My December Daily 2015


Hello!!  Today, I thought I would share a look at the rest of my December Daily/Project Life album! This is the FINAL book in my 2015 Project Life series and I really can't believe that this project is over. Each album is truly a treasured keepsake... And just looking back through all of our photos, I am just SO shocked at how quickly my kids have grown and changed.  The days may seem long, but wow, the years are short! 

For December, I decided to combine my book to include both our daily activities, as well as our Christmas events.  The beginning of the album is more "day-to-day" stuff, and the end of the album is more Christmas-y stuff (which is basically how our month went). 

I used a 4x4 album that I had in my stash and I just LOVE this size. I know I've said it a zillion times before, but if you are on the fence about wanting to create a mini album, this size is the perfect size! Promise!  I kept the pages super simple and easy, and as you will see in the walk-through video and photos below, repetition is the key to finishing!  

I've shared pages 5-14 in another blog post, but below is a walk-through video of the entire album (excluding days 1-4 which were part of the 25 Days class at Studio Calico)!  Enjoy!!

Have I mentioned I really love this size??? :)
Thank you SO much for following along with me this past year! 2015 is fully recorded and really is such peace of mind knowing that my photos are OFF of my phone and computer!  Tomorrow, I'll be back to share with you some of the things I learned this year. If you have any burning questions, just leave me a comment here and I'll be sure to answer them tomorrow!! Yay!






Memory Keeping Made Easy


My plan for 2016 is simple and easy memory keeping. I know I want to document our days in some way, and I think I'm at the point where I mentally want it to be easy. I loved each of my Project Life books from last year and each and every one tells a different story about a different month. They are SO fun to look back on and time and energy I put into them was so worth it.  But for this year, I really want to focus on photography, so instead of just tossing memory keeping aside altogether, I've planned to incorporate some easier and simpler means for memory keeping.

One of my main projects for this year is to record ONE story per month using Ali Edwards' Story Kits. I am a BIG fan of kits and limited supplies.  The "collector" (i.e. hoarder) in me loves to grab all the new products and hot items, but I know when it comes to actually using them, I often feel overwhelmed and exhausted with all this "stuff".  Narrowing down the products I want to use helps me tremendously when it comes to creating; and Ali's Story Kits are just such a great foundation for telling a story.

I'll be using a 6x8 album and a variety of page protectors (mostly likely the 6x8 size). Each month, my plan is to pick one story, or tell one "overall" story of our month.  I will most definitely be using lots of photo collages because I love how they alone can tell the story of our month.  Other months, I'll stick to one story, or maybe write a letter or something.  And if I feel I have more than one story to tell, while then, I'll create extra pages.  The goal here, though, is not worry about which story I tell or which story gets left out, but to get my thoughts and our memories down on paper.  I am a firm believer that there is no right or wrong way when it comes to memory keeping. 


This is a look at December in my album. We took a trip to the mountains right at the end of December (after my December Daily album officially ended), so I decided to start with this story. To the left, I used Picmonkey to create a simple collage and then typed up my journaling on a piece of 6x8 card stock for the right hand side. So so easy.


For the first part of January, I wanted to talk a little about our "right now", our goals, etc...  I did this page right at the beginning of the month, so I'm actually thinking about doing an additional "collage-type" page at the end. Or maybe not...we shall see!


This process is SO simple and SO easy, and if you've been on the fence about memory keeping, or journaling, I couldn't recommend this approach more.  You really only need limited supplies and your photos - and you could use any supplies here, old or new! Remember, it's not about how many pages you make, or how many memories you record.  It's about living your life and recording those moments you want to record!  Whatever you do, I promise you will never regret getting your photos off of your camera and writing down details of your days. 

Happy Monday, friends!

Project 52: 4/52




"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016."

Anna: in her happy place. The girl reads more books than we can count. Canon 6D, 35mm, f1.8, ISO 100
Drew: a quiet moment with this sweet boy. Canon 6D, 35mm, f1.4, ISO 1000

Project 52: 3/52



"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016."

Anna: Saturday shenanigans at the park. Love all of the stables and little houses scattered around the park.  Canon 6D, f2.2, ISO 100
Drew: My sweet boy and his new hair cut. Daddy got a little carried away while I was out of town and decided to give Drew a trim. I'm never leaving again... Canon 6D, 35mm, f2.0, ISO 400








My Memory Keeping Plan for 2016


A new year always sparks new possibilities.  I love thinking of how i want to tackle the year and all the things I want to achieve creatively.  This year, I'll be taking a much more relaxed approach to memory keeping.  While I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Project Life books from last year, they were a lot of work.  Not that they took a large amount of time to create, but mentally, they were a lot of work. Most months I struggled with what size and type of album I wanted to create...did I want to use lots of journaling cards, create my own cover, etc...  mentally it was just exhausting. I love each and every one of my books, but my OCD personality needs a big break this year!  

