WHAT IS PROJECT LIFE?
I’m sure you have heard Project Life mentioned at some point over the last 4 or so years, but do you know what it is? Project Life is a type of simplified scrapbooking that you can do, to create memory albums for your family (in less time than traditional scrapbooking). To put it simply, it’s streamlined scrapbooking. The creator of Project Life Becky Higgins explains… “Project Life® is a solution-based approach to scrapbooking that was created to simplify the process in order to allow you more time to enjoy life! It requires no glue, no scissors, no tools, and no skills of any kind. The design of our products takes the guess work out of layout design so that you can focus on recording your everyday moments through your photos and journaling. The simple design is stylish and makes it possible for you to complete more pages in less time.” To learn more about Project Life (the full overview) and how it came about, visit Becky’s blog here or her website here. She gets all the glory for creating such an amazing system. I’m here to show you how to organize it in your home & where in the world to begin with Project Life.
Here is one of the layouts that I created this month. Its crisp, clean and exudes the feeling of what my son will remember from that sunny October day. With Project Life, I want to wrap up all the memories that my children experience, and display them in colorful layouts. Years from now, they will be able to flip through the pages of their books and reminisce on their childhood memories.
WHERE TO BEGIN
So many of my fans have expressed interest in wanting to learn Project Life but have no idea where to begin. As an organizer and someone who has to have a system in place for everything, I am laying it out for you, step by step. You will learn what it is, how to set up a space in your home, where to print out photos, how to organize them, and what products you will need in order to begin creating your own pages. I will also share a couple of my own Project Life layouts.
There are 5 main components to “Project Life”.
1. Pictures – Taking pictures, ordering prints, and organizing them.
2. Journaling – Writing thoughts and memories down onto journaling cards, using archival quality pens/markers.
3. Decorating – Using PL cards, embellishments, stickers, and keepsakes
4. Page Protectors
5. Albums – 12×12 or mini albums
MY STORY
I began scrapbooking back in 1998, when my first daughter was born. I loved it. It was a creative outlet for me. I needed that outlet while my husband was overseas in the Navy, months at a time. I was at home with an infant, alone. Soon, scrapbooking became my haven. I spent hours at the kitchen table, with my best friend (& neighbor): cutting, pasting and laying out memories for my newborn baby. We also spent countless hours visiting scrapbooking stores, perusing the isles, looking for the next best thing to add to our albums. I created several albums, documenting her newborn, baby, and toddler years. I enjoyed it immensely. Then all of the sudden, one day she decided that she wanted to HELP me! Yep… she wanted to cut up the beautiful sheets paper that I just spent 50 cents each on (that was a lot of $ for us at the time), and paste glue onto the pictures that I just had developed. She wanted to add stickers and ribbon to each page, and she was determined to help me with every single page.
Soon, I found that it was more work than it was worth. I could no longer work on a page because she wanted so badly to “help”. That was when I decided it was time to hang up my scrapbooking scissors and move on. I bought a new digital camera and began taking better pictures, but the scrapbooking faded away. A few years later, I became a professional photographer and still have a love for creating artistic pictures. But all of the pictures either stayed on my computer or were packed away in boxes. When I heard about Project Life, I knew that I needed to revisit my love for creating memory albums. I now have 3 children and 2 of them have no memory books to show for their childhood. So my mission is to order prints of the digital pictures I have taken over the last 10 years, and create beautiful albums for each of my children. I hope you gain some tips on how you can create memory albums for you family too!
MY PROJECT LIFE ORGANIZATION (& OFFICE REVEAL)
Last year, I shared my brand new office with my readers. Since then, I have switched offices with my husband & my new office now resides in our master suite. Its perfect for me, albeit smaller, but still perfect! One of the You Tube subscriptions I watch, Organized Jen, shared her craft room organization a while back (Jen also has a fabulous organizing blog that you may want to check out). When I saw her video, I knew that the furniture and shelving set up would be perfect for my small office. So I ordered the Bedford Pottery Barn Desks, shelving & the Reisenthel boxes to go on the shelves (no longer available). There are not too many options for baskets/bins that will fit on these particular shelves. They are very narrow. I have yet to find anything else to fit on them. Im still searching though, since I like to change things up a bit, from time to time. I found the white slipcovered chairs from Ikea. I love my new set up. Thank you Jen, for the inspiration for my new office. <3
The right side of my office is my Project Life desk.
