I was overjoyed when the Destefano Family suggested we hang out around the Town Center for their photoshoot. So often clients struggle with knowing a good location to choose for their photo shoot, and this was just perfect for their active little boy. We kept the session casual and moving and it allowed for such a variety of images.

Loved following the adorable family around town. We stopped to pet horses, run in the splash pad, snack on Starbucks, and walk by the river. They'll be even busier once baby No. 2 arrives!

Maternity sessions are such a sweet time to capture a family. So much change and joy is about to happen in this little family's future, but these special moments just before the change happens is so sweet. If you wondering if a maternity session with your littles is worth while, I would whole-heartedly say it is.

If you're looking to schedule your maternity session soon, let me know! I'd love to start planning with you.

Sometimes the Lightroom workspace is distracting.

That's exactly why Adobe made Lights Out mode.

This feature allows you to dim or black out the Lightroom Classic workspace so that just your photo is visible on screen.

There are two levels to Lights Out, one where the screen is partly covered or dimmed, and the second which completely blacks out the rest of the screen. This is super handy when you want to eliminate distractions and focus only on the image you're selecting or editing.

How to Use It

The Lights Out Function is another quick shortcut I use often. The simplest way to cycle through the levels of Lights Out is to press L. Here's an example:

Of course, you can also do this through the menus: Windows > Lights Out

Customizing the Lights Out Level

There are another few features of the Lights Out function that you can control. Though the menus: Preference > Interface > Lights Out

First, you can change the color! Black is Lightroom's default Lights Out mode, but you can change that to 5 shades of white, gray, and black. Personally I like using white to replicate what you often will see in online viewing.

You can also change the dim level.

Quick Gallery Viewing

One of the main reasons I use this feature is to do a basic slideshow for clients so they're not distracted by the rest of the Lightroom interface or thumbnails.

Cropping

In the editing process, I like to use the partially dimmed Lights Out mode for cropping. I can more easily get a feel for what I'm cropping out, while still seeing the parts of the image I'm removing. And you can easily move to cropping the next photo by clicking Command + Arrow Key to speed up your cropping process.

Love this Lightroom tip and want to see more? Click here!

A big thanks to Amanda Donaho Photography for allowing me to share their catalog in this tutorial!

While the focus of my blog these days is to share Lightroom tutorials, my background in Lightroom stems from my desire to capture magical every day moments. I was a scrapbooker for many years, but as time has gone on, my documentation has transitioned more to photos and words in the form of a Day One journal. During that time, creating a simple preset became important to me so that I could easily touch up an image and record it in my journal.

I'm so excited to finally share my creation with you. This preset collection is something I use nearly every day and I hope that you too can find use in them as you document your days.

Without further ado, here's the lightroom mobile preset and a look at each what each preset does.

Mobile Lightroom Presets by Donya Luana

01 Original

This is my go-to preset. It adds those creamy skin tones, it subtly warms the image a touch, and overall just gives a *chef's kiss* to the image.

02 Clean & Bright

I tend to use this preset for photos taken indoors. It isn't meant only for interior home shots, but this photo demonstrates the brightening and clean whites it applies to the image.

03 Pop

In the Original preset, bright colors are sometimes subdued. I generally don't mind that, but occasionally I have images that I really want those colors to still be present. That's where Pop comes into play. I also use this preset on my iPhone videos as well!

04 Lavendar Haze

My go-to sunrise and sunset preset.

05 Black & White Matte

I'm a black and white lover, and this is my favorite black and white preset of all time. It creates a soft filmy matte look, keeps that creamy feeling in the skin tones, and focuses your eye on the details that matter. This preset and the Original are my most used presets.

06 Black & White Grain

Occasionally there are images that need a touch more contrast and oomf and that's where my second black and white preset comes in. The grain adds in a bit of texture to the image as well.

If you are using these new presets, I would love to hear from you and how you are enjoying them!

And if you haven’t, you can grab them right here!

With your purchase, you will get a complete step-by-step walk-through of how to install and use them. They work for both Apple iOS and Android OS and were created exclusively for Lightroom Mobile. 

I can’t wait to see all the beautiful memories you capture and create!

Oooh, I'm excited about this one! Shortcuts are my favorite Lightroom Hacks.

