Project Life 2013: 6 - Easter

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This is definitely one of my favorite pages from my album so far! Around Easter is when I started making a conscious effort to take pictures horizontally so that they would fit this Design A layout that I love so much. 

Easter baskets, eating lunch with Brycen, family photo, walking up and down the steps with Granddaddy Cox, and Miller's "first Easter" bib.

More sweet memories filling these pages. 

Project Life 2013: 5 - M's Newborn Photos

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Be still my heart. I LOVE these photos that Becca took. Like I said in this post, I was so stressed out and Miller wouldn't stop crying - I thought we wouldn't have ONE usable newborn picture. But somehow, someway, she captured so many sweet moments. I had to make multiple collages below to include them all!

I love the color scheme for these pages. The black and white cards and photos contrast beautifully with the "teal-y" blue color from my sweater, his blanket, and our collage wall.

I think I may just leave the album open on this page all the time. :)

Did you do newborn photos with your kids or are you planning to?

Project Life 2013: 4 - Getting Back to Normal

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Left side: hanging around the house, Jack eating something messy, 1st trip to Walmart w/both boys, and "loving" being awake in the middle of the stinkin' night.

Right side: sweet boys both rear-facing in the van, FB post about getting 4 hours of sleep - in a row!!, dinner at El Metate, lunch with Bonnie & Brycen at Lillie Mae's, laying down with my kiddos, and Jack being obsessed with the Mickey balloon from Sam & V that lasted FOREVER!

As always, these are just day to day life photos. But they are off the computer and in something special that we will love to look back at!

Project Life 2013: 3 - Miller's Visitors

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These pages show just a few of the many visitors we had over the days that followed Miller's birth. I love the pictures of him with my Mamaw and both boys with the Cox grandparents.

One of my very favorite REAL LIFE pictures is the one on the bottom right. At this point, I was still sleeping in the nursery, and in the mornings, Jason would bring Jack in there to me and we would just lay there and watch Disney Jr. shows on my phone until I could pull myself out of bed. One morning, Jason took a picture - I look... like I just woke up and just had a baby. Amen? And sweet Jack just holding my phone like, "Can we get back to the show now?" This was an accurate depiction of exactly where we were at that moment. I love it.

What "real life" moment have you captured lately that wasn't exactly a glamor shot? :)

Project Life: Wedding Album Pt. 3

Check out Part 1 of my wedding album here!

Check out Part 2 of my wedding album here!

Alright, you finally made it! The 3rd and final installment of my Project Life: Wedding Album!! Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 if you haven't yet. 

I didn't take pictures of all 40 pages, of course, just gave you a sampling of a few of my favorite layouts. But hopefully it gets you excited about starting a mini album of your own! It's much less daunting than doing an entire Project Life album (that's supposed to cover a whole year). You could choose a favorite vacation, or do a baby book, or really anything! 

Okay, enough talk. 

Here is part 3 of our wedding album - The Reception & Send-Off:

I was lucky to still have like 20 programs from our wedding, so I cut up different parts and put them into our album. It seemed fitting to put our "Thank You" at the very end. 

I truly loved planning this album, putting it together, and now every time I flip through or share it with someone else, it's such a great feeling. Just getting the photos OFF the computer and into something. That's worth taking the time for. 

Alright. Who's going to be making a mini album? 

Check back next week to see one of my favorite layouts from my Project Life 2013 Album!

Project Life 2013: 2 - Miller is Here!

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Oh, sweet baby Miller!! On these pages, I printed Miller's birth story from the blog, and had a place to put things like a picture showing which room I was in (something I would NEVER remember), and his stats card from the hospital. I also made a 4x6 collage in Photoshop Elements to fit more pictures in the layout. 

I love that it has a cohesive color scheme (which I didn't think to do in a lot of my layouts from January-March), so that the cards aren't distracting, they just help tell the story.

What a wonderful day that was. Our little early bird, coming 21 days sooner than expected! I didn't do a pregnancy or baby book for Miller, so this album is functioning as that.

Did you do a baby book for your kids or are you planning to?

Project Life: Wedding Album Pt. 2

Check out Part 1 of my wedding album here!

Okay, I know you are just on pins and needles waiting for the next installment of my Project Life: Wedding Album! The wait is over!! 

Here is part 2 of our wedding album - Family & Friends:

our awesome family

our fabulous groomsmen and bridesmaids

signing the marriage license and heading to the reception

I just love it. :)

Check back for the final installment soon!!

Project Life 2013: 1 - Before Baby #2

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to show you some of my favorite pages from my Project Life 2013 album!

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Looking at this page makes me smile. I can remember Jack leaning over and kissing my belly often, and how my sweet baby would kick and move all day long. It was the middle of February, and I wrote this blog post: Thoughts in the Last Month, thinking that I still had about a month before my 3/13/13 due date. 

As the card says "little did I know that just 4 days later..." What a fun time! I didn't realize these pictures would be some of the last pregnant pictures I would take! And our sweet family of 3 would be 4 even sooner than I expected.

Aren't you thankful for the day-to-day pictures like these? 

Project Life: Wedding Album Pt. 1

So waaaay back in April, I told you that I was going to be doing a Project Life album this year, documenting the day to day events that can sometimes get overlooked. Well, I haven't kept up with it completely, but I am slowly catching up. 

In the meantime, I made a Project Life Mini Album with our wedding photos for our 4th Anniversary (August 8th)! You choose your album (I picked lime green) which has the dividers already in it:

then pick a mini album kit (they had this awesome wedding kit that is black and white cards):

...then print your pictures and put it together! The picking of the photos was definitely the hard part. I was trying to just go through and find my favorites, but the album is best suited for horizontal photos, so I needed a game plan. 

You may think I'm crazy, but I'm telling you - this was the way to do it! I made a little blueprint for myself and planned out every single page. It helped me figure out which pictures should go where and if I had a vertical picture that I loved, I put it into a template (in Photoshop Elements) to where it would print 2 different 3x4 vertical photos to put into the smaller sections. (Look at the picture below and then the actual pages even further down, to understand what I'm saying.)

I printed all my photos at Snapfish (I just use whoever is running the best special on 4x6s at the time), and then when they were delivered, it only took me about 1.5hr to put it together because I had my pages already planned! 

Okay, so here is part 1 of our wedding album - Engagement & Pre-Ceremony:

I have more pages from my wedding album to show you over the next couple weeks! 

I find myself flipping through it often and reliving those sweet moments! I have REALLY enjoyed doing PL stuff (promise, this is not a plug for Project Life - I just love it!), so check out the website if you're interested. They even have it at Hobby Lobby now!

Do you like the idea of Project Life?