Have you made any resolutions for 2012? I usually make 2 or 3 and by the end of January, if not before they have been broken or forgotten about. Every year I say I'm going to lose weight, and start off with good intentions before falling back into bad habits. This year I have decided to make my quest to 'get to goal' public in a hope that it will make me stay on track. The following LO has a photo taken of me on Boxing Day. Usually I shy away from the camera, and I certainly wouldn't ever have a full length photo taken willingly. This is my before photo, and I plan to include an update on how the diet is going each month for all to see. So now I've put it on here, failure really is not an option for me!
Last year I saw lots of blogs where people used multi photo page protectors to record each month of their year. I have decided to join in this year too. I love the 10 x 12 multi photo page protectors, they are perfect for creating mini LOs, or simply just slotting in a 6 x 4 photo.
Are you planning to record your year in a similar way? It's a perfect way to use up scraps from your kits, and is a really quick way to scrap too.
At this time of year you see a lot of prompts on Facebook/blogs asking about the highs and lows of the past year. The following LO records one of my highs from 2011.... seeing Harry play a camel in the school nativity. We weren't expecting much, as the previous year he had avoided looking at us and had hid his face from the camera, so we were over the moon to see how pleased Harry was to be dressed in a fat camel costume with 'bewuls and wumps' (bells and lumps).
I loved the photo of Harry but the colours of the school hall and the king in the background were quite distracting. I decided to do some spot colour editing so that the focus was on Harry. Here's a little step by step to show you how easy it is to do.
Once your photo is open in Photo shop, go to Layer then Duplicate Layer from the drop down menu.
Save as Background copy.
With the background copy highlighted, go to Enhance, then Adjust Colour and Remove Colour in the drop down menus.
Your photo is now in black and white.
You can select a brush size to suit the photo you are editing. I used 19px. Use your mouse to erase the black and white photo. The colour photo layer underneath shows through.
Zoom in on your photo to erase along the edges of your object/person. On complicated or uneven shapes it is best to work in small sections, so that if you make a mistake and have to use the back arrow, you won't have to redo all your work.
Ta da!!! Done. How easy is that?
I'm all about scrapping real life. The good, the bad, the ugly and the often down right silly! I want my scrapbooks to tell an accurate story of all aspects of my children's lives. Which brings me on to my next LO... the low of 2011.
Last week we had one of the worst days when we were told that our baby was being referred to the hospital for tests and that leukaemia was a possibility. Lots of tears, a drive to the hospital, an examination, a blood test, being admitted on to a ward, and a few hours of waiting and we were given the fantastic news that he didn't have what we were fearing. Thank goodness. We have to go back for another appointment to see why Drew's lymph nodes have been swollen for so long, but the signs are that it's probably just a virus.
I had taken a few photos of Drew sleeping when he first became poorly, and included them with a photo of him playing with the toys on the ward.
The background was created by misting through a Studio Calico mask with 2 colours. I love the subtle effect created.
Most of the highs of my year were shared with friends, and the lows were made easier knowing that I had the support of some very good friends. This brings me onto my final LO, including a photo of my Facebook Friends Matrix.... are you on it? I kept the LO really simple as the photo is so busy. Can you spot Ant and Dec too?
Well that's all from me for another month. I'll be back next month... hopefully a few lbs lighter... wish me luck!
11 comments:
Happy New Year Lou and all the DT :) So relieved your hospital visit had a positive outcome - it must have been a very worrying time. Good luck with the weight loss x
Love the weight loss journalling - you have inspired me to try for target before I see you again :) - cant believe you have done a layout of the hospital visit already ! I took photos when megan was in but that is as far as it got - hoping to change that today :) Great layouts - loads of inspiration :)
Lots of inspiration - you've been very busy!Thanks for the tutorial - always wanted to know how you do that :)
Looking forward to seeing your album grow through the year too.
Fabulous and very inspiring LOs. I have a feeling you are going to be more successful than me in the weight loss stakes (despite inspiration from Nikki too!)but I will try. Glad Drew's scare was just that.
All the very best to you, and all the DT and followers, for 2012
Fabulous layouts as usual Lou, the very best of luck with your new years resolution, can't wait to see you document each month!
Happy New Year Lou to you and the rest of the design team and Sarah and Lianne!!!!
Relieved that the hospital visit went alright - what a worry.
Look forward to seeing your updates.
Karen x
Wow you have been super busy! Love them all Lou, some fabulous inspiration there for sure. So glad the news at the hospital was good too xxx
Hi, I'm reading a fun fiction book about dieting atm, its called 'Sweet Temptation' by Lucy Diamond and it is a fun story that you may enjoy. The main character is dieting and as a motivator she is buying herself a Pandora bracelet and a charm for every 7lbs lost. I thought that was a good idea - a non fattening reward to motivate weight loss. x
I love these LO's Lou, even more than I normally love your LO's (and not just cos I'm on one lol, quite big too...) You look fab in the first one and you'll look even more fab as the months go one :)
Glad it's not just me that scraps hospital/illness/disorder stuff! It's important to document some of the bad stuff too.
Harry is THE cutest camel I have ever seen E V E R :)
I think that's everything :)
TTFN xxx
Fab pages as always!! Good luck with the weight loss lovely girlie, and so relieved that the news was not what you were fearing for poor Drew xxxx
Gorgeous pages LO. Good luck with your goal and I am so happy for you that the news from the hospital is good.
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