When you learn to use Shortcuts without even thinking about it, the time you save starts to add up!

After 10+ years of editing in Lightroom, these shortcuts are what I find myself routinely using, often without even realizing it. Sometimes it takes thinking back to the days of being a newbie Lightroom user, to remember the little hacks I hadn't yet learned. So if you're reading this, you're likely learning them faster than I did!

This first one was such a game changer when Adobe added it to Lightroom.

Reference Mode

SHIFT + R

Easily compare photos in the catalog to ensure consistency through your edits. As a photo editor for other photographers, I use this frequently to ensure I'm matching my clients' edits. But even when editing my own images, having a reference to compare to makes all the difference when I want to create consistent imagery.

Syncing

CTRL + OPT + S (mac) / CTRL + SHIFT + S (WIN)

This shortcut for syncing will bypass the Sync Settings dialog box, so you’ll want to make sure you already have what you want to sync already selected or unselected, but it sure is a speedy feature.

Lights Out Mode

L

Hide the busy interface of Lightroom and isolate your image or images. I love to use this when cropping through a set of images because it will hide the parts of the image that I'm cropping out.

Crop Tool

R

Speaking of cropping, when I find myself needing to make a speedy adjustment to an image, this shortcut is a must.

Virtual Copy

CMD + ' [apostrophe] (MAC) / CTRL + ' [apostrophe] (WIN)

Almost anytime I make a black and white image, I first create a virtual copy. 

A big thanks to Kortni and Chris Photography for allowing me to share their catalog in this tutorial!

Look for a cheat sheet of all the Lightroom Shortcuts? Check out my freebie section!

Yay, are you ready for another Lightroom Hack to simplify your editing workflow?

Today's Lightroom tip made a big difference in my editing process years ago.

As I edit through a catalog, I will click on the photos in the Filmstrip to sync a group or select a new photo.

I constantly found myself accidentally clicking on the badges on these images, which would quickly transition me into a new module, stack or unstack a group, or even open up the crop tool.

These can certainly be handy shortcuts if you want them, but in my case, they were slowing me down because I'd have to back out of whatever transition it thought I wanted.

Until I found out I could "Ignore" those clicks with a simple setting. A simple setting change has now prevented me from these unwanted transitions for years.

Hopefully these unwanted clicks will be a thing of the past for you as well!

Looking for more helpful Lightroom hacks? Check out my Lightroom Tips here.

More of a visual learner? Here's a video walkthrough:

Hey there! It's Lightroom Hack learning time!

The Lightroom User Interface can be exceptionally overwhelming with so many different toolbars and panels.

One change I like to make to customize my Lightroom set up is to clean up the top panel of my workspace and eliminate unused options. It may be a small change, but the minimalist in me loves it.

Get rid of the “Book | Print | Map” options or whichever you don’t use by Ctrl-click-ing (Windows) or Command-click-ing (Mac OS) to bring up the option the check or un-checkmark which options you want visible.  I rarely use anything but Library and Develop so that’s what I keep shown, while everything else goes away.  

And to take it a step further, I often will close this panel altogether by clicking the arrow at the top, because most often I will use the keyboard shortcuts G and D to toggle between Library and Develop mode.

Looking for more helpful Lightroom hacks? Check out my Lightroom Tips here.

Working from home is such a blessing and curse at the same time. While I love the flexibility and lack of commute, staying on task at home can get tricky at times. There always seems to be laundry and package deliveries, cats to snuggle and text messages to answer.

If I’m not careful with my time, I can easily go a full work day with only a few hours worth of work actually completed. If you’re anything like me, some structure and strategy will greatly improve your focus.

Here’s 5 strategies that may help you!

1| Remove the phone from your office/desk

It’s amazing how addicted we can be to these devices! More than we admit to. It’s usually right about the time I get to a tricky image that my mind begins to wander and thinks, hey you haven’t posted on Instagram today yet, maybe you should just check the feed quickly and see if anything cool is happening. Removing the ability to open the Instagram app (or Facebook or CNN or, or, or...) by having the phone in another room makes me focus so much more. It keeps me on task and getting edits done.

