I started this little sketchbook at the start of 2012 and have just started adding some more pages to it. I'm really enjoying laying my materials out on my lounge room floor and making a page while Theo bounces around happily in his Jolly Jumper. I really like making art in this format because it's low pressure - if I don't like something I can rip out a page or just shut the book and nobody has to see it. I'm feeling really inspired to make things lately - I'm hoping I can ride this wave and start some projects I've been looking forward to.

I've been really craving starting a new project. After seeing a couple of gorgeous Project Life spreads across the internet (like Manda's & Natalie's ) I thought I'd seek out the materials to start my own.

If you're not familiar with it - Project Life (there are half a dozen similar versions, but this name seems to be the most popular) is a scrapbooking approach that tries to simplify the idea of scrapbooking so that you don't necessarily need to use glue or scissors or to spend hours collaging papers. I guess it kind of streamlines the whole experience so that you can concentrate on documenting and recording moments without the mess and hassle. You just use your photo prints and write on a card or two and insert them into the pockets in the plastic sleeves - it has a lovely simplified look and is less hassle than conventional scrapbooking.



I liked this idea and the way that the layouts looked, but I couldn't really bring myself to buy all of the branded cards and stickers, etc. when I'd really prefer to make them myself (and I'm cheap). So I bought a generic brand of plastic sleeves with pockets and a different brand's binder and cut some cardboard to size. Several brands make the same plastic sleeves with pockets and the same goes for the binders and cards. I really like 'scrapbooking' but I don't think that you necessarily need to go into a shop and buy a bunch of 'scrapbooking' things - you can make your own scrapbooking bits and pieces from magazines, paper scraps, cardboard, stickers from the $2 shop and add your own hand drawn elements. But for people who don't have the time/energy/inclination to do this, you can buy 'core kits' with colourful cards to insert.

I'd like to fill a binder sheet with photos for each month for Theo and I'd like to do a page every week or two with photos of things we've been doing and write little notes to accompany them. I like the idea of making a folder for each year and doing it little by little so that it's not a massive undertaking at the end of a year. I really enjoyed putting the pages together and I know it's going to be really nice to look over a whole year at the end of it. I thought I'd share a couple of the pages I've made so far.




+ The first day (including a picture of the sunsrise on the morning of the day Theo was born, photos of his first few minutes, when I first got to see him (thanks cesarean), the obligatory unflattering photo of oneself in hospital and his little arm band).



+ The first few days in hospital (including exhausted parent photos).


+ Coming home (including a photo of the outfit he came home in, one of us in the hospital before we left and standing on the steps of our house before we brought him in and the horribly unflattering photo the newspaper took of us the day after he was born.

I might try to post a couple of pages here every now and then. Do you do Project Life (or something similar)? I'd love to see your pages.

+ A cheeky grin.


+ This is my husband's very unruly, messy beard (he won't let me prune it!).


+ Sarah and Patrick taking in a view of the city.


+ My sister is a bit obsessed with art books. I'm looking forward to staying with her and perusing her collection.


+ Looking sly.


+ A cute bike I saw outside the opshop decorated with washi tape and pom poms.


+ Happy boy.


Evidence of spring!


+ Posing with a giant red coil outside the Queen Victoria Art Gallery & Museum at Inveresk.


+ We waited for lunch at Garden of Vegan on two different days but the tables were full and there was a big line of people, so on the day before Sarah and Patrick flew home, we showed up just after they opened at 11am for lunch and it didn't disappoint. Honestly, if you're ever in Launceston, this is worth waiting around for!


+ This week's nails.


+ Fake flowers on windowsills.


Theo and I having lunch at the Cataract Gorge.


+ Cannot resist a good foliage covered wall.


Lovebirds!

My sister and her boyfriend Patrick just spent a week with us in Tassie and sending them home made me feel pretty sad. I guess it has occurred to me that because we live so far away and have no plans on moving back to our hometown, our face-to-face meetings with family are always going to be in week-long live-in spurts, once or twice a year, and we don't get that kind of natural relationship that you get when you live nearby to family. I'm really grateful that my family make the effort to come down and visit and we are getting to spend two weeks in Newcastle at the end of the month with family. I just really wish I could see my family more often. I love living in Tasmania and despite my best efforts, can't seem to convince them to move here! It was lovely showing Patrick Tasmania and seeing it through new eyes again. I think it's easy to become desensitised to the beauty in things you see every day.

A work colleague of C's was recently diagnosed with breast cancer and has started treatment. I really wanted to make her a card because she is such a lovely, bubbly person and it makes me feel so sad to think of her unwell. If you'd like to use this card, feel free! It prints landscape on A4 sized paper. Download here.




+ As always, you can see lots of other free printables I've made here.
* For non-commercial, personal use only.