This is where the magic happens. It’s where I document the memories for my children.
I found this robins egg blue organizing system at Staples. It’s Martha Stewart. I keep my journaling cards and archival quality pens in it.
The Pottery Barn wall system is perfect for organizing many things. My scissors hang on the hooks below.
Project Life comes in either core kits, theme kits or mini kits. You can also subscribe to a monthly Studio Calico subscription. A subscription is $19.99 per month and they will send you a different layout kit each month. You also have the ability to add embellishments to your kit.
The cubbies below contain…
1. My Project Life Planner (used to document happenings each day that I want to include in my albums). I do this so I dont forget details from each day. I have a horrible memory and this helps keep me on track.
4. Magazines
STICKERS
I embellish my Project Life pages with high quality stickers from Michaels & Jo Annes. I spend a lot of money on stickers because they are what gives my pages the “feel” I am going for. I organized the stickers into sections. I created the labels in photoshop and printed them out. Then I cut them with the “Tab” label punch & stapled them to a sheet of white card stock. (I found this tip from someone on Instagram. I tried to find the picture, but I don’t remember her name). I would love to give her credit if anyone else has seen her post on IG?
PRINTING AT HOME
If you are looking for a convenient way to print your pictures at home, below I listed a few photo printers to choose from. (I have not tested all of these out. Please research for yourself). On occasion, I print pictures out at home, when I dont want to wait for the photos to arrive in the mail. This is a very expensive way to develope the pictures, but its also very convenient. I do not print all of our pictures out at home. Every once in a while, if I want to hurry up and finish a page, I will print some. The Epson Picture Mate is a fantastic home printer that prints out 4×6 images. You can also choose to print 2-2×3’s or film strips. Its a great printer!
1. Epson PictureMate Charm – $164.85
2. Selphy – $77 – $83
3. Canon Pixma MG8220 – $149.58
HOW TO ORGANIZE KEEPSAKES
If you choose to document your project life in weekly increments, the system I use (above) works great. When the kids bring home an A+ test, an award, a ticket stub, artwork, etc… you can add it to the file that is labeled for that specific week. Then when you are ready to work on a week, just grab the folder (which will be labeled) and you are ready to go.
What you will need to organize weekly keepsakes:
- 1-2 magazine or file boxes
- 52 File Folders
- Label stickers
- Pen
* Label each folder with 52 weeks for the year and you’re ready to go! The robins egg blue folders and boxes above are from Staples. (Martha Stewart)
WHERE TO ORDER PRINTS
There are many places to order prints for your albums. Here are just some examples…
1. Mpix – They are probably the best (non professional) online photo lab. Here is their pricing.
2. Walgreens
3. CVS
4. Snapfish – Most reasonable pricing
5. Shutterfly – Also very reasonable pricing
6. Printsgram -(For ordering Instagram pictures)
7. Origami – (For printing Instagram pictures)
*I do NOT recommend Walmart because of their poor picture quality.
HOW TO ORGANIZE PHOTOS
I take pictures most every day. Once per week, I transfer all of the pictures from my memory card to my computer (iPhoto). Then I place a weekly print order to iPhoto’s lab. To do this, I look through all of the pictures. I add the photos that I will be using in my PL albums, into one weekly file folder in iPhoto. Then I order prints of that entire album (by clicking on “share” then “order prints”). Its pretty simple to do. Once you try it a few times, you will get the hang of it. After I receive the prints in the mail, I automatically divide them into events and place into plastic photo boxes & add a sticky note with the date of the event. If I forgot the date, I go into iPhoto and look it up. IPhoto keeps track of dates for each event. Pictures can be very difficult to contain.
I am currently using a cart from Ikea that I store my pictures in. It works well for me. Once my photos are ordered and organized, all I have to do is grab a box of photos and find the file folder that matches that date that coresponds to the photos, and Im ready to start creating a layout. Not all of my pictures fit into the plastic boxes. When I am finished with a layout, I will re use the plastic box for a new event. The events that dont fit, I keep in a drawer in my desk, until a box becomes available.
HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR SPACE
There are so many Project Life core kits & mini kits to choose from. Once you begin to accumulate them, it can get overwhelming. You need to create a system of organization for your Project Life kits & supplies, or they will take over your space.