2| Chrome Extensions

Even with the phone removed from my office, the computer is still accessible, which means I can still pop over to Facebook or any other distracting, attention grabbing website instantly. The Facebook Feed Erradicator and StayFocused Chrome extensions are two that I use to eliminate distractions and restrict the time I spend on social media and time wasting sites.

3| Toggl

I’m always tracking how much time it’s taking me to edit images and when I use Toggl, it’s like a race against the clock to get it done as quick as possible without stopping for distractions. Have you ever tracked your editing time before? I highly suggest giving it a shot! P.S. - Toggl's basic plan is totally free!

4| Blocking work in LR

Breaking down Lightroom catalogs into wedding categories, camera serial number, or any smaller bite sized chunk helps me feel like I’m getting somewhere fast. Kind of like when you’re running a 5k and you break it down by focusing on one mile at a time. This really helps me mentally chip away at a those 1000+ image galleries.

5| Keeping your mind engaged (but not too much)

Editing for hours on end can quickly become boring to the mind. Despite the gorgeous images I see on a daily basis, my mind wanders often. To keep myself focused on the the day's edits, I like to keep my mind engaged with podcasts, long form interviews, or old tv shows. Anything that doesn't require me to look up from my screen, but still entertains me.

With these strategies in place, you'll have no problem getting edits done, make money, and grow your editing business!

Culling down your photos should be the first step in your editing process.

A lot of my favorite tips for Lightroom are tiny adjustments to your workflow that don't feel like they're doing a whole lot to speed up your editing process, but when you add those half-seconds together over a few hundred or thousand photos, it results in quite a bit of saved time.

Today's tip is primarily aimed at speeding up your culling or rating process. The first thing I do after I import photos into Lightroom is start selecting my favorites by adding a flag (I tap 'P' to quickly flag a photo), but you can tap any number, 1-9 to quickly add a star rating (1-5) or color rating (6-9) if you'd prefer that rating system over a flag.

Instead of having to arrow over to the next photo after giving it a rating, making every photo a two keystroke operation, I use the Auto Advance option in Lightroom to automatically move on to the next photo once it's rated.

You will find the option to turn on Auto Advance under the Photo menu, but it can only be turned on while in the Library module. If you're having trouble finding the option, it may be that you are in Develop module rather than Library mode, so make note that you must be in Library module for the option to appear.

I'd love to hear how you like to rate your photos in Lightroom! Are you a star, color, or flag user? You can reach out to me here anytime!

Did you know there's a quicker way to transition between recently used Lightroom catalogs?

When I first began using Lightroom I put everything (yes, everything!) into one catalog.

I didn't even realize having multiple catalogs was an option until I had 3 years worth of photos in a single catalog and it was running extremely slow.

A quick decision to break up my catalogs into yearly catalogs was made, and from there, I started sorting out client work into their own catalogs as well.

These days I am routinely switching between my personal yearly catalogs and the catalogs I am editing for clients. I may not finish an entire client catalog in one day and that evening I may want to quickly edit the a cute photo of my boys.

Instead of navigating through folders, which takes a bit of time no matter how organized you are, I made this setting tweak to Lightroom so that I can easily close up my personal photos and pick back up with those client edits.

Make This Settings Adjustment

Open the Preferences menu

Select 'Prompt me when starting Lightroom' as your new option for 'Default Catalog'.

From now on, Lightroom will ask you which catalog you'd like to view and edit from every time you open the program up.

For my personal use, typically this means I will be choosing between which yearly catalog I want to open.

As a photographer or photo editor, you can easily select which client/wedding catalog you would like to edit.

If you enjoyed this Lightroom trick on catalog organization or have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out!

As a photo editor, there are several tools I use on a daily basis that help me efficiently & comfortably edit through several weddings a week.  I always find it interesting when creatives share a peek into how they get their jobs done, so today I’m providing you a look at 5 things I can’t edit in Lightroom without.

1| Apple Trackpad

I love using the Apple Trackpad. I’ve given Wacom tablets a try twice and each time, as much as I wanted them to work out, it felt clunky.  I know several editor who love to use a tablet for editing, but I have found that the Apple Trackpad works just like a tablet, but additionally it allows for multi-touch gestures (like easily scrolling up/down, left/right, quickly toggling between applications) that I could not replicate with a tablet or other tool.  I often have one hand using the Track pad and the other using quick key (shortcuts) on the keyboard.

