MomShots

So I totally bombed week 5. I took some photos on Saturday but I don’t like how any of them turned out. I think I’m going to just skip week 5. Maybe not. We’ve been looking at houses in hopes of moving soon and so I took a bunch of photos but I was focusing more on the houses instead of my kids. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll be able to pull something together for week 5 but I’m not going to worry too much about it now. It’s onto week 6!

Today my boys were all hanging out on my bed (I’m sick today). We were playing with Legos, building spaceships. I built one for my youngest son but then lost interest in building and pulled out my camera and started shooting photos of them. A few turned out OK and so I put them together for my week 6 page. It was fun to do because I did a different action on each one. I guess it’s a bit incoherent design-wise but then I’m not a designer, that’s my husband.

EDIT:
I got off my butt and made a week 5 collage. On our house hunting adventures I did end up taking a few shots of my kids. I thought maybe I could use those. So here it is…

If anyone wants to share their 52 week projects, we would LOVE to see them!

If you want to use the little 52 week graphic, feel free. The html for posting it into your post is:

Is this getting harder or is it just me? I keep forgetting to take pictures until Saturday. It really is a reminder that I need to get my camera out more regularly. Even though we’re spending most of our time indoors that is no excuse!!!

Here is my Week 4 page for this 52 Week project. My boys were helping me with a job of cleaning dead leaves off our deck. It was pretty funny. My youngest was buck naked (we’re in the middle of potty training and this seems to work for him) but he grabbed my husband’s size 13 running shoes and a broom. It was so funny I couldn’t resist snapping a bunch of shots. My oldest had the snow shovel and my middle son was also using a broom but he we more interested in pretending he was flying on it rather than helping with the leaves. Classic family photo op!

If you are also working on a 52 week project and want to use the little 52 week graphic, feel free. You can share yours here with this Mr.Linky thingamabob.

The html for posting it into your post is:

Zoooooom!!! This week went by fast! I realized last night that I had not taken any photos of all my kids together so I had to put some effort into it today. I took them for a little hike to a nearby trail and brought my camera along. This is my result.

I love a lot of the free digital scrapbooking kits from Shabby Princess. You can download quite a few here. Did I mention that they are free? The kit I used for this is called Happy Go Lucky. I think it’s really cute. I will be using it again as there are many papers and elements that I didn’t use in this collage.

If you want to share your current 52 Week project results, enter your info in Mr. Linky below.

If you want to use the little 52 week graphic, feel free. The html for posting it into your post is:

Note from Jessica: I’m super excited about this guest post. Kim, from our post on Friday, is going to share with us information about her 2009 journey of documenting her families adventures. I was really inspired by this, I hope you will be too. Plus, I’m also excited to use these great coupons and add to my digital scrapbooking folder!

Hello Momshots readers! You may be wondering what a girl whose camera is too big for her britches is doing writing up a Momshots post. That’s right. I have a more than awesome Nikon D40 and I still use automatic settings and only dabble with manual. I’m overwhelmed. But that camera, ooooooo how I love that camera. And I WILL learn how to use manual settings!!! And being a Momshots reader myself, I’m learning more and more all the time.

My photography story begins in the middle of January last year. My partner in crime, Glenda, and I decided to partake in the Project 365 hype that was going down. We started a little late, but technically, my adventure is from 2009. And here’s where I give you Momshots readers some ideas…what do we do with our photos once we’ve taken them? Most everyone I know these days has a digital camera, and because of this, all of our awesome shots are stuck on our computers. This is one of the reasons that I started digital scrapbooking. Momshots’ very own Tye offered a class at the local community college and after taking that, I was hooked.

So I started taking at least one picture every day. But what do I do with all 365? I decided that since scrapping was my ‘thing’, 52 layouts to showcase my photos was the way to go. “Seven pictures on one page?” you ask. That’s right. But, I had help. A lot of digital scrapbook designers specialize in templates. Some of my favorite templates were from Sweet Tomato Designs, but there are a ton of options out there. And kits to make each page unique, they’re out there too. Some of my favorite designers are from Stuff to Scrap. Most designers sell their kits, but on occasion will offer freebie add-ons or even full kits for free!

Some examples of my adventure (click on them if you want to see them a bit larger):

Week 9 Credits: My Kind of Rocket collab. from Digital Candy and Template by Yin Designs

And just for being Momshots readers, Digi-Designs by Nicole, Nibbles Skribbles, and Flower Scraps are offering coupons to their stores!!

Well, Momshots readers, I hope I have inspired you at least a little to get out there and scrap those pictures sitting in a file on your computer. As for me, I’m off to reread Jessica’s post here and take some more pictures!!

If you’re interested in seeing some more examples of my work, you can check out my gallery here and check out my blog where I will on occasion let you know where to snag some super scrapping freebies!!!

Note from Jessica: I am super excited and inspired by this post. Rachael Grotegut and Shanda Atwood are both talented photographers and busy moms who live in my area (the Utah Valley). They are great ladies who never fail to make me laugh. I feel lucky to know them.

Text by Rachael Grotegut:

Last summer my friend Shanda and I each opened up a photography business. While its been fun to photograph other families and build our portfolios. We noticed that we both stopped photographing our children as frequently as we used. In fact besides a few shots for my oldest sons birthday, and Christmas card pictures. There is not much to show for the past seven months. I look back on the date labeled folders from other years and they are filled with memories. In 2009 I completely fell flat!

A few weeks ago Shanda brought up the idea of doing a 52 week project and I just had to jump aboard. Fifty-two weeks, one memory every week, captured on film…er…I mean digital media :). The idea is to capture their every day, the big moments, the small, and everything in between. Then compile the memory or memories you photographed and share them on our blogs, Facebook, etc.

I think this is a great challenge for all of us. Pull your camera out and get creative. Even if it might seem mundane at the moment, years from now you will look back and cherish these memories.

Encourage yourself to take more pictures.

Photo by Shanda Atwood.
Caption: Week one. My mother in law got each of my girls a porcelain doll for Christmas. Kayleigh named this one Kristy, because it’s Kristy’s doll haha. She named hers Kayleigh I did this shoot thinking it was her doll, I didn’t find out it wasn’t hers till the next day, oh well!!!