Project Life 2012 - Week Eight

Wow, I can't believe that I have successfully managed to document 8 weeks of our family life - hopefully I will be able to keep it up for the remaining 46 weeks!

Again, I will apologise in advance for the glare on some of the photos - I find it really difficult to photograph the layouts in their page protectors.

Main Spread, without extra inserts:

Just an ordinary week around here, both kids were sick for the first few days (Lily missed a few days of school), and then the second half of the week we were back into the normal swing of things.

Collected: a business card from the local doctors surgery, a business card from the dancewear shop were I bought Lily some jazz shoes (for ACRODANZ), and a paint sample colour card (we have finally decided on a new colour to paint the walls).

I also added in a McDonald's picture, because we booked Lily's 5th birthday party there, for next month, and I stumbled across an awesome quote about redheads (I know many of you will now look at the photos of me and think 'what's she on about - her hair isn't red! hahaha. But in my old age, it had turned more of an orangey-brown (auburn brown) colour, but since I was born a red-head, I still identify as one).

Close up of left hand side:

Close up of the right hand side:

We had another busy weekend; Lily and Benji had a birthday party on Saturday, combined with ACRODANZ in the morning and an event that evening, made for a busy Saturday!!

Main Spread with Extra Inserts:

I included three extra inserts this week; the first can be seen here. Benji and I attended a storytime for 0-5 year olds, and after they read some stories, the kids had the chance to colour in a face mask - that monkey was just too cute not to include! I also kept the name sticker that they wrote for him, and the sticker he got at the end for participating.

Insert 2:

The first insert is a flyer from a local production my sister, mum, Lily and I went to on Saturday night - it was so good, can't wait to go and see another show!

Back of insert 2/3:

On the back of the Grease poster, is a photo of everyone before we went out, I was hoping to make a collage with a few photos from the night, but I didn't take any photos inside the show, and I kept checking Facebook and none have been put up, so maybe later if I can find some other photos I will make a collage.

On Sunday, Lily and I (along with my best friend Emma, and Lily's best friend Hayley [Emma's daughter]), went to a free cooking class, which was sponsored by the local council and a few other groups, who actively work within the community.

The aim of it was to give some healthy lunchbox alternatives to the standard ham and cheese sandwich I send Lily to school with everyday!

Back of insert 3:

I made a collage in Picasa, with a group shot of all of us, and then added some little photos of the girls together, and one of them mixing.

Close up of the cooking collage:

In Picasa I added the text, I thought that it was a nice touch to help remember what we made.

Ans because they are a little hard to see, a couple of the other photos.

Benji at Koorliny Bookworms:

Collage of Lily and Benji at the birthday party on Saturday:

One thing you may have noticed, while looking at my album is that this week I suddenly stopped corner rounding. The first 7 weeks all have photos with rounded corners, and that will probably stay that way, and from now on I will be leaving them square - a little mis-matched, but I'm ok with that.

The main reason I stopped corner rounding was simply because; my photos are printed at Officeworks on Kodak XtraLife II paper (and I don't know if all Kodak paper is like this, or just this one particular type), but there is a thin plastic backing on the paper. My corner rounder just doesn't like going through that plastic.A simple two-second job of corner rounding was taking me around 15-20 minutes a spread, as the corner rounder was jamming up and then I was having to trim the excess off with scissors.

The very notion behind Project Life is to simplify the way you scrapbook, and so, while I LOVE the look of the rounded corners, I have decided to stop.

One last photo, of my little 'helper'

As usual, I am linking up at The Mom Creative.

Project Life 2012 - Week Seven

I'm so excited to have another week recorded using Project Life. I still LOVE this system, and don't see that changing any time soon!!

This week was just a normal week for us, now that we are back into the swing of school, and after school/weekend activities. Benji however, did get really sick towards the end of the week, and by the weekend Lily was also complaining of not feeling well (they are both actually still sick today, and Lily hasn't been to school this week at all - hopefully tomorrow!)

Main spread, with extra inserts:

I managed to only have 2 inserts this week, the first one is a certificate that Lily came home from school with. It was given to her by the science teacher (she also got another during the week, from  the maths teacher - that one is placed in one of the 4x6 slots).

The top right photo of me with the pram, has come out dark in every. single. photo of the layout, it's not that dark in real life. Here it is, just in case someone out there, wants to desperately see what it is:

It's the photo to go with the journalling card second from the left, about me having to push Lily's bike home because I forgot to bring her helmet back to school in the afternoon.