2 | Wrist Rest

This one is a bit of a personal preference and dependent upon your desk set up situation, but I quickly learned that I needed somewhere to rest my wrists while I’m using my computer for extended periods of time.  This white wrist rest was the perfect addition for my keyboard/trackpad combo and compliments my white desk very well.

3 | Dropbox

Over the years I have tried a few different ways of exchanging Lightroom catalog files with my clients, but Dropbox remains the easiest.  Having the app on my computer allows me to easily drag and drop the files when completed. Investing in a Dropbox Plus account is one of the very few costs of doing business I have and the 1 Terabyte of storage has been perfect.

4 | SSD External Drive

I recently added this SSD External Drive to my workflow as a way to keep my client files easily portable and organized.  Prior to using an external drive, I kept my client files in their own folder separate from my personal files, which worked great.  Occasionally I will edit away on my laptop, and the ability to quickly move the external drive from my iMac to the laptop makes the transition seamless.

5 | Podcasts/Audiobooks

I am a lover of learning!  This is probably one of my favorite perks of working as a photo editor. I get to listen to podcasts and audiobooks all day long. From learning business strategies to keeping up with political discussions to staying motivated with fitness podcasts, I listen to it all. Have a favorite podcast, let me know!

Do you use any of these tools for editing? What are 5 things you can't edit in Lightroom without?

I'm guessing you've been bitten by the bug of curiosity and are wondering if becoming a photo editor is for you.

"Is it worth taking on this new income stream?"

"How much work will it take?"

And "Is it actually profitable?"

These are the same questions I had when I ventured into editing 4 years ago. We had just set it stone that we would be moving for the 4th time in 6 years, and you can bet that the idea of transitioning my photography business to a new location for the 5th time was not appealing. I wanted to try something new that didn't have to start over if we moved again.

Becoming an editor was the perfect solution. No more worrying about finding new clients in a new location. No more stressing over rescheduling photo shoots and having to give up those good weather days to work rather than enjoying them at home with my family.

In this blog post, I'll walk you through the steps I took to become an editor. You'll learn:

• How to determine if you're ready to edit for others
• The importance of deciding what you will offer and how to price yourself
• 4 ways to promote yourself as an editor to get your first client

Read on to learn more...

Is Editing For You?

So first of all, before diving into the photo editing business, you want to make sure you enjoy editing. I have found that generally people either love or hate the editing part of photography. You definitely don't want to make this your primary job if it's the part you hate.

A few other questions to ask yourself:

• Do you feel you can match a photographer's editing style?
• Do you feel efficient and consistent with your editing?
• Are you quick in Lightroom? (Dive into the Lightroom Tips here for help with your speed!)

Determine Your Price Point & What You Will Edit

In the photo editing industry, it is typical to charge per image rather than per hour.

This is beneficial to you since you can increase your hourly rate by becoming faster with your editing. But to start out, time your editing to see how many image you can get done in an hour.

And in determining your speed, consider what type of editing you are doing. Your editing speed will be drastically different from simple color correcting a wedding photo to full retouching of a newborn photo.

Once you have a handle on your editing speed, choose your desired minimum hourly rate and divide by the image/hour rate to find your price/image rate.

Play around with these number until you have a price point you are satisfied with. Simple color correction will be easier than the retouching edit pricing.

4 Ways to Promote Yourself as an Private Photo Editor

1. Consider any photography friends or acquaintances you may have that would benefit from outsourcing their editing.
2. Create a Website - Shortly after I began editing for a friend, I added a page on my website about my editing services and I completely lucked out with an inquiry just a few weeks later from a Google Search, so you never know! There are so many easy & cheap ways to make a website these days, so it definitely doesn't hurt to whip one up.
3. Interact with potential photographers you would highly enjoy working with on social media. Build a relationship with them so they think of you when outsourcing their editing comes to mind.
4. A listing as a photo editor on a site like Outsourcebar.com that you are an editor looking for new clients. A listing may cost a bit of money up front, so it may not be your first choice but a good option if you're still struggling to find your first few clients.

