Yes, I realize it’s the 18th of January. Yes, I’m late finishing it, although truth be told I finished it over a week ago. I’ve been prepping for Project Life in the meantime and hadn’t posted these yet. As many of you know, I was kinda out of it for the majority of December with kidney stones. I knew going into it I probably wouldn’t get it done IN December, especially after December 3 when I ended up with the fever and after I literally ruined my back cover in my delirium and had to start over… But I had prepared my covers and cut the inside pages, so I knew I wanted to at least complete it, even if that happened AFTER it was all over. And finish it, I did. I did it. I FINALLY did a December Daily. I’ve kind of tried the last few years – emphasis on kinda.  I’m a {reformed} procrastinator, you know… A couple of years ago I tried doing a combo December Daily/Holidays In Hand thing.  I did one page and that was it.  Last year, it just didn’t happen at all.  I was determined this year.  And at the same time I was going with the flow…  if that makes sense.  I was also conscious of my 2012 OLW (which I discovered near the beginning of December) as well during the month which drove me to think about taking photos and take some notes while sitting at the hospital, etc., etc.  At the end of the month while looking at my collection of photos I knew I had to complete the album.  If ever there was a year, this was it.  My mantra as I was working on it was “don’t over-think this, just put photos and words together”.  And that’s what I did.

Now, on to some photos.

I hand painted my covers using thick box board.  Not quite chipboard, not quite thin cardboard (you know the stuff that doesn’t have the corrugated inside…).  I was extremely happy with it, especially after I used my Studio Calico intertwined circles on the second layer of paint and then removed it which left depressions where the mask had been.  It’s hard to get a photo of, but trust me, it’s fab.  I misted with some Tattered Angels and inked it using Antique Linen to tone down the white and make it work with the patterned paper I chose for the inside pages.  I adhered patterned paper to the insides of the covers to cover up the paint overages and add some extra support/stiffness.

I used plain flat white card stock cut to 8×8 for the interior pages (which I had actually cut last year but never used…) and I punched the outside edge with a Fiskars border punch and then inked with Antique Linen and Brushed Corduroy.  I chose My Mind’s Eye Lost and Found Christmas (yes, me too, but it was just too beautiful to pass up…).  I trimmed each 12×12 sheet to 6×8 and adhered to the left-hand side of each two-page layout.  On the right-hand side I used masks and mists.  I used a Cottage Cutz ornamental snowflake die and two of my Studio Calico masks – the intertwined circles and the ampersand.  Here are two photos of inside pages.  One has no photos (there were a few days that did not have photos and for those I created an embellishment to go on the left, and my journaling is on the right.  For when I had photos they would be on the left and journaling and/or extra photos on the right.

I also created an inside cover page using some of the die cuts from the MME collection pack, brads, and some alpha stickers/thickers.

Since I am so late with posting my December Daily, I decided not to show every page, and only cover the highlights of how I put it together.  There is a lot of journaling, my thoughts during a really difficult time for me, plus Rob and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary albeit we didn’t get to go out and celebrate.  I was definitely not up to dinner and a movie!

I used a lot of older Basic Grey product as well:  some stickers from the Wassail line, chipboard alpha/numbers from Eskimo Kisses, an alpha sticker sheet from Bittersweet and another more recent one, from Pyrus I think.  I used Thickers and some Authentique die cuts along with mists, Distress Inks and some really, really old large chipboard alpha and number sets.  Other than the new paper and some brads/layered stickers from MME I tried to use as much on-hand product as possible.  I had a bunch of Christmas stuff sitting around that I’ve gathered in one place and will start my Christmas cards for next year from those scraps BEFORE I go out and buy new… unless something amazing catches my eye again.  ;D

Overall, I LOVE this album and I am so glad I completed it.  It’s getting packed away with the last of our Christmas stuff and the box is labelled as one of the first to be brought out next year.  I can’t wait to go through it with everyone and see how much our life has changed (and hopefully I won’t be dealing with kidney stones again next year!!).

If you started an album and haven’t finished it yet, don’t feel discouraged.  Plug away at it.  But please, finish it.  You won’t regret it.  Make it simple, it doesn’t have to be perfect, but you will love it for the simple fact that you finished it.  I wish I had finished my earlier attempts, but I will definitely, DEFINITELY do this again.

[On a side note, I finished my first week of Project Life and am working on Week 2.  Since we are only part way into Week 3 I think I'm doing pretty good!  I think I would like to share my layouts, possibly once a month as a month review kind of thing.  There are so many inspiring artists out there sharing their work in detail I think I'll just share an overview and link to some cool products and/or projects I particularly loved.]

