i’m a day late in posting these.  the joy of love classes are SO much fun, but are taking up my free time.  i’m proud of myself for staying up to date on these project life albums.

you can see all of my other project life posts here.  and for more  info on this GENIUS concept, visit becky higgins’ page.

nothing too unique or special about my layouts for the week….i’m just super excited to be documenting the day to day around here.  my photos were taken with my cell phone, my point and shoot, my friend’s cell phone, and my pro camera.  all were printed at home this week on my canon selphy printer.

max’s album

• i included the packaging that came with his new tennis racket
• i also put max’s report card and a drawing he did in the album in an 8.5 x 11 page protector

flossie album

another monday, another post on my project life progress.

here are my previous project life posts: willette project life.

if you have not yet ordered your album, they are now IN STOCK.

order the amber edition here.

order the turquoise edition here.

and be sure to follow becky higgins on facebook for her awesome insight and ideas.

surprisingly, i kept up this week.  i haven’t had a GREAT week, but it was project life that really kept me going.

i didn’t do anything really profound/unique with my albums this week.

• my friend trish gave me the idea to capture my kiddos’ handprints/footprints for the album.
• i included an 8×10 photo on the back of one of the handprint page
• for max’s album, i included a picture he drew and the menu my mom made for him for a “Secretariat” premier party she threw for him and a pal.

what i HAVE been good at is having my camera with me at all times.  i even had my camera phone with me at mass this week, so i snapped a really quick photo of max at church before mass began.  i’m SO glad to have that capture.  so glad i thought to do it.

and best moment EVER this was when max asked the mother who was hosting him at a playdate if she would email a photo she took of them playing to me for his project life album.  i cannot make this up.  toooo cute.  he makes me so proud.

a couple of everyday shots i got this week that i’m happy i got:

• us eating dinner.  it isn’t fancy (i believe we’re drinking out of star wars plastic cups), but i’m so glad to have this memory.
• max at mass.
• the kids just playing.
• the kids on playdates.

some photo goals for me this week (photo of the day ideas) i hope to tackle…this week’s theme for me is FOOD.

• max in his school cafeteria.
• flossie getting a bottle.
• a photo of their dinner plates.

flossie’s album

max’s album

just finished up week four of my project life albums.  you can see the rest of my posts for project life here.

if you have not yet ordered your album, they are now IN STOCK.

order the amber edition here.

order the turquoise edition here.

and be sure to follow becky higgins on facebook for her awesome insight and ideas.

i got together with some great friends friday morning for coffee and to put together our albums.  it was so much fun!  not sure how much we got done while together…hahaha.  but we had great laughs and got to bounce ideas off of each other for our albums.

i’m thinking about organizing a hampton roads project life get together one evening to benefit a local charity. anyone interested in getting together one evening for a night of project life-ing?  email me if you’re a hampton roads local and you’re interested.

one of the GREAT ideas i learned while with my project life gals was to include 12×12 page protectors to house large art drawings.

my pal gave me a couple to use, and it was so perfect for a drawing max did this year.  i then decided to print a 12×12 photo from costco.com for the other side of the page protector.  i LOVE how this turned out (and the print only cost about $2).  SO nice to vary up the photo size.  and the photo i chose was really awesome because it shows max taking care of flossie as she was fitted for her first walking shoes (and she was a little bit scared of the shoe lady).  and the beautiful thing about ordering it from costco is that it is ready in an hour.  AWESOME. and i was also able to spend a bunch of money on things i don’t need while at costco picking up the photo.  AWESOME.

i’m finding that most of our photos are of eating out.  not sure what that says about us…LOL!

max’s album

• i had max write several of his journaling cards this week.  it is cool to see his perspective on the week and what we have done together.
• i used the 12×12 page protector for one of his drawings and for a 12×12 photo on the back of it. i just adhered the journaling card directly onto the photo.

flossie’s album

• i included the menu from iHOP with what she ordered in one of the little journaling card pockets.
• i also included the receipt from stride rite for her first pair of walking shoes.

please be sure to check out all the other awesome layouts on jessica turner’s The Mom Creative blog.  LOVE her!

woo hoo!  another week of project life under my belt.  been having an awesome time with my albums.

the project albums WILL be back in stock in a week or two, so if you have not yet ordered one, keep up to date on your photo taking/recording the events and be sure to order your album within the next week or two.

i did a post yesterday on REAL photography tips for your project life albums, and you can find my previous project life posts here.

my process this week has been the same as the prior weeks:

• i’m maintaining an album for each of my children
• try to photograph what is going on daily
• print the photos as i go along (either at costco.com or on my selphy personal printer)
• catch up on journaling either in the evening or over the weekend (by the way…i am terrible at the writing part.  i feel like a big dork when i write, but i know it is important, so i do it).
• include 8.5×11 page protectors to include school work, certificates, or anything else that won’t fit into the project life page protectors.
• i check out the project life community on big picture scrapbooking often for inspiration.
• i’ve been using this cool little plug-in free program called photo sheet to quickly print two photos on one page…highly recommend it.

i’ve been loving the ali edwards 365 overlay brushes.  i created a video for those of you who have asked/commented on how to use them.  they are awesome and super easy to use and the perfect design!!!! (and i am in no way being compensated for this review…i just love her products).

how to use ali edwards 365 overlay from kelly willette on Vimeo.

i found a super cute, economical clear file folder at target in their dollar section. this has been great to help me put photos/ephemera in until i’m ready to put it in the album.

here is where i do all my projectlife-ing (do you think we can turn it into a verb??)

flossie’s album (has week two and three)

i included the tag from her first pair of jeans in one of the little pockets.  it will be cool to look back at this years from now.

