Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A command decision has been made...

So I have made a decision for 2014. I'm going digital with my Project Life album. Earth shattering, I know. I've really thought about this and I think this will be the best decision for me. Here's why...

1- Being digital is neater. I don't have to have a clean workspace to work on my pages. All I need is a place to plug in my laptop. I think that is one of the main reasons I fall behind. Too lazy to clean up after my last project. And the fact that my office/scrap space seems to be the dumping site in our house. But I'm working on that.

2- No need for storage. I currently have 4 core kits, 2 that have never been used and I will most likely be selling. Plus a bunch of mini kits that I still plan on using for specific projects. And a bunch of cards leftover from other core kits I've used. And Becky Higgins just announced new kits on her blog yesterday that are super cute. It's getting to be too much. With digital, I can store as many kits as my hard drive can hold.

3- Price. I'd like to try using more than one core kit. It is very easy to get bored with only one kit per year plus, there are so many kits I fall in love with. I'm a fickle gal, what can I say? With digital, the price is so much less. And I have the added bonus of being able to purchase only the pieces of the kits I want. I usually just purchase the 3x4 and 4x6 journaling and filler cards. Plus, I can get the kits as soon as they are released because digital usually releases before physical kits. And no shipping costs either.

4- No need to worry about the other side of the page. If I want to use Design A on one side and Design B on another, no worries. No more stressing over which protector to use because what if I don't need or like that design on the next page.

5- Easier to share on the web. I'm not the greatest photographer of my layouts and this just makes it easier. Plus, I can put the layouts on my iPhone or my iPad and share them with more people.

It's not all sunshine and roses though. There are a few cons to this method...

1- Not printing the final project until the end. I will eventually put my 2014 into a digital photo book as opposed to printing the individual layouts. So that means my family won't get to see my work until it's all done. That bothered me for a moment until I realized that with my falling behind, they weren't seeing any pages anyway.

2- Not sure about which company I'm going to use to print my book. I've always been partial to Shutterfly but I'm beginning to look into some other options such as Paperkiwi and Blurb. But I don't really need to worry about that right now.

3- More difficult to include ephemera. It's not impossible, I do have a scanner. Just more work to scan the items and work to make them fit.

4- Not being able to add inserts. I did like that option for 2013 to add a small insert when I had more stories to tell for a certain week. Now I will have to be more diligent about using photo collages and/or editing my stories to fit.

So there you have it, my pros and cons about going digital for 2014. I'm excited to begin tomorrow. Maybe if time allows I will try and get my title page done today. I do hope to go back and finish my 2013 album this year as well so I will actually be able to accurately compare my paper vs. digital experience this time next year. 

Thanks for joining me. I can't wait to start creating and sharing my pages with you. 


Friday, December 13, 2013

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens...

My friend Laura hosted a "Favorite Things" brunch this morning. The rules were that we each had to pick a favorite thing that cost under $5, buy 3 of them and bring them to brunch, unwrapped. And we had to keep it a secret. I really wracked my brain trying to come up with something in the price range and that nobody would think was dumb. Here's what I came up with...


I chose these Paisley Design coloring books from Amazon and a pack of colored pencils. I love to color. There is just something so soothing about it to me. So off to brunch I went and Laura made an amazing spread for us of some of her favorite things.


After we all ate we wrote our names on 3 pieces of paper and put them in a basket. Then we passed the basket around and each took 3 different names. We went around the circle explaining our favorite thing we had brought. Whichever names we had chosen were the recipients of our items.






When all was said and done I ended up with a Starbucks gift card, a Dunkin' Donuts gift card and a Limoges dish filled with mint M&M's. We all had such a good time and agreed that this may need to become an annual event.