Scrapbook Layouts - Free Time is Amazing.....

I am really enjoying the time I took off from my photography business. Don't get me wrong I love doing sessions, I just feel I need a break sometimes, a little me time.  I get so busy with my kids schedules, working a full-time job, being a wife and then running a part-time photography business that I would loose sense of the days.  Things would run together and I would feel really lost.  Around the holidays I really like taking a break, it helps me to come back re-freshed and inspired.  I never want my photography to feel like a real job, I do it because I love it not because I have to so it's important that I always take that time to sit back and look at the big picture.

This break got my mojo back, I used to scrapbook a lot, I enjoyed it, but I lost the inspiration some where, I still would create and make things but I couldn't get myself to work on an actual layout. I've done a few layouts in Noveber and December but this January is really feeling good.  I accomplished 6 layouts over this long weekend.  Yay me!

Here are three of them...as you will see I don't think I have a style persay, I just let the picture inspire me, it could be fun, colorful, easy going....who knows I just do whatever I feel like at the time....

First time sewing on a layout....

I took it back and shopped my stash, I used some velum and some mulberry paper, remember that stuff?

This one I just went for girly and sweet....lol

Project Life Week 1

My approach this year is to just go with it, I tried pre-loading my album last year and I just felt so constricted.  I love the simplicity of the whole Project Life aspect, I think it is a great way give options for everyone to preserve their memories of their everyday.  I just needed more of a creative outlet, I want to choose journal cards that I was feeling for the week, I did want to journal every single thing, just small comments, note just little bits and pieces through out the week.  After completing my first week I discovered a few things:

1. I was really okay not taking a picture everyday, I survived.  My girls took some pictures during the week and I had them text them to me plus I printed off my son's first facebook status update, it was little things that made it personal for me and not so standard, here is picture today and it it we were doing "blah blah blah"....lol.

2.  My 7D did not have to be carried every single place, my iPhone was just fine, I am like a lot of people I'm obsessed with Instagram.  My pictures did not have to be perfectly exposed, composed amazingly and I didn't have to have a depth of field.  My pictures represented us, an imperfect, impulsive and sometime dysfunctional silly family.

3. I didn't have to use the latest and greatest...I used what I had.  I actually made pretty much all of my embellishments, journal cards and random things.  I made it my own, period.

All in all I will say that I am very please with how it turned out....

I am not being particular or uniform when it comes to the weeks title, I plan to do what ever I am feel, for this week I just wanted a little symbol of where we are and I had to add the camera image.  Obviously any kind of camera is an important part for Project Life but for me because I am a part-time photographer I just want it through out randomly anyways. 

I am not going to be a stickler on the way the date is either, so things I stamped the date on somethings I created in photoshop, I think the random days of the week and the dates just gives it more character.

I print at home so with that I can make my pictures look like mini Polaroids, I love the old school look of them.  I'm glad I can use pictures my kids take it give their aspect in the book, it not just how I see things, it's the small things they want to remember too.  (yes I blurred her friend's face, I do not want to publicly share some one else's child with out permission)

So that about sums it up, I have already designed the basics for next week, I'm going with....well let me just show you what I created and printed up so far.  I'll need to add some more things but this is a good start.  Like I said each week will be random and stand on it's own.

And on another note, did you notice the fancy red sports car in the week?  Well my mother, has decided she needed a Red Hot Mama Coupe, that's what I call it. She looks great in and I am so happy for her, it makes her happy and she deserves to be.

Project Life - Organizing Part 1 & Title Page

Since I failed miserably at PL last year...I am really trying to be more organized and less stressed this year.  I am definitely doing the weekly approach and I don't plan to just use my DSLR.  That I think was another major problem for me.  I kept thinking my iPhone pictures just were not that good but I know they are fine and I just need to remember it's about capturing the time not how good the picture was, or my depth of field or white balance, etc.  I am going in as a scrapbooker and not a photographer, lol.

Organization Pt 1

I'll talk about my station organization tomorrow but first let me talk about how I organize my thoughts, ideas and the planning of pages. I love the approach and the forms that Marcy Penner uses (see them here) so I took it a step further and created some.

Project Life Planner

I created a book, it's 8.5x11 and it has a light weight chipboard cover (I just covered it with pretty paper) it's probably as flimsy as a spiral notebook you would buy at the store.  I wanted something I could bend and really use, something I would have that I can plan out pages as I go. I created the pages in excel, one for the sketch of the two page spread and one for notes about the week at a glance.  I added in some calendars and binded it with my Bind-It-All.

I started off with a cover page of course...

Then I added a 2012 Calendar...

Then I added a Holiday Schedule and a place where I could put anything thing that I know will be coming up in 2012.

At the beginning of each month I have a calendar for that month and a place for notes.

This is the sketch sheet I created in excel, I told you it looks just like the one Marcy uses.

Across from that is the week review sheet, I can put the date in and list out anything important I took a picture of or just want to remember.  For instance today my son when with his father to Houston Texan's football game, he sent me some text pictures and I told him to save the ticket stub for me, so I made a reminder to get that from him when he brings my son home.

So that is my planner....I do use my iPad a lot, but I wanted to have my sketch sheet with me and my week review with me so I can jot down things or make notes of something I want to remember.

iPad Apps

I have looked ad so many different journal apps, I promise at one point I have downloaded 7, yes 7 of them.  There was always a feature I liked but then I realized I didn't want to make this difficult and I know I only wanted a journal. 

MOMENTO

I did keep one extra app Momento, I use this to filter all of my Facebook info, my Twitter account and my Instagram account, that way I always have a way to look at what I got going on, just in case I need more inspiration or possible fillers. It looks like this one screen shows all your feeds and then another lists them out by days.

EVERNOTE

This really is the easiest way for me to journal on my iPad, it saves the writing by day.  I can make notes all day, random thoughts, quotes or just crazy little things that go on, it's right at my finger tips at all times.  At the end of the day I email it home and then use it to respond to my Oh Joy email.

MY 2012 PROJECT LIFE TITLE PAGE

Since I didn't finish last year, I have the full kit pretty much but I knew I wanted to have more fun with it and add to it, so I am using it as my base this year but mixing in some of my own stash and some new things as well.

I created this really cute symbol silhouette of my family and  I even included the three pit bulls.  I know this book will be about our family but our dogs are a big part of our life as well so I knew they would need to be represented on any thing that represented our family. Another thing you can't really see is the camera, I have tons of them save and I want to some how incorporate a camera in my weekly pages, just a little something fun. 

I added a little clipping from a mini dictionary I found at a thrift store, it's just the definition of Family.

Here are our beautiful pits....