rukristin’s Week in the Life Prep

Every year since college, I’ve documented Week in the Life—the storytelling project created by Ali Edwards where you spend one week capturing the rhythms, routines, and realness of your everyday life.

It’s one of my favorite creative rituals. Each year, it helps me see what’s shifted, what’s stayed the same, and what matters most in this particular season of life.

This year, I’m taking my documenting digital. I’m using my iPad and creating a full digital album in the style of my Digital Diary—but with a full-on WITL twist.

I’ve prepped ahead so I can spend the documenting week focused on capturing, noticing, and being present. Here’s a peek into how I’ve set everything up.

🎨 My Digital Toolkit

• iPad Mini + Apple Pencil—My mobile creative hub. Small, powerful, and totally portable.
• GoodNotes 6—My base app for building the album. I’ve set up a digital notebook with multiple spreads per day.
• ProCreate—What I’ll be using when I need to create illustrations or specific creative editing.
• Ali Edwards’ Digital Supplies—Using her official Week in the Life kit, including pre-designed elements, word art, and the project’s 2025 color palette.
• Photos from my iPhone—Synced via iCloud for seamless importing.
• My own handwriting—No fonts here. I’m writing directly on the pages with my Apple Pencil to keep it personal and easy.

🗓️ Album Structure

Each day of the week gets multiple spreads in my Digital Diary. I’ve set up spaces for:

• Timeline of the Day—What happened, when, and how I felt about it
• The Day in Numbers—Steps walked, cups of whatever, texts sent, pages read, etc.
• Photo Layouts—Morning, mid-day, and evening snapshots

It’s not about getting everything perfectly recorded—it’s about collecting the pieces that tell the story of this moment in time.

🧠 What I’m Thinking About This Year

Each time I do Week in the Life, it reflects back something different. This year, I’m especially interested in:

• How shifting to a fully digital format changes what I document
• Letting the visual structure guide what I pay attention to
• Capturing both the visible and invisible work of daily life

I’ve always said that feminist scrapbooking is about taking up space with your own story—and this project is one of the clearest, most powerful ways to do exactly that.

📹 Peek Into My Process

Here’s a short video walkthrough of my prepped album before the week begins:

You’ll see how I’ve organized my pages, which digital elements I’ve pulled in from the kit, and how I’m leaving room for flexibility throughout the week.

🛠️ Resources & Inspiration

If you’re curious about how Week in the Life fits into a long-term creative practice, or you want more ideas for telling your everyday stories, here are some of my favorite deep dives:

🎧 Podcast Episodes

• Crafty Ass Female WitL Mini Series: 185, 186, 187, 188

📚 Blog Posts & Guides

• Week in the Life 2017 Edition
• Crafty Ass Female WitL Mini Series: 185, 186, 187, 188
• Get Started with Your Digital Diary
• Storytelling Routines that Actually Work
• ALP Forum for outside projects

📝 Want to Try It Yourself?

You don’t need a fancy setup to do Week in the Life. Here’s what I always tell folks:

• Use the tools you already have (your phone, a notebook, a scrap of paper)
• Keep your eyes open for the little stuff: what you wear, what you say out loud, what you reach for without thinking
• Start with one photo and one sentence. That’s enough to begin.

If you want to join in or just follow along, I’ll be sharing updates over at my Substack and in the Awesome Ladies Project forums.

Document your life, your way. Even if it feels messy. Especially if it feels boring. Because that’s the stuff of real life—and it deserves to be seen.