Pregnancy Journal

I cannot believe that I will be 29 weeks pregnant on Thursday.

Where has the time gone.

At times, it feels it was just yesterday that I was freaking out in my in-laws bathroom with a pretty pink-positive-sign-bearing-stick in my hand.

And then at the same time, it seems like the next 11 and a half weeks are going to be the longest weeks of my life.

I am so ready to meet this little person.

When I found out I was pregnant I knew that I wanted to do something to document the pregnancy experience and all of the things that I felt and how our families reacted, etc. I also knew that I did not have enough time to commit to some big scrapbook or mini-book type project.

I also knew that I wanted to use my love of journaling, and digital design to create some kind of a book that could be printed off once the baby was born.

So out of all this was born my pregnancy journal.

I designed my own templates which makes the process so much easier,

and then I picked up a few digital elements:

a wonderful Ali Edwards Pregnancy Word Art and Pregnancy Week-by-Week digital elements kit, as well as an amazing Katie Pertiet digital paper kit called Bunny Trail. All of these can be purchased at Designer Digitals.

Here are just a few examples of the pages I have completed so far.

*Note* I haven't created a cover page yet because I honestly don't know what I want it to say.

Any suggestions?

Should I wait for baby to be born and use one of those or use a maternity photo?

Here is the title page:

And the first 3 weeks. (I started with week five since that's how far along I was when I found out I was pregnant.)

I love that the paper pack has a great mixture of both girl and boy colors. That was really important since we aren't finding out what we are having until the big day!

Once Baby O arrives I will probably use Inkubook for printing. I have used them for a couple other books and they turned out okay. I think I'll probably choose the hard-cover option though because I want them to last for a loooonnnggg time.

I am considering making my templates available as a free download if enough people are interested.

This could easily be modified for any kind of book or random digital scrapbook page.

I'd love it if you shared this idea with your friends and asked them to let me know if they would like to have the templates.

As of right now there are three:

A left side of the spread template

A right side template with a vertical photo &

A right side template with a horizontal photo.

What method did you use for keeping up with all the crazy things that happened during your pregnancies? It has been one of the most exciting times of my life, but to be honest...I'm ready to have this little person in my arms and out of my belly.

And before you say it:

I know, it only gets worse.

:)

30 Days of Thanks/FREE printable...

I can.not.believe. that tomorrow is November 1st. It seems like just yesterday I was celebrating Thanksgiving and gearing up for Black Friday shopping...and now here we are again. Just a few weeks away from Turkey and Santa and all things holiday.

It's kind of a shock to think that this is most likely the last holiday season that Landen and I will celebrate just the two of us. Starting next year everything will be different, traditions will change, schedules reversed, life itself will no longer be the way it is now.

It's because of this that I have decided to really up the ante on my normal memory keeping. I have already made the commitment to participate in December Daily (check it out if you don't know what that is) and I have been doing Project Life all year (again, check this out. It's amazing!). I have an urge for something more though. There have been so many changes in our life this year, both good and bad, and I am realizing that I have so stinking much to be thankful for. So here is my plan for the month of November:

30 Days of Thanks

(I'm not real thrilled with the title , but hey, sometimes simplicity is key.)
Over the next 30 days I am going to take a picture (or two) a day of something that I am thankful for. I've already got a list together for most of them but I am prepared to change my plans as God shows me something else that I should thank Him for. At the end of the month I will combine everything together into either a paper scrapbook or a digital printed one (not yet sure).

I think it's important that with life going by so fast we stop and take the time to say thanks for all the things that we are so blessed with. How hard is it to take a picture a day and write a few words. With technology as it is we almost ALWAYS have a camera on hand, whether it be our phones or our point and shoot.

I would love for you to join me on this quest to being thankful for the things in our life. We should all strive to show gratitude every day of the year. I just want to document 30 of them.

Starting tomorrow I will be hosting a link up on my posts. I'd love to see what you are thankful for and if you have any album ideas PLEASE share them. This is definitely going to be a plan as you go type project for me!

And, enjoy this free printable...a 30 day planning guide. I have found if you plan ahead you are planning for success. I already have almost every day filled out for the picture I want to take. I'm sure, however, that it will change.

and grab my button while you're at it!

<center><a href="www.theobanions.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img alt="OurLifeonaMarquee" src="http://i886.photobucket.com/albums/ac70/aobanion8628/30DaysofThanksNOJOKE.jpg"/></a></center>

Happy Holidays y'all!

Project Life..A video

Hey everyone!

So I am FINALLY getting my Project Life album caught up. I am finished up through June of this year and I just sent my photos off to be developed for the first half of the month as well as some of my digital prints that I am just luv-ing!

Since it would take me forevah to photograph all the pages and then edit them, upload to photobucket, blah, blah, blah I just decided to do a quick video to show you guys my progress so far and to ask for any hints or suggestions.

Now don't get your panties all in a wad when you see that my video techniques are a little less than stellar. You see, since we don't have any mini-me's running around this place yet we don't have a video camera. And I couldn't figure out how to do it on my computer and still see what was going on, so I resorted to my iPhone. It works great, don't get me wrong, but throughout the video occasionally you will see my fingers run across the lens, my dog growling in the background, ya know...the usual.

So I hope you enjoy the video and PLEASE let me know if you have any additional ideas that you use in your own Project Life albums or that you think I should add to mine! Also please don't hesitate to give me any help with my digital scrapbooking cause I am always looking for additional resources, templates, freebies...ya know.

And I've included the links to Becky Higgins website, Persnickety Prints where I get my printing done and BasicGrey's youtube channel where you can find lots of digital and paper scrapbooking videos.

Oh, and I am happily linking up here to one of my favorite blog! Even if I'm not a mom I still love all of her adorable cuteness!

and to one of my favorite Christian bloggers here:

Thanks!