Lately I have no “felt” like writing. A strange concept to me as for 2 years I wanted to write every single day. And even when I did take a break I missed it, this, you the blog terribly. Maybe in a crisis you revaluate what is the MOST important thing to be doing with your time.

If your “time out” is limited to you spend it on your hobby or on blogging about your hobby? It is all about balance right? And I am finding that and as much as this little space in the WWW is not my priority right now I will still be around and back to blogging eventually.

One of the projects I have chosen to work on whilst living with my mum is getting my scrapbooking “up to date”. On the rare night I have “off” I choose to turn of the TV and the laptop and get some scrapbooking done. Let me tell you I have been LOVING it. I was so far behind on the boys albums I cannot even tell you and so I set myself some goals and made a choice to take some time for me. I should have done it a long time ago!!!

I thought I would share with you today just a few of the recent layouts I have done in Flynn’s album and how I have used a mixture of lots and lots of different page protectors and some Project Life stuff to create this snapshot of my sons life as a 4 year old.

Firstly cards have always been an issue for me- where to store them and how. The other day when I was at Officeworks I picked up these great A5 project folders and a little lightbulb went off when I got home. I punched three holes in the side, added a little tag and then placed my cards on the inside. I added it to the front of Flynn’s album as to not bulk up the rest of the album too much. I LOVE this option as the cards are together with the photos and easily viewable.

And a few easter pages, incorporating art, cards and letters etc.

For this look I printed a 8×10 enlargement and then cropped the photo to the same 8×8 size of the page protector- a few Easter stickers and this feature was complete.

I love being able to include some larger versions of my favourite photos in this album : )

I am also using these great flip up page protectors as well to incude a lot of vertical photos in my album.

I just have to say again I am LOVING how easily these albums come together. I am able to get so many pages done super quick and just scrapbook when and where I feel like it.

So along with being mummy, moving house, working, baking, opening bank accounts, getting a PO box and a million other things that is what I have been up to ; )

This is how behind I am.

So this is where I am at the moment…. just catching up : )

Looking back I have over 300 photos of just one day from my life. Just a small snippet as we were actually out for the morning. A slither is my life as a mother and as I looked back and reflected on these moments in my day I felt an overwhelming love for this day that was captured. I like most of you have very few photos of me doing what I love most- mothering. I am busy making snacks, cleaning highchairs and stacking the dishwasher for the 45th time that day and so my life goes by un-photogrpahed. Sad really.

So I looked through my 300 odd photos- hate most of them, the extra 10 kilos, the hair that needs a colour, the nails that need a manicure. BUT the ones of me with the boys- priceless and worth every bad hair moment without a doubt. Try to put your fear aside and try this project : )

I hope after seeing my video you might ask a friend, your husband, a neighbour to snap even just an hour in your day as I promise you that you will cherish it forever I know I will.

Click on the link below to see just a snippet of my day.

Day in my Life

For me? It is the ability to make the same breakfast for the boys now that Oliver is old enough to be having porridge for breakfast. Small…. yes. BUT it makes to morning so much easier and simplifies my life just a little bit.

The both have fruit puree mixed in and today this was 2 apples, one kiwi fruit and an apricot. The time this takes in the steamer/blender is the same time the porridge takes too cook.

Feel free to share your small thankfulness for this Friday.

Challenge 2 is taking different photos.

Today I am going to share with you some of the photos I have been taking of my family  and our life over the last few weeks. You might hopefully get a few different ideas of what you can do in your album and photos you can take that are a little different or outside your comfort zone.

Think about your life say 5 years ago and what you wish you you could see, what you wish you took photos of, the things you missed. Now mirror that in todays Project Life. They may be things you remember  or cherish now but in a few years will they be forgotten? Maybe. If you don’t document them they most certainly will.

Waking up-

If you have small children you well know they nap- several times a day of they are super small like Oliver is. Capturing this time of your life is super important as in the blink of an eye they are off to school without a nap in sight. SO I made an effort to capture nap time last week, namely waking up from it and it took me a few days and several times to remember to take the camera and have good light etc but after a few days and a bit of perseverance I got “the ” shot.

Sometimes you might have to go back a few times to get the photo that you want, if it is important keep on trying you will get there eventually and I am sure you will treasure the memory you captured.

Food. I started to capture food after a conversation with my mum a little while ago about the things she used to make for us when we were little, snacks up at the bench, tasting plates, homemade apple pie etc. I remember snippets of this and I certainly have fond memories of baking with my mum especially cookies and slice but there were a lot of things I didn’t remember baking with my mum.

And so I try and make an effort once a week to fortnight to snap what we were eating as it is part of our memory, childhood and something we as a family love to do together. It is no lie that photographing food is hard most of it somes out looking revolting hence a lot of people use stock photos when posting recipes or no photo at all. Try a few of the below angles next time you bake or make a yummy dinner that your kids love .

From the top. Just for something a little bit different-

And from the side but with a bit of a backdrop. You might recognize this paper it is from the Project life kit. One on the table and one held behind to get a cute background splash of colour.

