WITL 2012: Perfectionism and the Magic of Capturing a Week In Your Life

POSTED ON April 24, 2012 IN A Week In the Life 2012

Why yes, that is a photo of dirty dishes on our counter…

A funny thing happened yesterday morning when I went out to our kitchen, camera in hand, ready to start capturing a week in our life. Two thoughts instantly ran through my head:

“I really wish I would have cleaned up a bit more yesterday.”

“We really should have hung some art on these walls.”

And I’ll admit for a split second I was tempted to grab my trusty hammer and nails and make things look extra pretty. And then I got over it.

Because here’s the thing, capturing a week in your life is not about perfection. It’s not about waiting until your house is photo-worthy or perfectly organized and neat and tidy.

Because that’s not real life.

Real life is crazy. Real life is messy. Real life is a pile of mail on the counter, your kids neon-colored toys strewn about the living room and yes, a pile of dirty dishes on the counter.

And capturing real life IS what Week In the Life is all about.

So if you’re one of those people out there thinking maybe you should wait to do Week In the Life until your life is a bit more photo-worthy or perfect, I ask you to reconsider. Because not only will that “perfect” week never come, but because the magic of Week In the Life isn’t about the individual photos.

It’s about the story those individual photos tell when you put them all together.

And I promise you – once you see the big picture of your week all together, you won’t care about the less-than-perfect photos or the tiny details that seem like a big deal right now.

You will see your real life captured.

Dirty dishes and all.

And that is magic.

Psst…I’m spending this week capturing a week in my life – find all my 2012 Week In the Life posts here. You can also find my 2011 WITL posts here. Want to know what this whole crazy Week In the Life thing is about? Get all the details here.

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A Week In the Life 2012, Nettio Style

POSTED ON April 23, 2012 IN A Week In the Life 2012

Woohoo, the 2012 edition of Week In the Life is finally here and I couldn’t be more excited! As I’ve mentioned before, this project is definitely high on my faves list and my 2011 WITL photo book I created last year is one of my favorite scrapbooking projects ever. So I suspect it goes without saying that I’m totally on board with this project for this year.

But my biggest concern has been how can I make sure this album is different from last year? I mean, it hasn’t even been a year since I finished my album and as a family of two adults with no kids, it’s not like our lives are that different from last July. Well other than we aren’t melting quite as much here in Texas just yet, haha.

But I’ve come up with something I’m pretty excited about so here’s a little peek into my plan for Week In the Life 2012.

1) 7×7 Blurb Photo Book

I had such a great experience with Blurb for my photo book last year that I’ve decided to go with them again for this year. Only this time I’ve chosen to use their 7×7-inch Small Square book instead just to keep it interesting. But I’m still going to design it in Adobe InDesign like I did last year so it will also be a clean and modern design with the focus on photos and words since I loved how that look turned out so much last year.

2) A Mix of Instagram and Regular Photos

One of my concerns about doing WITL this year has been how can I push myself to make sure the photos this time are different from last time – that I’m not just taking photos of the same things from the same angle.

So while I’m not normally a huge Instagram user, I thought this would be a fun time to play around with it and see what kind of photos I can get. Plus it’ll cut down on the amount of photo editing I have to do when I’m putting the album together. I’ll still be taking some photos with my DSLR but I think the mix of photos will be a fun change from last year.

3) Focus on Topics rather than Days

One of the things I loved about my WITL album last year was the highlights pages I included in the end. So I’ve decided for this year to take those pages to the next level and really focus this week on capturing a more broad view of our life rather than a day to day play by play of what we’re doing. I think it’ll be a nice twist on my album from last year.

4) Capture Quotes

One thing I wished I’d done more of last year was capture more of our conversations so I’m going to be using my handy dandy notebook to try and capture some awesome quotables, hehe.

And that’s pretty much my plan at the moment! As with anything I’m sure it’ll evolve as the week goes on but I’m really excited to see how it turns out!

How about you? Anyone playing along with Week In the Life this week? I’d love to hear your plan!

And of course if you’re still in need of some Week In the Life templates, be sure to check out my Photo Book Frenzy templates in my shoppe here or at Sweet Shoppe Designs.

Want to know what this whole crazy Week In the Life thing is about? Learn more about Week In the Life here. You can also find my 2011 WITL posts here.

