In the Spotlight

I found Mary and Capturing Magical Memories through a Texas Women Bloggers link up and was just in awe of all her fun digital Disney layouts.  I just happened to be working on my one and only Disney album at the time.  Even though I am a traditional scrapper, I linked up one of my Disney layouts for her Memory Keeping Monday link up.  Much to my surprise, Mary not only commented, but also asked if I would be interested in being spotlighted one Monday.  I was a little ok a whole lot intimidated, but went outside my comfort zone and answered the questions.  Today is my day and I would love it if you would stop by Capturing Magical Memories,  and check out my interview!   I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and a blessed Easter!  In case you missed my Friday afternoon post singing the praises of Dear Harper Design, you can find it below.

Dear Harper Design

I promised you guys a little more information about the sweet lady behind the new and improved A Beautiful Day.  Aimee is the talent behind Dear Harper Design.  

It was pure luck that I found her.  I was admiring some new elements on Crystal's blog and discovered that her new design was courtesy of Dear Harper Design.   After exchanging an email or two we were well on our way to a whole new design.  Even though there was a wait list, Aimee asked me to start sending ideas and color palletes so that she could get a feel for what I liked - especially since I wanted a totally different look from what I currently had.  I have a confession to make - I am not the easiest person to work with from a design perspective.  SHOCKER....I know!  I know in my brain exactly what I want, but I am not so great at explaining it....and I have no earthly idea how to accomplish it by myself...that is why I have to pay talented people that know what they are doing  If Aimee was frustrated with me, she hid it like a champ. Although, I wouldn't have been one bit offended if there was some major eye rolling going on when she opened my crazy emails!  And trust me, there were a lot of them.  Aimee was relentless, and did not stop until I was 100% satisfied!  She is an absolute joy to work with and I recommend her to anyone who might be looking to perk up a current design or who, like me, is looking for a complete makeover.  And before I forget....her prices are an incredible bargain for the amount of work she puts in and the care she takes.  Worth every single dollar and them some!!!!!  If you are in the market for a new design, definitely check her out and let her know I sent you.  No, this is not s sponsored post....I just love her that much and wanted to spread the love!
If you are interested in learning more about Aimee, she blogs at Click. Pray. Create.

snap.scrap.share. Thursdays with Katie Stories: April 2014

In case you were wondering if I had fallen and was never coming back....I am alive and getting healthier by the day.  Watch for that post later in the week...promise!  But today, it is my favorite Thursday of the month....Katie is here and to go along with my blog makeover, she has spruced up her button and given her monthly post a new name!  Thank you for stopping by for the the first SNAP.SCRAP.SHARE....I love it!

Today, Katie is sharing her process for keeping her pictures organized....wait for it - on a WEEKLY basis!  I have a sneaky suspicion that if I adopted her method I would never get overwhelmed by pictures again.  It is a seemingly simple process if you can just discipline yourself to make the time each and every week....GENIUS!!!

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Hi everyone! Happy weekend eve!

I am extra excited about this Thursday, because it is the last day of school before Spring Break. I'm hoping to get some scrapping done while I am off from school.

But I've got a confession to make. I haven't felt much like scrapping lately. I've done other crafty things, like made an Easter wreath, and finished decorating our fireplace. But as for actual scrapbooking, I just haven't been in the mood.

I'm just hoping it comes back, because there are a lot of pages floating around in my head that I'd like to make before they float right on out of there!

Even when I'm not in a crafting mood, there is one thing that I always try to keep up with, and that is organizing and uploading my photos. And since everyone has a different way to do it, I thought I'd share my method with you today.

I organize my photos chronologically by week. It just works best for me, since my main style of documenting lately seems to be Project Life.

The first thing I do is gather all of my pictures from my iphone + AJ's iphone + our point and shoot camera + my DSLR and dump them in a folder on my computer labeled with the month/day of the week.

Then, I delete any pictures I don't need to save. Usually, these are pictures of layouts that I took for my blog. I figure if I have the layout, I don't really need a picture of it!

And I decide what needs to be edited. I don't do much editing, to be honest. iPhone pics might get a run through the PicTapGo app if they need it when they are taken (or if I'm feeling bored or fancy and want to play around with them). Some camera shots will go to PicMonkey for quick edits, but most don't.

Once all the pictures I want are saved on my computer, edited if needed, I upload them to Shutterfly. I like Shutterfly for three reasons:

• pictures are easy to order and I have the option of having them mailed to me or picked up at a local CVS, Walgreens or Target (since we are always moving or traveling, I like the flexibility)
• sharing is super easy - there is an iPhone app so I can easily access pictures on Shutterfly if I want to show them to someone on the go or I can select pictures to send to my family back home
• at the end of every year I have a CD made of all the pictures I took that year and have it sent to me for backup

Okay, that sounded like a Shutterfly ad, but I promise you it isn't. I just really like them!

When I upload, I use the same file name (the dates of the week) + I add any important events that may have taken place. This album is named 03 31 - 04 06 Opening Day, California, Allie and Jeremy's Wedding. That way if I'm looking for pictures of a specific event, but don't know the exact date - say our friend's wedding - I can find them easily.

Once on Shutterfly, pictures are automatically sent to the My Albums folder. I leave them there until I order pictures. Then I move them over to the 2014 folder. That's my way of knowing which pictures need to be ordered, and which don't!

And that's my picture organization method!

How do you sort your pictures?

I'm So Excited...And I Just Can't Hide It

Hello new blog design!!  What in the world took me so long to do this?  It is more fabulous than I hoped or even imagined.  I love the single sidebar and can finally use the X-Large picture button, that I have been longing for.  I have already enlarged the pictures in the my two previous posts and I couldn't be happier!  If you are one of my regular reads and are used to seeing yourself in my sidebar, never fear...I am not ditching you....I will be moving my blog roll to the "Blogs I Love" page on my navigation bar.  I will also be updating all of my pages as necessary, so please be patient with me....I hope to have them up soon!
I would love to hear what you think.  I loved my previous design, but this cleaner, less cluttered look has stolen my heart.  Stay tuned for a little post on Aimee, the sweetheart behind my new design...she is a saint!