My two new grey binders came and I took all of 2013 out of the two temporary books I had inherited and was using all year, and with that, 2013 is officially done!
I'm going with 12x12 albums again this year, white this time.
About mid year I totally changed up my style. Part of that was just due to being so far behind that I had to adapt to survive (finish), and part of that was just due to me starting to find a little bit more my style of expressing myself in this way. I totally simplified. Way less embellishing or altering, much more writing on the photos themselves, and more photos in general. Unfortunately, because I fell so far behind, I didn't post the spreads after week 31 on my blog. There's real genius in weeks 32-52 people! (I kid, I kid. As cute as can be Stephanie said, "a Project Life is a Project Life is a Project Life", which I both completely agree with, and totally disagree with at the same time. I think you have to do it to know what I mean. It's one of those things that they all look the same from a distance, but as you get closer, you notice the slight differences and see them add up differently.) And now, it's just way too far gone to go backwards and post them. I have a hard enough time keeping caught up with the here and now! So, I thought I'd share some ways the second half of 2013 varies from the first half, in one last 2013 PL post.
I kept using inserts but started including larger pictures within some weekly spreads. I like the way a larger photo looks so much.
I kept doing large photos within the pockets of the weekly spread too (sans insert). Totally helped me catch up to use some large favorite photos, and I still love the look of the broken up photo in the pockets.
By the second half of the year, my boys (husband and son) were even a little trained to take photos for me. If I remembered to remind them before they headed out the door, that is. This is a shot taken from my husband's cell phone. He thought enough ahead to leave it with his friend before he headed up. I found that cell phone photos blow up just fine by me. Having others help do the documenting helped and of course, adds more of their voice to the book too.
My husband said that taking a photo "for mom" after their hike was my son's idea. Love that! You might not be able to tell, but they're at the top of a steep hill. I asked my husband to write on the photo so that some of his handwriting was in the book as well. (Need to do this more.)
I found this note with my son's writing on it- a post it reminder to himself to bring something to school. I was very excited to find it because I had just the spot for it- PL! The Snapchat app selfie he took (next to note) was originally sent to his sister and she knows to help her mama out by taking a screenshot and texting it to me.
Not much better than than the note I found above. Love.
I used a lot of my daughter's texts in the album- straight screen shots from my phone that I then uploaded to my computer. I changed the color in iphoto because frankly, I think the text screen as is is ugly!
Occasionally, when the weather was unusual for some reason, or struck me as particularly beautiful, I'd use a weather app and take a screenshot on my phone and put it straight in the pockets. Using my own hand written fonts was faster than putting down stickers or stamps and way faster than doing it in Photoshop for me.
Occasionally, I'd use an instagram photo I'd taken too. And I started using this sweet little stapler more than glue.
The biggest embellishment I used the second half of the year was the "flair" or badges. I was so happy to have found this one floating around because it's exactly what my son said after he finished his giant art project shown next to it. Cracked me up and brings me right back to that night.
See? More badges, and also simple label stickers, I used those a lot too.
I have always been a fan of label stickers. Always will be I'm sure. And I didn't let blurry photos bother me, I wanted this memory of them playing a new game together captured far more than I cared about it being a pretty picture. We can pretend it was an artistic choice to have such a shallow depth of field, right?! Right!
I turned to some inserts with lots of photos taken together right away, sort of photo booth style to tell the story for me. (I used this pocket page here.)
I did occasionally do a little bit of sewing. I do love the interest it adds.
Writing on journal cards and photos both, just seemed so easy. My daughter took that photo of both my husband and I having fallen asleep on the couch, ha! Can you say "jet-lag"?
And still more writing directly on photos. (This s my favorite white pen and this my favorite black.)
I liked using the elements in the photo as a design cue for the addition of text. Fun! Like on this date part below:
It really became quite a go-to trick to making myself happy ;).
and the date and happiness above, I chose to write that way because of the space provided in the photo. I also made a few letterpress cards for some 4x6 slots. I'm a big fan of the letterpress look and can't wait to make more.
And since we're talking about text design, we can't fail to mention the brush script that's enjoying some time in the limelight right now. As a matter of fact, I'm one of the many contributors showing script in use in PL in the life|scripted Kal Barteski class over at Studio Calico. You don't have to be a SC member or do PL or anything if you want to join in the fun and learn script school from Kal, she's one of the best there is in my book and just so love this of hers. Go check out her Blurb video here and you can see just how cool she is if you don't already know.
More hand drawn fonts for fun and easy date card making.
I started including photos that had no embellishing, no writing, no explanation. I mean, what's to explain here? Technology, pj's, the family room couch...
Or very little writing as seen on the sea glass found by my daughter and photos that she sent with it. Simple is nice.
I love having a place for photos I really like, but really wouldn't frame because...well, because, let's be real, I rarely get around to framing, so when I do, I'm going to go with one where her mouth isn't funny. But it's perfect for PL!
Because I was doing a December Daily album, I went very simple for he holidays in PL, repeating some of my favorite pictures even, just in different sizes.
I focused on getting the photos printed and in the pockets as my main objective and it helped me speed up the process and actually enjoy the result more as well. I think less embellishing will make it more timeless in it's appeal. Maybe?
A friend recently asked me if they always get along like this, and the answer is yes, now that she doesn't really live here anymore ;(. They used to fight like typical siblings, but since she's not around as much, when she is, there isn't enough time to waste on fighting. Plus, they are six years apart and that seems to help him accept her being a big ol' bossy pants!
Which brings us to the final page of 2013...
...the end.
