January Photo Book: Pinhole Press

I am so excited to share a look at my January photo album today! I love everything photo related and seeing our memories printed out in a bound book makes my heart go pitter-patter.  If you have been following along with me, you probably know that last year, I created a different mini album for every month of the year.  For 2016, my plan is to take a similar, but easier approach and create a bound album for every month of the year.  Taking photos and recording our days is so important to me, and without having a "plan", I most likely would only print a handful of photos throughout the year.  Creating monthly albums holds me accountable for getting my photos off of my computer and phone and into an album we can all enjoy now and for years to come.

For January, I decided to use a company I haven't used before and went with a 8x8 Lay Flat Album from Pinhole Press.  I found the uploading and "building" part of the album to be very user friendly and very easy.  All in all, it took me about two hours to complete my album (I did half of the book about mid-January and then the remaining part at the end of January).  I also love that the lay flat album allows for double spread photos, so I was very excited about the option of doing large photo spreads throughout the book.  Pinhole Press offers a variety of page layouts, as well as the option to add text and stories to your album.  I'm not the best at adding in journaling, so having the ability to include a caption, note or story during the "building" process was a win-win for me!

I finished my album on the 31st of January and as soon as I hit "buy", a few "I wish I would have...." thoughts came flying into my head (I HATE when that happens!).  One of the things I wish I would have done would be to include a collage at the end of the book of our random "phone" photos. I spent a lot of January using my DSLR, so I didn't have too many photos on my phone from this month, but I'm sure I could have created an ending collage of our memories.  I also wish I would have added some type of conclusion or ending to the book - maybe a sentence or two about my project or process, a quote, etc...  And kind of on a similar note, I'm hoping to add more photos of myself and my husband in our future albums! Next month, right???

And because I love making videos and think seeing it "in action" is better than just still photos, below is a quick flip through of my album with some of my thoughts and suggestions for using Pinhole Press! Enjoy!

Have you ever created an album using Pinhole Press?? I definitely recommend checking them out and creating your own Lay Flat Album!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!! xoxo

Memory Keeping Made Easy

My plan for 2016 is simple and easy memory keeping. I know I want to document our days in some way, and I think I'm at the point where I mentally want it to be easy. I loved each of my Project Life books from last year and each and every one tells a different story about a different month. They are SO fun to look back on and time and energy I put into them was so worth it.  But for this year, I really want to focus on photography, so instead of just tossing memory keeping aside altogether, I've planned to incorporate some easier and simpler means for memory keeping.

One of my main projects for this year is to record ONE story per month using Ali Edwards' Story Kits. I am a BIG fan of kits and limited supplies.  The "collector" (i.e. hoarder) in me loves to grab all the new products and hot items, but I know when it comes to actually using them, I often feel overwhelmed and exhausted with all this "stuff".  Narrowing down the products I want to use helps me tremendously when it comes to creating; and Ali's Story Kits are just such a great foundation for telling a story.

I'll be using a 6x8 album and a variety of page protectors (mostly likely the 6x8 size). Each month, my plan is to pick one story, or tell one "overall" story of our month.  I will most definitely be using lots of photo collages because I love how they alone can tell the story of our month.  Other months, I'll stick to one story, or maybe write a letter or something.  And if I feel I have more than one story to tell, while then, I'll create extra pages.  The goal here, though, is not worry about which story I tell or which story gets left out, but to get my thoughts and our memories down on paper.  I am a firm believer that there is no right or wrong way when it comes to memory keeping. 

This is a look at December in my album. We took a trip to the mountains right at the end of December (after my December Daily album officially ended), so I decided to start with this story. To the left, I used Picmonkey to create a simple collage and then typed up my journaling on a piece of 6x8 card stock for the right hand side. So so easy.

For the first part of January, I wanted to talk a little about our "right now", our goals, etc...  I did this page right at the beginning of the month, so I'm actually thinking about doing an additional "collage-type" page at the end. Or maybe not...we shall see!

This process is SO simple and SO easy, and if you've been on the fence about memory keeping, or journaling, I couldn't recommend this approach more.  You really only need limited supplies and your photos - and you could use any supplies here, old or new! Remember, it's not about how many pages you make, or how many memories you record.  It's about living your life and recording those moments you want to record!  Whatever you do, I promise you will never regret getting your photos off of your camera and writing down details of your days. 

Happy Monday, friends!