PROJECT LIFE: Week 18

Week 18, wow!

I really like this spread for a couple of reasons; I enjoy all the design elements that went into it, and I also enjoy the fact that this week is special for one reason: it's the first spread all year where the photos are all from one day (with the exception of my iPhone pics). I have no idea what happened, but when I went to pick out the photos from the week, I noticed that there was only one day! But you know what, there was still enough variety in the photos that you would never know it was all on the same day (you can only tell because we're wearing the same clothes in each shot, haha).  And despite not having a ton of photos to use, the spread filled out quickly (in fact, I'm trying to include less photos, both for economical reasons and to force me to include more journaling).

Things I like specifically:

-The '15lbs' graphic card I made to document Violet's weight right now (I used a generic photo of grass that Victor took as the background) 

-The 'counting card' that talks about Victor learning to count to 10 (I used the number stickers that come with the kit, which is great because I haven't found much use for them so far)

-The new Smashbook wash tape that I bought (used on the Instagram collage)

-The Thank you card that we got from Steve's mother (we went to her husband's funeral a couple of weeks ago)

-The gardening photo of Violet and I (taken with the self timer, I need to do that more!)

-The little letter stickers on my self portrait (a simple and profound statement for me)

-The door card 'filler'...like I said, I didn't have a lot of photos this week so I used the door patterned paper, I think it fits in nicely.

-The repeating diamond stickers that I found in Victor's baby book earlier in the week and decided to use (like I said, great place to use up your random bits of stash!)

-The Pro/Con journaling card that I used to talk about a parenting quarrel I had with Victor

Oh, Project Life, how I geek out over you :)

Have a great weekend!
G.

PROJECT LIFE: Week 17

I mentioned in my post on Week 16 that I started to 'break down' a bit this month, which is definitely true. April was a rough month for me for some reason; I think I was just so worn down from being at home with the kids all winter, and seeing the enormous pile of work that has to be done this year, both in terms of my photography business and the house, plus troubles with money...well, I've just been feeling crummy and out of sorts. Instead of hiding it or not acknowledging it though, I decided to incorporate it into the album, since I really believe in telling all stories, not just the happy ones. Whether it's a photo or journaling, I try not to let it overtake the general feeling of the album, but I want all of our stories in there, mine included. It's therapeutic now, and will be revealing later on.

Anyway, this week there weather got even nicer (a huge breath of fresh air!), and Dan and I got to go out on a  real life date, which was AMAZING and so, so needed. 

There are 2 'hidden' elements on the spread this week, the first is just a simple folded journaling card talking about weaning Violet and starting her on formula (included an Instagram on the front, my favourite way to do these folded cards), and the 2nd is a much more private journaling note that I inserted into the little grey envelope on the first page. So not only would you have to take the card out of the album, but you'd have to take the letter out of the little sealed envelope as well to read it. I debated not putting it in at all (it's about my relationship with Dan and our marriage), but at the same time the thoughts were gnawing at me all week so I knew I had to write it down and include it. I love the idea that you can have public and private journaling in the album, it was genius of Becki to think of that! I also did a couple of cards on the computer this week (the Weekly Review written on the computer around the photo of Victor, and out 'date night' card, with 3 Instagrams and typed out journaling). The letters on the photo of Victor spell out "Explore", it's kind of hard to tell. And the LOST card is silly, but I love it!

That's about it for Week 17!

If you have any questions, feel free to write them in the comments and I'll be sure to get back to you! Thanks for taking a peek :)

G.

PROJECT LIFE: Week 16

Week 16 (aka the week the weather finally started to turn!)

This was a very normal week for us, no special trips or events or anything like that, just life. (I think this is also where I started to break down a bit, but I'll share more about that in next week's layout). Not too many photos from every single day, which is ok, I know that this is how the album will most likely be for the next 6 months or so as life gets busier. Trying not to stress about it. For techniques I didn't do anything particularly special, I'm just trying to use up my supplies (for example the little circle/birdie/tag die cuts on the flower photo, no real reason for them except to use 'em up!) I also included a card talking about Victor's favourite books at the moment; I made that card during the week vs on my 'put together' days, and I enjoy those so much more because they are more in the moment; I want to try and do that more, especially when it comes to all the little things about the kids that I want to remember. Lots of writing on photos this week too, I think that this is my favourite and easiest technique for this project. I also did a little 'caption' strip for my Instagrams this week, will be doing that again.

Ok, here we go!

Week 17 coming up tomorrow!

G.

PROJECT LIFE: Week 15

Alright, I'm warning you that you're about to get a flurry of PL posts. I have the photos all edited and uploaded so I hope to get them posted this week. We're currently on Week 21 (insane!), so I need to get  these out of the way. It makes me so happy seeing them all in one place online though, I'm happy that I decided to blog them :)

Ok, Week 15. This was Easter Sunday/Monday week, and also a week where I took a trip to Halifax to visit friends. Being the terrible 'event' photographer that I am though, I didn't take photos of either of those particular days, so there are no inserts or anything special, this is just a regular week. For 'stuff', I included the front page of a local Halifax newspaper that we used to read often while living there (it's also cool because it was the Titanic's 100th anniversary, and since Halifax has important ties to that event, the front page was all about the infamous ship). The rest of the layout is pretty standard stuff, my favourite part though is the vellum quote that I stapled on top of a random photo of my feet :) I also included a photo of Victor's toys from his room, since I thought it might be fun to look back on in 10 years, to see what was 'popular' back then.

(Oh, and I can't believe we got a snowstorm that week! Crazy weather.)

Here we go, Week 15:

Still loving this project!!

G.

PROJECT LIFE: WEEK 14

Here we are, going back to the first week in April (man how it time going by so quickly?!) This spread seems really 'white' to me, but probably because of the two pockets on the right that are filled with 'stuff' versus photos. Because of that I'm not super fond of it, haha. We went to a funeral on Thursday so I included the bulletin that we got at the church (wasn't sure if I should include it or not but I thought it would be something I would be interested in seeing in 5-10 years), and I also included the program from the high school play that I went to see on Saturday with my friend Sara. I didn't really realize when I started this project how much I would love having a place to put all this 'life' STUFF. I don't like throwing things like that out, but of course I don't want it wasting space in a drawer, so this is the perfect solution :)

I also did another folded journaling card (seems like I do one every week!), and this time instead of sticking a photo on the front (or just writing on the front), I printed out one of my Tweets and used it as the bouncing off point for my journaling...pretty clever if I do say so myself, ha!

(The Weekly journaling for this spread is missing, I hand wrote it around the picture of Victor in the top right page.)

Have a great weekend!
G.