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My Tips For Capturing a Week In Your Life

POSTED ON April 19, 2012 IN A Week In the Life

In case you haven’t heard, the 2012 edition of Week In the Life is coming next week! My Week In the Life album from last year is one of my favorite scrapbooking projects I’ve ever done so I’m excited to tackle this project once again.

I’ll be sharing my plan for my 2012 Week In the Life album next week but if you’re looking for some tips to get you started, be sure to check out this guest post I wrote earlier this year for Tell Your Story Everyday. It covers everything you need to know from planning your album, to capturing your week and actually getting it done.

You can also check out all of my 2011 Week In Life related posts here.

And if you’re in need of some digital scrapbooking templates to get you started on your album, be sure to check out my Photo Book Frenzy 8×10 and 12×12 templates as well as the coordinating Week In the Life Highlights 8×10 and 12×12 template sets. Traci Reed and I also teamed up to create a slip-in-ified version of all four template sets which you can find here.

As an added bonus, if you purchase any of the Photo Book Frenzy template packs at Sweet Shoppe Designs before the end of Friday, April 20th, you’ll get the coordinating Week In the Life Highlights pack for free!

Want to see how easy it is to use the Photo Book Frenzy templates to create your own photo book? Be sure to check out my two-part video tutorial here.

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Layout Love: 1st Quarter 2012

POSTED ON April 10, 2012 IN Memory Keeping, One Little Word, Stuff I Love

Well, it’s official. We’re one quarter of the way done with 2012. Only nine short months before the end of world, folks, are you ready?

I’ll be back later this week with an update on my 2012 Scrapbooking Resolutions but in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorite layouts I’ve done so far this year.

To be fair, it wasn’t really that hard to decide considering I’ve only digital scrapbooked a whopping 15 pages so far this year which I know, I know, most of you do that many layouts in your sleep. But hey, it’s been a busy year so far! And surprisingly that number actually puts me two layouts ahead of where I was at this time last year. That my friends, is progress.

To kick things off I’m starting with the first layout I did this year, my One Little Word layout for 2012.

One Little Word 2012

I never really think to do photo-free layouts but every time I do them, I end up loving them. I especially love how the talk bubble cutouts came out on this one – I just want to reach out and touch them.

One For the Boys by Zoe Pearn; StraightLine Stitched No 2 by Anna Apnes; It’s Goal-tastic Template Pack by Nettio Designs; Font is Museo Slab

2012 Goals

I’m pretty sure I could do clean, blocked designs like this for the rest of my scrapbooking life and be perfectly happy. I just love the clean lines and all the little homes for the elements. Plus this kit is pretty much a combination of my favorite colors in the whole world which is why my outfit ended up perfectly matching despite being completely unplanned.

I Can by Shawna Clingerman; Alpha from One for the Boys by Zoe Pearn; It’s Goal-tastic Templates by Nettio Designs; Font is DJB 4 Lynnette by Darcy Baldwin

October 2011 Faves

Aww, repeating shapes, how I love thee. The shapes on this page were actually inspired by a design I saw on Pinterest – I love that they’re geometric but still a little wonky. And of course, a Chicago layout (with photos of the Bean, no less) is always a good time because it means I got to hang out with my sis who’s a grad student there.

Happiness Is… by Zoe Pearn; Teeny Type Alpha (retired) by Zoe Pearn; Font is DJB 4 Lynnette by Darcy Baldwin; FAVE-O-RITES Vol. 5 Templates by Nettio Designs

Life is an Adventure

I can’t remember where the inspiration for this layout came from but this was one of those pages that just flowed. Like you come up with the idea and wham, what feels like seconds later, you’ve got an awesome layout you love. That doesn’t happen to me all that often so when it does I’m always amazed. But I love how bold and colorful it is and the cutout title of my life motto is one of my fave trends of the moment.

Life’s An Adventure by Penny Springmann and Becca Bonneville; Font is Bebas

You & Me

This layout is actually a redesign of another older less-loved layout of mine (more on that another day) but I LOVE how it turned out this time. Zoe’s kits always rock my socks and this one was no exception. I would so wallpaper my house in those yellow chevrons if I could. Plus the elements in this kit were to die for – it was so fun to just layer and play.

nettio_14-nettio_14-RoundnRoundv1-Template2-Zoe-600

Credits: Lost & Found by Zoe Pearn; Ginormous Single Stitches Facebook Freebie by Traci Reed; Alpha from Love Birds by Zoe Pearn and Shawna Clingermann; Straight Line Stitching by Anna Apnes; Round N Round Vol. 1 Template Freebie by Nettio Designs

Now It’s Your Turn

Well those are some of my favorite layouts from 2012 so far! Now I want to know…

What’s one of your favorite layouts from 2012?

