Rest

Sunday is a day of rest. We all have different thoughts on what that might be but one thing I have made a point of doing recently is not doing any work related stuff on my computer. I would never get my own personal stuff done if I didn't carve out some time to do it. So, Sundays are my day to play! Here's a look at what I finally have going for this years Project 365. I have all my photos for each day saved but I couldn't come up with the look that I wanted. Today was the day and I got a bunch done....hurray! My original hope was to design a layout I loved and al the elements to go along with it. Time has not been on my side so I went to where I always do when I'm stuck, Ali Edwards designs over at Designer Digitals.  I'm keeping things rather simple this year.  I'm looking at photos from the week rather than focusing on getting one each day.  It just doesn't happen all the time and I usually end up with several from one day that I love and none on another day so.  I'm also just journaling in one box, summarizing the week rather than separate boxes for each day.  I never journal much anyway so that will work out great.  The two items I picked up today to use are the Remember This and That Paper Collection and the Remember This and That Element Collection.  Click HERE for a look at last years book and click HERE for the year before.

If you are working on a Project 365, how is your book coming?

Project Life Round 2 is in the Books...Literally!

Two days ago the brown truck brought a much anticipated box from Shutterfly with these in it. I finally finished my Project Life album(s) for 2010. These 2 books hold a year full of memories one day, one week, one month at a time. This whole process has given me a sense of accomplishment and a better look at how I want to capture my families memories and also organize those memories for my kids.  I'm learning that I really want a system that 1.) gets my photos into print for everyone to enjoy  and 2.) are organized in some way.

2010 is the second year I've done a photo-a-day.  For a little history on how I got started with this there's a few posts you can click on to see that.   You can see our 2009 book by clicking HERE.  This was the first year Becky Higgins offered this album and I was quick to order one, anxious to start  "scrapbooking" in this way.  In 2010 she offered a digital album as well as the original style but I chose to come up with my own template in Photoshop.  Click HERE to see a post on why I chose to go this direction.


Page #1 of the Book #1.

Page #2 of Book #2.

Last page of book #1.

Last page of book #2 including one of my new favorite sayings "Capture Life".

Every month begins with one full page photo and then a "month at a glance". (these calendars are by Ali Edwards and available at Designer Digitals)


Everyone in our family has one BIG picture of them and then there are family photos and also a few of the kids together.

One of our "typical" weeks.






Yes, it is possible to stick to a photo-a-day for a vacation. (however, I have been creating vacations albums, too)


One key for me is to keep on top of choosing my photo and labeling them. Every few days I make sure I go through my photos and pick out the photo that will be for that specific day. I have a file on my computer labeled Project Life 2010 (or now 2011) and when I choose my photo for that specific day I "save as" and name it that date. At the end of June and the end of December I save them to another spot (I also save the periodically throughout the year to and external hard drive or on-line to make sure I always have them save in 2 different places at all times).

Do I ever have more than one photo for the day?
Yes, sometimes I just can't decide so I save 2 or 3 or 5. :) I may not use it but it's there amongst my other "favorites". Or if there happens to be a day I don't have a photo, I either forget or just didn't get one, I can use one of the extras'

As you can see this is something I LOVE and has worked for me.  Head over to Becky Higgins's blog to see how easy it really can be.  You can do a month at a time, too.  It doesn't have to be a photo a day.  Her video on March 3 got me all excited to go back to the years I don't have in books yet and just give a year in review, month by month.  It's something everyone can do!  So who's on board?  How many of you are doing this?!?

My 365

Here's the deal. As the launch of Becky Higgins Digital Project Life has gotten closer she's "revealed" more and more about it. It promises to be a great product and I'm sure it will be easy to use but while I've waited for its release I've been messing around with some options of my own.

This fun calendar template is from Ali Edwards over at Designer Digitals.  I love being able to see our "month at a glance".  Below area couple weeks for my Project 365. Project Life/Photo-a-Day Project.  I've laid out my pages similar to Becky's Project 365 album last year, the pages are 12x12 (below are the full 24x12 spread)  Simple, clean, easy!  The blocky letters are also from Ali Edward/Designer Digitals.

A couple things I'm really excited about if I do go this direction is
a.) I get to keep my albums all the same size (12x12).  Becky's Project Life album will  be 8.5x11.
b.) I get to add additional pages/layouts as necessary, for "special events".  I know that's cheating and going past the 365 photos in the year but it will make my book feel a little more complete.  I think I'll like being able to add an extra layout here and there for holidays/birthday/trip. They will have the same simplicity and feel as the rest of the pages throughout the book.

Let me know what you think or if you have any other great ideas or if you've seen others that you like as well.  I love the concept of the Photo-A-Day album and am excited to do it for 2010, no matter what format the album will be.  At least they'll be in an album!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, friends!  I'm coming with a little update on an album that took me all year to complete.   Last year about this time I posted about this brand new project I was going to give a try, Project 365.  So in front of me sat this brand new, empty album, a box full of adorable but empty journaling cards and all kinds of other goodies to go along with it.  While I was eager to fill it up I always wondered if I would actually get a picture in each of the openings and journaling on all of the cards.  Well, (roughly) 365 days later I HAVE DONE IT!  What a GREAT feeling!  I know many of you are taking on this task for 2010 and some of you are using Becky Higgins latest kit, Project Life. You may feel a little overwhelmed but I'm here to tell you whatever you do DON'T stop!   If you get behind, it's okay!  Slowly get caught back up again.   At the end of the year you'll thank youself (and your family will, too!)  I'm going to post some of my favorite pages from the year as well as some of the creative way to add more than 365 photos.

Those great little accordion cards I often used to add more journaling, like I did below on a spring break trip or to add more photos, they're just a little smaller.


The kit also came with 4x6 title cards to include the date on. There were a few times where I needed more space for photos so I didn't use the included cards, I created my own by typing the date on the photos.

Don't forget to take pictures of some of your favorite things around your house. This is a magnolia blossom from our huge magnolia tree that I just love. Every week or two I took a picture of the blossoms opening up further and further.

What about the weeks I just didn't have 7 photos or I had a favorite I wanted to include but it was vertical? For the picture below of my kids I enlarged it to a 6x8 and then cropped it into two 4x6's. (I saw this idea on another blog sometime this year, too)

You can also do this with a 4x6, just cut it into two 2x3's to fit into the journaling spots along the bottom.

From a camping trip this summer, using Photoshop, I added a few more little photos onto the 4x6 photo of the day. (This was an idea that I saw on Becky's blog last year.)

I thought I also add some different ideas of what to take pictures of.
 Hobbies (yours, your husbands, your kids),

funny little things that happen during the year, such as a cat locking itself in the car

kids practicing their instruments, report cards,

little "accidents" that are just to funny not to document with a photo,

getting those Christmas cards ready and out the door,

packages left at the door, especially during the holidays,

notes or subtle hints left behind for you see,

special homemade gifts, quiet times reading,

the list goes on and on but at least there are some ideas I can share with you to get you going! Good luck and leave me a comment with a link if you, too, are joining in on the fun! I'd love to see your ideas. I am doing it again this year and will be using Becky Higgins great product however, I'm holding out to see what her digital kit will include and give that a try this time around.

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!

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.