I just have to say that I have really been enjoying this project!  It is so doable! My favorite part is that I have the first 2 weeks of 2012 documented.

This week I had a great mix of pictures, ephemera (collectable tidbits) and journaling.   Below is the picture of what you see when you open my album to this week.  I added a 9-pocket page protector (baseball card holder) in the middle to hold all the polaroids I took on our trip to New Mexico.

I have been wanting to try adding some digital overlays to my pictures, so I gave that a shot this week.  Just so you know, I have absolutely NO experience using digital elements or Photoshop Elements, so I literally started from scratch.  I used this tutorial from Ali which took me step by step through the process.  Ali is a wonderful teacher, both in person & on-line! (Ali has a son with autism and she is just a remarkably loving mother & individual.  This is what drew me to her years ago and I’ve been following her story ever since.)

The picture above is the left page of the layout.  I love that I only have 2 pictures here, but all the other little stuff really tells about our week.  I downloaded the Mission Impossible picture and attached the movie tickets from when I took Becca and Skylar to see it.  I also added a piece of the church bulletin from Sagebrush as well as part of my score sheet from playing bunco.

The statement “I love you my friend” is one of those digital overlays that I mentioned above. It is part of this set that I bought from Designer Digitals.  It was designed by Ali. The picture isn’t the greatest as there is a bad glare, but I don’t have many pictures with my friend Joyell and I was determined to use it.  I truly love Joyell, she was Skylar’s teacher in the 5th grade, but she and I became friends the year before.  She has such a heart for kids, especially those with special needs.  I am beyond blessed to call her my friend.  The journaling card in the middle of the page titled “This Week” is also a digital download that came from Paislee Press.  You can see the complete set here. I love all the possibilities these printable cards give me.  I’m excited to pick up the new 4×6 cards they just came out with.

The picture above is a close-up shot of the 9-pocket page protector that I put all the polaroids in.  I loved telling the story of our weekend through polaroids.  Below is the picture of the backside.

I sewed the tops of the protector together as the pictures kept sliding out.  Don’t look too closely as I definitely don’t have “mad sewing skills”.  My machine is actually pretty jacked right now so I was just happy to get a line (not even really straight) sewn.

Above is the right side of my layout.  I loved using the word stickers all down the side of my journaling card as well as on my polaroids.  I also used another digital overlay on the picture of Skylar with Joyell’s son.  Those 2 have such a sweet bond and are always thrilled to see one another.  This was Skylar saying “Goodbye”.  It was definitely one of my favorite moments from the trip.  So glad I had my iPhone camera to capture it.  The “Favorite Moment” saying comes from this set also designed by Ali Edwards.

Thanks for reading all about my week 2.  I think for putting up with all of my very specific details, you deserve a prize!  So…I’m giving away a $15 gift certificate to Designer Digitals so that you can try out some of these awesome photo overlays & brushes.  Ali has page upon page of awesome digital elements.  You can see them here!  Whether you are new to digital elements or you are an “old pro”, you can enter to win!  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below.  The giveaway will end at 9pm Arizona time this Wednesday (the 25th).  I’ll announce the winner on Thursday morning.  (Update:  You can see who the winner is here!)

Make it a great week!

JuJu