CONTAINERIZE & LABEL
I decided to separate and containerize each kit, into boxes with lids. One core kit fits perfectly into a small box (pictured above). Two core kits fit inside of each large box above. I purchased the boxes from the childrens section at Target. To easily grab a kit, I labeled the boxes by the name of the kit “edition”. There are many other ways to organize your Project Life cards. I have found this to be the easiest. I tried several methods, before settling on this one. This also helps me keep my cards separated within their kit. Before using this system, I kept getting cards/editions mixed up. Now its all organized, just the way I like it! The labels are the Martha Stewart File Labels from Staples.
WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIALS?
After you have taken pictures & printed them out, you are ready to begin creating a Project Life album. Here are some essentials to get you started. All Project Life items can be purchased at Amazon.com, Michaels or Hobby Lobby. You can begin Project Life with just one album, page protectors and a mini kit. Then work your way into the bigger kits & more albums, once you get the hang of it.
- Albums & Mini Albums
- Core Kits & Mini Kits
- Page Protectors
- Stickers & Embellishments (non essential)
PROJECT LIFE KITS:
I have several Project Life Core, Mini & Theme Kits. There are so many to choose from. You can get them from Becky Higgins (Project Life), but there are also other companies who create products that can be used in in the albums. Pocket Pages (from Michaels) is one of my favorite brands, as well as Snap. My kits are listed below.
My Core Kits
Vintage Travel
5th & Frolic
My Mini Kits
Baby
Flea Market
Polka Dot
My Theme Kits
Winter
Basketball
Theme Park
Celebrate
Great Outdoors
Fall
Floral
Baseball
Americana
Girl
Road Trip
Love
Celebrate
Tropical
The Jade Core Kit
PAPER & PAGE PROTECTORS
Along with the Project Life kits, you can use card stock or scrapbook paper to create your layouts. There are different hole punches that you can use to cut your paper to the correct size (as well as photos) or you can even use scissors to cut the paper to fit into the page protectors. Of course you will need some page protectors. They are the sheets that you put your photos & journaling cards into. I have my paper & page protectors organized on these shelves. I even labeled the sides. I also keep my photo paper, laminating pouches, and hole punches in here.
I purchase my card stock at Michaels.
My Epson Picture Mate photo paper & ink is stored in this drawer.
And my labeler and tape is stored in this drawer, under the paper.
PROJECT LIFE ALBUMS
Once you create those beautiful layouts, you will want an album to store them in. I love the new fabric albums by Project Life. I couldn’t decide, so I purchased one in every color of the rainbow. There are also other brands who sell 12×12 albums. You can find them at Michaels, Hobby Lobby, Jo Annes, and many other places.
This part of my office is my “planning area” and computer. I am a big planner and love collecting different types of planners.
I store my Project Life Core Kit boxes, on the shelf above my computer. They are empty but I just dont have the heart to throw them out. Do you keep yours?
In the center of the office is my bill payment center. I went into detail early last month. You can see that post here. I also shared how I organize my filing system here.
Below is a drawer system (from the Container Store) that houses all of my planner supplies.
I purchased the pen organizer from Michaels. Its Recollections brand. I have a ‘thing’ for pens too! 😉
My Expedit shelf from Ikea, houses all of my books. I love reading! I also keep some Project Life albums on here.
This Alex drawer unit from Ikea has more planner essentials inside of it. I need to relabel the drawers. I will share this with you later on. The colorful boxes are my childrens keepsake boxes. Everything that doesn’t go into the Project Life albums, is stored in these boxes. I go into detail about how I made them here. On the top of the drawer unit is where I keep my extra page protectors.
Below is one last Project Life layout of mine. My son got his braces put on this month. I am thankful to be able to create these memories for him and for my other children, so they can share them with their children, when they are grown.
I hope you enjoyed my very long post about how I organize my Project Life and a peek at my new office. I would love for you to share this post with your friends on Facebook & pin it to Pinterest. Thanks so much for visiting!
HAPPY ORGANIZING!
Please note: Everything that I have shared with you today are the things that work for me. These are my own opinions. I am not affiliated with Project Life or Becky Higgins. Products on this page are linked to my Amazon Affiliate account.
