Project Life

I have been doing my own version of Becky Higgins / Ali Edwards Project Life for two years now and I love it as much now as when I first started.

I got behind for the first time in November though I continued to take lots of photos! I managed to get the photos printed earlier this month and I'm playing catchup this morning while Angus is at ELC today.

The photos are in the pages now but there are gaps to fill from missing photos, ephemera, date blocks and journalling. So here I am in a cafe BY MYSELF this morning having a ball! I LOVE this project.

I use an American Crafts ring binder
Album, and just stick the photos on the included paper inserts. I play with the photos in Photoshop first and often add the journalling right on the photo.

I have just bought some new page
protectors that fit 6 x 6x4 landscape photos and now I'm finding this easier quicker and more flexible than glueing. Should make this year's albums lighter too.

Where do you keep your photos?

Have you heard of Jean-Michel Basquiat?

Well I hadn't until tonight when I saw a documentary made about his life. At 20, he was a subversive living rough on the streets of New York, by 25 he was a millionaire and by 27 he was dead! I think he died of a broken heart. He first became famous for his art, then he became famous for being famous, then he became famous for being infamous.

He left behind more than 1000 paintings and more than 1000 drawings. He was criticised at the time but now, more than 20 years later, he is considered a genius of the 20th century. I think this piece Toxic is pretty cool. What do you think?

I like that he stayed true to his style of art.

My word for 2012

I started thinking about my word for 2012 back in October. I knew there was a perfect word out there somewhere, but i couldn't think what it was. I spent a bit of time looking at blogs, and Pinterest, and felt that my word for 2011, COMPLETE was perhaps still the best word.

I like complete because it has a double meaning for me - 1. that I am already complete regardless of what happens or what I do (like 'gratitude') and 2. I had (and STILL have) an enormous bundle of projects to be completed. Things like the children's baby albums, Mum's heritage childhood album, my album, Ian's album, and even my photos from my mine and my sister's childhood. Phew. The list goes on and on. But one night in November, or even December, I was sitting on the couch and it came to me. DELIBERATE.

Deliberate! I like that word. I really like it. I thought a bit deeper about why I had all these projects in the first place, and why I was having trouble completing them. I've been inspired by some well known crafters like Ali and Karen who, to me, seem to choose their projects very deliberately. Karen, for example, gets through a huge number of projects just on a weekly basis. She does this by deciding carefully what's important to her, then makes time for it. Her hours are all carefully scheduled.

My habit, by contrast, has been to make excuses. Lots of excuses. Usually I tell myself I'm too tired in the evening, and flop in front of the TV instead. I also get overwhelmed by all the projects surrounding me in my tiny study, which has been really messy much of this year, and can't decide what to do.

So.

This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to have a really really good think about what I want to do this year. Then I'm going to make it into a list, post it on the blog, and approach each one leisurely, slowly and evenly, steadily, unhurried, DELIBERATELY. And when I complete a project, I'm going to celebrate it before going on to the next thing.

I'm really looking forward to posting my list.

And I think I'll start with a list of completed projects from last year to remind myself that I did make some pretty cool stuff.

What's your word for 2012?

Kraft It Up January

It feels good to be starting the new year afresh, doesn't it? I love the idea of new beginnings, goals, and the determination all this encourages.

This month's challenge at Kraft It Up is UP on their site, and oh goodie, it's a colour challenge!! The range of layouts by the creative team is amazing. You have to go see. Click here.

Here is the colour combo and you can use some or all of the colours:

I had to use all of them:

I've been a bit unwell since Christmas unfortunately so my time in the scrap room is pretty limited at the moment. I have so many ideas of things I want to do, but i'll just have to be patient for now! Luckily I have Pinterest to keep me busy.

Hope your New Year is turning out to be fantastic.