Last two Project 365 shares...

Back when I started the Project 365 journey, I downloaded these quick pages from weedsandwildflowers.com. I'm using the first one as a cover page, and the second one as the last page of the book. The second one includes on picture from each month of 2009. I think it's a nice finishing touch. Hoping to send the book off to print today... :)




And with that, my 2009 Project 365 journey comes to a close.

I've had a lot of people ask me if I'm going to do the project again in 2010. The short answer is NO!

The long answer is, while I love the idea of having a book like this every year, I'm burned out. By the end of the year (the last several months in fact) I just didn't know what else to take pictures of. If there wasn't a specific event to document, everything felt repetitive. I can't even count how many nights, an hour before sending the boys off to bed, I realized, "Oh no! I haven't taken a picture yet!" and had to scramble for an idea. While the project was absolutely rewarding, I feel it wouldn't be as special to do it again this year. I don't expect the day-to-day life will change much from last year to this year. I'll still take pictures, and somehow I need to figure out a way to get better at scrapping them (I'm still torn between traditional paper and digital scrapbooking... and I take SO MANY PICTURES that it's hard to decide what to scrap and what not to... I'll probably never figure this out!).

I do want to share though... I do think I will do another Project 365... someday. One of my 2009 P365 friends (Hi Margaret!) who came up against similar struggles by the end of the year suggested the idea of doing it again in 5 to 10 years. And I looooove that idea. I'm thinking 2014... what a fun way to document how the day-to-day changes over time.

For now, I have a few other photography challenges to conquer for 2010... not the least of which is continuing to pursue the building of my own family photography business (link in the side bar). I am also planning to participate in a weekly, theme-based photography challenge (although I already missed out for week 1). And hopefully I'll still find something to blog about here and there. :)

Thanks to everyone who followed me through this journey! I'm sure I'll take pictures of the finished book to share when it arrives!

Week 53 Layout

Week 53 layout...

(click to see a little bigger)

Credits: Kit is Plaisirs d'hiver DigiCrea collab kit; Template by IkeaGoddess; Fonts are Pea KatieH, Pharmacy, and Tahoma

I have a couple more pages to share... front and back cover pages (but not the actual covers)... then Project 365 for 2009 will be ready to put to bed!

Week 53 (12.28 - 12.31)

I disappeared! In the 11th hour to boot! No, I did not abandon Project 365 during its final week for 2009... I took my final pictures, started working on my layout... then the clock struck midnight on December 31 and I think I had built myself up to that meaning I was "done," even though the project itself was not done yet.

During the final week of 2009 I went through and proofread and color-corrected (long story) the first 52 weeks worth of layouts. I also uploaded them to a photo site that makes photo books and expected that all I had left to do was add the last two pages for week 53 and I'd be done. I started assembling my book, at which point I discovered that "100 pages" means "50 pages front and back" not "100 pages front and back." My book is 106 pages long. ACK! Okay I knew this was a possibility, but really hoped my version of 100 pages and the site's version of 100 pages were the same. Needless to say I was a little bummed about all the wasted effort.

But do not fear... I found another, more expensive site which will create my longer than 100 pages book. I spent a good portion of the day on New Year's Eve uploading and assembling my book on this new site. Only to run into another road sblock... some of my pages had text and pictures too close to the edges... close enough that they could be cut off in the printing. So once again I went through my layouts one by one working to ensure that my text was far enough away from the edges that it would not be cut out during production. Check.

So I'm done! NO! There's more! Now I need to design a COVER! A cover???? Okay I probably should have planned for this as well. But after the New Year's Eve resizing fiasco, I was BURNED OUT. I took a week off. :) After my brief P365 vacation, I went through all 365 photos a couple of days ago, and chose a few (24 to be exact) for my cover design. And I opened up that week 53 layout and started putting the finishing touches on it. And I figured... I better blog that last week before I bury this project forever! Very likely to happen as soon as I order the book!

So without further ado (or long-winded story telling).... WEEK 53 in pictures!

While cleaning the boys' bathroom last week, I was nearly knocked over by the smell of the boys' bath toys. I knew our water and years of baths had done a number on them, but I didn't realize just how bad they were. Sooo... we decided to use some of the boys' Christmas money to buy new bath toys. I threw away a ton of the old, stinky toys, and replaced them with some new ones. There was a bit of a fuss about the toys that were tossed, but overall, I think the boys are enjoying the new lineup!

For Christmas, Jack and Brayden got sleeping bags from the Easter's. With all the craziness of the new toys the received, they kind of forgot about their sleeping bags until tonight. I unrolled their bags for them and kind of showed them how sleeping bags work. Immediately, they decided they wanted to change into their pajamas, turn off all the lights (except the Christmas tree), and have a pajama party! We set their bags up by the tree and they had their little party. It didn't last long, but it sure was adorable!

The past few days... maybe because of some of their craft-related Christmas presents, the boys - especially Brayden - have been very into "coloring." Something that has never held their interest for very long. Still, they sat and colored in their old Tonka coloring books for at least an hour tonight. Brayden chose to use markers in his book, and Jack opted for crayons. They were both very serious about the task at hand, and did not want to put their coloring stuff away when it was time to eat dinner!

New Year's Eve! It's hard to believe the year is already coming to a close... the time goes by so fast! We spent our morning at Monkey Bizness with our neighbors so they kids could all play! Then the Johnson's had us over for dinner and games, and this was the sight outside our front door as we left to walk over to their house. A full moon, the last full, "Blue" moon of 2009. It took me a few tries to get my settings right, but I love the outcome of the photo. We had a great New Year's Eve, and a fantastic 2009!

Coming soon... the week 53 layout... and then I'm going to need to figure out something new to blog about! :)