I just got back from spending a few days in the beautiful state of Utah. I went to Women’s Conference at BYU – my alma mater. The experience was truly remarkable. I seriously could fill my blog schedule for weeks with everything I gained from going.
But today I’m just going to share a handful of snapshots from the trip. All taken with my iPhone. I left the “real” camera home. Some of these are edited with the Instagram app (the square images) and some with the Camera+ app — my two current faves. I find it incredibly fun to snap a picture like this …
… and turn it into this with about 30 seconds … right there on my iPhone:
Anywho … I’m having fun with the photo editing apps. Actually, it’s safe to say that most of my POTD’s for Project Life lately have been taken with my iPhone.
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BYU sits at the base of gorgeous, humongous mountains.
Spring was in full bloom. There were many areas that were just downright fragrant. Walking around was like someone slapping a perma-grin on my face. All I wanted to do was stand and inhale.
And then … it dropped 20 degrees overnight. And snowed. For real. But honestly, I loved this just as much. We’re heading into a very hot Summer here in Arizona so I was totally soaking in the coldness.
There are awesome exhibits at the BYU Museum of Art right now. This book sculpture is comprised of approximately 80,000 pounds of books. Are you kidding me? It’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen. Loved it. And I love the art of Carl Bloch, which is the main exhibit there now.
Yes, there was shopping. I’m pretty sure this was the favorite spot. If you’re ever in the Provo area … so. much. fun. stuff! Truly a load of eye candy and plenty of things to tempt the shopper side of anyone. It’s Cherry Lane Boutique on University Ave.
Finally, on a closing note … I just have to say that the BYU Creamery truly has the best mint brownies. I haven’t sunk my teeth into one of those in forever! They still make them the very same way they did when I was in college 15 years ago. And guess what!? I googled it and found that BYU actually shares the recipe online! That’s just super cool.
Now I have to get back on the healthy train. Darn it.
Highlight: I’m pretty sure this was the happiest group of 8-year-olds on the planet for a few hours. Watching them play and learn and interact and enjoy this place was pure delight.
Survival: Um. Being squished between 2 boys on the bus, even though there was plenty of room to spread out? And it was 95 degrees? Not my most favorite thing. But I’m soaking in this brief stage of still being a “cool mom” before I’m no longer viewed as cool in any way. Plus — the 3 of us worked well together as we played Words With Friends. We exercised our brains and had fun.
Inspired by: This place is full of creativity. Just look at what they’ve done with CDs and utensils and shoes! And pool noodles! A whole forest of noodles for the kids to run through? They couldn’t get enough.
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For those of you who still have questions about the digital Project Life, tomorrow’s post will cover some digital Q&A based on your comments/questions in recent posts. This has been a particularly busy week of nearly non-stop, go-go-go, hardly-any-time-at-the-computer. Please know I haven’t forgotten about you. Thank you for remembering that while I certainly work hard on my business/blog/products … I also work hard as a mother and in service to my church and community.
Yesterday after school Claire handed me this white flower that she had picked for me. She does this often. There’s no question she’s a sweetheart. And a girly-girl. Flowers and rainbows and dress-up? Check.
And then she unloaded her backpack and her pockets and out came the rocks and sticks she collected from the day. She does this often as well. Tough and adventurous and strong? Check.
As I helped Claire move her newfound treasures to join the rest of her collection in the backyard, I couldn’t help but notice the flower, there among the sticks and the rocks … and how this grouping so poignantly reminds me of her.
It’s the little things that speak volumes about someone’s personality. It’s the little things that remind us of the phases our kids go through. It’s the little things that often leave the biggest impressions on our heart of how blessed we are.
Today, photograph something that is about the little things.
The purpose of this video is to share inspiration. It’s not to review any technical specifics. Just sharing a couple ways that I have personally used Digital Project Life as a time-saving solution in my efforts to record our family memories. More information about the digital offering can be found here, including loads of FAQs and an instructional video for those who are brand-new to Digital Project Life.
I am seriously so pumped about the books I have made for our family. So quick. So easy. So rewarding to have these done! I have some loose ends I’m wrapping up with our 2009 and 2010 family yearbooks where we have used the week-at-a-glance template to showcase our POTDs (pictures of the day) from the past two years. And I continue with that format in 2011 and am loving it. L-O-V-I-N-G it.
