Labor Of Love

I just wanted to pop in and share a little bit of a background behind the new name of my page (which you can find here), and my blog.

The name of my blog, and my blog style, sort of evolved over the last year. On a whim, I decided to try out Project Life, or as some call it, Project 365. The main idea behind this project, is taking a picture every day, and scrapbook it, which is what I did. Faithfully. But, unlike everyone else, who creates spreads that span an entire week (one layout each, devoted to one week of life), I scrapped each daily picture into a daily layout. (So, in essence, a page a day). I'm severely behind--I'm still working on 2012, but I'm not sweating it. It isn't like I'm in a race to get all my scrapbooking done. If I finish too quickly, then what will I do?!

A lot of people get stressed out by the intensity of a project like this, and its completely understandable. But, why let the stress get to you? Make it your own! Work at your own pace! There's no right or wrong way to do things, and if you miss a day or two, or a week or two, here and there, the scrapbooking police won't come knocking your door down! Its totally ok!

I really enjoyed Project 365; so much, that I'm continuing with it this year. I may not take a picture every day, but I do nearly every day. And, I'm fine with that. My goal is preserving our family life and family tree, and life in general, for my kids to look back on and learn from. And, hopefully, treasure. Mostly, this is where my title came from.

I participate in some (but currently just one) forums at my online gallery, scrapbook.com. I mainly joined them because its always nice hearing some positive feedback about the projects we've made; the encouragement is addictive. Most of the comments that I receive from people are how they love that the theme of 98% of my layouts are based on daily life. And, I LOVE that. My kids are young; they do and say things that I don't want to forget. There's things about them that are so much like their mama and daddy, I want to show them just how much alike we are, and who they inherited what from. I want to show them that life isn't always peaches and cream, but with love and supportive family and friends, we can make it through anything. I want them to know their parents as intimately as possible. And maybe learn a few new things about themselves along the way, too.

Its a labor of passion and obsession, but most importantly a labor of love.