Tags: office, planner organization, project life
Blog, crafting, October 2013, Office, Organize, Planners & Binders, project life, project life organization, Slider Posted in
116 comments
116 comments on “Project Life Organization (& my office reveal)”
OMG…..love it Toni…xoxo
What a great post! I enjoyed touring your house and learning more about PL! Thank you for sharing!
Toni, thank you so much for posting this. I am “claiming” my 4th bedroom and turning it into a office & craft room. I have been stewing how much space to give each area, how to make them tie together but also be separate. This has given me s e great ideas. As always, it looks beautiful.
Miriam that’s what I did a couple months ago! I turned our spare bedroom into my office/craft room and I think it’s the best decision I’ve ever made lol. I love that room and am in it all the time. These ideas make me want to get in there now and organize organize organize!
Looks amazing Toni! You have such great systems and systems within systems – very inspiring!
xo, Becky
Thanks becky. 🙂
One question Toni, what pens do yo find the best for writing on the PL cards?
Zig millenium pens are my favorite.
Thank you so much for sharing! I just started my PL album and was at a loss for how to organize everything. I also recently set up keepsake boxes for my children based on your suggestions. They’re working beautifully! I appreciate all of the time and effort you put into your blog. I have gained so many great ideas from reading. The pictures are beautiful, and all of your posts are so inspiring. I appreciate you! Heather
SO inspiring!!! Thank you. I love all of your ideas and I plan on implementing many of them in my life!!
Thanks for sharing Toni! I have been obsessed with your site for some time now, but lacked the time to complete anything. I am almost finished organizing our office! Just purchased my first labeling machine and can’t wait to finish our filing organization! I also used to scrapbook and have an entire box full of paper, stickers, and pens that have been shut away! I think it’s time to bring those out and start some Project Life! Thanks again! Your office is beautiful 🙂
You are amazing
I am just blown away, this makes me want to run home and tear apart my own office and completely revamp it!
Ooooooohhhhhh…….. it’s so pretty!!!! I am dreaming of having my own space in the house that I can use for myself. Right now I just have a little (and falling apart) desk in the corner of the living room!! Beautiful Toni, I’m sure it’s taken you years to get it to this point and to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t.
you are amazing! I love all your amazing ideas, creativity, and especially how candid you are! thank you for sharing! 😉
WOW!! This is really motivating and really makes me want to jump right in!! I have a 12, 2, and 1 year old and thousands of pictures stored on discs, external hard drives and on 2 computers. I’ve been overwhelmed with it all but after seeing this, I really want to start!! I ran across PL while looking for Christmas card ideas and I was blown away!! I’m so excited to get rolling!!!
I loved this post! It is inspiring me to get back to scrapbooking. It looks like homeshopping network is having a project life event.
Wow… just wow. I am awestruck and now have to pick my jaw up off my desk at work.
Oh my. Stayed at home sick today and this post is lifting my spirits. Sooooo beautiful and need to pin a lot of it. What a happy place!
You are amazing and I wish you lived next door so that you could be my BFF! 😉 My office is 1000 times messier, but very similar and with most of the same things! So funny. One difference: you write your blog while I just ignore mine because I get sucked into reading yours! Ah, well…someday. 😉
Inspiring!
I love all of the colors you use to bring so much life to your space. What a wonderful place to work!
Love your space, thanks for posting. What is the hanging system on the wall with the whiteboard and folders in front of your Project Life desk. It’s fantastic!
WoW!!!! that is an amazing set-up!!! You are a great inspiration for those of us who want/try to have an organized home & life!!
My goodness. I feel like I have entered a black hole, never to make my way out! (in a good way.) Just started this whole Project Life thing. I have bins, baskets, bags, and piles of photos and keepsakes – in addition to all of the digital materials I have yet to organize. I used to be so on top of things…until I don’t know…..I wasn’t? It wasn’t even something that motherhood brought on, I just never took the time to create a clean and organized space in which I could work all of this magic. Your office is truly my dream space. Bright and cheerful, I can see myself getting a lot of work done in a room like that (I work full time from home.) We are in the process of building a new house, which will have a dedicated office for me, as I currently work at a desk in the corner of my kitchen, with my counter tops cluttered with STUFF. I have no place to put things, so it all ends up in a pile. And then you know what happens? It sits there until we have guests, when I load everything into a giant thirtyone bag and toss in a spare room. And then forget about it. Until I have a bill I need to pay and upend the bag looking for it. It’s a sad state of affairs, really. I just have no motivation to ACTUALLY organize because I don’t have the right tools or space for it. Bad excuse though… Anyway, my long-winded point is, you have inspired me. Even while we are building this house I need to create a system, otherwise Project Life is going to end up like the rest of my forgotten paperwork…in a big bag, in a room, forgotten. I will definitely be utilizing some of your tips here, THANK YOU for sharing.