Swimming lessons. Part of out weekend routine here and as long as your pool allows photos capture this memory. Looking back through my own photos I have barely any of me doing all the extracurricular  activities I did after school. I know there was a lot of them but when I was little the mentality was the photograph the “important” stuff  and so this stuff was always missed.

The sports and activities your children do now they most certainly will not do later on.and they are an important part of their childhood so don’t miss out on that.

P.S check with your local pool that they allow photos, I know some don’t. I am always respectful in taking my big lens and only zooming on my own child etc.

The Beach, again a photo you might usually take but try it a little differently . Instead of taking a photo for the sake of it think about what you want to remember from that moment. For me ? In this photo it was the funny way Oliver ran his little chubby fingers back and forwards through the sand over and over and over again he was absolutely fascinated. This is what was captured in my photo- not just a baby sitting on a beach. Think about the story behind what you are capturing and then you will get the really special photos.

Your lunch. Back to food again, do you remember what you ate for lunch 5 years ago? What was your favourite, well I don’t. This is not a weekly or even monthly thing for me this idea might only appear once or twice a year in my album which is enough for me.

On this day? Chicken and cranberry turkish roll with salad and homemade guacamole with crackers.

I hope these snapshots of my life have given you a few new ideas to take away for today for your project. Think outside the box, try a different angle and see what you end up with : )

Do you menu plan? This template takes me back to my very very first blog post which happened to be this exact template I use for menu planning. As I went to plan our menu for this week I realised I have never photographed our menu plan for my Project Life. This is a simple but effective snapshot of our lives at the moment and so here it is.

Note- as I have mentioned previously we make a salad at the start of the week and alternate between having this with our meals or vegetables which are all pre cut and just get steamed. This varies as to what the main meal is or what we feel like on the day.

I also now add the weeks snacks etc to the top of the planner this way when I do my shop I can also buy for these things as well as the main meals.

Do you menu plan and if you have you ever taken a snapshot of that? It could be a photo as above or even a screen shot if you plan online, or print out your online plan and pop it into your Project Life.

Yes, yes I did ; )

Notice our pink change ? More coming soon on that front for this little blog just to add a little bit more cuteness. And in other news, see that little button to your top left? Project Life challenge week on the blog- thats next week! Expect a whole lot of fun ideas, videos (if Youtube ever plays nice) and hopefully a whole LOT of inspiration for you. If you have an  idea, layout, photo of the day anything about Project Life you would like to share please email me : ) – jade@lovelyliving.com.au

Sharing is what it is all about. I didn’t invent this Project Life concept, all I am doing is sharing with you my take on it and the many many ideas I have collected and adapted from other people to make them my own. But not it is up to all of you to take those videos and ideas and make them your own to create your own scrapbook.

Now onto a little bit of family life. A recent date with my two little boys on a Sunday when Simon was working yielded some great photos which really sum up the entity of my life right now- family, being happy, cultivating a great life.

So now for a little boy photo overload, come on you missed them didn’t you? Ahem … well I did. Love these two and as much as the basis of this blog started about organising what it is really about is spending less time doing the housework and more about creating that fabulous life- hence I share with you my entire life. Work faster and smarter on the boring stuff and have more time playing, creating, capturing and enjoying the life that is out there for you to live. SO this blog will always be about more than drawer dividers and washing and that is just the way I like it : )  Because family is really what it’s all about.

Make sure you read right to the bottom for a special announcement : )

Talking about that great life I am THRILLED to be featured on the Becky Higgins blog again today for my post about Flynn’s childhood scrapbook check it out HERE and Becky, thank YOU for understanding just exactly what we need and having the courage to go out there and create it.

Have a happy day.

Today I will be sharing with you a snapshot of Flynn’s album April/ May until now. I am so very in love with this album I cannot even tell you. The fact that Flynn’s scrapbooking is right there for me to flick through remembering I started this in January! I am truly amazed to have completed this book in what would have taken me months maybe years to do in the older style of scrapbooking every single photo.

Better than being up to date the fact that the last few months I have been printing even more photos of Flynn to include in his album- I heart that. He will have more memories, more stories, more memorabilia. For me that is what it is all about- in the words of Becky Higgins herself- “cultivating a good life and recording it” I like to think I am cultivating a fabulous life and memory for my children and this album will tell that story in the many years to come when most of the memories are gone.

Side note seriously why did I say “sewed” is that even a word? ANYWAY moving right along LOL. Want to see another album or have any idea of your own that you have used in your own album please share : ) For me I am working on including memorabilia, tickets, shopping lists etc in my scrapbooks. What about you? What are you going to change/ do better/ improve on.

I try and pull ideas and inspiration and new ideas from everywhere to keep it fresh. It is a LONG project and as you might already be finding it can be hard to keep motived and excited and up to date. I hope I might be able to provide today a little inspiration, a little push a little idea that just might make a difference for you.