max’s album (week three)

i took a photo of max’s library book from school (it was a north american field guide to birds…i LOVE this kid), scanned in some art he drew and a letter he wrote to our family asking them to help him raise money for goats for kids in haiti, and included a “laptop” he created on his own with a piece of paper – with an elephant on the screen, of course.

working on my project life albums has brought me such joy these past few days.  i have had so much fun documenting my children’s daily lives since January 1st.

you can see my first few days of my album here. i’ll be sharing my last week’s pages monday.

i have documented the day to day here in several ways, and i’ve adopted several of my professional photography tricks to my photos in order to best document the moments.

some of these include:

• paying attention to my light source.  yes, i intentionally position myself and my children in order to get the “best” natural light possible.  i am NOT gonna lie to you. when indoors, i have the child face the light source for the best results. i even intentionally pick my lunch tables at mcdonald’s, and i position my children so they are facing the window light.  some may label me as a “control freak,”….i like to think of it as my being a light source freak.  it really IS all about the light!

these images were all taken at mcdonald’s at lunchtime.  i positioned the kids to be facing the better window light.  and i shot with a shallow depth of field (see the aperture explanation below).  it isn’t hard to make mcdonald’s look decent…you really just have to take a couple of extra steps!

• getting in close when not in so beautiful surroundings. there is nothing worse than a busy background.  we spend a ton of time in our playroom (formerly known as our living room).  it is like a field full of land mines….toys are EVERYWHERE at ALL times of the day and night.  to avoid drawing attention to our pig sty, i get in close so you can’t see our less than safe living conditions in this room!

this was taken at chuck e. cheese’s (of all places).  i got in really close….you cannot tell that everyone and their mother was here today.  i got in close to get this (and i used a really shallow depth of field…see the next bullet point below).

the following two images show you the reality of our playroom….

and after i get down on the kids’ levels and get in close:

max was NOT happy with his sister….she kept wrecking his train layout.  the sibling rivalry begins…notice that she is totally grabbing onto him to try to move him out of her way.

i got in so close that you cannot see the sea of books ALL around her.  getting in close with the camera is SO much easier than having to actually pick up my house!  work smarter, not harder!

• learn how to control your camera’s/len’s aperture. read your camera manual and figure out how to control the aperture of the camera (this is a fancy way of telling you to learn how to make the background blurry but your subject in focus and sharp).  i ALWAYS shoot with a really shallow depth of field.  i use prime lenses on my camera because they enable me to blur out the surrounds of my images (this a REALLY simplified explanation).

• crop the photo when editing to crop out unwanted backgrounds. i use lightroom and photoshop, but you can achieve the same results for cropping in your editing program.  just crop out what is unwanted and save the image.  i do all of my crops to a standard print size just so i know what i will be getting when i print these photos.

here is a before crop photo…i cannot believe i’m showing you what a mess our house is…

and, after i crop the image in photoshop….much better….you can’t see as much of our mess….

• black and white is your friend. if all else fails and the photo just has imperfections that you can’t get past, convert that baby to black and white and call it good.  if you would like to try my presets and actions for black and white, go to my facebook fan page.  they are all there for you (for free).

this photo does not have perfect lighting…her face is turned about 45 degrees too far to the left….she should be facing the window light, but i love how she is content with her book and her paci, so i just converted it to black and white.  for me, it lessens the sting of this not being a perfect photo.

that bright, direct sunlight coming through the window on the side of max’s cheek and his shirt is horrific.  but, i was in chuck e. cheese, and i couldn’t move the physical game he was playing into better light (you know that if i could have moved that game to a perfect lighting situation i would have…LOL), so i converted it to black and white.  it still is super bright with hot spots on his cheek, but i just loved this photo and could not part with it.

and, as far as what camera(s) i’m using….i’m using all of my cameras:

• my nikon d3
• our point and shoot
• my camera phone
• my little instant fuji instax
• and photos my mother in law has taken on her point and shoot.

by having access at ALL times during the day to these cameras, i’m finding it super easy to document EVERYTHING.  and it has been sooo much fun.  i will add that today when i took my Nikon d3 to Chuck E. Cheese, i was a little uncomfortable having it with me.  I felt like i had to wear it on my at all times and not take my eye off of it (in the event someone felt like “borrowing” it from me without asking….and not returning it…).  I’m not so sure my photos that i took with this camera at Chuck E. Cheese made all this stress worth it.

stay tuned for a willette ten spot tomorrow and then my project life weekly post on monday!

boooo yahhhh!!!!  one of our project life kits arrived today…max and i had fun assembling it once the littlest beast was in bed for the night.

speaking of the beast….here she is doing what she does best….getting into everything and exploring.  she is a busy girl with a ton to do!

i got some photos of her with my instax mini camera….she kept looking at herself in the metal stockpot’s reflection and trying to kiss her reflection.  CUTE!

when i fix dinner, i “lock” the kids in the playroom (which i affectionately refer to as their “padded cell”) so they don’t get into any trouble.  it never fails that max and flossie will come up to the gate and start rattling it asking to be let out…it usually ends up with max busting them both out of their cell and they crawl around until it is time to eat.  i love that they bond like this.  the look of sheer joy on flossie’s face at max’s theatrics and antics warms my heart.

and, a little iPad cartoon while mommy and daddy clean up the dinner mess.  LOVE it!  the kids are quiet….shhh……

i cannot wait to print these photos (and all of the ones i’m taking for Project Life and start assembling them in my albums).  i’ll be sure to document the spreads as i go along.  i hope i can continue the daily documentation around here.  i always start off gung-ho with good intentions….hoping i can keep it up.