Great Post! I feel inspired… and happened to plan a trip to my Michael’s today to hit up the PL sale.. so … great timing. 🙂 Thank you for your willingness to share your home and life with us.
I ended up ordering a Project Life kit and accessories from HSN.com. They had a wonderful starting pack on clearance. Thanks again for getting me started. I LOVE the blue Ikea cart that you store your photos in. What boxes are you using for the photo storage?
I’d like to know what boxes the photos are stored in also.
I feel awful about this, but I don’t even have any pictures of my kids printed out, much less a Project Life. And they are school-aged.
Amazing! Thanks. I learn from here alot
Love, love, love! Everything is just so beautiful and functional. I used to be huge into scrapbooking as well and even had work published in magazines, but I haven’t picked up a piece of patterned paper in over two years. I have plenty of other creative outlets, but I really miss documenting our lives, so I finally decided I’m going to start PL in January since it’s the most manageable option I can think of. I’m spending these last few months of the year getting everything organized and ready (including cutting my pretty paper into 4×6 and 2×3 sections!) so that I’ll have no excuses when the new year starts.
Oops. I meant 4×6 and 3×4 sections… I don’t want to mislead anyone who decides to cut up her paper!
I ordered and received my first PL Olive Core Kit yesterday. I love the colors and tones of the cards…but I have no idea how or where to start. Lol. BTW, I totally have craft room envy. I love everything about your craft room. I enjoyed it!
I absolutely LOVE this post! You inspired me (from the facebook group) to finally do something with my thousandS of photos, but thanks to you laying it all out, I wont be so overwhelmed. I appreciate you taking the time to create such a thorough post. Too often bloggers write up a quick 2 paragraph post with a picture thrown in and it leaves much to be desired.
Thank you SOOO much for sharing all of your great ideas!! May I ask what kind of plastic boxes you use to fit in that IKEA cart that you use?
HOLY SMOKES!!! This is AMAZING. I am a newbie to your website and all I have to say is WOW! I love it. I just purchase my Project Life Kit and album so I can begin 2014. I am definitely re-organizing my craftroom and buying the Alex Drawers from Ikea. I probably need about 4 of them and I will be good to go. Thank you for sharing! Your office is AMAZING!
Love this office Toni, amazing!! Can you tell me where you got your plastic photo boxes at? Thanks!
Absolutely love this!! I am so intrigued by Project Life but I feel like it’s going to be a very expensive hobby if I pursue it.
Your office is beautiful too! I’ve been watching Jen for years and this post is Toni meets Jen so I’m very excited! You guys should do a collab post!! 😀
*swoon* I LOVE your organizational system!! I am in the process of redoing my scraproom right now. I do cardmaking, mostly traditional 12×12’s, but I really want to get into Project Life. Love it!!
Hugs,
Sami
Toni, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the time you spent on this incredible post!!! You are absolutely amazing, fabulous, amazing…. WOW!!! I am inspired by you and A Bowl Full of Lemons every single day. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. All the best!! Robyn
I love it. The colors and the crispness of the white furniture…….Job well done!!!
Your blog made me cry I would die to have your type of organization. Are you on bloglovin?
Great post and fantastic organization. I would love to know approx how long did it take you to set up this space? Thanks for all of the tips!
Love, love, love your space. So bright and orderly. You are so what I want to be when I grow up! I wish I would have had all these ideas when my kids were little, but I am implementing some with my grandchild! Thanks for sharing your incredibly organized mind and habits with us!
I’m in total amazement at your ability to organize beyond all imagination. You have inspired me more than words can say. Thanks, Toni.
Wow!! Love your office!! But I love everything you organize, if I could just be half as organized as you!! I am scrapbooker and have been containing my self from PL, just because I have soooo much paper and stamps and inks and you name it!! But after reading your post I may have to give one kit a try! I loved everything you shared, but I think my favorite was the way you do the folders weekly and the pictures!! Gonna give that a try! Thanks for sharing!
