Family & Life: Project Life - Getting Ready for 2012

I'm so excited about this project, I can't wait to start!!

The best part is that my sister is going to be doing it with me - she's not a scrapper, but with the way that Project Life is set up, you don't have to be.

I decided against getting one of the Project Life albums, as I think that I will more than likely need more than one album (my [still unfinished] KL 2011 holiday album took 2 albums, and we were only away for a week!) Outside of the US it can be hard to get your hands on stock, as the international suppliers, or at least the Australian/New Zealand distributor is only getting in one shipment of the albums (at this stage). Instead I am using a We R Memory Keepers 12x12 D-Ring Leather album in Vanilla.

I did however get the photo pockets/page protectors (commonly referred to as 'plastics') from Becky Higgins. I went for a 60 pack of Design A:

I'm actually a little worried about how I will go with these, as I know that I take the majority of my photos in the portrait orientation and not landscape...but I've been practising, and I hope that I will be ok.

Just in case, we also got a big box of variety plastics to share:

We both chose to use the Clementine Edition (so pretty with the oranges, yellows, greys and pinks):

I also have some extra pockets from American Crafts, that I plan on using in my album. Mainly the

6x12 and 8.5x11 sleeves.

I'm not tackling this project as a photo a day, I did that this year with Project 365, instead I will be using it to showcase a week at a time, and if sometimes it works out that I have a photo from each day, then that's great. If not, I'm not going to stress about it.

I'm also going to be adding in lots of extras, pamphlets/maps of anywhere interesting that we went, some of those beautiful works of art that Lily will bring home from school, certificates from swimming etc.

Another goal I have is kind of in the same vein as what Tara Whitney achieved in 2010 (she took a family photo every month of the year), I will be doing the same thing - some will be selfies (with the self timer, when I learn how to use it!), some will be by other people, and if we have a photo shoot with a photographer, then I will use that too. I just want to have a family photo of all four of us at the same time...too many times the photos consist of Ian and the kids, or me and the kids.

Some of my supplies ready to go:

Pictured is: Clementine Core Kit (with some of the cards missing, as I've already put in the weekly date cards), my awesome whale pencil case from here, I LOVE it! It's where I've got all my stationary-type things, that I need for Project Life (pens, hole punch, corner rounders, post-it notes etc). And finally my Fujifilm INSTAX camera. This is seriously the coolest camera ever, it prints out credit card sized prints in only a couple of minutes. The film is pretty expensive in Australia (about $19-20 for a pack of 10), so I plan on buying online (eBay), and stocking up when we are in Kuala Lumpur in June.

On top of the album is the first little card I made for my album. I know that technically I haven't started Project Life yet, but I just really wanted to have a play with some of my supplies, so I made a little card for one of 3x4 slots (using an instax print, and my trusty Dymo):

I've also started on my title page, I still want to add some alpha and spell out 'Roach' (probably on the top left card with the clock), and 2012 (on the bottom right card), but I can't find the letters that I want in my LSS, and obviously with Christmas in only 2 more sleeps, the online stores have stopped posting, so I will get them in the New Year.