Currently Documenting: A Baby

As I have previously mentioned, I started my Project Life when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter.  Being totally determined to document our little life, I have continued my Project Life with no intention of ever quitting.  Right now, however, our lives revolve around our little baby girl, so 99% of my documenting is of a baby.

Documenting a baby is both easy and hard.  It's easy because there are always plenty of photos.  It's hard because there are so many photos.  It's easy because she's always learning and doing something new.  It's hard because there is always something to document.  I don't plan ahead when I order photos.  I simply order all the photos I want and worry about how I'm going to put it all together later.  The result of this?  My baby girl is 4 months old, and we're on the second album of documenting life since she's been born.  The pregnancy book is totally separate.  That's a lot of photos.  That's a lot of documenting.

So... why don't I restrain myself when I order photos?  The way I see it, she is only going to be little this once.  She'll never make these adorable toothless smiles again.  Once she learns to crawl, she'll never teeter on her belly with her hands and legs in the air ever again.  When she understands the idea of smiling on command, I won't be able to capture her bright eyed, serious faces that I can right now.  Some day, I'll wish I printed more photos.  Not restricting my photo order, is my way of accepting her growth and change, but comforting myself in knowing that I'll have the memory of her being this tiny forever.

Enough of the sappy stuff.  I have some tips for the person trying to document a baby.

1. Don't forget to take notes.  You might think you'll remember, but with trying to remember to buy more diapers, pay that one bill, remind your husband to get an oil change, let the dog out, and make dinner all at once - you may not remember.  Just jot it down some where.  If you remember later, then recycle your note! 
2. I'll say this a million times: get your camera out of the bag.  While it's not convenient most of the time, I keep my camera on or around the kitchen table.  Sometimes it's in the way, but when I need it, it's in the most easily accessible spot in my house and I can grab it in seconds, which, with a baby, is sometimes all the time I have.  BUT, don't be caught up in not being able to get to your nice camera that you don't take a photo at all.  For some of my most favorite moments, my camera is on the kitchen table, but I'm home alone with B and she's on my lap.  If I move to get the camera, the moment is ruined.  The camera on your phone will capture the moment just fine if it's near you!  It's better to have a lower quality photo, than no photo at all.
3. Photograph your baby often.  B doesn't seem like she's changed that much to me.  Other than being able to hold her head up, she still seems like a newborn to me, but when I look back on some of her newborn photos I can see that she's changed so much!  It might be a bit much, but since B was born on a Friday, I photograph her every Friday.  Pick a consistent time frame (once a week, once a month) and stick with it.  

    4.  Take a ton of consecutive photos.  I sure hope your camera is digital!  It's so hard to catch a smiling photo of B, but I just snap photos in rapid succession and I get lucky sometimes.  You'll be surprised at the gems you can get by just taking photos.  Take this photo for example:

    I was trying to get a photo of B playing with her giraffe because she just started grabbing onto objects and explore them.  Instead, I got a photo where it looks like B is giving me a bit of a lecture.  It's like she's saying, "Look, you work for me now."  It's a real gem and we love this photo.  (This photo was taken with my iPhone, because, as you can see, B is sitting on me and I couldn't get up and grab the DSLR without messing everything up.  And yes, I basically live in those pajama pants!)

I know I have already forgotten things that I wanted to write down and remember forever, but I have written down a lot and I just have to remember to focus on what I have saved.  It's so fun and so tiring to document our baby girl, but it is undeniably worth it.

currently listening to: Something Unusual by Wolf Gang

Motivation for Your Monday

Hello dear friends!

Today's motivation was soooooo easy to pick.

During the latter end of last week I got this itch to just get rid of stuff.  I've been struggling to work creatively and I felt so weighed down by all the unneeded and unwanted stuff in my house and in my brain.  My house was, by no means, cluttered, but we still had boxes in the basement from our move a year and a half ago and we still have a bunch of boxes in garage full of old stuff.  But I spent every spare moment Wednesday - Friday going through boxes and recycling, trashing, or putting things in another box to go to Goodwill.  On Saturday, Jake and I deep cleaned the house and then we packed up the back of the SUV and took all the Goodwill stuff away.  There are still things to go through, but I feel a lot better.

As far as the clutter in my brain, I feel like it has also decreased as I physically got rid of things in the house.  After a bit more organizing in the basement, I am going to be all set to work creatively without all the baggage hanging around.

So, what's weighing you down that you can let go of?  Does your home and brain need a good "spring cleaning"?

currently listening to: Riptide by Vance Joy

Secrets of Success

I used to be horrible at documenting the events I've gone to, things I've done, and even worse with the things that happen in daily life.  When I found out I was pregnant with our first baby, I knew I had to be better at documenting our lives.  I didn't quite get started right away, but I set myself up for success as best as I could.  I took photos here and there and I tried to write down the things I was feeling and experiencing.  As I got started with my Project Life, it was sort of a struggle.  I printed a ton of photos at once and then I realized that I had a hard time remembering things, so I felt discouraged.  However, I pressed on and did the best I could because I wanted to document this very special time for our family.  As I went on, I figured out little things that helped me be a better memory keeper.  Here are my secrets of success.

1. Write down the little things.  It's easy to remember whose wedding that was or that vacation this summer, but it's not so easy to remember that joke the groom said or what the name of that restaurant that had those amazing short ribs.  So, make notes.  It sounds kind of silly to make notes about your life, but when it comes documenting those memories and adding captions to those photos - you're going to be glad you have them.  When I was pregnant, I wrote things down on a list pad or the calendar.  That worked out great.  Now that my daughter is here, my iPhone's default to-do list app keeps everything in order - on the go!  Figure out what works best, and take notes.