I don’t even know what to say – you are my idol!!!!! AMAZING!
What perfect timing! I am preparing for a scrapbook weekend and have had a Project Life Kit for quite some time but never really put a plan in place on where to start and how to organize my albums. I have many years of catch up to do and I can’t decide what my PL Albums should be. I have seen many do a Family Yearbook in digital format and keep the PL Albums for each individual child. Others keep a PL Album for family and separate albums for each child. Toni, what types of albums do you have (family, children, etc.) and where would you suggest I start (current year or start at the beginning)? I’m really struggling with this one. Thanks for sharing your beautiful room and your PL organization!
Looks awesome. But I can’t even imagine how much money is invested in that Project Life stuff!
No kidding! The rainbow of albums alone is a budget buster, lol! Lordy!
This is incredible! Thank you so much for sharing this beautiful setup of your PL things.
THANK YOU FOR SHARING! One day I hope to be as organized as you! I am currently looking for a photo printer so I’m happy that you mentioned the Picture Mate printer! I started a scrapbook/smash book project that is designed to do with children. My idea was inspired by my hobby of scrapbooking, my love of preserving my daughter’s keepsakes, and my minimal time to document our moments together. Please check out my project at live2lovehi.blogspot.com!
Okay, here is my question…like you I need to go back and scrap 8 years of childhood memories but at the same time I need to keep the memories of the current year. How do you go about this? I’m very overwhelmed but I love Project Life.
Very Inspirational and absolutely beautiful!! Just one question where did you get the photo boxes from? I really loved that idea for photo storage as of right now my pictures are stored in a big plastic container.
Totally love your website, just a short question. Why did you put your PL desk in front of a door? You can’t get in there anymore? And then I noticed that in front of the closet are your kids bins. Your page has inspired me to get rid of stuff so I no longer store things infront of something. Just wondering what your process is or are you still in the process? Thanks Yoni for such a great website, I just organized my purse and I am so much happier, all the best
Thanks Toni for such a great website (typing in the dark always means my spelling is off, so sorry)
I love your scrap/office area. I work better in chaos for some reason but I would love to be as organized as you =)
Where did you get the organizers for your photos in the Raskog IKEA cart?
You can purchase containers like those at you local Joann’s, Michaels, Hobby Lobby or other craft supply store.
Hi you mention above the containers in the ikea cart are from {Joann’s, Michaels, Hobby Lobby} do they have a brand or name ? I’m in canada and don’t have any of those stores I will have to find them online…
hope you can help
BEAUTIFUL ROOM <3
Natasha – I use photo holders that are very similar (possibly the same) as the ones Toni uses. I bought all of mine at Michael’s when they were 50% off. They are the Iris brand and come in different colors. Good luck!
Toni, I love your blog. I am a Registered Nurse myself and you and your blog has given me such inspiration and the encouragement that a happy organized home is within my grasp. You have literally changed my life. I look forward to more posts from you. XOXO
Toni! Thank you so much for inspiring me to start Project Life! 2 questions…which brand/type of archival pens do you love most? I trust your opinion as now I can’t go without my Papermate Flairs I use in my planner. Second question, how do you put larger mementos such as A+ papers in your Project Life layout? Take a picture of them? Any additional tips welcome. I love the way you’ve organized everything and made it so simple to get started and manage in weekly increments. I always have felt overwhelmed and guilty thinking that I had to back track and scrapbook, journal and organize photos I’ve been putting off for the last 8 years! Your tips definitely have made it manageable and something I’m now looking forward to weekly.
Toni: Where did you get that grid mat at your scrapbooking table??
Thanks!!!
Toni, I love your office space, the colours are just gorgeous, it would make me happy just to sit in there let alone be able to find everything you needed! I just had one question, the little plastic boxes you have your photos in on the little Ikea cart, where did you find them? It looks such a great system you have, thanks for sharing. I just bought my first PL album and am waiting on a bunch of kits I ordered to come and then I can’t wait to get started, it has been way too long since I made an album!
you can find those plastic containers at any craft store (Joann’s, Michael’s, etc.)
