steph's stuff

Project Life 2014 | Weeks 13 - 16

Scrapbooking the hard or emotional parts of life isn't easy. I know some people simply choose not to include those events in their scrapbooks or, if they do, they decide to include just vague references.

But I can't do that. Our lives include many types of moments - including those full of love, joy, laughter, change, growth, sadness, frustration, and grief. It's all part of life and, while I don't try to dwell on the difficult moments, they are part of what makes us who we are.

And sometimes we learn more in the difficult moments than in the easy moments, especially when looking back after some time has passed.

I also know that not glossing over the tough stuff teaches my kids that we are strong, that we can overcome obstacles, and that we are united throughout it all. I hope that they'll learn to be proud of themselves for those moments, too. 

So what does all of this have to do with my Project Life layouts? Well, it has everything to do with them. There's a lot of reasons why I didn't scrapbook for part of last year - I was working nearly full-time, Tom had a near-record number of trials so he wasn't around as much, I was burned out and sad about leaving the scrapbooking industry, but also because parts of last year were just so hard. 

Within a three-month period, Beth started having 5-7 seizures/day, she had five trips to the hospital, Emily was involved in a very difficult situation at school, and my grandfather died. It was all just so hard. 

And now I've hit the beginning of that three-month period in 2014's Project Life album. Looking back on those photos isn't easy. For example, in this first layout, all I want to do is cry when I see how unwell Beth looks. And you can tell by looking at the next layout what happened. 

But those stories need to be told. They are a part of us, part of what made us who we are a year later. And we can all look back and be grateful for how we pulled out of it and how much stronger we are for going through it. 

If I have any advice to others, I would say with absolute conviction that you should put those hard moments in your album. It may be too hard to do right away, but let some time pass and go back and include them. You'll want the memories one day, I promise. 

On another note, there are some weeks where I took very few photos or only took event photos. And it's totally okay to only use photos from one day for your Project Life spread! There are no rules. :) 

Thinking, Feeling, Doing in February

Thinking that this is the hardest time of the year. It's cold, dark, and full of dreary days. February always, always gets me down. 

Feeling like we need to get away. See above. :) 

Doing a lot of worrying about how hard the kids are working. The stress that they are under to get good grades, have a ton of extra-curriculars, do community service, play a sport, play an instrument, etc...is crazy sometimes. I've lessened a lot of their commitments over this year and I think it's time to do it again. 

Appreciating what amazing kids I have. They do their homework without me telling them to, they do household chores, they work hard to keep their grades high and ask for help when they need it. I'm a very, very lucky momma. 

Moving furniture around and redecorating. A family member gave us a piece of furniture that we put in our living room, which then necessitated changing around that room. So now we need to move some other furniture down to the basement and then move another piece to the bedroom level. If you give a mouse a cookie...

Trying to plan our summer. Which is easier said than done. Beth may be able to take her freshman PE course over the summer. We may be able to take two smaller trips instead of one longer one. But we don't have enough scheduling info yet for Beth's school and Tom's work to actually make the plans. 

Dreaming of any of those summer plans. See the first section above. :)

You can read previous Thinking, Feeling, Doing posts here and here. Inspired by Cathy Zielske's Present Participle List series. 

Photo Book Comparison for Digital Project Life Albums

After having an epiphany about printing digital books last week, I spent some time this weekend researching three different companies and their printing options for photo books. I researched Shutterfly, Blurb, and AdoramaPix because those were the three companies that were highly recommended to me. 

I'm a very visual learner so I put all the info that I needed to make my decision in a chart. Keep in mind that this isn't scientific research and prices could have changed since this weekend. Also note that I was in Super Bowl mode all weekend, followed by a mini-blizzard, and am typing this with almost 10 kids at my house since there's no school today. :) 

My thoughts after doing the research are these:

• I've decided to print my book at 12x12. I saw multiple options for other sizes and after comparing them, I think I prefer the larger book. 
• I definitely want a hardcover book. I think the stiffer cover will help protect the book and I want my books to last a very long time. 
• After looking at many, many examples, I'm very drawn towards the layflat options for a couple of reasons. Layflat books will be easier to read, they're sturdier and will hopefully be more durable, and there's little to no gutter to work around. 
• Noting those preferences, that leaves me to decide between Shutterfly and AdoramaPix.
• Shutterfly is cheaper but AdoramaPix has a reputation for quality that is outstanding and I can't say the same for Shutterfly. Many, many people are happy with Shutterfly for sure. But I've seen multiple reviews and comparisons where the buyers mentioned gasping out loud when they saw the quality of the AdoramaPix album. That's a huge selling point. 
• Check out Cathy's AdoramaPix album and this comparison from The Daily Digi from a year or two ago. 
• The only two drawbacks to choosing AdoramaPix are the price and the 76-page limit. Neither of those are insurmountable, though. I'm not too worried about the slight price increase - if the book lasts longer, it's worth it. And the page limit just means that I'll have two volumes each year. 

One last thing to note - the Project Life App uses WHCC for printing photos and it was confirmed that Becky and her team are working on adding a book option to the app. Assuming that the book option would also be through WHCC, that would be worth looking into for sure. WHCC offers superb quality prints and books and I'd be thrilled to use them but I'd want to include digital layouts as well as app layouts so that would have to be an additional option for it to work for me. 

In conclusion, I'm definitely going to try a layflat book from AdoramaPix! The only decision I have is whether to use it to print my 2014 book or wait for a 2015 book. I have many print credits for Persnickety Prints so I'm waffling about what to do with my 2014 book. 

So, what do you think? Thoughts?

And, geez, why does Typepad make all of my images and uploads so blurry?! It's infuriating!! The chart above is very sharp in PS and in my docs file but the Typepad upload is terrible. UGH.

Related links:

Researching Photo Book Options Project Life Prints vs. Books Printing Digital Project Life Pages Getting Started with Digital Project Life Project Life App Review Project Life App Printing Review Project Life 2014 Planning & Organization

InLinkz.com

Snow Day!

We got our wish! A snow day and I'm home all day long with my kids! We woke up yesterday to this and kept our fingers crossed all day long. 

And we made nachos, three kinds of chicken wings, had naps and snuggles with cats under flannel blankets, and got ready to watch the Super Bowl.

And watched the snow pile up in the backyard. It was a very slow, very steady, fluffy snow. And it never stopped. 

By the time the Super Bowl started, we had over 12 inches and then........

we got the call that we'd been hoping for all day.

Snow Day on Monday!

I'll be home scrapbooking all day and playing with my kids and will be back tomorrow with a post about printing options for Project Life. If you'd like to read the two previous posts, start here and then go here.