DeAnna

MME Lost & Found Christmas	Tattered Angels Mists	Studio Calico Masks	Studio Calico Mists
Adhesive	Glossy Accents	Distress Inks

Bookmark and Share

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

I decided to jump in and just do it.  For the last couple of years I’ve hesitated.  I’ve worried I would start out strong and peter out and not finish it, or I wouldn’t have enough to say to fill the pages, etc…  I finally decided to skip the excuses and just do it.  I decided to buy the digital version of the Turquoise edition from JessicaSprague.com (I’ll provide a link to all the PL stuff below the post).  You probably all know I’m a big fan of hers and have taken a bunch of classes there.  What I liked about using the digital version was I could use them as printables, but I also had the freedom to play with them and add accents to the journaling cards, or my photos to keep it tied together visually when I had time or the desire to do so.  I ordered the Design A page protectors and the black Signature binder (via the links of Becky Higgins website) which are on their way to me soon {edited to add:  they are scheduled to arrive today!}.  That’s the other part I like about the digi stuff – I can start PL despite the fact that I don’t have the physical product in my hands yet.

When I downloaded the files I was kind of expecting .psd or .pdf documents.  Instead they were .pngs.  That’s fine, but for me, I’m all about easy.  This project is made to make scrapbooking and memory keeping EASY.  I wanted to be able to use Lightroom to print my pieces with my photos.  I didn’t want to have to open Photoshop to print the pieces I needed and THEN move on to Lightroom to print my photos.  If I was behind or really busy and didn’t have a lot of time to devote (and really, who isn’t rushed or pushed for time), I needed it to be easy and FAST!  Now, of course, Lightroom doesn’t recognize .pngs.  SO, I had to figure out a way to save everything as .jpgs without opening each and every file in Photoshop and saving, OR creating an action to do it.

I did it!!  I figured out a simple way to do it!  I was so excited, you have no idea.  It really is so super easy it’s crazy.  HOWEVER, I am on a Mac and so I’m not sure if this would work for a PC.

Firstly, created a few new folders on my computer.  In the main folder containing all my PL documents the files are sorted into folders for each type of product (i.e.:  Journaling Cards, Title and Last Page, Extras, Filler Cards, Papers, and Title cards – this is how they come when you unzip the file you download).  I then created a new folder within the main PL folder on my computer.  I called that folder JPGS.  Then inside that folder I created a new folder for each of the product types.  So in my PL folder on my computer I have the folders that came with the download and another folder called JPGS which contains sub folders for Journaling Cards, Extras, etc…  Now that you have that all set up, you can go on to the next step.

Next, I opened Preview on my Mac.  Then I clicked File, Open and navigated to the folder containing all the original subfolders for my Turquoise edition of PL.  I worked in one folder at a time and selected the documents I wanted to convert.  If you select multiple items to open Preview will put them all in a side bar and you can use Command+A to select them all.  Then I went back to File and chose Export.  I selected .jpg, increased to the best quality, then navigated to where I wanted to put them.  For instance if I was working in the Journaling Cards folder, I would navigate to JPGs>Journaling Cards.  I hit enter and voila!  I have .jpgs!!!

Once I had completed working in all the folders and exported the documents I wanted to convert, then I went to Lightroom.  I am working in Lightroom 2 I believe.  I want to get LR3 but LR4 is in beta right now.  I might download that to see how it’s changed.  I’ve heard it’s changed a lot, so we’ll see.  If you are not familiar with Lightroom, when you open it, you will have an open workspace in the middle, with collapsible menus on the right and left sides.  On the top left there are several modes:  Library, Develop, Slideshow, Print and Web.  By clicking on these you will see different options on the side menu bars.  I generally use Library when I am importing and reviewing my files, and Print to, well, print.  Here’s a screen shot.  I am in Print view in this shot.  You’ll see on the left and right the collapsible menus and the modes you can choose to work in.  Like I said, I mostly use Library and Import.

Once in Lightroom I imported the JPGs folder.  I had my import menu set to [import and leave in the same location], and to retain the existing file name.  It automatically detects subfolders and so I hit Import. There are lots of other settings you can play with but I leave it pretty simple.  If I am importing photos from an SD card reader, I choose [copy and import to new location] so the files are moved to a folder of my choosing, whether on my computer or to an external device.