Wow! You’ve got it going on girl. This is the most amazing home office I’ve ever seen. I try to be organized, but you have taken it to a whole new level. You must have a phd in organization. The colors are simply breathtaking. I’m glad I stumbled across your site and look forward to seeing more. My project for the next several months is to transform my office into something similar. I am going today to purchase colorful boxes and binders. (I have just always used white binders with a clear front cover). Yours looks so much prettier. Wish me luck.
Thanks for the reply Rachel! You girls are just awesome <3
I LOVE your space – but I’m also interested in the swimming PL cards you have at the top of your post. i have 2 swimmers at home and would love to know where those come from!
You dazzle and amaze!!! So much organizational eye candy!!! Thanks for the Inspiration!!!
Hi Toni, just wondering what size your cutting matt is at your Project Life space, and if it is Martha Stewart one?
I have a question about the swim team cards you used…Where did you find them? I have a hard time finding anything swim team much less the great looking cards you used.
I love your office…it is amazing…I also really liked the boxes you have for your kids…that is a great idea…
They are the “Pocket Pages” from Michaels. Its the sports pack.
thank you 🙂
Thank you! I have a former swimmer too…love these!
OMG! I NEED ALL OF THIS!
I’M TOTALLY ADDICTED AND WANT TO DO ALL OF THIS….NOW JUST OVERWHELMED OF WHERE TO START!?!?
As I stalk your blog…your organization talant/skill is utterly amazing!!!! I would just like to hire you to come to my house and do it for me.
I love the organization! Where did you get your desks?? I love how solid they are!
This was the most informative post on keeping your stuff organized. I have so much stuff it is OVERWHELMING!!!!! I am headed to Target now to see what I can find! Thanks for listing where you got everything. SO HELPFUL!
Your office is awesome! I would love to know the brand of snap lid containers you use to hold your kits. I love the pink lids! Can you share the brand and where you purchased them?
I love your site and the organization of all your fabric books. A quick question for you…do you find the fabric albums get dirty??? The leather ones would allow you to wipe them off, but I am worried the fabric ones won’t. Any advice?
Hello! Fellow filofax/planner, project life, organizational fan here. (Am also in the Facebook planner groups). Can we just say Holy Project Life Batman! My heart is palpitating in a good way! First, I love your rainbow albums. How fun! Also loving all the creative storage ideas for the PL cards. I have a variety of ways to store the cards as well, also using the ikea cart with the Close To My Heart medium storage bin…perfect fit! The CTMH storage bin fits in the ikea cart perfectly. As well, the Ikea Antonius storage trays also fit the PL cards perfectly and fit in the cart trays as well. I’m so glad to hear your view on scrapbooking, your love for PL and your determination to get those digital photos in albums. This is one of my biggest frustrations. My kids are 24 and 30 and half their photos are prints and half of my youngest child’s photos are print, the other half digital. It’s costly and time consuming to print hundreds of photos or should I say it could be costly to print all of them. The time consuming part is going through and deciding which ones to print. Thankfully, PL makes the scrapbooking part easy!
Of course people still ask why I scrapbook at all. My response is I’m the family memory keeper and I’m preserving our family history through photos and memorabilia. Yes, it’s an investment of time but you make time for what’s important. Besides, what am I going to leave as a visual of their childhoods…a jump drive full of photos? Photos in the cloud? Lol I do recommend including saved photos on a jump drive though and putting it in the album. Another thing to consider is that hundreds if not thousands of my photos are on CDs. My new laptop does not have a cd/DVD drive, as many of the newer ones don’t, so if I want to view these photos and preserve them for my kids, I have to purchase an add on CD/DVD player, view all the CDs, download/save the photos then decide which ones to print. What a chore changing technology makes for us!
This is so inspiring!! Can you tell me about the poster that is hanging above the desk? I can barely see the words but the phrase “Planner Addicts” caught my eye….maybe because I am one….LOL
Hi! I love this post!! Where do you get the boxes you organize your photos in? I totally love the idea of printing weekly and storing them in these perfect boxes.
What a beautiful, well organized scrap studio. I love it! Your photos are excellent, too.
Thank you for all the amazing ideas and inspiration! My savings account hates me right now, but I’m so excited to organize my stuff soon!!
I just found out bout your website and would like to purchase the project life pages but need to buy a color scanner/printer….is there one that you would recommend? Thanks a bunch!!
