Pick Me, Pick Me & More Project 365

Over at jessicasprague.com some new classes are starting up, one of those classes is a photo editing class and she's giving away a class each day for the next 3 days, just check her blog for details.  Today she asked us to post one of our favorite photos we've ever taken.  Well, Jess, here's mine!  This was taken almost 5 years ago after the boys got their first pair of ears at Walt Disney World.  But the best part of the picture isn't actually visible.  Everyone always asks how we got them all to look and smile.  What you don't see is my husband running and jumping around making silly faces getting them all to smile and laugh.  And most of our other photos of all our kids together have been a team effort as well.   I have been using different ideas I've seen others using with this kit as well as finding some things that work good for me.  For example, on the KOTM blog they had a suggestion if you had a vertical photo you could use 2 of the 4x6 slots.  So in Photoshop I made the photo into a 6x8 and then "cut" in into 2 4x6's.  Then I was realizing I wasn't getting to many photos of myself (which is fine with me) since I'm the one usually taking the photos.  But my kids and I were messing around with PhotoBooth on my Mac so I decided to use one of those.  I am loving these according folded journaling cards, too.  At first I wasn't sure  I'd use very many of them, now I'm using them each week about.  I saw a suggestion on Becky Higgins blog I think about making the photos smaller and putting them on the cards.  This was a day that my boys had a well-check and then we hit our usual errand spots that I thought would be fun to document.  And what about all the school projects?  Take a photo of your kids holding them.  One of my girls made this fun little "George Washington" wig in school and then came home and was searching the internet to figure out what number  President he was.  

And for some reason, I always take pictures of my kids on the phone.  Maybe it's because we have a lot of family living out of town and I love to capture their expression when they're telling stories or when they hear the other persons voice.  Here, one of my boys is talking to their babysitter who moved away to nanny for a family with brand new baby girl triplets and he was so excited to hear from her.

If you are doing Project 365 and have some ideas posted on your blog, post a link in the comments.  I'd love to see what you're doing, too!

It's very puzzling

I'm never sure what we're going to do for  Valentine's Day cards each year. I do like to do something fun and creative.  I drive my kids crazy because I like to make them and not buy the boxed ones, not sure why, just do!  But in the end, I know they love handing their own homemade cards out.  Click HERE to see last years project.  And here's our idea for this year.   

I made a sign for the boys to hold and took their picture.   Then in Photoshop I added their names.  You can do it in any  program that allows you to add type to your picture.  

Then I printed up the number of photos I would need in 4x6 and got together a bunch of cardboard. I used the thinner cardboard from Costco that comes with your enlargements.  It's fairly thin but not flimsy.  (LOVE the girls at Costco!)

I then trimmed the cardboard and photos down to the size I'd need for the puzzle die-cut.  I had checked ahead at my LSS, Treasury of Memories, and it was about a 4.75x3.5 puzzle die cut. 

I glued the photo onto the cardboard.

Then I took it in to Treasury and used their die-cut machine to cut it into the puzzle pieces. 

I'm going to try to pick up some cellophane bags from Michael's and make a bag topper like last years.  The boys are "sharing" the photo but they each get a couple pieces of the puzzle in their own bags to give to their friends and then the bag topper will say something like "Put all our pieces together to see what our Valentine's message is to you" and then on the back I'll put the answer.  

Can anyone figure out what their Valentine's Day message is? :)

I had finished up a couple of these today and the girls were originally doing something else but as of right now they want to do this too, so we've got lots of cutting and pasting and die cutting to do!  

If you end up using this idea, let me know. I 'd love to see your finished product!

Boz, it's coming!

I've had a subtle hint that some of you may be looking for Valentine's ideas (or at least 1 of you!)  So here's just a sneak peak of what will be included.  Stay tuned....

To answer a few questions

1.)  Yes, I am typing my journaling on the journaling cards.  I have "a thing" with my handwriting and try as I might, I still don't like it throughout a whole book. I  end up redoing more than I should.  A while ago, Becky Higgins posted some free downloads (you'll have to scroll down to the January 10th post).  These are great for those who didn't get the kit or to use in addition to the kit.  I downloaded those as my "template" to use in Photoshop for my journaling cards.  I just hid the background when I was ready to print since I'm using the cards that came with my kit.  But you could make it easier and just use the downloads she gave and print those on cardstock.  You could also just create a new 3x4 inch document and type your journaling in the box, being aware of what card your using and where the graphics are.  Mine do not match up perfectly on the lines each time but that's okay, it's better than handwriting them! :)  Make sure to set up your printer for the size card your using, 3x4.  I'm able to adjust my feed tray on the top of my printer, too, so the card just slips in and I can print.   

2.)  I take more vertical pictures than I realized.  The kit is set up for mostly horizontal pictures and I've come up with a couple solutions for my vertical pictures.  The first thing I did was made a 4x6 inch template in Photoshop with two 3x4 clipping masks.  I drop each photo in and clip it to the mask and I can get 2 photos on a 4x6 print.   Also, there are 8 pockets on the bottom for journaling so some weeks I use the extra cards that came with the kit as filler but more often I add another photo, using the same template to create a 3x4 inch picture.  I then cut it in half after I get it developed and slip it in the smaller pocket.