Like so many of you, I am saddened to hear about the devastation in New Zealand as a result of yesterday’s earthquake. I send my love and my prayers to those of you in that area … and many more affected from a distance, with loved ones in New Zealand. In remembrance of the beautiful city of Christchurch, I am posting pictures on facebook & twitter throughout the day, from our visit there in 2004. It is truly one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
We’re kicking off the month of February with none other than a PHOTO CHALLENGE!
For those of you who are new around here, you should know that I like to offer a photo challenge once in a while …. because sometimes it takes a challenge to help us step outside our box, think of a new angle, or do something with our camera that perhaps we haven’t considered before. A few recent photo challenges: Reflection in November, Look Down in October, Table Top andFrom the Ground in September.
This time we’re taking on a theme. And that theme is WORK.
Sometime in the next couple of weeks, get a few pictures of a loved one or co-worker doing their thing at work. Try interesting angles. Pay attention to details that make that workplace what it is. I recently snuck around in my friend Karolyn’s classroom. Each image tells part of the story that is her life as a school teacher (and she’s a pretty awesome one at that, if I may say so myself).
If this inspires you to head to the workplace and take a few pictures for your spouse, your friend, your co-worker, your parent, your child, your neighbor, your boss … great. If you feel inclined to take it a step further and submit a picture or two, cool.
I’ll choose my top 10 favorites to share on my blog. My favorites are chosen based on really strict and specific criteria. Not. It’s more like the Oooh-That’s-such-a-great-shot! feeling I have when I see the picture. Because I’m technical like that. Note: Sometimes my picks are based on the idea, not necessarily the amazingness or quality of the actual image. However, if the photograph is a really fantastic image, that is certainly in your favor.
I’d like to tell you a little something about the year 2008.
I was pregnant 9 out of the 12 months that year. Pregnant for me is synonymous with sick. I was blessed (so, so, so blessed) with 3 healthy pregnancies and 3 healthy babies but man, I did not feel well the whole 9 months. I’m not complaining — not for a second. It’s just the way it was. 2008 also happened to be the first year I attempted taking a picture a day to document our life. I started on January 1st (before I was prego) and that lasted, well … not even 2 months. That pregnancy just kicked me over and it was all I could to do muster the energy to care for our other 2 children and work and carry on with life as a semi-functional human being.
I have a point to sharing this.
2008 went pretty much un-documented. Sure, I took pictures. (How could I not?) Definitely didn’t take quite as many and I certainly didn’t get much scrapbooking done that year. Soooo … fast-forward to now. Guess what I just finished? (**insert squeel**) Our 2008 family yearbook! I am so pumped, people. Like totally & completely so happy about this.
How did I pull off that little magic trick?
I used Digital Project Life. Specifically, the month-at-a-glance template. I chose 7 pictures to represent each month, dropped my pictures in the template, added my journaling, done. One layout per month and just like that, 2008 was documented! Yes, I’ll share more of this with you when I received my printed book in the mail. Of course this can be done with the physical kit as well. It’s all the same concept: Documenting life with the most simple approach to scrapbooking.
Want to see a few digital Project Life books? Today I’m sharing books completed by 3 different customers, each with a different approach. These were all done using last year’s Original design. Of course we now have 2 new designs — Turquoise and Amber. Oh, and psssst. Have you noticed that there is a 30% sale going on right now? If you want to pay in advance for your book (and still be able to take your time creating it), the Digital Project Life books are 30% off through the 31st (Monday). So if you’re thinking about it, play around with it this weekend.
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Brittney made a book as a Christmas gift for her parents who were leaving on a mission. It includes pictures of her siblings and each of their respective families. She removed all the journaling cards to make it a picture-heavy book. This turned out to be an awesome gift that will make home feel not-so-far for these grandparents while they’re away. Check out Britt’s entire book HERE.
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Laurel made a book of her family’s 2010 — all 52 weeks. Showcasing 7 pictures a week (each layout is a new week), she used the Original week-at-a-glance template in its most original format. In other words, she left the default square photo spots all square (you can easily alter the size & shape & scale), which resulted in a very nice, uniform look. Check out Laurel’s entire book HERE.
