Project Life 2016 | Title Page

I am very excited to start doing Project Life again in 2016.

This year though I am doing Project Life with a new perspective.  Keep it simple!  It really shouldn’t be time-consuming or take you hours to complete a weeks photos and stories.  Last year I spent a lot of time procrastinating when it came to Project Life, thinking maybe this paper would go better with that photo or maybe I journaled too much etc.  but I mean really, can any one ever journal too much?

This year I am not only going to improve my handwriting but love it.  I truly believe that handwriting holds vast sentimental value.  I treasure the ordinary scraps of handwriting I have from love ones to the point where I even have a framed recipe in my grandmothers handwriting in our kitchen.  It really is time to be open to loving my handwriting and to journaling more.  After all your handwriting is a little piece of you.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the weekend selecting photos that I will be using to complete Week 1, 2 and 3 of the year.  I’ll be sharing those with you here as I complete them.  Some weeks don’t have as much photos as others and that’s ok.  I have a reminder stuck to the wall in our study that says Focus on taking photos of stories that matter.

For my title page I’m following more or less the same format I have just about every year which includes family photos of us + photos of the boys and a selection of pattern paper :

I love the photo of us on the farm, such an awesome memory.

So happy to be continuing to tell the stories of our life.

5 Things Right Now

The boys went back to school this week after an amazing summer holiday.  To be honest it has been the smoothest new start to a school year that we have ever experienced.  It hasn’t always been this way.  There used to be tears (more me than them at times when they were younger) and frustrations but so far this year has been calm and happy.

The twins were relieved to be in the same class again this year.  As their holiday was coming to an end we mentioned that there might be a chance that they wouldn’t be in the same class and that it might be a good thing for them, but hey it worked out exactly as they wanted it to be.  So it’s all good.

The first thing Wian said after his first day was that it was an awesome day and that he thinks his teacher is amazing – which made me smile.

Here’s to an awesome school year for all our kids.

Within the space of two weeks our family expanded with two new furry members.  Leia a cocker spaniel and Chewy (which is short for Chewbacca) a playful and cuddly ginger cat.  Let me just say our lives will never be the same…

They are both very busy and when they woke us up for the fifth time just before four in the morning we realized its like having babies in the house all over again.   Leia and Chewy have been the most awesome addition to our family and I am happy and relieved to report that all of us have been getting more and more sleep, as the two of them are adjusting to their new home.

We have been spending a lot of time in the pool over the last few weeks.  There have been intense heat waves in South Africa and large parts of the country are experiencing devastating drought conditions.  We actually danced in the rain over the weekend.  So grateful that it has finally started to rain again.

I have been doing some serious day dreaming about mixed media art lately.  I can’t get enough of researching for new ideas, reading up on different techniques and different types of textures whenever I have time.  For the first time in a very long time I have actually started to paint and it has been so amazing.

My dream is to create art that tells stories.  Stories of truth, kindness and inspiration with the hope that others who have been wanting to start on this creative journey but haven’t for whatever reason would have the courage to try, start, finish, start again and really lean in to this creative journey.

My art mantra is “Create from the heart”

Over the last couple of weeks I have been thinking a lot about unfinished memory keeping projects.  There are so many and I feel so far behind but this year I am going to make it a priority to complete them and I am going to share the journey here on my blog.  Most of my unfinished projects are travel albums and between my Project Life, One Little Word and mix media art projects I am very excited to complete our Thailand, France and Netherlands adventures this year.

So looking forward to telling our stories!

Happy Friday

Hello 2016

Happy New Year

Happy New Dreams; Happy New Days; Happy New Desires; Happy New Ways; Happy New You!

Here’s to a year of HAPPINESS.  Not the kind we buy, the kind we hope for or the kind others enjoy but the kind of happiness that really makes us smile.

Embrace who you are.  Enjoy being silly.  Make time for adventures.  Be real.  Make memories.  Choose healthy.  Enjoy simple.  Make.  Create.  Read.  Explore and enjoy being YOU.

Happy 2016! from our family to yours.

It seems like only yesterday that we were counting the sleeps to our December family holiday; our friends wedding; my birthday; Christmas and New Year celebrations and here we are back into the swing of things 🙂

I hope you had an amazing December, filled with loads of new memories and stories to share.  We spent Christmas on the farm this year with family.  It’s one of our favorite places, with a few of our favorite people.

Here’s a look at some of the pictures we did take:

Ah, sunsets!

The boys enjoying the summer sun

Luke loves the water too

Meet Leia, our new member of the family

Wian + Lego = Happiness

Frans playing ball with Luke and Leia on Christmas morning

Lovely Christmas table decor

A summer vacation is not a vacation without watermelon 😉

Frans and Gerhard learned how to drive while we were on the farm.  Loved that both of them were so excited to try and that they got the hang of it so quickly.  They really had the best “driving instructor” #dad

We had such a great time.

I’m excited to see what this year brings and looking forward to sharing the journey with you here.