So, to recap, to get started as a photo editor, start with these 3 steps:

1. Decide if you're ready
2. Choose your price point and what you'll offer
3. Promote Yourself

Click Here to Grab Your Free Photo Editor Income Estimator in the Freebie Library

So we're moving.  Yep, we're just slightly crazy and have decided to move once again.  

If you've been keeping track over the past several years, this will be our 4th move since our first home in Minnesota which we moved into 8 years ago.  We didn't see this one coming, especially since we've been very happy in our current home and neighborhood for the past 2.5 years, but still equally excited for it.  Our biggest reasons for moving are for more land and to be closer to my mom as she makes the move from Minnesota to Texas as well!

Since listing our current home for sale, several friends have asked decorating questions.  I've always meant to share more as we've decorated and remodeled portions of our home, but for some reason I never felt right doing so.  Or failed to make the time.  But with the questions I've received and the huge interest in our home during the four whole days it was listed for, it appears there may be enough interest for me to now make the time to share.  And it gives me something to fun to focus on while I not-so-patiently wait to move into our next home and start all over with the decorating process! 

First up, a little wall at the top of the stairs that sat empty for almost 2 years.  

These clipboards may be one of the most recent additions I made to our home but I'm certain they'll be one of the first things I hang up in the new house because I love them so much.  

While I'm a huge fan of large wall pieces and photographs, it can be challenging to decide on just a few images to print.  With this clipboard gallery I can choose all of my favorites and swap them out with new favorites as often as I'd like.  

I printed the photos as 5x7's with a white border through Costco.  Since these are small prints, I cropped vertically even on some horizontal shots to make them work with the set up, while not worrying too much about losing the quality of the image.  

I'd love to hang these in a more visible part of our next home and also switch the photos out for Holiday cards, Happy Mail, or drawings by the kids, to change it up every few months.  What would you hang up? 

*inspiration by Danielle Hatcher

Update: the clipboards are hung in the new house! 

Frames are laid against walls throughout the house, paint colors all need to be changed, but the clipboards are out of boxes and up on the walls for display.  

I ran into some trouble with that dang light switch placement, trying to keep the grouping centered on the wall, so I spaced them a little differently this time to fill the wall accordingly, leaving out one column of frames.

I've been asked a few times how I got them so evenly spaced, and really it was a lot of eyeballing it and readjusting as I went.  But a level helped hugely to draw pencilled guidelines (which still need to be erased).  And well, it isn't perfect, but it's done.

Get the clipboards now, and while you're there, pick up some 3M command strips for hanging them as well! 

Just a month and a half into our new home and we have nearly finished painting every wall on the main floor.  Not everything is completed in these rooms, in fact we're using our old tv console as a coffee table currently, but having a fresh coat of Agreeable Gray and Anew Gray over the yellow, blue, and sage green is a good start.  

The upstairs is next and since I wanted to get an idea of what colors we'll be painting the boys' rooms, I decided to put together a little inspiration board for each to help guide me.  

To get the ideas flowing, I do what I often do: scroll Pinterest while scanning the room for empty spots that need filling.  And since these were fun to put together, I thought they might be fun to share alongside a few before pictures. 

I can't wait to have these rooms done! 

Ephram's Room

The biggest change from Ephram's previous bedrooms is that we got rid of his bedframe.  Beau did a great job building him one 3 years ago, but it was getting pretty grungy in the areas that we didn't sand and wood fill very well and hard to clean. Note to self: use the select wood next time.  The thought of taking it apart and bringing it with us just wasn't making either of us happy.  I fell in love with the iron spindle bed we got Alwyn a few months ago, so I'm planning on getting Ephram a similar one.  

When it comes to the decor, much of it is staying the same.  I slowly curated and created artwork for his walls in the last house, like the wooden mountain and the wall gallery.  I'd like to add a few more art prints to match his current interests since he has a bit more wall space, and eventually add a desk.

While antique shopping a few weeks ago for nightstands, I came across two mid-century desks like the one in the inspiration board that I loved.  I'm hoping when I'm ready to spend the money on one, I can still easily find one.

I didn't end up finding an old table to refinish for a nightstand, so I bought a Tarva nightstand from Ikea for each of the boys.  They come unfinished but with a bit of paint and stain, they're still pretty cheap!  My plan for now is to stain the top and paint the rest white.

