As always, I have approximately one billion projects in various states of progress going on over here, and at least thrice as many ideas and plans and concepts of plans ricocheting around in my head. Four things I’m working on (and excited about!) right now:
PDX Correspondence Cooperative “stamps”
The PDX Correspondence Cooperative meets once a month at one of my favorite stores in Portland. Last month, I attended for the first time. I was nervous to go, and I’m glad I did. I met so many creative, crafty people; it was a lot of fun. Once you attend two meetups, you’re eligible to receive a handmade “passport.” At the end of each month’s meetup, attendees trades “stamps” to adhere in their “passport.” The “stamps” can be anything—stickers, little drawings, pressed flowers sealed between strips of tape, actual stamps, etc. For my first “stamp,” which I’ll hand out at the April meetup tomorrow evening (!), I used a postage stamp-shaped paper punch to make “stamps” of security envelope patterns from duplicates in my collection. I love them so much.
Pinback buttons
During the great pinback button blitz of 2026, I decided I wanted to make my own pinback buttons. After some quick googling and youtubing, I learned (1) it’s a very easy process, and (2) there are two places in town that have the required equipment and materials, available to the public for use: the Beaverton Library’s Makerspace, and the IPRC. Because I am impatient and the IPRC is much closer to me than is the Beaverton Library, I used their button maker. I love how all my test buttons turned out and have been completely captured by this new crafty hyperfixation. More to follow in a future post.
Project Life 2026
For the first time in several years, I’ve begun my yearly Project Life album in January (!!) and’ve stayed current with it (!!). Two miracles. I plan to share some of my pages documenting January through March in the next week or two—whenever the sun comes out during the right part of the day and for long enough for me to take some decent photos of said pages.
Project Life 101
I’ve been working on a “what is Project Life and what do I need to get started?” post and it’s finally almost ready to share. Project Life is my favorite way to document my life. It makes me sad that so many brands and shops that made and sold Project Life supplies have closed, and that so many people have either drastically cut back on using this memorykeeping approach or altogether stopped using it. I’m excited to share my post about this hobby that I love so dearly; I hope it inspires even just one person to give it a go.
For the first time in years and years—and just in time to discover the memorykeeping industry as I previously knew it has all but disappeared—I’ve got a whole bunch of memorykeeping projects in the works. Perf! Here are four that I’m hyperfocused on right now.
Hike Passport
This Hike Passport is from Letterfolk. It is, of course, no longer listed on their website. They do still have the kids version and a handful of other Passports listed, though.
Each pocket-sized booklet has room for 20 entires. The left side of each spread is a little “form” that you fill out with information about the hike—trail name, distance, the day’s weather, any wildlife you saw, who you went with, etc. The right side of each page is blank (well, it’s printed with a dot grid) for you to do with it what you will: make a sketch, journal, affix a photo, etc. I decided to include a photo from each hike with its entry.
I’m waiting for the latest batch of photos to arrive before I share more of this project here. (I print many of my photos at home and order professional-quality ones only for special projects (I use Persnickety Prints).)
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Holiday mini flip album
In the memorykeeping world there’s an annual holiday project that a bunch of people take on. It’s called December Daily (more here and here and here) and it’s brought to us all by memorykeeping OG (and fellow Oregonian!) Ali Edwards (also here and here) and her creative team.
I do not participate in December Daily. I never have. I’ve tried—lots of times. It’s just never worked out. This is partly because I’m not a big holiday person and so generally don’t feel connected to the premise of the project. And it’s partly because my brain struggles real hard to do a daily themed project and not have each day’s “entry” be from that actual day.
(The way most people, including Ali, approach this project is to tell 25 to 31 different stories throughout the month (many people document only through Christmas Day; some through the end of the month), regardless of whether the story they’re documenting happened on the day of the month that corresponds to the number used in the album. My brain does not work like that.)
Still, I love—and I do mean LOVE—looking through everyone else’s December Daily projects. And still, there is one annual holiday tradition I do with my kids that I want to document. This will be that project. I’m very excited to get the photos back and put it all together.
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Museum Passport
Another Letterfolk product. Unlike the Hike Passport, the Museum Passport is still available on their website (for now).
Like with the Hike Passport (and all the others in the collection), each booklet is pocket-sized and has room for 20 entries. The left page of each spread is a little “form” you fill out with details about each entry—the name of the museum, the type of museum, admission cost, favorite pieces, etc. The right page of each spread is blank-ish (printed with a dot grid) for you to do whatever you want there. I chose to include a photo from each visit with its entry.
I’m working backward with this project, which is not my preferred way of approaching a memorykeeping project. It feels easier and less stressful to me to keep up with projects in real time. That isn’t always possible, and that’s okay. I do what I can with what I have and where I’m at.
I finished all the legwork for this project the weekend before Thanksgiving and placed an order the other day for the photos I’ll be including with each entry. I look forward to sharing more of this project here once I’m caught up with it all.
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Yearly memory album
This style of memorykeeping—which is basically a physical Instagram grid with some collage-style elements and techniques added in here and there—is also known as Project Life, modern memorykeeping, and pocket pages-style scrapbooking or memorykeeping. It’s been my go-to memorykeeping approach since I first learned about it circa late 2011/early 2012. In recent years—since 2020, really—I haven’t been as consistent with it as I was in earlier years. The pandemic and the halt to life as we knew it that it brought are only partly to blame. A pre-pandemic major and unexpected life event is also to blame, as are mental illness and the lack of space there is to store my supplies and work on my projects in the apartment I’ve lived in for the last four years.
Nevertheless, she (I!) persisted: I’m pleased to announce that since July of this year I have fully been back on my bullshit and have kept up with documenting the days and weeks and months in this 6″x8″ album. I’d like to share more spreads here on the blog whenever the dreary Oregon sky that dominates this time of year gives me some photo-friendly lighting to work with. Don’t hold your breath.
I’m the opposite of pleased to announce that I’m not sure how I’ll continue this practice (my main memorykeeping practice!) going forward—I’m almost out of room in this album and the brand that sold these albums (and the corresponding page protectors) recently pivoted to selling office stationery (sticky notes, desk calendars, notepads, etc.). It’s a brand “refresh” that I’m not alone in feeling deeply confused and disappointed by. Here’s hoping I can figure out how to keep at this project in 2025 and beyond.
