Project 2012 - Week two...

So here's week two of my 2012 album.  Definitely settled on using a page of 6x4 mini-layouts per week and adding in extra bits in smaller/larger page protectors. I feel like this is an achievable amount for me each week.

 

A couple of close ups of some of the sections:

So far, I've been focusing on the highlights of the week but would like to include some more of our routines and the 'normal' things we do.

Thanks for reading.

Siblings...

Before Christmas, I started this layout but it sat unfinished until yesterday.  A photo of the three kids just being themselves, playing in the lounge, last summer.  It made me think about how close they are and my journaling reflects on this.

You love being together, playing together, cuddling up together.  You're all really happy in each other's company and look out for one another.  George adores his big brother and sister; Oliver makes him laugh, whilst Evie is his calming influence: he always settles when she's near and will let her do things for him that he won't let Mummy and Daddy do.

Project 2012 - Week one...

So here's my first entry into my 2012 album.  I think I've settled on using pages with 6x4 pockets.  It means less resizing/cutting of pictures and as I'm not aiming for something for every day, this gives me enough space to fill.

A couple of close ups:

I loved putting this together: mixing up colours and finding a use for things I've collected over the years.

Week 2 is already work in progress as I printed two week's worth of pictures at once which I think I'll continue doing.  I've also started to cut papers down to 6x4 size ready to be used as backgrounds in the pockets. 

Our Christmas 2011

Something that I've always wanted to do but never got round to doing is recording how we celebrate Christmas as a family.  I've found that I just never have time leading up to Christmas itself and then the moment has passed afterwards.  This year though, I decided that I would make an effort to make some pages after Christmas, loooking back at what we did etc.

This is my finished album:

The process of how I put it together can be seen here on Sarah's Cards blog.

Project 2012 - Title Page

Finally made a start on my album for my Project 2012.

Here's my title page:

As I scrap in A4 size, I started off working on this size page but as I'm going to be using a 12x12 album to house my pages, I decided to mount the layout onto a piece of 12x12 kraft card:

I may get everyone to 'sign' the white space on the left or the reverse: it'd certainly be interesting to see how the kid's writing changes over the year.

Project 2012 - Our Family Album and how it will work for me...

I've toyed with the idea of starting a year long project along the lines of Project Life for a while now.  A couple of years ago I started to follow 'Project 12' and managed a couple of month's worth of recording.  The need to document our family life more has become more important to me in the last year: having three children to scrapbook about has been a challenge and I have found that I make individual pages less and less and more about relationships bewtween us or things we do.

To have a better balance between scrapbooking for each child and more general family life, I have decided to start an ongoing family album which is a simple mix of photos and journaling cards.

My Approach

On a daily basis where appropriate: 

*take pictures

*record things that happened/were said.  I'm doing this in a variety of ways.  I've signed up to OhLife: I get sent an email each evening which I reply to with notes on the day.  These are all saved and accessed via their website.  I have a journal that I write in too and I will also jot things down straight onto journaling cards.
*save 'stuff' to include: receipts, labels, leaflets, things that the kids make.

On a weekly basis (I hope!)

*print photos out

* make journaling cards

* assemble weekly pages

I'm going to be pretty laid back about how often I do this.  I'm not making myself take a photo a day or forcing myself to religiously record something for every day.  I'm just going to think about the things that I want to remember, so some days there may be nothing, whilst on others there may be lots of details. 

I've also found some printable calendar pages which I plan to print out onto kraft card, punch and put into album ready to add information onto.

My Resources

I thought long and hard about how I was going to do this.  As I normally scrap A4 sized layouts, I did think about using a lever arch file and baseball card wallet insert pages.  I decided though to go with a 12x12 album.  There's so many different options available for divided page protectors that I thought this would make it the most practical choice.  So, I'm using an American Crafts album with a selection of page protectors from American Crafts and WRMK.  

I've collected together all of the many journaling cards that I've bought over the years and put them into a basket, ready to be used.  Any other bits of paper and embellishments will come from my stash.

I've also invested in some digital files: a set of the Clementine Project Life cards to print out as I need them along with some Elle's Studio cards and journaling spots.

I've also created a Pinterest board to bookmark any free printables and other useful ideas that I've seen around the internet.

I'm really excited about this project.  Scrapbooking to me is all about recording the little details about our everyday life.  The things that the kids say, what they can do, our routines and how we live our lives.