Category: documenting

week in the life 2014 : sunday in the album

Finally, the last update of my 2014 week in the life album! I’m so glad to have this in the books. More of my overall thoughts about the project at the end, but first here is a typical Sunday for us.

Sunday mornings involve finishing up whatever chores I didn’t quite get to the day before (this day it was washing diapers) and lots of playing and lounging with the kids before getting ready for church.

Then we all head to church! We meet in an elementary school currently. Liam goes in the nursery and usually Meredith sits with us for a few minutes to hear the songs and then will go to her preschool class. This particular Sunday was family worship, so all the kids were with the congregation until after the children’s sermon. Meredith went off to class hand in hand with one of her friends.

After church it’s kind of a toss-up as to what we do. This day I took the kids for a quick errand to get new shoes, and then after playing outside for a bit and some fighting, Meredith actually took a nap in her own bed (which never happens) and I got Liam down to sleep at the same time (which also rarely happens)! I used the downtime to do some crafting.

Then for dinner we went over to David’s parents’ house which happens at least once per week and Sundays are a common day for us to go.

When we come back from dinner we immediately go into get-ready-for-bed mode, and then it’s time for sleep.

For the end of the album I just put in some patterned paper and signed my name at the bottom.

Okay! So. This was a really satisfying project and I definitely want to keep it up. The intense gathering of information and photos during the week isn’t so bad. Putting together this album, however, took way longer than I expected and it really hung over my head. I am hoping that part of the reason it took so long is because it happened right before the holidays and then came January which is a crazy month for us. I think if I do this earlier in the year I’ll be able to finish it more quickly.

I really like the album size (6×8) and using the kit that Ali Edwards put together. I will probably continue to use her kits. I do wish they had a paper pack in them because I needed more filler cards than were in the kit, so I might just buy a paper pack that coordinates next time. As I mentioned several other times, I don’t think I will go with all black and white photos again, although it was a cool experiment.

Finally, I might take less photos next time around, or print less. There are only so many you can include in the album. Or I might do more digital collages or journaling with text next time. I need to do something to make the process go faster, but I’m not sure what yet.

My next memory-keeping project is to put together our 2014 December album. Maybe I’ll finish it in time to share for Christmas in July. ;)

April 17, 2015
project life 2015 : march

March’s Project Life is in the books. Two spreads for the month again. Here is a look at the first half:

Liam was baptized at the beginning of March and most of this page is dedicated to that.

I saved part of a Cracker Barrel bag for this pocket and added a tag for the journaling.

I used some of Meredith’s artwork in a pocket here; I’m enjoying that practice!

Here is the spread for the second half of the month:

Most of the photos on this side are from trips to the park. It really turned to spring during this time so we started taking lots of walks there.

I loved this photo of Meredith and I so I made it a little bigger.

To document Texas Style Council I did a little insert with my Instagram photos and patterned paper. I also typed up my recap blog post and put it in the album (not pictured).

Later this week I’ll be sharing the last of my 2014 week in the life album update! I started working on the December album and I’m hoping it will go quickly once I get some momentum. I’m looking forward to taking some time for other crafts in the near future. :)

April 14, 2015
week in the life 2014 : saturday in the album

Recently I had a day off without the kids so I powered through and completed this album! It took me most of the day but it feels awesome. I had a lot more photos to deal with since it was a weekend, and I had to leave quite a few out but the ones I chose tell the best stories.

Saturday started out a little rough because it was the morning after Halloween. I was kind of expecting it but it was still hard!

Once I powered through the morning with the kids (which did have its fun parts), however, David took over and gave me a good chunk of time to myself. I used it to knock out all the chores and get some relaxing time in.

After awhile David brought Liam back home (but he kept Meredith) and my friend Lauren came to hang out for a little while.

It’s funny that only this short time ago Liam was just crawling for the first time! Now he is all over the place.

This particular week was just a little bit different than our usual. We generally have dinner with my parents every Friday night, but since it was Halloween that didn’t happen. We also got a date night on Saturday which is more like an every 1-2 month occurrence. I was glad my parents made it into this album though! We dropped the kids at their house and went to a musical in town that my brother helped direct.

That’s Saturday in the album! Next week I’ll be sharing Sunday along with some final thoughts about the project.

April 8, 2015
LIGHT : march

I’m going to break format this month for my one little word update. My primary reason for choosing the word “light” was because that’s how I want to feel on the inside. Overall I do feel that way in most areas, either making progress or doing well, but with parenting I feel like I’m going backwards. It’s been a huge struggle and I’ll probably write more about it in the days to come.

The prompt this month was all about making concrete plans and actionable steps toward multiple goals. When I thought about it, there were five areas that I wanted to make progress in that are separate from my monthly goals. I chose three actions to take for each of them, and here they are:

real food

1 / continue using frugal real food meal plans.

2 / don’t bring into the house what we shouldn’t eat.

3 / try baking bread.

declutter

1 / purge one area or room each month.

2 / actually take stuff to goodwill.

3 / do a “no buy” month.

fitness

1 / sign up for a race (at least a 5k) every three months.

2 / run twice per week.

3 / aim for 10,000 steps per day.

faith

1 / put a devotional book by the coffee stuff to read while it brews.

2 / begin bedtime prayers with the kids.

3 / choose one more way to volunteer.

parenting

1 / spend one-on-one time with Meredith most every day (even if just 15 minutes).

2 / go on adventures.

3 / pray for my kids and my parenting daily.

Here is what this month looked like in my album:

I printed out the handout on kraft paper and wrote on it using a white gel pen. This was completely inspired by Donya. The only other thing I did for the month was update my monthly reflection card and add a couple of filler cards.

These action items are year-long quests so right now I’m not too overwhelmed trying to fit them in.

April 6, 2015
pocket prompts / 1

Recently I won a six month membership to the site Big Picture Classes. It’s a fun website for paper crafters and memory keepers with all sorts of classes. You pay by the month so you have full access to all the classes within that time.

I’ve been having fun exploring the site. Two of my favorite classes right off the bat were Inspired Everyday Photography and Pocket Prompts. They are short, but have already inspired me to play around with my photography a bit. For awhile I’ve been neglecting to take photos, and while that can be good sometimes (I am enjoying the moment) I also want to document the stories.

In the class Pocket Prompts, there will be five new prompts each month and I want to challenge myself to complete them. This month’s class was written by Donya Gjerdingen, and here are my photos:

1 / unconventional self-portrait

at my paper crafting station

2 / technology

where I keep my computer and my sewing machine

3 / an unhappy moment

pouting about something

4 / frame your subject

he finally tolerates swinging

5 / patterns in nature

we have wisteria in our backyard and I didn’t even know. happy discovery!

March 30, 2015