project life 2014

Ok, so let's talk Project Life.


What is Project Life, you ask? Basically, the amazing Becky Higgins has created a simple system for scrapbooking your photos. (You can read all about it here on her website.) For the past 4 years I have taken the photo-a-day approach. And I have loved it. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was able to capture and record soooooo many moments and memories through my daily photography that would otherwise have been missed. Our yearly scrapbooks are a treasure, and not something that I'm about to give up anytime soon!



For 2014, I will be simplifying things a bit. See, for me, after 4 years of trying to take a picture every single day (and pretty much succeeding!) there was an element of guilt and stress attached to it, too. That may sound weird, I mean it's just taking pictures. But obviously there were some days that I missed and sometimes trying to find something different to photograph everyday was hard. In my Type A head, I really tried my best to have all my pictures in the exact right order, etc, etc, etc...so the process became a bit too much WORK than I wanted it to be. (Hence how I gave up on posting my 2013 pictures after only a few months. *sniff*)



So for this year, here's the deal: I'm going to continue taking pictures of my kids and our life on a *somewhat* daily basis. Sometimes I'll use my real camera, and on most occasions I'll probably be using my camera phone (wink). No stress. No worries. No expectations. Just snapping photos when I feel like something is photo-worthy. My hope is that I'll continue to capture our everyday moments, but I'm not going to worry about attaching a specific day or number to each picture. THEN, at the end of every month I'll post a photo collage right here on the blog of a handful of our pictures. Sometimes I might share only 3 or 4 photos and sometimes maybe I'll share 20! Some months I may only share photos from one specific day or event, and sometimes I'll share tidbits of everything. I'm not going to set a specific standard that I have to meet every month, because then to me, that will eventually equal STRESS. Heehee. I just don't want any rules! I really want this year's approach to be simple and satisfying, while still capturing our daily life. :)



When it comes to putting all of our photos from the year into my project life album, I'm simply going to print all the pictures I want to include in the album, divide them into months, and pop them in the album. Done and done. I'm not going to worry about having a certain number of pictures/month...just whatever pictures I like from that month will be good enough for me! Whew...did all that make sense?? Heehee.



With all that being said, here is my January collage. All these perfectly imperfect photos were taken with my iPhone, which is just fine by me. Of course I way prefer pictures taken with my actual camera, but like I always say...any picture is better than no picture!



So here we go....1 month down, 11 more to go! (Thank you to Rebecca Cooper for this handy collage template!)

1. Miss KK having fun at playschool 2. Payton and Crewie playing on the computer 3. Gabby swimming for FHE 4. My chubby boy fast asleep in his Buzz Lightyear jammies 5. The 4 kids celebrating New Years 6. Cuddles 7. The Terry cousins celebrating Winter's birthday 8. The Littles just chillin' one afternoon 9. Skating with Payton 10. Green smoothie yumminess 11. Mommy and her babies

And just for fun...here are the links to my past photo-a-day blogs:


2010 Photo a Day Blog
2011 Photo a Day Blog
2012 Photo a Day Blog
2013 Photo a Day Blog

here we go again!

Well, we're back at it again!

We're already a month into 2013 and my new photo-a-day blog is finally up and running.

I have to admit, I wasn't sure if I was going to do this again this year. While I'm in the habit of taking pictures (almost) everyday, I found that I got behind in posting my photos last year and that got me discouraged. As I decided to get all caught up on my photos from last year, I quickly realized how precious all these memories and photos are. I'm not able to scrapbook the way I used to, and I absolutely LOVE getting all of our everyday photos into a cute album at the end of the year...it is so amazing to see our whole year from start to finish like that! AND...posting the photos on my photo-a-day blog helps me stay committed to this project, as well as it gives my family and friends a little peek into our everyday life as well. So....it's a win-win situation. :)

I kind of have to admit though, while any photo of my children is precious to me personally, I feel like my photos are so boring! We've a had a very cold and dreary January so most of my photos are inside of my boring house (wink). So I need to commit to getting a bit more creative with my photo ideas. It's good for me as a photographer to challenge myself, and also just to make things a tad more interesting to look at. But...at the end of the day, my motto really is, any kind of photo is better than no photo at all!

So there ya go...2013, here we come!

and that's a wrap!

Well, I have no idea how, but I somehow managed to get TOTALLY caught up on my photo a day pictures for 2012. And I am so glad I did! Keeping up with this is a big commitment and not always easy...but in the end it is always SO worth it so see all of those everyday memories in one place.

My family loves this.

