WEEK FOUR - January 19 to January 25th

This whole week was rough when it came to making this layout work.
Half of my pictures are from a rough and tumble day at the lake and the other half are from a shopping trip for a ball gown.  It's not exactly like these two events go together.  This was my first challenge.

The next challenge is that I am making this book to mimic the actual physical book, so I have to "match" sides. What I mean by this, is that the right side of week three has four large pictures, so the left side of the next week must also have four large pictures (as in the "real" book I'm using the reverse side of the same sheet protector).

This made this week a bit challenging and hopefully not too confusing to read.

FULL LAYOUT:

LEFT SIDE:

RIGHT SIDE:

KITS USED:
Background paper, title card, journaling cards:
Becky Higgins Project Life - OLIVE EDITION
January 2014 brush:
Splendid Fiins Calendar Brushes - 2014 edition

Week THREE - January 12 - January 18 2014

This layout should have been uploaded last week (on the 19th) however last Friday I encountered something nasty called, "The Flu".  Yes, I have to capitalize the title in order to give it the newfound respect it deserves. I honestly don't think I've ever been that sick in my entire life.   I now know why people get flu shots.

Anywhoo.... after losing five days of my life (which unfortunately included my precious three day weekend off from work), I am ready to get back in the proverbial saddle.

Click on any picture to make it larger.

FULL LAYOUT:

LEFT SIDE:

RIGHT SIDE:

Digital items used:
Background polka dot paper, title card, and journaling cards:  Becky Higgins BLUSH EDITION project life.
Background blue paper, "LiveLoveRemember" image, day of the week labels: Becky Higgins CLEMENTINE EDITION project life
"Fantastic" brush - Lori Whitlock Every Day Stamps 2
Speech bubbles - Spendid Fiins "Say What" Stamps

Week two - January 05 - 11

I am having so much fun with Adobe Photoshop.  I'd really like to take a class, but then I would want the $700 professional version. It is just better to recognize my own limitations. The layout this week took less than half the time as it did last week.... so I'm getting better.

I didn't take many pictures until the middle of the week.  Work has been honestly so terrible that Monday I came home and seriously climbed in bed and pulled the covers over my head. The Affordable Care Act may be the death of me and my team and the entire State of Utah eligibility system.  It is literally a disaster.  I've been screamed at more times in the past month than I have probably the last 11 months put together.  I don't know what causes people to behave the way they do.  But that is an issue for another post. 

 I really am so so so grateful for my job and the people I work with and the support of my family.  I consider myself SO BLESSED in so many ways.  This to shall pass.

Below is the full two page layout for the week.  Don't you love the colors?  Looking at this I realized I re-colored a few things the wrong color and forgot to put a day stamp on Nathan's outside basketball picture but that is okay. I'll take it.

Click on the picture to enlarge it.

 LEFT SIDE CLOSE UP:

 
 RIGHT SIDE CLOSE UP:

 

Week one - December 29 - January 04

 Click to enlarge:

FULL LAYOUT:

 LEFT SIDE:

RIGHT SIDE:

Hard to believe the week is already over.  
Even though the kids went back to school on Thursday ( I should have documented that as it was a ROUGH day) it still felt like the holidays as Emily was home.
She is now back at school and so I'm betting things feel a little more calm around here.  She is so full of life that it can be exhausting when she is home. Luckily for us her energy was diluted over several weeks instead of a few days.  I sure do love my Pepper!

This is my first two page layout made in Photoshop Elements.  It took WAY too long.  I still have a lot to learn and even though it took longer than it should have, I know I will get faster as I figure out what I'm doing.  I am really appreciative of how people are so willing to share their talents on the internet.  It is so nice to be able to google how to do something and find some kind soul who has posted a blog about it or even better, a video tutorial.  Emily was telling me in her dance class at BYU the professor is always emphasizing how we all have unique gifts and talents from our Heavenly Father... each is different and each should be shared for the lifting and edification of others which in turn makes us stronger.

Pretty cool... and something to think about.

I am still planning on doing a traditional project life book with the divided sheet protectors. I know I would actually like to have a printed copy of the book (like from shutterfly) as it would be less bulk than a large binder, however I do it this way because I love how the kids pore over the book all year. I wouldn't want to wait until the end of the year to get it all done and printed before it could be shared.