 A few before pictures of Ephram's new room:

I'm most excited to try hanging a pegboard!  I knew Beau would roll his eyes on that one, but I think it could be a cool addition to both of their rooms.  And I'm debating on painting the small wall that leads to the jack and jill bathroom a dark gray, almost a chalkboard color.  Maybe I'll let him paint something on it like a dinosaur or pony or lego guy.  We'll see...

Alwyn's Room

Ephram's room felt quite a bit more finished than Alwyn's room did at our last house.  When I created his first nursery, I really went with a white & bright feel as I was transitioned Ephram's room into more of a colorful toddler room.  I added some art with a fun wall gallery at the previous house, but this time I'll be adding in a bit more color.

He is now in a twin bed (the one pictured in Ephram's inspo board), and finally has a bedspread after months of searching.  For some reason I always look at Ikea last.  I try to avoid them, but in the end, they always seem to have a reasonably priced version of what I'm looking for.  

I plan to leave Ephram's pegboard brown, but I love the idea of painting Alwyn's to add more color in.  I'm not sure yet what I'll be hanging on these pegboards, but I had wanted a spot to hang awards, hats, and hooded sweatshirts near his door, so I'll try that.  The tricky part is making it work with the chair rails.  It prevents me from hanging them close enough to the ground for him to reach, which is the opposite of what I want, so I need to think that one over.  I have a love/hate relationship with the chair rails... 

Artwork will be another big addition.  I clicked over to Minted.com yesterday morning after seeing an email in my inbox and ended up drooling over at least 10 art pieces.  Alwyn is our outdoorsy kid and the only true Texan in our family, so I'm definitely going to play with that aspect of his personality in his room.  That personalized cowboy boot is my favorite.  And he and I already started gathering sticks from the yard for those stars.

A few before pictures of Alwyn's new room. 

And after all that, I'm still think I'll be going gray with the walls!

Backyard fireworks are becoming a tradition around here, and since I'm not fond of crowds, you won't hear a complaint from me!  Especially when friends and family join us!  

Fourth of July has become one of my favorite holidays because I love to photograph the kids enjoying the fireworks.  I have a little tutorial at the bottom of the post if you're interested in getting those creative firework photos next year. 

We kicked off our day with water balloons, croquet, dinner and, of course treats.  Then ended the day in the backyard with fireworks.  

And then the fireworks came out.  I love how they lined up biggest to littlest all on their own.  

An intense game of Rock Paper Scissors to decide who got to shoot off the first firework. 

A few more snacks and finally the sun set. 

How to take Fun Firework Photos

Switching your camera to manual mode will allow for you choose the correct settings to capture the motion of the light.  

• Use a long shutter speed (how long the shutter is open). I suggest starting at 4-6 seconds and adjusting as needed. This is the most important part as it allows the camera to catch the long streaks of light created by the fireworks.  While fireworks are pretty in person, I love the way we can creatively capture them with a camera. 
• A tripod is very important for these types of photos because of the long shutter speed.  If you don't have one, then set your camera on a something sturdy that will not move.  I have this one by Manfrotto, but a light-weight tripod like this one works just fine as well. 
• Choose a high aperture.  By using a larger aperture (around f11-f14) you are increasing the area that is in focus and since it can be hard to focus in the dark, this increases the likelihood of getting an in focus image. 
• Normally in a dark situation you would want a higher ISO, but you don't want to unnecessarily add digital noise to the photo, so keeping the ISO at a low number is just fine for fireworks. 

A few other things to try: 

• Use portrait mode to get those tall fireworks.

• Try creating a silhouette by having someone stand with the firework glow behind them. 

• Try it with glowsticks too!  The kids ended the night with a glowstick party in the barn which made for some pretty sweet photos also. 

Hope you had a great Fourth! 

I wiggled my computer mouse with a barely still warm cup of coffee in hand.  Flipped open Facebook, and there it was.  A mama friend had just asked for a computer repairman recommendation.  I immediately texted her inquiring about her computer and found out that she couldn’t get it to start up.  She was desperate for a fix, since every photo of her two sweet girls were on there with no back up.  None.   