This is the third year that I've committed to taking a photo every day. (and yes...sometimes I cheat and skip a day...wink!) It is for sure a habit now and something that I think I just HAVE to continue on with for 2013. Graham and I have decided that the memories are just way too precious and like I said, as a family, we LOVE looking through all of our pictures from the year. I'll admit, near the end of the year, there are probably too many instagrams and camera-phone pictures, but I will happily take those pictures over no pictures at all.

I am so excited to get these all printed and into my 2012 Project Life album...that is the FUN part! I will share pictures of that when I am all done.

For now, go ahead and caught up on what we crazy Audenart's have been up to for the past 6 months (yikes! I really was behind!) and stayed tuned for our twenty-thirteen photo a day pictures!

a photo a day | 2012

Well, my brand new Photo-a-Day Blog is up and running and ready for your viewing pleasure! I've been busy busy on my computer since last night getting it all set up and ready to go...I've already had so much fun going through all the pictures I've taken this month so far. I can't believe that this is my third year taking my daily photos...it truly has become such a normal part of our daily lives, I can't imagine that I'll be stopping this anytime soon.

Some of you may be wondering what the heck I'm talking about, and where this "photo a day" or "project 365" idea came from. The master-mind behind this whole concept is Becky Higgins and you can learn all about it here. Whether you want to take a photo every single day, or just get all those old photos into albums, she's come up with a concept that can work for everyone. She's created and designed gorgeous "Project Life" products that can work for you and whatever approach you want to take.

Personally, I have taken the "daily photo" approach. I know that this really scares some people and they don't know how it is possible, but here's the thing: if you want to do it, just do it. Taking pictures every single day has made me so much more aware of my little family and all of the simple and mundane things we do everyday. These are the moments that define us and make us who we are. Not only the big moments, like birthdays and dance recitals, but the everyday moments, like naps and potty-training and dr's appointments and owie's, etc, etc, etc. Taking these photos is totally possible, you just have to get into the habit of doing it. One thing that has made my whole approach easier and more do-able is my iphone. My phone is always with me, so I always have a way of taking a quick snapshot here and there...it is often those little snapshots that are my favorites!

So if you're on the fence about this whole "Project Life" business, I say...do it. You will never regret having taken pictures of your family and your life. :)

And while we're at it, here are a few links to help get you inspired:

Rebecca Cooper's Everyday Photo Checklist.

Gorgeous Project Life Inspiration by Liz Tamanaha.

More amazing inspiration by Cathy Zielske.

Join the Project Life Community for free at Big Picture Classes.

And of course, visit Becky's blog daily for inspiration, ideas, updates and more!

Okay, so there's my Project Life, or Project 365, or Photo-a-Day "plug" for you all! (heehee) It's not too late to get started for 2012...like I said, for me it is fun, theraputic, and important for my little family. I'm almost done my 2011 album, and it is so amazing to see a year's worth of memories all put together in our gorgeous album. The kids love it, and we have so much fun looking back on our pictures, and just seeing how things have changed over the year. So many memories captured. :)

So I hope you'll take a peek at my photo-a-day blog now and then to see what we are up to. And if you have a 365 blog that you'd like to share with everyone, please leave me a link in the comments below so I can add it to my sidebar!

Good night!!

"a year in the life" continues...

Whew!

I am all caught up on my photo-a-day blog...come and see!

It was alot of work, but it's always so worth it to see all of these daily photos come together. I love this project! I can't believe that this year is quickly coming to an end...seriously, where oh where does the time go?

I'm excited for the weekend...the girls are starting their dance classes and I have a photography course that I'm taking, so I'm looking forward to that.

See ya next week!

T:)

all caught up!

I have been so behind on my project 365 photos, but I've been working on them all week and I am finally all caught up! Whew! So if you want to see what we've been up to for the past couple months, go and take a look.

:)

I truly am such a believer in this photo-a-day concept. It's just such a perfect snapshot of our lives right here, right now. Things that I know would otherwise be forgotten if I hadn't taken the time to quickly pull out my camera or iphone. It just makes me so happy to see all of these memories come to life through our family photos.

Have a great weekend!!

T:)

pssst....

...I updated my Project 365 blog.

Come and see!

Tal xo

a year in the life | 2011

So it's up, running, and ready to go.

My 2011 "365 blog".

This year I am calling it "A Year in the Life".

Come and take a peek and join me in this crazy journey we call life. I'm so excited to see what 2011 has in store! Hope you like the new blog, I had fun working on it today...it pretty much consumed my day, so I'm glad it's done, heehee!

Enjoy.

T:)

2010 | project 365 album

It's done! All of my project 365 pictures from 2010 have a happy home in this gorgeous album. I love it soooo much!