But I couldn't imagine NOT documenting this year in some fashion. I thought about it for a hot second, but it just didn't feel right. There are so many stories and memories that I would have forgotten if I had not kept up with Project Life or traditional layouts. So many photos would be sitting on my computer had I not had a plan and a focus for memory keeping. 

For 2016, I plan to use Ali Edwards' Story Kits as my platform for memory keeping. I'm the worlds worst at storytelling and her kits really do "spark" a story for me. I love that they have a monthly theme, so I'll be using the theme to tell some story of that month.  Some months might have more than one story, but my goal is to do at least one story.  They will likely consist of mostly words and photos (as in the two projects above).  I'm keeping it simple this year!

I also planning on printing monthly photo books through various companies. I take a TON of photos and my biggest fear is that these photos will just sit on my computer and phone. so just like last year, I'll have monthly books, just in a simplified format.  Photo books are quick and easy, and I actually really enjoy creating them, so I'm pretty excited about that!!  (and p.s. - if you have a favorite photo book company, leave me a note in the comments and I'll check them out! i'm needing 12 different companies.)

I'm sure I'll sprinkle in a few additional projects throughout the year, but these are my two core memory keeping projects!  I'm looking forward to enjoying the process and letting the stories speak for themselves!

So what about you??  What's your memory keeping plan for this year??




Project 52: 2/52



"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016."

Anna 2/52: still tracked out of school, so she's my sweet little helper this week 
(Canon 6D, 35mm, f1.4, ISO 500)
Drew 2/52: the boy barely stands still for one second. he's always on the move. 
(Canon 6D, 35mm, f1.4, ISO100)


Project 52: 1/52

"A portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2016."
Anna 1/52: watching the world go by... (Canon 6D, 50mm, f2.2, ISO 1000)
Drew 1/52: trying to catch snowflakes in the backyard. If you look really really closely, you can see the tiny white flecks flaring around.  The temperature turned rather quickly and went from unseasonably warm to super cooooold. (Canon 6D, 35mm, f1.4, ISO3200)

I always love the start of a new year.  I'm always searching for new projects and wracking my brain for something "new" and exciting to try.  I have lots of plans in my head, but making them happen is a different story.  I'm playing along with a few different photo prompts this year to continue my love of photography.  I love thinking outside of the box with my camera.  I love trying new angles, new lighting, new challenges.  And I absolutely love photographing my kids.  It's amazing to me how quickly they grow overnight - seriously.  It's amazing how much they change and recording them in the here and now is so important to me.  I had thought about doing Project 365 (taking a photo everyday throughout the year), but that kind of stresses me out a little.  I'm sure I take a photo a day, but the pressure of having to take ONE was just too much.  So my plan is Photo 52, or one photo of my children each week during 2016.  At the end of the year, I plan to create a photo book of just their photos to catalog this wonderful year.  One project down. A zillion more in my head to figure out.

A few favorites...


I sat down this weekend and looked back through all of the projects I've created this year.  I didn't create as many layouts as I did in years past since a lot of my creative time was spent on my Project Life albums and a few other projects, but I seriously love every single one from this year.

Grids were a common design point for a lot of my layouts. I love using grids with papers, photos and embellishments.  They are so versatile and so easy to manipulate! I love adding in alpha or letters in my grids, and from looking back through my favorites, I obviously really loved spelling out my titles in a "mixed-up" grid design!

I've mostly been working on my December Daily album, so I haven't created a layout in quite some time and I'm on the fence about continuing to document our memories through layouts. I've noticed that my actual layouts have become more "photo-focused" and less "story-focused", so I'm doing a little soul searching over the next few weeks to decide how I want to continue telling our story. 

What about you?  Do you go back and forth about creating layouts and/or other projects??  





Around Here



A little glimpse of life around here!
Lots of holiday cheer, some shopping and tons of running around outside with this crazy warm December weather!  Can't day the days until both of my kids are out of school for Christmas! Only 11 more sleeps until Santa comes! Eeeep!

Happy Monday!