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Jill also did a 2010 book but she used the month-at-a-glance template (like I did). Some months are represented with just a page and some months take up 2 or 3 layouts. She even added a few full-sized pictures in the mix, which I love. Jill said, I tripped over the Project Life web site in late December and I quickly decided that it was the perfect solution to help get me caught up on my scrapbooking. I was able to put the whole 2010 book together in less than a week. And, I had a lot of fun working on it — especially once I realized that I could alter the template pages if I wanted to. Check out Jill’s entire book HERE.
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Digital Project Life is flexible to your needs, just like the physical kit. I love seeing the different variations and how each customer is making the book work for them. If you have completed and ordered a Digital Project Life book, you would have been sent an email that has a link to your viewable (not editable) book. Feel free to share the link in a comment here … if you’re open to sharing that with everyone.
These are my glasses. From my teenage years. For. Real.
When I came across these the other day and blew the dust off these old things, a flood of memories came pouring in. I haven’t seen them for years. My kids got a kick out of knowing that these were on my face every day for years.
When you come across something old and nostalgic, perhaps that could be your POTD. Or maybe you have something old and sentimental currently out or on display in your home. You see it all the time. It’s a part of your life today, just as it was back then. Take a picture. Memorialize the item. Jot down some associated memories. What does it represent?
First of all, I’m excited to share a POTD idea that I just implemented into our Project Life book yesterday. It was kind of an exciting a-ha! moment for me in my little quest to document life.
{ POTD idea }: Take a screenshot of a satellite view or map of your neighborhood.
Totally a worthy POTD, don’t you think? So what that you didn’t actually take the picture? We can thank crazy-expensive technology for that. Just head over to GoogleMaps and plug in your address. Click on Map or Satellite for options. Zoom in & out to see if you want a wider angle or a close-up view. Then get a screenshot (I use SnapNDrag on our Mac) or a snapshot (with an actual camera) … and there you go!
(No, this isn’t our neighborhood. I just picked a random suburb in the middle of the U.S. to illustrate.)
Where you live is very much a part of your story. Including a birds-eye view is just one more angle from which to document our life. Then journal about why you love the area, or what makes it hard to live there, or whatever you want to write about.
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If your approach to Project Life is documenting a little piece of life every day, you may find yourself wanting a little inspiration from time to time. A few ways to get POTD ideas:
1. If you type “POTD” in the search field here on my blog, a list of blog posts will come up that have POTD inspiration in some way. I will continue to share POTD ideas on my blog from time to time.
2. If you click on the Photography category here on my blog, you can scroll and scroll and scroll some more to find more ideas — from me and also from awesome fellow blog readers.
3. The Project Life Community always has the latest & greatest in idea-sharing among fellow Project Lifers.
4. Check out other favorite blogs of those participating in Project Life or any type of 365 project. For example, I’m recently inspired by Susan Weinroth’s approach, which is to use her iPhone for their family’s daily shots. No fancy camera, no editing.
And now … I’m pleased to announce yet another way to get life-documenting-picture-taking inspiration! As most of you know, I use the platforms of facebook & twitter to share ideas, links, tips, and even an occasional POTD idea.
5. Now — moving forward — you can expect even more consistent POTD idea-sharing on facebook & twitter. Yippee! Not necessarily every single day but pretty close.
It’s simple: Just click HERE if you want to “like” my facebook page so you automatically get my feed. Or click HERE if you want to get see how to get my twitter feed. I’ll share the same ideas in both places. No reason to follow me in both places.
{ This is the fun part }
I’ll share plenty of my own POTD ideas, sure. But I also want to share the very best reader ideas too. Variety is the spice of life. Have you got a knack for taking great pictures? Have an inspiring POTD idea that most people can relate to or find inspiration from? Here’s the scoop:
3. Be sure your picture is already edited, if needed.
4. No deadline. I’m always interested to see what you’re photographing!
5. Must include your first name … and it’d be great to know which state or country you call home.
6. Please include just one quick sentence that describes the concept or idea behind your POTD. Remember, ideas I’ll be passing along via twitter & facebook have to be very short & sweet.