I have to say, I am so glad that I kept up with this project last year, and that I'm doing it this year, too. (i still have to create a new 365 blog for 2011...it's coming, I promise!) I really feel like I accomplished something now that all of my pictures are in one place...not bad for someone who hasn't scrapbooked in almost a year, hey? I am torn between purchasing another project life kit right away for my 2011 pictures, or waiting until the end of the year like I did for this one. I loved being able to put the whole together at once...so we'll see.

For now, we are enjoying this one and I'm having fun taking my pictures every day. It's definately become more of a habit now and my whole family is used to the camera being out all the time.

:)

Tal

Happy New Year!

Wow! 1.1.2011! What an awesome day!

I can hardly believe it's a new year already! Seriously...where did 2010 go? I have to say, it was quite a crazy year, but every moment was memorable and worth it. Over the last few days I've been finishing up my Project 365, and I've gotten quite sentimental looking through all my family's photos from this past year...while taking a photo every single day wasn't always easy at times, it was soooooo worth it, and I'm so glad we made it to the end! My husband was an awesome motivator and support of this project, and he's actually the one that convinced me to do it again for 2011...so stay tuned for a brand new Project 365 blog...I am excited!! Until then, I hope you'll take a couple minuted to browse through our families photos...I considered doing up a slideshow or collage of some of my favorite pictures, but in the spirit of keeping things simple, I just thought you could hop on over instead.

So, now my hope is to get all those photos into this here little kit. I haven't done any form of scrapbooking in ages, so my hands are itching to get going on this. I can't wait!




On another note, our Christmas was wonderful and busy and fun. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the 5 of us, and while it was different from what we usually do every year, it was so much fun and just as special. The girls were just soooo excited about everything, and yes, they were very spoiled by Santa...lots of fun memories. After that we headed out of town to spend the next few days with Graham's family and once again...the kids were spoiled and we all just had a blast. There's nothin' like hanging out with cousins and family and good food...LOTS of good food! (heehee)



I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and here's to a new year!



2011, here we come!!



xo Tal

project 365...whew

Holy cow...after being 3 months behind, I've finally gotten caught up on my Project 365 blog. So go on over and take a peek!

I have to admit, I was almost ready to throw in the towel with this over the summer. I got so caught up in all the crazy stuff going in our life that I just kind of...gave up. I totally had days of taking no pictures. And lots of pictures were taken with my point and shoot that just make me cringe when I look at them. I've had to fill in pictures here and there for days that I missed...but they are still our memories, no matter what day they were taken on. After all was said and done, I decided it was worth it to keep it up. Our simple memories are far more important than the quality of the photos. So keep that in mind when you're browsing through my pics. (wink)

Now let's just hope I don't get 3 months behind again. (heehee)

Tal xo

busy, busy, busy.

Man, I've been busy.

So much going on.

But I did update my 365 blog. That'll have to do for today.

:)

a photo a day

As many of you may know from my little "project 365" button in my sidebar, I have jumped on the photo-a-day bandwagon for 2010 and I am absolutely loving it. There is something about capturing all of these little moments in our life that is just making me so happy and so excited.

Since having Kherington, I have to admit, keeping up with my scrapbooking has been next to impossible. I miss being able to sit down and create and play and most importantly, record and document our memories. Taking a photo everyday has helped me to still do something when it comes to my families memories. Instead of just giving up altogether, at least I can say that at the end of the year, I'll have 365 pictures that tell our family's story. I've already captured so many moments that would have been missed and forgotten if it wasn't for this project 365 exercise. Like this one. And this one. Oh, and this one, too.

My main worry about committing to a photo a day was probably the same as everyone else's..."Will I actually be able to keep up with taking pictures every single day of the year?" You know what, at first, I definitely found it difficult, and I found that I constantly had to be reminding myself to take a picture. Now, it has become a habit, and a normal part of our everyday. I got a new little point and shoot for Christmas that is super small and easy to carry around in my purse with me so I'm not always having to lug around my good camera. It's easy to grab at a moments notice to snap pictures here and there. I am loving finding new things to document, as well as the practice taking pictures everyday is giving me with my photography skills. I guess you could say it is a creative outlet for me that is just plain do-able in my life right now.

And I have I missed a day yet? Sure. Here and there. But you know what? It doesn't matter. Most days I take a handful of pictures anyways so I can just pop those in if I happened to miss a day. What matters is that I'm telling our story, not that a certain photo wasn't actually taken on that certain day. Or that each photo is perfect. I'm just trying to capture our life as it happens. So it's all good.

And you know what makes me most happy? When we all crowd around the computer after I've posted a bunch of new pictures and laugh and talk about all the things we've been up to or how cute the girls are. Last night Graham was taking a look and just laughed and laughed when he came to this picture 'cause it is just so Gabby. So taking these pictures and posting them on my little blog has been worth it.

Have fun lookin' around.

Tal:)