Sweet Shoppe Saturday 4.28

POSTED ON April 28, 2012 IN Announcements

Happy Sweet Shoppe Saturday everyone! Ready for this week’s template-y goodness? I’m going to keep this week’s email short and sweet so let’s get to the goodies!

First up is a BRAND-NEW set of 12×12-inch digital scrapbooking templates from me called Photogram 2×2. Designed with the Instagram lover in mind, all three of these templates feature 2×2-inch photos which are perfect for Instagram-sized photos or showcasing a bunch of your favorite photos in one layout.

Photogram 2×2 Templates

Here’s some Team Awesome inspiration for you…

Also releasing this weekend is a collab of templates from the lovely Darcy Baldwin and I. These templates were originally released limited edition back when I was the Sweet Shoppe Designs Treat of the Month last year, but if you missed out on them the first time around, here’s your chance to pick them up!

Inspired by Lynnette Templates

And as my final release for this weekend, Darcy and I are also re-releasing my custom handwriting font as an individual font. This font was originally released as part of one of the Sweet Shoppe Quarterly Assortments (now retired) so here’s your chance to pick up the font on it’s own and write just like me!

4 Lynnette Font

(I’ll just say, if you haven’t had Darcy make you a custom handwriting font yet, you totally should because using your own handwriting on your digital layouts is SO cool!)

As always, all of these releases are 20% off thru Saturday so if you want to save a little cash, head on over to Sweet Shoppe Designs and pick them up!

And as a final reminder, there’s only a few days left to pick up my limited edition Petit Fours collab with Janet, Cindy and Darcy. After the end of the month, this baby will be heading into the Sweet Shoppe vault never to be seen again so if you don’t want to miss out, pick up while you still can!

SSD Limited Edition Petit Four

Well that’s all from me for today! Be sure to stop by next week as I gear up for one of the biggest scrapbooking events of the year: International Scrapbooking Day! Until then, happy scrapping!

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Sweet Shoppe Sneak Peek 4.28

POSTED ON April 27, 2012 IN Announcements

Happy Friday everyone! Are you ready for the weekend? Down here in San Antonio, it’s Fiesta week so I’m taking the day off to hang with the hubs and enjoy the festivities!

But of course I couldn’t stop by without giving you a little sneak peek of a new release I’ve got coming tomorrow to Sweet Shoppe Designs. Let me just say if you’re a fan of Instagram or small square photos (I know I am!), I think you’re going to like this one…

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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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How to Design a Wedding Album with the Photo Book Frenzy Templates

POSTED ON April 18, 2012 IN Tips from Team Awesome

Hello, hello and welcome to another installment of Tips from Team Awesome where the lovely ladies from my awesome Creative Team share their favorite scrapbooking tips and tricks. In today’s post, Jen shares how she used the Photo Book Frenzy templates to design her wedding album. Enjoy!

Hey Everyone, I’m back again to share some thoughts with you on how to use Lynnette’s awesome A Week In The Life and Photo Book Frenzy templates for a completely different project.

When Lynnette first released these templates, I was in love, but I had no idea what I wanted to use them for. I’ve never done A Week In The Life, and these templates were just begging for an awesome project.

Then inspiration struck: my wedding album.

When I first started scrapping 4.5 years ago, the first real project I did was scrap my wedding album. It had been a great learning experience, but I almost immediately regretted how I had scrapped it, but I had no idea how I wanted to change it.

Originally, the focus had ended up being on the kits and templates I used, rather than on the photos and story. This was my chance to redo my wedding album in a cohesive design that focused on the photos and story- and I was crazy enough to see just how fast I could do it.

I decided to start at the beginning of our wedding story- our engagement- and to work through the templates in order, roughly.

The first thing I did was pick photos. Because I’ve been married 5 years now, and digital cameras back then were nowhere near as nice as they are now, I couldn’t blow my photos up to 12×12 without losing a lot of focus. I also wanted to designate a place on each page for the title, rather than write on my photos.

So I decided to just split the large 12×12 photo, depending on how the main photo(s) for the page fell, and use the remainder of the box for the title. After some very scientific testing, I can tell you that the space between photo boxes can be matched with a square eraser set at 44 px. I divided the box as needed, then filled it with a color pulled from my main photo.

After that, it was simply a matter of titling the layout, and adding my journaling. I made sure to stay away from the center to allow for a binding when I print. I’ll double check all my bleed settings before I print, so make sure to take that into effect when you plan your layouts as well. I edited the templates as needed for each story, and it was so quick to do.

The only part of my album that ended up being completely created by me was the title page and last page in the album. I matched the style of the rest of the album in order to tell our story completely.

In just over 36 hrs, I was able to scrap our entire wedding, and have that story finally told the way I wanted it. It has been nearly two months since I finished scrapping this, and I love the album just as much as the day I did it. I can’t wait to print it later this year, and to be able to see our story in print format on our anniversary this year. This is such a versatile album and I’m planning on using it for many projects to come.

I hope that you can see just how versatile this album is. Even if you don’t do A Week In The Life, it’s so easy to use these templates for any project. Family vacations, December Daily, Pregnancy Albums, Baby’s First Year, Our House, Our Town- any project you can think of, this set of templates can work for it. Don’t be afraid to let your imagination take on these templates. Have fun with them, and enjoy telling your story with this template set.

If you would like to see my entire album, the web size version can be seen on my Flickr, here http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyK64qe

Thanks so much Jen! If you have any questions or comments for Jen, be sure to leave them in the comments section.

Psst…Want to make your own awesome photo frenzy album? Pick up the Photo Book Frenzy templates here at Sweet Shoppe Designs.