I love this site! Although, I just don’t know how you keep things so organized with kids. I have one and it feels like I would never in a million years get to the point of organization you are at. I work full time and wonder how all of you create time for all of this…I get up, go to work, come home, make supper, clean the kitchen, get lunch ready, give my little one a bath and flop! Weekends are filled with errands and church activities. I’d like to see a blog to schedule time for all of this! 🙂 (And, I’ve tried a cleaning schedule, fell off it, and spent a month or more catching up on the cleaning) . Otherwise, your organization stuff is so pretty to look at and I find myself coming back to your blog again and again for inspiration and tips! Thanks!
It definitely takes dedication and determination. There are times the house gets messy but having it organized makes it so much easier to get it back in shape. Get the kids involved! My 2yo knows how to clean up his toys and has been doing such for quite some time now.
WHERE is your corner desk from?!?!? Did the glass top come with it? LOVE IT!
the desk is from Pottery Barn
This is FANTASTIC–I can’t wait until I have a home with enough space to do this! Do you have any tips for keeping costs down when organizing? I love these ideas, but am not sure I could keep up with all of it money-wise…
using what you have it the number one way to save money when organizing. I have it on my list of projects, to replace my office desk. I didn’t want to spend the money on drawer organizers only to have them not work in the new desk, once we purchase. As a low cost alternative, I used cracker sandwich trays, cut cereal boxes down and used some plastic food storage containers.
This is a beautiful space – Can you give some tips on what archive quality pens you use for journalling – I have found some black ones but am not sure what’s available in colours. Thanks in advance!
zig millenium is my favorite.
Amazing, you have inspired me to become organized. 🙂 great job
Where are the boxes from? They are a great small size for storing photos.
Target
I love reading about your organization, especially regarding family photos and artifacts. I have recently been given all my mother-in-laws boxes of photos, keepsakes, etc. Since my husband’s Dad was an only child included in that is Grandmother’s things – and her family’s photos/keepsakes as well. On the other side of the coin, I’ve ended up with everything from my side as well. I am OVERWHELMED! Any suggestions for digging in and getting all of that organized? I have a living room full of boxes, laundry hampers and totes with treasures of 2 generations past – on both sides of the family!
set small goals for yourself. Don’t look at the big picture of you’ll become over-whelmed quickly. Set one box in front of you with a couple of smaller bins to categorize into (by years, person, etc.) Set a timer for 15 minutes and start separating the goodies. Take a break or if you’re on a roll, set the timer for another 15 minutes. You’ll make more progress than you realize.
Can I say that I am JEALOUS of your office. OMG it is so amazing. I love how it is organized. I am not into scrapbooking but this is so totally what I want my office to look like. This is absolutely amazing and has given me alot of ideas for my own office. I want to incorporate color in it and your post has certainly inspired me. Thank you so much for sharing.
Do you post your Project Life pages anywhere? I would LOVE to see more! Your style is great!
Toni shares some via instagram, (tonihammersley) but typically they are not fully shared.
Love everything you posted. How do you organize/separate your albums….do you make an album for each child each year? Do you make one family album? How do you decide what to put into the family album? Do you put any group (family/other children) pictures into one child’s album? I think this is my hold up…I am not sure what to put in each album Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I would suggest doing what’s best for you. For me, A family album works better since I have 4 children and that would be a huge undertaking.
First off, I love this site!! Where did you get the shelves that you store your card stock on? Again, this site is fabulous!
Michaels
Your office is beautiful. If only I could talk my boyfriend into letting me do this haha! Once we move into a bigger house I’ll having to start my crazy collection of office supplies.
I can’t stop looking at this. It’s so clean and bright. This will be inspiration for my home office. Where is your favorite place to purchase office supplies?
Toni purchases from several stores including, but not limited to, Target, Office Depot, and Staples.
Wow! I absolutely love your office & how you keep everything so organized!
I’m confused, what is the difference between “project life” scrapbooking vs other types of scrapbooking?
You mention the following at the top of the page; “It requires no glue, no scissors, no tools, and no skills of any kind.”
So how do you attach the photos to the album page & how do you crop your photos?
Thanks for this great blog! I plan to take the 21 day challenge & get my house organized once & for all!
I have no excuse now since I’m an empty-nester!
Thanks again!