From My Corner of the Universe

I’ve changed labels around for some of these books.  In the above photo, the blue binders are going to store our family life.  The bright pink will still be for Kida’s school photos, memorabilia, and things that only have to do with her, such as her dances, catechism, etc.  The soft pink is for Kylie for the same reasons.  I will talk more about their binders later.

To the left of the black binder is a photo book of Kylie’s first year.  I created it digitally a couple of years ago through the Kodak website to document my pregnancy with her up to her first birthday.  Maybe I’ll talk more about that book in another post.  The book was fun to put together and I always enjoy flipping through it to revisit those wonderful memories.  The thin black book to the right of the yellow binder is a book of nature photos husband and I took a few years ago.  I created that book digitally through Walgreens online photo store.  The half blue book with the pink dots is Kida’s first year.  It’s a traditional insert-your-photo photo book.  I’m hoping to someday scan those photos and create a book like the one I did for Kylie but it will be a loooong someday.  Right now, I’ve got Project Life on my hands and my mind.I’ve read many times that Becky Higgin’s Project Life is unique to everyone.  It might sound overwhelming but it is really simple and fun too!  I’ve been following Becky’s blog since 2009, and even though I started buying the 3-ring binders last year in an attempt to start Project Life, this is the year that I’ve really pushed forward with it.  I read and view inspirations from bloggers quite often who are Project Lifers and two things always happen when I do.

1. I get overwhelmed at how creative and fast they document.  I often wonder, how on earth will I ever catch up?…but then tell myself…catch up to whom?  It’s my own unique way of documenting mine and the lives I am surrounded by at my own speed.

2. I get inspired.

Getting inspired by Becky and the bloggers is what keeps me going.  The more I do it, the easier it gets, and I also get more inspired each time I finish a story, an event, etc.  I truly enjoy looking at each finished story, event, or ordinary day of photos and words.  It is a great feeling of accomplishment to document these things (big and small) in life.  I know someday my kids will look back and smile at all this stuff I am doing.  I smile when I look through the photo albums my mother put together for all 7 siblings when we were kids.  She is my biggest inspiration.  More on that next time.

Today, I want to share what I’ve been working on.  Since I went android over the summer and downloaded Instagram, I’ve been completely hooked.  I’ve taken so many photos with my phone and wanted a way to save them in print.  I did some thinking and planning and test printed a few photos using a 3×3 template on a 4×6 photo size white document.  I then cut some cardstock to 4×4 size then used double-sided tape to tape the the photos onto the card stock.  They turned out awesome!  I wanted a clean and simple look for my Instagram binder and it was achieved.

I still have a lot more to go (including doing a bunch for my husband’s photography binder) but for now these are looking pretty good:

Products I used:  We R Memory Keepers 12×12 Leather 3-Ring Binders, We R Memory Keepers 9-4×4 inch Pocket Photo Sleeves, K&Company Smash Date Stamp, ink pad, Scrapbook Adhesives double sided tape, The Paper Company Card Stock, and ZIG Photo Signature Pen.