I tightly crossed my fingers that the problem was something that my techie husband could help her with, and after bit of troubleshooting, he luckily saved the images and fixed her computer with a spare hard drive we had on hand.  You better believe that my friend immediately started backing up those photos after she got her computer back.  

It seriously broke my heart to worry that she could have lost those photos.  I know first hand that losing photos is painful and it still makes my heart sink when I go looking back through my photo archives and remember that I lost 6 months of photos from 2008 after a computer reformat.  

A split second decision can wipe out months or years of photos.  

And sometimes you won't even realize you did it for weeks.  That's what happened to me.  I blissfully reformatted my computer and didn't even realize I was missing those photos until months later.  

Since then I've become slightly obsessed with making sure even my back ups are backed up.  

Did you know there are other threats to our digital photos?  

When my friend recently had her computer trouble, she didn't even realize that hard drives could just fail.  How do they fail?  Hard drives are simply mechanical devices that wear out.  The lifespan of a typical hard drive is only about 3-5 years.  So that means if you have a 3 year old, you're already hitting what could be your hard drive's last year of life!  Let that sink in.  

There are other disasters out of our control as well.  Fire, flooding, earthquakes are all natural disasters that could destroy your home, along with everything in it, including those valuable hard drives.  

If I haven't totally scared you away from reading, and I've convinced you of the importance of backing up your digital photos, I've got a nugget of guidance to give you.  

A BACK UP PLAN.  

One that is easy to set up and will bring you peace that your invaluable photo memories are safe.  With this guide, we’ll make sure you never have to experience the pain of losing photos.  Your future self thanks you!

Click Here to Download the Guide in the Freebie Library

Hi friends!I'm sharing a Project Life spread over on the One Little Bird blog today, and a tip about creating a cohesive layout using repeating elements. Hope you'll hop on over and check it out!

On Tuesday of this week I participated in Ali's Day in the Life. I love doing this project once a year. While I normally aim to capture every day moments of our lives, this project always reminds me to get in the photos myself and to capture *my* life, not just my kids'.I also have found that using my iPhone works best for me. Any time I've attempted to use my DSLR and only my DSLR, I easily get frustrated with how imperfect the photos are. I guess my standards are quite a bit lower when using my phone, and therefore my perfectionist self can relax and just take the pictures.

I'm not sure what I'll do yet with these photos (maybe another Project Life insert?), and I usually don't figure it out until I start doing it, but gathering the words in one spot will help me get there. One step at a time.

My days start when my husband wakes up for work. I usually lay in bed and check my phone while he showers, which helped me remember to start taking photos at 4:14am. I climb out of bed when he is done getting ready for work, groggily find my glasses and put on a sweatshirt since I'm freezing cold. Then I head downstairs to say goodbye.

Coffee poured and I sit down at my computer and continue to wake up. I do most of my computer work in the morning before my kids wake up or during Alwyn's naptime.

I hear Alwyn awake around 6:20 and to avoid him waking up Ephram, I go get him and bring him downstairs. Within a few minutes he asks for "george" and so we go to the living room and turn on Curious George on Netflix.

Breakfast and a million demands and fights over what we'll eat begin when Ephram wakes up. Alwyn decided on Cheerios and milk while Ephram asked for his usual peanut butter toast. But once I made them both their breakfast, Alwyn decided he wanted a bagel like me and thought it was special that he could grab it and put in on a plate all by himself. He later ditched it after 4 bites.

I made an egg and ham sandwich on a bagel for myself.

After we all finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen I urged them to get dressed. But it was raining and that meant quite a few snails were slithering up the windows. We spent the next hour getting dressed, playing with toys, watching a little more George, packing up Ephram's lunch for school, and then leaving.

Photographing Ephram in the car while waiting in the carpool drop off line turned into a bad idea when I accidentally made him sad by trying to get him to smile for a photo. I should have settled for the 'extremely tired and out of it' look he had on before this one. Oh well, his reaction is totally his personality so it's part of our story. He reminded me the following day at the same time and he actually did smile for that one.

One of my favorite parts of our day is school drop off. Ephram always makes sure to give me a kiss and hug these days, and then blows a kiss once he's out of the car. Super sweet. Alwyn doesn't attend yet but has made quite a few teacher friends this year and they look for him every day so they can wave and see him smile.