Main spread, without extra inserts:

No matter how many photos I took, I couldn't eliminate that streak-like appearance on the two bottom photos! Doesn't matter if I take the photos inside or outside I always end up with it.

Back of insert 1 & insert 2:

For Valentine's Day Lily drew a beautiful picture for me (I think that Ian may have helped her draw the love heart in the middle), and since I had a space on the back of the certificate, I thought about cutting it down to fit, but I couldn't get all of the main picture in the ~6x8 size that it needed to be. So I scanned it, and resized it that way. I printed it at Officeworks with the rest of my photos, and I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. I was a little worried because it was mostly crayon and pencil, and I thought that the wax in the crayon would scan or print funny, but it's perfect!

I will definitely be printing Lily's artwork this way again.

On Sunday, Lily and I went to the NAB Cup (it's the pre-season competition of the AFL) with my sister. 

I actually for some strange reason,didn't print one of the photos - I didn't even copy it to the disk! I will have to print it with next weeks photos.

Back of insert 2:

The glare in the middle photo on the back of the insert, is actually in the photo inside the sleeve, and not from being in the sleeve...does that make sense? It's just from the way that the sun was positioned when the photo of the three of us was taken.

Once again, I am linking up with Jessica, at The Mom Creative.

February Family Photo

One of my family resolutions this year, was to take at least one family photo each month.

Two months into 2012, and we're on target!

On February 12, we had a family photo shoot with a local photographer, and the photo I have chosen is actually the same one that made an appearance on my February Take Twelve photo collage.

I have printed it as a 8x12 and was slipped into my Project Life album for appropriate week (week 6).

I'm hoping to be back tomorrow, to share my latest Project Life layouts.

Project Life 2012 - Week Six

Another week done, and more memories recorded!

Still totally LOVING this project!

Once again, I will be linking up with The Mom Creative, once the week 6 blog post goes live, if you haven't already done so, check the Project Life Tuesday blog posts out, so much inspiration!

Main Spread, with extra inserts:

Main Spread, without extra inserts:

Another fairly busy week in our household; Lily started Multisports (an after school sports program at the local sports centre), Benji, Lily and I all had haircuts, then on Saturday Lily had dancing in the morning, we went straight to a birthday party, and then that afternoon Ian and I went to a friends wedding ceremony!

I didn't add a lot of journalling cards this week, instead I chose to put in photos or Facebook screen shots. Ian took a photo of me sitting on the couch with the iPad looking at Project Life Tuesday posts, and I added a screenshot of the Project Life Australia Facebook group.

This week, I also had to speak to Lily's teacher about some bullying that was happening to her - it's not really something that I want on show for everyone to see, but at the same time, I still wanted to have a record of it written down somewhere, so that instax photo of Lily is actually attached to one of the journalling cards that folds in half, and in the middle is the story of what happened.

In the far right journalling card pocket, I kept some of Benji's hair, and sewed it into the pocket. Normally I would feel a little silly asking to keep his hair, but luckily I know the hairdresser!

Sorry for the glare, doesn't matter what time of day I take the photos, I always seem to have at least one photo have glare all over it!

Back Insert 1 & 2

The brochure (including timetable for multisports), and the birthday party invitation.

Back of insert 2 & 3:

On the back of the birthday invitation is  photo of all the girls at the party playing pass-the-parcel, I thought it was a little more interesting to have a shot of the party games, instead of trying to force (ask the girls politely) to pose for a photo.

This is the photo of the girls playing pass-the-parcel, the right way up:

I did trim the photo down slightly, from it's original size of 6x8 - so that it was the exact size of the invitation.

Insert 3, is my 8x10 collage for Take Twelve: February. I really love how the collage turned out, and am so glad that I decided to have a go last month, and join in. Even though I didn't start mine until the 18th January.

Back of insert 3:

I just copied and pasted this blog post into a word document, and printed it out (sans photo)...I'm pretty technically advanced, like that! And yes, I did go back, and re-print this blog post for January's Take Twelve!

Take Twelve: February 2012

I was so excited when the twelfth came around again (well technically I did my January Take Twelve on the 18th), another chance to capture the 'everyday'.

If you're not familiar with the concept check it out HERE. 

I got the inspiration email this morning, but decided  that I wouldn't necessarily use all the prompts (which are fantastic, by the way), I kind of just like the idea of doing my own thing, and trying to capture our family, and what we did today. The so-called mundane/boring things, that when you take a closer look, are actually pretty interesting.

