MomShots

I’m not posting anything really photography related today. I need to sit down and write a post in response to a question I got the other day (Kelsey I am going to answer your question about collages/storyboards on my next post). I just have been letting my pregnancy induced laziness take over my life this week. I also need to figure out what to do for this week’s 52 Week Project. I’m thinking I might either photograph body parts, like feet, ears, noses, eyes, etc. or maybe I’ll have the boys pick a toy and we’ll photograph them playing. I don’t know. It’s Thursday already and I had better do something quick or it’ll be Saturday and have to race to figure something out!

So I just saw this cute GIF on a blog I follow. I love your comments so I thought I’d post the GIF and tell everyone how much I appreciate you who actually read what I have to say. I’m not quite sure why you keep coming back but I enjoy writing it so I’ll keep it up! Your comments always make me happy. This isn’t a plea for comments. I know you’re there. I love you even if you don’t comment!

I have to say that I even love my spam comments. They never fail to make me laugh. I don’t show those to you so they are kind of like my personal little joke.

This is from a 1943 book Stunts and Tumbling for Girls by Virginia Lee Horne. If you want to include this GIF on your site go to her blog post and grab it. She’s giving it away free.

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!!!

After yesterday’s great post by Rachael and Shanda, I realized that I wanted to get in on the action of the 52 week project too. I have been noticing that I have been taking fewer photos than I used to. I have lots of excuses, like being tired, sick, trapped in the house by cold weather, etc. It’s all just excuses. I am the master of excuses. I will transcend those excuses!

Another reason I am excited about this is because I have such a hard time putting together compilations of photographs of my kids. Again, I have good intentions but poor follow through. You might think that since I take so many pictures of them that I would have photo albums all over the place. I have none. That’s right; none. That HAS to change.

I tried the yearbook challenge last year and got a month into it and then I didn’t keep up my motivation. I just can’t let that happen anymore!

I decided to participate in this project so at the end of the year I can easily print out the 52 pages and have a great compilation of the past year. This will also force me to weekly work on my Photoshop skills. Hopefully that will also help me keep my goal of getting better at Photoshop.

I have decided that all my pages will be 8.5″x11″ at 300 dpi so printing and compiling should be a breeze. I am going to do it scrapbook style - or at least my version of what scrapbook style is. Sometimes I will add embellishments sometimes I won’t. Who knows? I’m spontaneous like that…

Here is my week 1 page.

Anyone else up for joining? Or have you already started? I’d love to see and/or share some of your 52 week project pages. Email me at MomShots@yahoo.com.

I am excited to see my Photoshop and photography skills by the end of 2010. I can’t help but get better if I keep up with this project and forcing myself to take pictures and compile them. It’s going to be fun!!!