Why I'm Using My Planner Instead of a 12x12 album to Record Pocket Life

 So for those of you who know me, and have seen my work around digi-land and Facebook, you KNOW that I love everything about Pocket Scrapbooking. I love putting multiple photos in layouts and having a single place to record all the "little" details that make life with toddlers so exciting... However... sometimes I feel like I'm getting caught up in recording things twice. or three times. or sometimes MORE, and it's taking the "fun" out of the process and seeming a bit to much like work!

I found that I was recording my day-to-day life in my personal planner, my "stories" from the day in my Day One app, and my to-do lists in my EverNote planner. Heck, I even had a separate "project life planner" to plan out where each and every one of my photos, cards, and memories would be going in my album at the end of the week. Then I would wait until I got home, transfer everything to my computer, type everything out, and make elaborate pocket layouts about my days and weeks. Seriously ladies, I was spending 8 hrs or more on a 2 page spread. Coming from a lady who spends her life RUNNING after her 1.5 yr old and a 2.5 yr old boys and can only scrapbook from 9 pm to 1 am every night, this was a HUGE time commitment. I found myself thinking: "I'm spending more time recording memories than making memories! where are all my nights going?!?"

I'm sure this more traditional process really works for a LOT of people. And although everything I was making was beautiful in my eyes, I wanted something simpler for 2015.

My Perfect World: A Combo of Planner Style and Pocket Style Pages

In my "perfect world", I wanted to write stuff out ONCE in my planner that I carry with me at all times, and then when I have a second or two, just drop my daily - or weekly - photos into already-developed and beautiful page templates (in coordinating monthly color schemes and styles of course!) and slip them right into my planner right alongside my notes for that day or week. Wipe my hands off, and call that baby DONE!

So I brought this idea up with Just Jaimee - a designer that I LOVE (and am so super lucky to Creative Team for newly this year) and she thought the concept sounded fun. I worked with her Hunter collection to bring my concept to life - and am sharing these templates with you through her digital store at The Lilypad.

So the process is simple:

1. RECORD: Each day I carry around my planner and record my memories, notes. and to-do lists in my planner pages (printed from the templates in advance - one copy per week). 
2. ADD PHOTOS: At the end of the week, open up the template in Photoshop or my other favorite graphics editor,  slip a few photos into the layers (See Sweet Shoppe Designs's tutorial on how to use digital templates for instructions on how to add photos to the right layers in your spread), and 
3. PRINT: Print out my photo pages, throw them into the planner, and ENJOY having the memories right with me every day. 

It's THAT simple!

My Results: Templates for January for Purchase at the Lilypad

Here are what the templates that Jaimee and I came up with look like "blank":

And here are what the templates look like with my photos added, and the pages printed, and being used in my Day Runner planner!

Now if I want, I can still do a 12x12 traditional spread when I have a special memory to record (and a LOT of extra time on my hands), but the "work" is done for me for the daily stuff. I can just go and ENJOY the time with my toddlers!  I think that I just heard my 2 year old calling me, so I'm back to the daily grind, but I hope that this style works for you as well as it is working for me!

I'd love to hear what you think. If you like this concept or not, or if you wish I did something different in the templates. Anything! Drop me a line so I can make something that will make YOUR life - and memory keeping - easier (so you can get back to MAKING memories)!