Project Life Update - Week of 4/8 to 4/14

While I'm glad to have three more weeks of pages under my belt, it's still sort of depressing to know how far behind I still am.  Next up I'll be tackling my 12 of Twelve photos.  You know, they're only a month behind schedule.  HA!

Here are the layouts for the week of April eighth to the fourteenth.

Left side.  I downloaded this freebie that I found on Pinterest.  You have to scroll down the page and kind of hunt for it, but it's worth it!  It consists of two journaling cards and a coordinating patterned paper.  I based almost everything on these two pages on those three items, using the magic of Photoshop.

My title card.  I put the little pennant bunting from one of the journaling cards on one of my faux washi tape strips, and used the texture/color form one of the pennants to make the other strip.  The top strip is from the patterned paper.  I can't remember what font I used for "This Week," but the dates are Hootie.

You may notice that I don't have any Easter photos on these pages.  I had enough that I want to do a page for them by themselves.  However, I did want to put something on here to mark that holiday.  I found this printable on Pinterest and added the border.

The notebook background came from a set of seamless textures that I found on Pinterest too.  It's really cool, and I look forward to using them more on other pages.  I put some of the patterned paper behind the spirals and used the textures/colors from the pennant card to make the stripes on my faux washi tape.  "Seriously" is typed in Susie's Hand and the text is Courier New.  I cut and saved a frame from one of my Instagram photos and applied it to this photo.  Now it has a cool textured border without it having to be square or have a filter!

The background paper on this is the same blue polka dot patterned paper!  I used Photoshop to adjust the color until it matched the orange flag on the pennants.  I resized it too so the dots would be smaller.  Pretty cool huh?  The aqua accents had their color/texture taken from the pennants as well.  Font is Courier New for the journaling and Susie's hand for the text on the photo.

I added the border and text to this, but don't remember any of the fonts.  I think the word "snapshot" may be SP Purkage, but I'm not sure.  "Today" is probably Avenir that's been stretched vertically with the Transform too.  This photo should have been called "Bubba's mom was too lazy to go inside and look for swim trunks so she let him go skinny dipping instead.  Hooray private back yards!"  That can be our little secret, okay?

I used the texture and color from the green pennant card to do the area where it says Kelly's Bed.  The red tape was made with an image I found on Google.  Those little allen wrenches from Ikea are very toddler friendly.  Who knew?

The font for "daddy's" is SignPainter HouseScript. The journaling is Courier New and I'm pretty sure the rest is Avenir that I messed with using the Transform tool.

The patio furniture for REALLY dirty and covered in dust over the winter.  Since I was all pregnant and lazy, I never bothered to get out there and clean it off.  The weather was so nice this week though I decided to finally get out there and hose everything down. It looks so nice when it's all clean!  I did have to bring that plant back inside though at the end of the day.  It would have died in a few days due to the heat.  I'm thinking of getting a faux fern for out there though because I liked the way it looked.

I layered one of the plain grid cards I made (and offered as a free download on my Facebook page) behind this Instagram photo with a strip of the patterned paper and a strip of another pattern I found online.  The date is on a file folder label that I made.  The font on there is Hootie, and the journaling is Courier New.

Right side.

The background card is one I've previously offered for a free download.  You can find it if you become a fan of my Facebook page.  I added a second banner made from the patterned paper, and a heart made from the texture/color from one of the pennant flags.  I can't remember where I found the digi staples - I've had them forever.  "Evil" is Avenir that I've stretched a bit with the Transform tool, and the journaling is Susie's Hand.  The photos were taken with my iPhone, put into a collage using the PicFrame app, and then given a filter using Instagram.

This one is pretty simple.  The date is Hootie, the subtitle is Susie's Hand, and the title is a free download I found on Pinterest called Sunshine Stickers by Sahlin Studio.  I added another strip of the digi washi tape I made on top of the photo.  Isn't it fun?  This is what the file looks like:

If you click on that, then right click on it, you can save it to your computer.  Since it's a PNG file, you can use it easily if you digi scrap and it coordinates PERFECTLY with the kit to which I linked at the beginning of this post.  I mess with the opacity a little so it has that slightly translucent quality that real washi tape has.  There's your freebie for this week!  ;)  I'm being sneaky and hiding it in my post just to mix things up.

I used the blue patterned paper as the background for the card on the left and added my Instagram frame to the photo.  The chevron washi tape is from here.  The card on the right was part of the free download.  I added my journaling with Courier New.

I just made a simple label for this photo and layered more of that chevron tape over it.

This journal card is the other one that came with the freebie.  I just added journaling - easy peasy.

This one is that grid card I made again, with the blue patterned paper layered over it.  The letters in MOO are done in the orange texture from the pennant bunting card in the freebie.

This is that same blue paper again, only this time I manipulated it to match the green flag.  I made the file folder label and added the Instagram frames to the photos.  I really like the way adding the frames visually defines the photos.  The tabs were made from the blue pennant.

So there you go!  There you can see how with a little creativity and Photoshop know how you can take a little kit and stretch it into a whole two page layout!  Pretty cool, huh?

You may be wondering why I put the freebie here instead of on my Facebook page.  It came to my attention that someone pinned one of my freebies to Pinterest directly from the hosting site.  Now, I don't have a problem with my stuff being pinned - it's a great way to get new traffic here and on my Facebook page.  However, I offer these files as a sort of thank you to the people who take the time to read my blog and Like my Facebook page.  That is why when you do gain access to them there is a notice saying they are Private Documents.  That private link I provide to my readers is just for them, as a thank you for spending their time with me.  It is not to be shared.

That one file that was pinned directly from my private link was downloaded THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED TIMES more than any other file.  It was repinned by some pretty popular scrapbookers too, who have TONS of followers on Pinterest.  I seriously almost cried when I realized how much traffic I lost due to one person who couldn't respect my wishes to keep those files for my blog followers.  That's a lot of work for no recognition or reward.

So as of right now, I don't know if I'll keep offering the freebies, which is sad.  I may offer them still but stop if that ever happens again.  I may keep mixing it up so  that some are here and some are on Facebook.  I'm not sure.  What I am sure of is that I'd like to ask people to please check the source on things before you repin, to be sure that the appropriate person is getting the traffic they deserve for sharing all their hard work. If you're not sure of a source, you can always do a Google search with a picture.  Instructions are found here.

This tip is especially helpful if you pin something that has a bad link, or links to spam and you REALLY want to find out from where it came.

Thanks, and enjoy.  :)