The last step is the most important step.  Next I chose the Print menu on the top right corner in Lightroom.  I created my own custom templates to exactly fit the measurements for each type of product I want to print (and yes, I did have to open Photoshop to get the measurements – I opened a journaling card and a title card and went to Image>Image Size and wrote down the measurements.  I believe they are 4×6 and 4×2.9 – just shy of three inches).  Here I am mostly going to print the title and last pages, journaling cards and filler cards.  I might print some of the circular elements to punch out and add to photos, etc.  but for now I’m not worrying about those.

To create my custom templates, I fiddled with the settings on the right-hand side menu bars (the ones that collapse and expand when you click on the triangle beside the name – still under the Print menu).  I chose Contact Sheet/Grid under the Layout Engine menu.  Under Image Settings I chose to do a small stroke of .2 px to make it easier for me to cut out some of the lighter/grid patterned pieces.

Under the Layout menu I left the margins alone and chose the appropriate number of columns and rows.  For the 4×6 cards I chose to print two per sheet, so I selected 2 rows, 1 column on a portrait canvas.  For the 4×3 cards I chose to create two separate templates.  There are some portrait and some landscape cards, so I decided it would be easiest to have them separated.  For the portrait cards I used a landscape canvas (under page setup on the bottom left below the template menu or under File in the top menu bar), with 2 rows and 3 columns.  For the landscape cards I chose a portrait canvas and 3 rows and 2 columns.  Next I played with the cell spacing until it looked right for the template I was working on.  The next choice is cell size.  This is where I set the size to match the product I was printing:  4×6 for the title cards and 4×2.9 for the journaling/filler cards.

For each individual template, once you have the settings where you want them to be, you click on the plus sign (+) next to Template Browser on the lower right menu bar.  This will prompt you to save your own custom template.  I named mine “Journaling Cards Portrait”, “Journaling Cards Landscape” and “4×6 2up” (since I can also use it to print two 4×6 photos) to make it easy for me to remember.  ;D  Once you’ve saved them they will be under the “User Templates” collapsible menu.

Wow, that’ s a long post but I hope it’s useful to some of you!  This will make it so easy for me to print what I want, quickly and efficiently without having to play around too much.  I am all about making this easy for me to do and stick with!

DeAnna

Project Life Links:

JessicaSprague.com	Becky Higgins	Marcy Penner
Erica Hernandez at Two Peas

Bookmark and Share

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Yes, my word is discipline.  I was contemplating what my word would be about six weeks before the new year.  I thought about what I wanted, how my word from 2011 affected me and what more I wanted to accomplish.  I knew that in the beginning of the year I definitely concentrated on my word and made things happen in that direction.  As the year progressed, I lost focus.  I concentrated on class projects and barely got any of my own scrapbooking done.  I didn’t blog enough.  I didn’t do this or do that.  Of course the last six, seven weeks of 2011 I was kind of incapacitated, but still. 

See, I procrastinate.  A lot.  And I mean, A LOT.  I wanted to do some research and find the antonym for procrastinate.  I found some weird words.  I mean, really weird.  Like Churchillian and precipitancy.  Huh??  So I kept searching and I landed on THIS site that made me sit up straight and say “YES!”.  I knew I had found it.  It resonated in a way that was profound.  Already!

So here is what I plan to do.   Since I am not able to take the class this year, I have scheduled in my calendar a day each month to review the prompts from last year’s class (especially since I didn’t complete it – boo).  Once I have reviewed the materials I will set a date to have it completed by.  I am also setting aside time in my calendar to catch up on Project Life every two weeks so I don’t ever get too far behind (although I haven’t decided if I will share my PL pages, or if I do whether it will be bi-weekly or weekly, etc.).

If I want to sit and play a game on the iPad (which my husband won at work and thankfully he already had his own so by default it became mine, even if I have to share it with the boys every now and then!), I am going to try to remember to set a timer.   Because I could sit there for hours saying “oh, just one more”…

I also searched Pinterest for some cool typography images.  I found this one, which is SO true:

A search on Google got me the quote “Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.” Jim Rohn I will be creating a canvas with this quote on it that I can hang in my den (which is where I work and scrap). Someone seriously needs to create a typography poster with this quote on it…

Anyway, that’s my OLW post for the year. I would like to share my monthly prompts from last year’s class once they are done each month as well.  Why not share your OLW in the comments?  I’d love to hear what others are choosing to focus on this year…

DeAnna

Bookmark and Share

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™