Making Merry

We are well into December and I'm still having a hard time believing that Christmas will be here in just a few weeks. So far December has been full of the typical school schedules, activities, birthday parties and more, but I'm determined to make the rest of this month MERRY and fun! I think I often get too caught up in the everyday and forget to slow down and appreciate the moment.  Working hard these next few weeks to do just that. To slow down. To sit and enjoy. To let the laundry and house cleaning wait. To color with my kids and make Christmas crafts. To read a book by the fire. To just be.  It sounds so simple, but really, it's so darn hard.  

Hoping your days are slow and merry-ful. 

xoxo

November Project Life Album


Hey there!!  I'm over on the Studio Calico blog today sharing a look at my November Project Life album. I'm currently working on my December book, and very soon I will have twelve completed albums documenting our year. This project has been a labor of love, but it has been so rewarding. I can't wait to do a recap post in a few weeks with some of my thoughts and feelings about these albums and this project!



This book includes a lot of similar elements from all of my previous albums - double spread photos, layers, altered page protectors, paper clips and more!  Once I FINALLY decide on an album size, the putting together part usually comes quickly and easily!  





And here is a quick walk through video of the finished album!  As always, thank you SO much for following along this year-long memory keeping journey with me.  It's been fun and so very rewarding to have these moments captured and documented. 


xoxo


Adventure


I keep coming back to a grid design.  I think it's because it's just easy to do, but can vary so much with different sized photos, papers, embellishments, etc...


For this layout, I started with a 4x6 photo of my son and then built the grid around the photo.  It's fun to cut and paste and really create without any set parameters.

This page came together SO easily, which just reaffirms my love for a grid or collage.


I broke up the papers and patterns a little by adding in a leaf embellishment from the Studio Calico Canyonland Scrapbook main kit and also added in a little wood veneer alpha for texture along the bottom strip of paper.  I've said it a zillion times before, but it's the simple embellishments that add so much impact to me!

Remembering those Little Moments


It's the little moments that make life so BIG and this week, I'm over on Maggie Holmes' blog sharing a layout I created all about those little moments of our life.  Using one of my favorite papers from the Shine collection, I created an interactive layout of photos, journaling and embellishments.  I just love a good interactive layout!  


Stop on by here blog to see more and read about how I created this page! And for more of my ideas on interactive pages, be sure to join me in my Big Picture Classes class, Interactive Elements - there's lots of good ideas there!!  Oh, and tons of videos and tutorials!

Around Here



Around here, life is busy, but so good.
We are loving the cooler weather, the crispness in the air and everything fall.  We are jumping into the season with both feet and are trying to pack in as much as we can over these next few crazy months. Hope your October is off to a great start!
xoxo





September in Photos

These are the rest of my images from the September photo a day challenge.  It was a fun challenge and I'm so glad I carried my camera around with me throughout the month.  And while I take at least one photo a day (usually), I found this project kind of stressed me out a little.  I've seen where some people completed this project by ONLY taking one photo each day.  That's a lot of pressure.  I'm more of a snap and delete kind of gal, so I took a whole bunch, kept my favorite and deleted the rest. Of all the photo projects I've completed, I think Day in the Life or Week in the Life is a more accurate representation of our life.  But playing around with my camera, trying out new things and learning as I go is always a good time, so no complaints here!

Goodbye September!!!  

Going back to the basics


I went out on a limb this month with my Project Life spread over at Studio Calico and decided to give the 12x12 size a go again!  I was surprised at how easily the spread came together and really do love this size (I just wish the darn albums weren't so large and bulky).

I found myself following my normal "process" which consisted of printing out all of my photos first, adding in a few filler cards in the extra spaces and then including my journaling.  So fast and so easy!


I think one of the things I always struggled with with this size was having the two pages have a good flow and coordinate well with one another.  Using a kit, like the Wink Wink Project Life kit from Studio Calico this month, really helps make that process easier!


The cards and accents were designed to compliment each other, so it's easy to pull in elements and have a good flow/feel on the page. 




I used my typewriter to add most of journaling onto either my photos or journaling cards.  Typing on photos still is my absolute favorite! I love leaving a little bit of "negative space" when printing out my photos so I can add in my thoughts!


For this photo of my two kids, I was worried the sun and trees in the background would make my typing difficult to see, so I typed onto a piece of white printer paper and then stitched the strips into place!  I love how the words pop from the photo!

The 12x12 size really is such a fun size to work with!  And pairing the design A page protectors with a coordinated kit makes the process even easier!  That's a win-win in my book!