Again, I have chosen to make an 8x10 collage, and will slip this into my Project Life album in Week 6.

February 12, 2012

It was just an ordinary (lazy) Sunday afternoon in our house:

1) We had a family photoshoot this morning, and imagine my surprise when I logged onto facebook tonight, and saw that the photographer had put up some sneak peeks for us! (Image courtesy of  Inspired Photography).
2) Benji hopping into the shower with Ian and Lily (disclaimer: that's Ian's knee, and Lily's foot you can see behind the curtain...nothing naughty, I promise!)

3) Benji playing (cheating) Hungry Hippos

4) Ian being an awesome Daddy, and changing nappies!

5) Sausage Sizzle for lunch

6) Lily's dirty spaghetti face!!

7) Did a few loads of washing today
8)  Lily playing with the hose, in the backyard
9)  Fruit and Veggie shopping at the Spud Shed, Baldivis
10) I had a nanna nap this afternoon, and Ian snapped a photo of me curled up on the couch
11) Ian driving us home from the photo shoot this morning
12) Blow-drying my hair, ready to straighten it

*The photos don't appear on the collage in order, but I'm ok with that, and actually like the jumbled up look to the collage*

So, there you have it, another day documented.

Already looking forward to March 12!!

Project Life 2012 - Week Five

Five weeks in, and I'm still loving Project Life, I'm pretty sure that this is a shared sentiment amongst other Project Lifers!
I haven't touched any of my 'normal' scrapping supplies all year (apart from one last DT commitment I had), and I can honestly say that I don't miss it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE scrapping, but Project Life is exactly what I want to be doing right now, and so, I am fulfilled.

Main Spread, without inserts:

Sorry, I'm having some issues with the bottom right corner, and glare. This is the fourth photo that I have taken of this spread, and it's the best I can do right now.

I had a go at making my own subway art, for the information about Lily's classroom, and teachers, it was actually a lot of fun to pick out all the different fonts that I liked, and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Main Spread, with extra inserts:

This week I had 4 extra inserts, Lily started Pre-Primary this week, and I wanted to get a photo of both kids on the first day of school (even though Benji is too little to go to school), and I will do the same at the end of the school year as well. I  had a questionnaire that I wanted Lily to fill out, and Benji also started Kindygym this week. 

Back of insert 1 & 2:

My big girl on her first day of school!

Back of insert 2 & 3:

Benji, on Lily's first day of school. Even though there were no photos of me this week, my voice is still there - the second insert is about my worries about sending Lily to school this year.

Back of insert 3 & 4:

I got into the habit of keeping our monthly calendars last year, and so it just seemed natural to slip that into my PL album too.

The other insert is an awesome questionnaire that I found online (here), it's American, so some of the words are spelt differently (colour/color), but I still thought it was cute, and wanted to include it.

On the back is an email we got from the school principal, in response to some concerns we had (some of which are outlined in the insert I wrote out).

I also wanted to include some links to some awesome Project Life groups, that I have joined (most are on facebook), you can never have too much inspiration and support, can you!?!

Project Life Australia

Project Lifers

Project Life Share Group 2012

Big Picture Classes 

(you will need to purchase the FREE class, to access the forum and gallery).

Project Life 2012 - Week Four

I'm not even going to make any excuses this week, I'm just going to start by saying -

Hi, my name is Tamara and I'm addicted to adding extra inserts into my Project Life album.

Ahh, that feels better!

This week, I *may* have gone slightly overboard and added in 4 extra inserts, I can't help myself - I love collecting/keeping things, and I love photos!

Main spread, without inserts:

This week saw us buying a new school bag for Lily, sleepovers at Nannie and Ya-Ya's for Lily (and a trip to the swimming pool), splashing in the clam-shell pool, celebrating Australia Day, Dad and Owen (a family friend) laying some slabs in our backyard, and also celebrating Chinese New Year.

Main spread with the extra inserts:

Inserts include: a print out of the weather forecast (in Degrees Celsius), a program from the Chinese New Year fair that we went to, an AC 12x12 - 6 up 4x6 page protectcor (cut in half), and an 8x8 insert.

Insert 1/2:

Insert 2/3:

Insert 3/4:

An 8x8 print of us at the Chinese New Year fair. I printed this as an 8x10, and just trimmed the extra 2" off to make it a square photo.

Back of insert 4:

Another 8x8 photo, this time with my sister, instead of me in the photo.