Left side.  I used a few pictures taken with my phone to correspond with little notes I wrote to each of the boys.  In the notes, I kept it real: I talked about the good and the struggles.  I think we’ll all look back on them and laugh someday.  Also included a quote that I found hastily written down on scratch paper.  I thought PL was a better way to keep it: “You are raising tomorrow’s men. Make warriors not wimps.”

Right side.  One new feature that I really liked was including recipe cards for a meal we loved (the chicken and zucchini chips mentioned here).  I used two of these printable cards, which I loved since I could type right on the cards before printing.  Then I added tabs and slipped them in the pocket. So easy.   

Be sure to check out The Mom Creative for even more PL ideas! 

Last week’s Project Life was a lot of fun to put together.  I finally bit the bullet and purchased the Variety Pack of new pages from Becky Higgins.  LOVE all of the different options!

Week 12 was the first week I used Design F, so I knew going into Week 13 that I wanted to include a lot of little pieces of life to fit all of the pockets.  Always a good idea to plan ahead of time, so I’m not scrambling for stuff at the end of the week!
A look at the whole week:

Left side.  I love how this design allows me to include so many little stories.  This week, I have a couple of M’s drawings, a grocery list, my latest pregnancy craving, and a few pictures trimmed to 3×4″. 

I also love to include little notes to my boys, so I have one to M explaining the back story of his drawing and a secret one for Baby #4.  I always loved those secret flap books growing up, so I imagine it will be fun when my kids are older to discover all of the secret letters I include in the Project Life books.

Right side.  A postcard sent to us from Disney, a little love note to D, and the rest of the page is all about M’s first soccer game.  Have I mentioned I’m a brand new soccer mom?

Insert for the week.  I used Design D and just cut off the two vertical 4×6’s at the end.  I wanted to include some of the fun projects we did for school (finally back to a little more structure!) and the back is full of sidewalk chalk pictures.  I’m loving printing the horizontal 3×4″ size!

I had so much fun sharing my Project Life album a couple of weeks ago that I thought I would do it again!  I can’t promise this will be a weekly feature, but I hope it can serve as inspiration for an easy way to record all of those family memories.  So without further ado, week eight: 

This week was mostly about our snow days.  I took a LOT of pictures! 

Close up of the left side.  I devoted the whole page to Sunday’s snowstorm and all the fun the boys had outside. 

Right side.  These were just a few random shots taken the rest of the week.  I made little love notes for each boy from the 3×4″ journaling cards with something sweet they said that week.  I really like how they turned out and I think I’ll be writing more sentimental notes to them soon. 

These are the inserts from the week.  I took a We R Memory Keepers page protector that had 6 horizontal 4×6″ spots and cut off the bottom row.  That left 8 spaces for more snow pictures!  Behind that is a picture M created and then dictated the story to me.

One last story from the week was one that I’ll probably share on the blog soon.  I used a 12×12″ page protector to keep a special piece of artwork made by the boys and glued the pictures right on top. 

I love that Project Life can be anything you want it to be.  Lots of pictures, lots of artwork, lots of journaling and memories…it’s all up to you!  Be sure to check out The Mom Creative for lots of PL inspiration!

If you’ve read my blog from the beginning, you know that I am a big fan of Project Life.  2012 marks my third year using this “scrapbook system” and like anything, it has changed and molded to fit our life.  Want a peek?

When I first started PL in 2010, I did a 365/Picture a Day approach.  In 2011, I found that that method didn’t work for us anymore.  Some days I took tons of photos, some days the camera stayed on the counter.  So I moved to a weekly approach and so far, it’s working wonderfully!  

I’m sure you’re confused, so here’s an example: 

These two page protectors represent one week in our lives (last week).  In theory, you can consider each 4×6 opening one day (Sun-Mon) and the smaller pockets places for journaling.  For my weekly approach, I simply see them as a place to put pictures and pieces of our life for this week. 

Here is a close up of the left side.  I took lots of pictures this week, so I cut a few down to fit the smaller pockets.  I also included the wrapper from these cool flavoring straws that my aunt sent the boys.  They were a BIG hit, so I wanted to add it in. 

 Right side.  All of the photos on this page were taken the same day.  Also included is a cute drawing made by D and Garfield taken from a coloring page M did this week.  Lots of journaling about our week too.

The reason I love this type of “scrapbooking” is because I am quite sentimental about paper things.  I keep letters, birthday cards, and don’t get me started on the kids’ artwork!  With Project Life, I can keep the most important items and have peace about throwing the rest away.  Here’s an example: 

This week, M sketched out a figure on construction paper and wanted to know how to spell ninja.  I loved his little handwriting so into the PL binder it went.  I keep a bunch of 8×11″ page protectors (the kind you can get at the office supply store or the paper aisle at Target) onhand for this. 

Another fun idea is one that I learned from Jenny (the same Jenny from the Life List series!).  She writes weekly notes to her kids and includes them in her album.  I don’t do this every week, but I am always grateful when I do.  I just punched holes right into the card.  (I got the coffee card in Target’s Dollar section!)

So that’s my intro to Project Life, the Big White Farmhouse way.  A fun and easy way to hold your pictures and your family’s memories.  The great thing about PL is that it can be anything you want it to be.  Don’t have enough “stuff” for a week?  Do a monthly approach!  It’s totally up to you. 

Here are a few links to get you started if you’re interested:

• Product line for Project Life (be sure to check out the video at the bottom of the page…great overview of PL)
• Ideas for different ways to use the PL system
• Getting started – a step-by-step guide

If you have any questions, please ask in the comments!  I’d love to try to help!