7. By submitting your picture(s), you automatically grant permission for me share/use your picture. Just because you submit a picture doesn’t mean it will be shared or used. If I do share or use it, I’ll let you know. Did you catch all that? : )
We’re all pretty good at taking pictures of life’s big moments. Birthday parties, travels, first day of school, holidays. And most of us are getting better about also capturing the “mundane”. The everyday. The simple stuff that makes up our life.
Today I just want to put a little reminder out there, to capture the moments that aren’t necessarily our favorite moments in life. Now obviously there are challenges and even horrible things that happen in life that aren’t meant to be photographed and displayed. That’s not what I’m talking about. Sometimes we need to photograph and/or document moments because they play an important role in who we are, what we believe, and how we gain strength through hard experiences.
This POTD is a picture that not only represents more than $4000 worth of damage, but it documents an event in a family’s life that changed their outlook on life forever.
With permission, I am sharing an email I received last week. She ties her experience into Project Life, but it’s not about the product. It’s about the concept of documenting life. This is from Beth in Ohio:
Yesterday I was driving down the highway, hit a patch of black ice, and spun out across three lanes of traffic. I hit the guard rail and ended up facing oncoming traffic. I will swear to my dying day that I felt God’s hand push me across the highway. No cars hit me, and unbelievably there were no semi trucks on the road at the time. Our three-year-old was with me, buckled snugly in his car seat. No one was hurt, but our car is totaled.
What I am getting at is that even though I have just started this project for the first time, and it is just the beginning of the year, what I do for five minutes a day would have been there to bless my family if things had turned out differently yesterday. They would have had a visual and written record of the last 8 days of my life. This tiny little time commitment and the $53 is well-spent to record life AS IT HAPPENS.
Yesterday I used my first bi-fold journaling card to record the accident and my feelings about it. If I had waited to “scrapbook” it, these things would have been lost to memory. I can’t believe how much I am preserving with just FIVE MINUTES a day.
Becky, thank you for this product. What an incredible blessing it is to so many families. You have created something that allows our lives to be preserved and remembered in this time-crunched world. I feel more so much more strongly about Project Life now than I did a week ago — it has taken on a meaning that, although I knew was there, I had never felt the urgency of until now. We never know what will happen in any given day, and what better way to be cognizant of that than to remember the everyday moments each day.
My POTD for that day was actually a photo that my husband took of the damage to the car. I find that the visual reminder of the damage brings those moments back. I know that sounds odd, but I want to remember how grateful I was just to be alive, and feel that all the other stuff is just stuff.
I can only add one thing to what Beth has so beautifully communicated: Like every one of you reading this, I am so grateful that she is okay and their sweet little boy is okay. Their lives were spared that day for a reason. There is more life to live. There is more love to give.
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On a similar note of documenting our not-so-favorite moments … but on a much, much, MUCH lighter note … check out this moment that my friend Kara happened to capture in our home last month.
If you look closely through Claire’s hair, you see a face of huge disappointment and sadness. Crew, of course, just looks shocked. Yes, Crew. When you throw a snow globe on the floor, it really does shatter. For real. Don’t mind that it was Claire’s favorite Christmas decoration.
The reason Kara was even able to capture this moment is because she was hanging out with our family for the day. She was documenting A Day in Our Life. It’s one of the greatest gifts a family can have for themselves: The documentation of a day. I am so excited to share with you that Kara is adding this “offering” to her photography business. Learn more about it HERE.
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Folks, life is happening. Good stuff, funny stuff, blessed stuff, hard stuff, devastating stuff. It’s all there. This is life as we know it. Let’s do our best to cultivate a good life and record it.
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Added note: As you know, the Project Life kits are currently sold out. We are very close to having more inventory in stock. We expect those kits to be available on Amazon (for U.S. customers) by the end of January. Any sooner would be a pleasant surprise. We all want to be pleasantly surprised! Thank you for your patience (and your interest!). As always, I will communicate updates & information as we get closer — especially here on my blog and on facebook and twitter.
Okay, so seriously. Seriously you’d think I have drummed up some sort of Project Life Dream Team or something. While that actually sounds like a terrific idea — Hmmm. I’ll tuck that away for later. — I am realizing over and over again that there are just amazing and talented and GOOD people out there. Everywhere.