2. Get the camera out of the bag.  It is so unbelievably nice to have a camera phone, especially for those amazing, spontaneous moments.  But if you have a nice camera, you notice the difference between the quality in photos and you may wish you had just gotten your camera out.  I am guilty of this so, so regrettably often.  I'll tote my camera around like a champion, but it's always in its nice protected case.  No more.  I get the camera out and I hang it around my neck and over one shoulder like side saddle purse and when a photo worthy moment arises, I slip my arm through the strap and I'm taking photos.  Just take it out of the bag.  I promise, you'll use it and you'll be glad you did.

3.  Print photos regularly.  If you've taken the photos, they don't do me much good on your phone or on the computer.  I have to print them.  And, like I've mentioned, if I print a ton of photos at once - say, all the photos for the last 6 months - I'm going to feel pretty discouraged when I look at that stack.  However, if I print photos every Friday or every other Friday, I feel that the record keeping is easier - less photos to work with, so I can see a light at the end of the tunnel and the memories are still pretty fresh.  I print photos about every other week, especially when there have been special events because I just know that photos from those events seriously bulk up the amount of memory keeping I have to do.

4.  Find something that keeps you motivated.  Keeping motivated for me often means buying new materials to work with.  I'll get really excited to use my new embellishments or new Project Life cards and I'll just want to get right to work.  For this reason, I subscribe to Studio Calico's Project Life kit.  Every month I get a box of cards, embellishments, and other memory keeping goodies.  I set myself a rule, though.  In order to use my July (or whatever month) kit goodies, I must be documenting July or later.  So, in order to use my goods, I have to stay fairly current.  What ever motivates you, do it and maximize that motivation.

5.  Start simple, but start.  When I first started my Project Life I felt super overwhelmed.  I didn't know what to do with the embellishments and I thought my handwriting was horrible.  I didn't want to ruin anything and I just got caught up in fear.  Then one day, I just started and now I don't worry about my handwriting or the embellishments.  Some days I make fancy spreads and some days I just simplify to get it done.  Do what you gotta do, but do it.

6.  Once you have your notes, photos printed, and you have started, KEEP GOING.  Memories don't stop just because you haven't yet documented last month.  Memory keeping is like the laundry - albeit more fun - it is never finished.  You can finish a vacation or even a year, but there's always something else.  So, set a time when you aim to sit down and work on your memory keeping.  Don't set this time in stone, because then you may feel discouraged when it's just not going to happen at that time.  Rearrange when you have to.  If life is too crazy from dawn until dusk, set aside the documenting for a little while, but keep taking notes and printing photos.  After our daughter was born I printed photos for the first time when she was just 7 days old.  I had over 100 photos from just the past week.  I didn't sit down to document until after she was a month old and by then I had even more photos, but I worked on it when I could and I did my best to keep notes.

Don't be discouraged.  Memory keeping requires a lot of effort and the last step is the actual documenting.  Figure out what works best for you and just stick to it.  I have friends that do one spread for a week or one spread for an entire month.  I have a problem narrowing down photos, and our daughter is so busy growing and learning new things, I worry about the spreads later and just print all the photos I want to include.  That often means that it takes me 3-4 pages to document a week, but I'm good with that.  I'm not worried about pages, I'm worried about preserving the memories.

If you're having trouble getting started, try out some of these tips.  If they work for you, great!  If not, great! Just do whatever works best for you.  Some day, when you're looking back on these memories, you'll be so glad you preserved them.

currently listening to: The Police and The Private by Metric

Motivation for Monday (and the rest of the week)

Mondays are super hard for me.  Not only is it the beginning of another string of days full of all the monotonous chores that I did last week, but it's also the longest day of my week because of Jake's schedule.  So, for that reason, I need an extra boost and maybe you do, too.  Each week I'm going to do my best to post something inspiring or motivational to help get us going in the direction we need to go and not be dragged down by the fact that the laundry basket is full again.

For this week, I've chosen the following image that I have pinned to my Pinterest account:

I really like this statement because it is simple, yet powerfully true.  If there is something you want to do (or stop doing) there really are only two options.  If we don't make progress on it, then we must have an excuse for why we didn't:  oh, I was too tired.  I forgot.  I had way too many other things to do.  The baby wouldn't stop crying...

A lot of the time I am guilty of not recognizing the power of the little moments.  I know in my brain that if I just steal a moment here and there to work on something, it will, in the end, get done.  I often think that I need some huge chunk of guaranteed, uninterrupted time in order to accomplish something, but that's just not true.  The small things add up.  So, if you're tired, like me, let's just do our best, steal a few moments, and make some progress.

So, here's to Monday and making progress!

currently listening to: Into the Wild by LP

Hello!

Hi! My name is Megan.  In support of my upcoming Etsy shop for Project Lifers, scrapbookers, and memory keepers, I'm starting this little blog.  I love it when I can connect personally to the artists and artisans of the handmade goods that I buy, so it's only natural that I offer that same connection to you!

I am a stay at home mumsie to a darling baby girl, who we affectionately call B.  She is currently four and a half months old and taking care of her is a huge part of my life.  However, before she was born I was doing all sorts of things from painting to quilting.  Now that she's here, my focus has narrowed to paper crafting for the purpose of documenting our life with B as she grows up.  My husband, Jake, is super supportive of everything that I want to do.  He loves the Project Life that I have created and he really appreciates my efforts to remember this special time in our lives.

While I strongly believe in the importance of memory keeping, I also believe in creating beautiful things and nothing is better than combining the two!  I hope you make beautiful memories, and keep them in a beautiful way.  So, join me here, and we can try to do just that.

Stay tuned for more information about the shop launch including sneak peeks and other fun stuff!

currently listening to: I Love It by Icona Pop