We had some very special time with family from the UK and I added in a large Design E page to highlight the trips we took.  It makes a nice change to have some large pictures that tell a great story.

 We took a trip to Elk Island and collected some Bison fluff!  I just had to find a way to stick it in the PL folder.  Harry hand drew the Bison too- boys got real talent!

 This is the table chaos at out Ladies Project Life Gatherings each month!  It involves treats, wine and photo chaos!  I tend to have all my pictures in already as I size and print them to go in specific places but use the meetings as a time to draw, write and clip things to the pictures. 

I have added in a few extra, cut down sheets when I have had too many pictures for the week.  I wanted a way to highlight the extra bit rather than people just flipping to the next page without noticing the cut down section.  I took a basic journaling card and cropped it down and stapled it to the edge of the sheet.  It works perfectly and looks fab. 

If you are a Project Lifer too, what are your hints and tips for making it your own?

I am playing catch up on my blog with Project Life but there is a good excuse!  The second Friday of each month sees the gathering of the Project Life Ladies.  The last time I met with them I was organised, up to date and had nothing to do other than eat Diablo Cookies and pick up a few tips from the expert Project Lifers in attendance. 

So at the meeting I set my folder down and started my writing and doodles.  It was quickly pointed out that I am breaking quite a few rules and have quite a different style of filling my pages, but in a good way. 

I used a printable from MissTina blog to create the heart card with more QR code in it- Loving these links to our videos!

I don't think I have had a real project since leaving school! 

Living so far away from everything you once knew can leave you stuck in a bit of a rut.  I am a very active person who finds it difficult to just sit so I have decided to take advantage of this and make some better home activities than just cleaning the bathrooms! 

I have planned projects that don't require constant work or daily commitment- nobody needs that much pressure with two kids- trust me, life can be hectic enough as it is!

* Weekend Bread Project- There are cookery books I own and read that just make me want to cook everything they include.  The Women's Institute Bread Book is one of them and I plan to make a different bread each weekend for possibly the whole year.  I plan to start with breakfast breads as this ties in with another of my little projects.


*Move away from the Breakfast Cereal Project- I really dislike buying Breakfast Cereal.  I find them expensive and full of ingredients I don't recognise as food.  I know they are easy and in a morning time can be tight shipping kids and husbands off to work and school but I want to try and find ways to minimise their consumption in my house.  The bread project ties into this too.

*Project Life 2013- this is a big one and is one of the main reasons I am trying out so many new projects this year.  I don't want to document 52 weeks of boring stuff! 


*Non Alcoholic January- My and the hubby are having a break from the booze this January.  A little de-tox after the excesses of Christmas seems a good idea.  Each weekend in January I will be making a different non alcoholic cocktail for me and hubby.  I will blog the recipes and how they taste (not as good as a gin and tonic, I know, but February is not that long off!)

*Get back to Geocaching- I tried my new GPS unit on our first Canadian Geocache and cannot wait for us all to go out as a family.  The snow may limit our adventures at the moment but there are so many hidden close to us we may pop out and find some very soon.  If you have never heard of Geocahing check it out here.

I see my little blog as a way to keep track on the things we get up to as a family but as many bloggers will know there is always a line between what you share on your blog and what is personal to you.  I see Project Life as a place for my personal stuff and I am so excited about getting started.

Here are just a few of my ideas:

• Kiddy involvement- I want the kids to take pictures, add drawings and collect stuff they want to put into the folder.  The more I can get them involved the better.
• I have challenged hubby to take at least one picture a week on his iPhone for the folder.  He did suggest taking one of his office each week, but I do hope he was kidding! 
• Food, food and a bit more food!  I already know there will be lots of food photos in my folder as I love to cook, eat and take pictures of the yummy food here in the Chatterton house.  I also plan to document recipes I make up and adapt so I have a permanent record of them.  I so often make something and don't keep a record of it for future use. 
• Red wine tasting- this is a silly one really but me and the hubby like to pretend we can taste wine and pick out the subtle flavours it contains.  We are usually way off the mark, apart from oak, there is always oak!  When we try a new wine I will jot down what we said on tasting and what it actually contained so we can look back and giggle about how we were wrong, wrong, wrong! 

As you can see I have so many ideas all brimming to get onto my pages.  I have no intention of taking a photo every day but will always do a full double page spread for each week.  I don't want a strict regime to stick to, but more a chilled way to capture the stuff we do rather than desperately looking for things to snap each day. 

Here are my first pages:

I plan to do a full page image of each of us with a few bits of info about each person by way of an introduction in the folder.  I love handwritten notes on the white spaces of the photos, there will be lots of this throughout the folder.

I am so excited about this project and I have a few more projects I will be blogging about, but more of that next week........