And today I’d like to share a few of them with you. Maybe they’re familiar to you. Maybe not. Either way, they each have really fantastic Project Life ideas to share. And that’s just what they’ve been doing on each of their respective blogs. They each explain their individual approach to the project. I didn’t ask them to; They’re just awesome like that.
And that, of course, is the key to Project Life. Which is … approach it the way you want to. Make the project adapt to you. Have a look at these very inspiring articles by clicking on the links. And if you’ve done something similar (thank you!), feel free to leave a comment with a link to your blog too.
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Jade (a.k.a. “Super Organiser Mum”) in Australia. Go HERE.
Un-related to Project Life, but I’m super excited for Becki Crosby and her “baby”. She’s put a lot of hard work into making her vision a reality. Did you hear about Whippy Cake’s newly-launched website and the new product line of deliciously tempting accessories? I’m loving. You’ve gotta check it out.
Oh, and pssst. While you’re there you must click on her BLOG because guess what? Yep — It’s a Project Life Giveaway. Enter to win! In the meantime, I’ve got my eye on the “muffy”. Aaaand a few others.
When our niece Kyra asked me to be in charge of a guest book for their wedding reception, I probably said “yes!” before she finished the question. I love projects. I also love simplicity. And weddings. And new love. And I love Kyra. : )
I immediately saw in my mind’s eye the end result. It involved no fluffy, distracting “stuff”. It involved edge-to-edge pictures. It involved a lot of pictures from their engagement shoot. And most importantly, it would be filled with love from so many people that would be there to celebrate with them on the most significant day of their lives.
Whether you have a baby shower, wedding reception, 50th anniversary celebration, or retirement party coming up, here is one way you could put together a guest book. It’s simple and classic. You just can’t go wrong.
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1. Always, always start with your album first. Make sure you know exactly what size you’re dealing with before beginning a project. We decided on a cute & practical 6″ x 6″ size.
2. Prepare your photos for printing. Using digital editing software (I use Photoshop Elements), get your images ready. Because of our 6″ x 6″ size, I created 12″ x 12″ canvases (yay that Costco can now print that size) and put (4) 6″ x 6″ images on each canvas.
3. Print photos.
4. Trim photos.
5. Insert photos. Note: For this title page, I knew this picture would be the title page so I added the text in Photoshop first.
6. Insert blank pages. Note: I decided to put a photo on every left side of the layout and a blank page on every right side. This particular album already came with blank cardstock in each page protector, so lucky me, I saved some time there.
The album is ready for guests to sign! At the reception or party, just take some of the blank pages out and have them on a table with some pens. As they fill up, place them back in page protectors and pull out more blank pages. By the way, I would love to give credit to this awesome little album but nowhere is it branded (and I’ve had it on-hand for years). Sorry.
Jason & Kyra now have this little book of family & friends waiting for them when they get home from their honeymoon. May it always serve as a reminder to them just how loved they are.
A heartfelt thank-you to all who submitted pictures and especially those of you whose pictures are featured in the video.
It was so hard to narrow down to my usual Top 10 favorites. So I put a whole bunch of awesome submissions together with music instead. I did force myself to choose just one winner because someone needs to win a Project Life kit! Congratulations to … Cali in Provo, Utah. I just love the way this shot speaks volumes about her role as a mother. I love the composition … and the fact you can tell it was taken in her car mirror … and her sweet babe content in the car seat … with her little bow and binky. And I love that she put herself in the picture. The end.
We have some very special friends - the Fuchs ("fewks") family - that are adjusting to a "new normal" with their special-needs daughter who had a terrible accident and is now confined to a wheelchair. You can read all about it HERE
For the benefit of Claire's family - and also for the benefit of many generous sponsors - I opened my blog for advertising for one month only! This is temporary + the ads will run February 1 - 29, 2012. 100% of the ad fees have gone directly to Claire's family.
Because of the nature of this fundraiser and the need to keep the entire process very, very simple - we are not taking any more sponsors at this time. Anyone who wants to reach out to the Fuchs family with a note of encouragement, or a letter in the mail, or even a cash donation, can find that information HERE
