Day in the Life is a one-day documentary project created by Ali Edwards. Day in the Life is simply recording the things that happen in a specific day through photos and stories.

How I Scrapbooked my Day in the Life

I recently recorded my first Day in the Life project, on Thursday, May 8, 2014. I used a small notepad to write the events of the day and things people said. I took all the photos with my iPhone 4s. I took about 85 photos, mostly around our house, with a few of places we went that day. Then I typed out the events I recorded and printed some of the photos onto 4×6 photo paper and made a mini scrapbook.

On the above photo, the digital pattern on the left is from Ali Edwards’ Happy Christmas Grey Paper Collection. All the other patterns were made by me.

My Day in the Life Mini Book

• I tried to pair photos that related to the words, but when I didn’t have a photo related to my words, I paired it with a random photo of our home.
• I used an American Crafts Black Slick Writer to circle the letter ‘T’ on the cover page.

Making the Mini Book with Binder Rings

1. Print 4×6 photos. I printed 48 photos and glued them together to make 24 pages.
2. Glue photos together with roller adhesive. (I used Tombo Mono Dots Permanent Adhesive from a scrapbook store). I glue a border around the back of one photo, and a short diagonal line across the back of the opposite photo and stick together.
3. Punch holes the photos. I used a regular 3-hole punch, and slid the center punch so it wouldn’t make a hole. Then I punched each page with two holes.
4. Clip together with book rings. I used 1-inch book rings.
5. Write on the photos. I used an American Crafts Slick Writer (Black Fine Point) to write on the photos.

Cost of This Mini Book

• PHOTO PRINTING (48 4×6 prints from Costco.ca at 16 cents each + 12% tax) = $8.60
• BOOK RINGS (1-inch book rings from my local stationery store) 2 at 37 cents each plus 12% tax = $0.83
• GLUE (Ad Tech from Wal-mart $4 for tape runner plus $4 for 2 refills) + 12% tax: $8.96
• TOTAL $18.39

I don’t consider this book ring style to be a cheap book, particularly since a 20-page 8×8 softcover photo book can be printed by Shutterfly for $19.99 regular price, and is often on sale. And a 40-page 5.5×5.5 softcover book is regularly priced $16.99 at Artifact Uprising. But making a book with book rings is a more flexible option since photos can be added at any time. And the more pages I add to my book rings, the more cost effective it becomes.

Ideas for Next Day in the Life

• Take a group (family) photo.
• Collect more memorabilia.
• Take photos of things like “to do” lists
• Take more screenshots (like the weather screenshot I took)
• Take a photo of our shoes, or maybe each kids’ current shoes.
• Measure our kids’ height and weight. Do a statistics page for each – including their age and what size clothes and shoes they are wearing.
• Take a photo of the inside of my purse.
• Take a photo of the inside of our fridge.
• Take a photo inside our medicine cabinet.
• Take a photo inside our car.
• Take a photo of the top of my nightstand (specifically what I’m reading now).
• Track the number of kilometers driven.
• Record my highs and lows of the day.
• Answer the prompt “One thing…” I like about myself, am working on, am thankful for, etc.
• In the future I might try writing the details on photos with the Slick Writer. Or maybe have my kids draw on one or more pages with it.

What I Liked

• I love the size (4×6 photos printed at Costco) and will definitely be making more this size.
• I love the digital patterns I made to pair with the photos, and printed also on 4×6 matte photo paper. I will definitely be making more of my own patterns and printing with the photos.

Other Day in the Life Project Examples

• Ali’s 2014 4×4 Day in the Life album
• Stephanie’s Day in the Life photos
• Rachel’s Project Life insert for her Day in the Life

Resources

• Ali’s blog posts about Day in the Life, her Daily Sheets for recording the events and one of her Week in the Life books
• Caylee’s Week in the Life printed photo book
• Lynnette’s Week in the Life Blurb photo book
• Ronnie’s Our Story Right Now describing how she documents her family’s daily and weekly routines (photo book printed by Artifact Uprising)
• Tracy’s Week in the Life printed photo book

Have you documented a Day in the Life project? Please post a link in the comments.

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This is Project 4 of 37 Projects.
37 Projects is a year-long set of projects I am attempting to complete before my 37th birthday. I have a growing list of projects I’d like to do (mostly craft projects) and I am picking from my list for this project. I was inspired by Elise Blaha Cripe’s 26 Projects. See project 1, 2, 3.