I’d say not being in photos is one of the most common reasons scrapbookers give for not scrapbooking themselves.

What you need is a reason to get yourself out from behind the camera. Because I promise you, it’s nowhere near as scary as you make it out to be in your head.

3) You don’t have time to scrapbook yourself.

Ah, time. In a world that glorifies busy as a badge of honor, taking time for yourself can feel like a luxury. Even with something like scrapbooking, you might feel pressure to focus on the stories of everyone else around you and let your own story fall by the wayside.

Any of these sound familiar?

This is why so many scrapbookers are convinced that telling their own personal story is hard. Because it feels like it’s going to take extra effort and time they don’t have for an end result they can’t picture.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Because when you have a plan in place that makes it easy for you to capture your story, scrapbooking yourself no longer feels hard.

Instead you know exactly what you’re going to say, look forward to getting in front of the camera and are free to focus on the creative side of scrapbooking because you already know the end result is going to be awesome.

This is why I believe every scrapbooker (including you!) should scrap a Faves page.

• Because a top ten list is one of the easiest forms of journaling you can do. For real.
• Because a list of your personal faves will say more about you than a travel/event/birthday layout ever will
• Because it’s an awesome way to make sure YOU are featured in your scrapbooks too

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The year was 2009.

After being a child-free digital scrapbooker for three years, I’d reached a point where I was ready for something new with my scrapbooking. A new challenge. A new idea. I loved the layouts I’d created but I felt like my album lacked a cohesive story and at times they didn’t feel like me.

On one cold, wintery day in January 2009, my husband Adam and I drove the two hour trek from Colorado Springs to Loveland, CO so he could go skiing while I relaxed in the lodge. Strapping sticks to my feet so I can careen down the hill with snow blowing in my face is not this California-girl’s idea of a good time. 

While I was sitting in the lodge, laptop out, Lady Gaga playing in my headphones, I started working on a scrapbooking layout. When I started, I didn’t have a clear picture in mind of what I wanted my story to be so, as I often did at the time, I started playing around with papers and elements until eventually an idea came to me.

“Hmm, what if I use these little paper strips for a top ten list?”

I decided on a quick list of things I loved at the time and titled it “January 2009 Faves.”

I loved it.

I loved that it captured a snapshot of my life.

I loved that the design and colors felt like me.

But most of all I loved how easy it was to put together. As someone who tended to stress about every word of journaling she wrote like she was being graded on an English essay, I loved how easy a top ten list of my favorite things was to write.

I had an idea: what if I did one of these every month for the entire year?

While I wasn’t great at finishing year-long projects, I decided to give it a go. To keep things simple I set a few loose guidelines to follow every month:

• My list had to include exactly ten items – no more, no less.
• Journaling had to be in list form but numbers were optional.
• The title for the layout had to include the month followed by the word FAVES.
• Each layout had to include a NEW self-portrait taken during that specific month.

Everything else was entirely up to me – color, design, kit, etc.

In February I scrapbooked my February Faves layout. Then March, April, May and before I knew it was November.

In the rush of the holidays I missed December. But overall it was still a win in my book.

In 2011, I challenged myself to complete the Faves again. And then again in 2013. Each time keeping the rules the same but pushing myself to think outside of my own box with the design.

Thirty-five layouts later, the Faves layouts are still hands-down some of my most favorite layouts ever. They added exactly what my scrapbooking albums needed: a consistent story, a snapshot of my life and a healthy dose of creative design.

What’s more, the Faves remind me time and time again that telling your personal story doesn’t have to be hard.

It’s easy to think you need to reinvent the wheel each time but you don’t. In fact, when you have a clear plan for your layouts, your mind is free to be more creative, not less.

Instead of racking your brain or searching through photos for a new idea each time, you can focus on the fun, creative side of telling your personal story.

And that’s always a fave in my book.

Next week I’m going to be opening the doors for the 2015 edition of the Faves: The Faves Project: Monthly Faves.

If you’re in need of a new creative challenge, want to get more of YOU in your scrapbooks or just feel like you’re unsure what to scrap about and want to know more: get on the exclusive Faves Project list.

You’ll be the first to hear when The Faves Project opens.

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