Project Life 2013: Week Two

It turns out I only thought I photographed week two but never fear I was able to steal a bit of fading light a few days ago to finally get some pictures. 

My digital workflow and printing has completely changed this year. I switched from a PC to a Mac which means I am now using Lightroom 4 and Photoshop instead of Photoshop Elements. Once I get into a groove I'll share how it's working for me. The other big change is that I'm printing at home. 

My husband is thrilled that I'm actually putting my wide format photo printer to good use and I'm loving the freedom I feel like I've gained to create little journaling cards and add text to my pictures. 

Inspired by several of Lisa's (aka gluestickgirl) layouts I decided to dust off my exacto knife to pop out the label on Seafoam title card. You can see my technique was not exact but good enough for me. Sorry for that really bad attempt at humor.

For those that are very comfortable with their computers this is not a big deal at all but for me I was so excited to make myself this "cry it out" journaling card. 

My girlfriends have noted that most of the cards out there are focused on sunshine and roses. Which please don't get me wrong is directionally where I like to focus my energy but life for me also has gray skies. My perspective is that without the gray I wouldn't have an appreciation for the sunshine. 

So long story short I felt like telling the story of finally letting a child of mine cry it out after eight years of motherhood belonged on a more subdue card. It wasn't an easy decision or process for me and I wanted the tone to reflect that. Just a thought. 

If you find yourself in this particular situation and would like to have this card available to you just leave a comment and I'll make it available as a download. I've even thought about making this into a cut file for the Cameo. 

I'm really enjoying playing with type a little more this year. I just need to make a cheat sheet of my favorite fonts or maybe cull out the list available to me in Photoshop so I don't keep forgetting which are my go to's. 

The digital stamp is from Studio Calico. I like how it created a journaling spot and anchored my text. 

Here I go again with the exacto knife.  A bit more success this time. 

Another digital file from Studio Calico and some simple text. 

I'm a big fan of the fold out cards where the story is a bit longer. 

And that gets you up to speed. Yes, I've already fallen behind this year. But this year I'm keeping a journal so I don't lose content and it has made a world of difference on my concern regarding being behind. 

I'm hoping to draft a few posts this weekend regarding my process: 

• Photographing layouts
• My notebook
• Sharing my Cry It Out card (if there is any interest)

But truly my focus is going to be knocking out weeks 3-5 before we get too deep into February. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Monica 

Confused by Project Life? Project Life is a back-to-basics approach to memory-keeping created by Becky Higgins. Read more here.