9:31 and we pull into the garage back at home. My friend Jen is coming over to go walking, so I quickly give Alwyn a snack, check my email, and round up socks and shoes to wear on our walk. So glad the rain stopped because it was my first day wearing my Fitbit and I was curious to see if it recorded a similar step count to when I'm carrying my iPhone. (pretty close!)

I took a shower shortly after we got back home while Alwyn played with toys. He asked for several snacks and then another episode of George which allowed me to start a load of laundry, sweep the kitchen floor, and finish up a project in my office. Then he came back and we drew pictures together at my desk until it was time to go get Ephram from school.

It had started raining again by then and he was interested in the umbrella, so he played for a few minutes in the backyard before we left.

Love Ephram's smile here while telling me he finished his entire lunch at school today (a nearly daily struggle). Alwyn fell asleep in the car, so I picked him up and brought him to his crib for a nap.

I realized I hadn't eaten a proper lunch when I discovered we had leftover Chinese food in the fridge, so I warmed that up to eat while I did some naptime computer work. Ephram gets to play phone games, play with toys, and has an after school snack during this time.

Beau came home early because he had a webinar call to do. Luckily Alwyn wasn't awake for it so I didn't have to keep the boys from fighting or being too loud while he was on the call. Meanwhile I took some photos for a project.

After Beau was done with work he went outside to work on the yard. He's trying to cure a bad drainage problem we have when it rains. The boys went outside with him and I began figuring out dinner.

Worms + Bikes + Dirt.

After a quick dinner (where neither Alwyn or Ephram really ate), we headed upstairs for a bath.

The kids had an early bedtime so that they'd be in bed before I left for a Mom's Night Out with friends. I get them ready upstairs, read books, brush teeth, and then we always come downstairs one last time to say good night to daddy. Then I talk to each of them shortly before they lay down - Alwyn likes to sing Twinkle Twinkle, Ephram likes to talk about which Lego kit he'd like to save his money for next.

After the kids are in bed, we usually watch a show, have a glass of wine, or just chat until we head to bed, but tonight I left for a friend's house. I stayed up much later than usual and have been paying for it all week, but it's so nice to get out and laugh and talk without being interrupted by kids every once in awhile.

11:27 and I finally head to bed.

If you're at all curious or are looking for more inspiration for documenting a day in your life, I highly suggest checking out Ali's site. I love seeing the differences every time I do this project and it can be super simply done.

As I've mentioned before, I am approaching Project Life spreads every few weeks this year, as opposed to the weekly spreads I have completed the last few years. I absolutely love this approach and I really think that finding a frequency that works for you is one key element to being successful with your Project Life album.So this spread covers early April - roughly the first two weeks - including Easter, some rainy day pics, and a trip to the fire station.

Another key element, is finding cards that you love. And right now, the Studio Calico monthly kit is my very favorite. I just received my May kit last Friday and can't wait to dig into it once I gather another set of photos to print.

And as with many of my spreads, you'll notice I have roughly half color photos and half black and white, carefully choosing color photos that "go" together.

The turquoise "these are the days" card is from the Jade Edition of Project Life.

Another fun element I added to this spread was two of Ali Edwards digital stamps from her Rain or Shine set. I used this technique to print them onto peach colored labels (from the Studio Calico kit) before adding them to the spread.

And that wraps up early April!

Supplies: Design A Pocket Pages, Studio Calico monthly kit, Becky Higgins Jade Edition, Stampin' Up Corner Rounder, Black Pen

Hey there!

I'm over on the One Little Bird blog today sharing a one of the biggest reasons I love using Project Life and pocket pages for memory keeping, which is? You don't have to always be creative!

I hope you'll hop on over!

I'm super excited to be contributing to the Kelly Purkey Sketchbook 2015 class at Studio Calico next month, with two full Project Life spreads inspired by the class sketches!

Using a sketch is a fantastic way to beat a creativity block when starting out on a new memory keeping project. In the class you'll find numerous inspiring sketches and tips/ideas for how to use them.

I had a ton of fun experimenting with different sized photos in the projects I created for the class and loved the push to do something different.

Registration ends tomorrow (April 30th), and class starts next Monday, so be sure to sign up soon!

Click here to read more about the class! I hope to see you there!