I’d love to see so link me up in the comments and I’ll leave ya some love!

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30 Days of Lists: Days 6-11

POSTED ON March 13, 2012 IN 30 Days of Lists

The 30 Days of Lists list-mania continues! Here’s a look at my 5×5-inch mini album pages for days 6-11. Have to say, I am totally loving this mini format – SO quick and easy to put the pages together every day!

Day 6: Things To Collect

Day 7: I Am Inspired By…

Day 8: I Need To Say No To…

Day 9: Happy Places

Day 10: Today Was Awesome Because…

Day 11: Right Now I Am…

All papers and elements are from the Happiness is… digital scrapbooking kit by Zoe Pearn. Fonts are Bebas and DJB 4 Lynnette.

Want to know my trick for getting my digital tape to look so realistic? Check out this video tutorial by Peppermint of One Little Bird Designs.

Psst…Want to know what this whole 30 Days of Lists is all about? Check out 30 Days of Lists, Part 1 here.

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30 Days of Lists: March 2012

POSTED ON March 6, 2012 IN 30 Days of Lists

My apologies in advance to the poor soul who requested “less lists” in my 1st Anniversary survey…because I’m afraid the list craziness is just beginning my friend, hehe.

If you’ve been around NettioDesigns for long enough, it’ll probably come as no surprise to you that I LOVE lists. Between my Faves series, my 28 at 28 list and numerous other list-inspired layouts I’ve done over the years, it’s pretty safe to say lists are a have of mine.

I mean, does it get any easier storytelling-wise than jotting down a few random thoughts in list form? Not in my book.

Which is why when I heard I could get 30 days of list-inspired prompts in March for just $8, I jumped at the chance…

30 Days of Lists: March

If you haven’t heard of 30 Days of Lists before, it’s a month-long challenge hosted by two lovely ladies: Amy of Lemon & Raspberry and Kam of Campfire Chic.

Each day on the private 30 Days of Lists blog, they post a new list-inspired prompt. You then create your own list based on that prompt and the great thing is anything goes – your list can be as artsy or simple as you want. There are people creating mini books and then there are others writing out their lists on post-its or on their blog. It’s so fun!

You can see a bunch of examples in the 30 Days of Lists Flickr gallery.

My 30 Days of Lists Plan

After all the fun I had with my Holiday Faves mini album, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to tackle another mini album.

So I decided to create my lists as 5×5-inch digital pages which at the end of the month I’ll have printed at Persnickety Prints and then insert into this adorable mini album I made…

The album is by Maya Road, all the letter stickers are by American Crafts and the fabric is something I picked up forever ago in Denver and have been dying to find a good reason to use.

Here’s a look at the entire album. The spine is painted with Cranberry paint by Making Memories.

For my digital list pages, I’m using this super adorable Happiness is… kit by Zoe Pearn:

This kit includes a bunch of journaling cards and bits of tape which I knew would be perfect for this project.

My Lists: Days 1-5

Since today is Day 6, here’s a look at my Day 1-5 lists:

Day 1: Challenges To Accept

Day 2: This Month’s Goals

Day 3: My Perfect Weekend Recipe

Day 4: Things I’m Putting Off ‘Til Tomorrow

Day 5: Words To Live By

My Process in Photoshop

And for all you curious types like me, here’s a peek into how I’m managing it all in Photoshop:

To keep things simple, I’m using the same basic design and just alternating between left and right pages and swapping out new papers and elements.

Right now I’m using a single file for all my pages (if it gets too big, I’ll just split it up). Each page is grouped and I’ve created eight versions of the pages, one left & one right that I’m using as templates. To create my page, I just duplicate the group of the list style I want and add in my journaling, papers and accent.

I may turn some of these lists into digital scrapbooking layouts eventually, but for now I’m loving this project, especially since it only takes a few minutes to put together my list each day. I can’t wait to see all 30 lists together!

Now It’s Your Turn

So what about you? Anyone else playing along with 30 Days of Lists? Anyone have any fun projects they’re working on for this month? Let me know in the comments!

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