Heather Johnson Photography

Week two was really fun to put together. I mainly used Pebble’s Seen and Noted collection, easily my new favorite digital kit. The colors, the elements, the everything–I loved it all! Here is a look at the whole spread:

The left side:

The right side:

Lots of normalcy this week–I didn’t end up with a lot of photos in the end so there are no inserts to contend with. I used the week in review card again, I am going to try and have one of those every week if I am able. I found that my favorite layouts last year were ones that included it. I am still working on the digital elements recoloring video, it was all uploaded to Vimeo–but is blurry for some reason. Hopefully I can get it figured out so I can post it tomorrow. I know many of you are anxious to view it!

I had a lot of fun putting this together and absolutely cannot wait to hold it in my hands and actually SEE my pages somewhere other than my computer screen. Peek Away!

Click here to view this photo book larger

If you have taken a look at the book you will see I did a combination of things within it to bring it all together. My weekly pages were always created using Project Life templates, but at month’s end I created different collages using either idea pages (found within the Clementine Edition on Shutterfly) or a grid layout with a Clementine Background. These grids were created simply by using a layout option within Shutterfly, and because I was technically within their version of the Clementine Edition, I was able to use a Clementine “paper” as my background.

Many of you have asked how to get a digital 12×12 page from photoshop to Shutterfly, and for those of you looking at how to do just that I invite you to take a look at my original blog post on this topic. (Another creative team member, Haley Ney, recently did up a blog post on this very topic as well.) Between the two of us I think we have you covered!

And speaking of sharing information, I have completed my first video tutorial on how to recolor digital elements. EEEEeeK!!! It’s uploading to Vimeo now, and will be posted here on Wednesday. I hope I don’t sound like a fool!!! After the 90th take I decided you all were going to hear me “as is” goof ups and giggles and all. Just keepin’ it real……

While I wait for my paper baby kit to arrive, I dabbled a bit with a digital title page for Holly’s baby book album. I absolutely love this kit–Becky has truly thought of EVERYTHING. All of the prompt cards, journaling cards, and title cards are going to make putting the book together a snap! If you have been on the fence, I recommend jumping over it. I know you won’t be sorry. Here is my title page:

Holly is five and I must admit I was a bit worried to begin a baby book for her as I feared I wouldn’t remember things. But once I started going through the photos…oh my. It all comes rushing back!

I was on quite the scrapbooking roll yesterday (that’s what an evening to myself and four consecutive ours of Downton Abbey will get you) so I finished up my week one inserts. So far, so good right!? I used one of Design Editor’s 6×12 templates, altered a bit for my photos, and one of Becky’s templates–again altered. That’s why I love digital so much! I left a small white line between the two so you can tell where one page ends and another begins.

Love how these turned out and really look forward to getting them printed.

I have received a lot of emails lately regarding how creating digital pages works with Shutterfly, so look for a post again on that soon. (I wrote a post last winter on this topic here, but will revisit it and perhaps make a video.)

Have a great Thursday!

Happy New Year! I had so much fun working on Week One, why it seemed so different I don’t know, I suppose there is just something about starting fresh in January. For this week I dug into the Seafoam Kit and really flexed my photoshop muscles to recolor EVERYTHING to match. Who knew I was so particular? (Mom–this is a rhetorical question!) I will be sure to do a video soon to show how I recolor, I still can’t believe how easy it is and how long it took me to realize it. Now onto Week One!

Whole Spread:

Left Side:

Right Side:

I must admit, I struggled with the kit at first. I really am a “brights” person (think the new Blush and Honey editions–SWOON!) so working with muted colors that aren’t necessarily my faves…well it was hard. I stuck with it though, and really like how it turned out in the end. One of my favorite things this month was the calendar card, which now comes complete with brush/stamp highlighters for the week. Are those stars not the cutest? You can find them here.

I took a lot of photos this week with my DSLR and my new 35mm lens. My husband spoiled me for Christmas, I was drooling over this lens when I rented for a wedding this fall–so excited to have one of my own! It distorts just enough when your close to your subject to give the photo character in my opinion–my favorite images this week are the ones of Holly sipping her cocoa and Marie chewing on her thumb.

My in-laws also spoiled me for Christmas with tons of Becky Higgin’s products as well…so it’s safe to say I will be using the binder system this year. I have all sorts of pocket pages, oh I can’t wait!!! My plan is to print out my big 12×12 layouts once a month and *hopefully* complete my inserts week to week. We will see how it goes. I know one thing, I have to stay more on top of it than I did last year! Right now I am knee deep in uploading everything to Shutterfly from last year, and putting together all of the inserts I never bothered to do. AH! What a project.

I am also beginning the girl’s baby books this winter. (I am in Minnesota after all, when it’s cold there isn’t much to do but sit inside and watch too much TV and scrapbook!) I am going to start with Holly who in all of her art direction told me that she wanted her book to be done with the Baby Edition for Her edition. Another twist? I am NOT going to do it digital, I have a kit on it’s way…it just seemed like something that should be done with my handwriting ya know?

Hope to be posting the title page soon!

And……it’s a wrap! I sit here, stunned and so very excited, that I completed the whole thing. This is HUGE for me!!! It will be interesting to see just how long it takes me to assemble it (remember I was initially going to make it a Shutterfly book–but may change my mind and print out the 12x12s), I am going to hope I get it all done by the end of January.

I am very anxious to put together a 2013 title page, but first let’s take a look at the last week of 2012. This week was very light on photos, even though it included Christmas, because I had pneumonia over the holiday. (I even posted a very scary photo of myself to prove how sick I was!)

Right Side:

Love Holly’s note for Santa, particularly the little round bellied Santa she drew at the bottom. We put granola in mini ice cream cone cups–it was so neat to see them half eaten and all over the kitchen table when we woke up!

Left Side:

This page has A LOT of Holly in it, I guess that is how it goes sometimes. I try not to get hung up on making sure “all is even,” as it always ends up working out. (Plus, I can’t give myself one more thing to think about during the week!)

Off to dig into my Seafoam kit. I haven’t even looked at it yet, and I am SO EXCITED to start fresh!