Project Life

Our Weekend in Black and White in Project Life

August 21, 2017 by Lindsay Teague Moreno Leave a Comment

I realize that I never shared my 2016 Project Life page for my Weekend in Black and White project I do throughout the year.

I love capturing the girls in their natural environment. Just being who they are at this moment — doing normal things. On this day we played dolls, we went for pedicures, we played in the basement, we hit up church and sang in the car. Completely us on a Saturday.

Here is a close-up look at both sides. I like to mix bright quotes and elements with a little bit of story and really contrast-y black and white images. As always, i build my pages with Project Life kits and Ali Edwards elements.

Right side:

Left Side:

Don’t freak out about being behind on getting your photos into your albums. I am behind too. Just start where you are and work backwards.

Quick and Dirty Black and White.

August 4, 2016 by Lindsay Teague Moreno Leave a Comment

I said I’d share my black and white conversion tips for you guys and I’m making good on that. I’m going to show you a very quick and dirty way to get your photos out of the color mode and into a simple black and white that looks decent.

Mind you, this isn’t going to be my favorite black and white but I know it will look better than simply hitting that greyscale button.

For this conversion you won’t need any actions and you wont need any special features. Just photoshop.

Here’s what we’re going to be doing.

And here’s how to do it:

Quick & Easy Black/White Photo Conversion from Lindsay Teague Moreno.

Seriously, it’s that easy. Levels are the key to fast and poppin’ conversions.

Can’t wait to see what you do. Tag me on IG when you post them!

I See You, Woman!

October 19, 2015 by Lindsay Teague Moreno 21 Comments

Yesterday was one of those days. The one where you just want to throw in the towel. The day all of the work and intentions and negativity shows up at the door and demands to be paid in their currency known as attention. On days like that, you can’t escape the sadness and the curiosity gets the best of you.

Why am I doing this?

Why am I working so hard for this?

Why am I spinning my wheels?

Then you find yourself saying the one sentence you have been avoiding: THIS DOESN’T MAKE ME HAPPY. I’m not alone. I see women on the life treadmill everyday and while my treadmill is work, I see it in stay-at-home mom’s all the time because that was me.

I see you. Never sitting down. Jumping in the car for this or that. Running out to help the kids. Running around to organize for the next day. Constantly putting something away. Saying “yes.” Finishing this. Starting that. Thinking. Constantly thinking. What’s next? How late are we? I forgot this. I have to be here and there at the same time. What’s for dinner? How will I still be awake at the end of the night for that?

I. See. You.

You’ve put aside the little things you love for the household, the family, the clean house, the charade that your family has it all together. Let’s be honest, ain’t nobody got it all together. That’s true no matter how many perfect Instagram photos of perfectly packed lunches (in shapes and with all food groups accounted for) or freshly-bathed children sleeping soundly at 7:30pm or spotless kitchens in the background you scroll through every day. Those are lies. Yea, I said it. If that’s you and you want to email me with pictures to prove it, I’ll save you the time–you’re better than me, I get it. For the rest of us that don’t live in Stepford, it’s time to own the mess. I sure will celebrate with a picture when sleeping kids at 7:30 happens to me but it’s still strangely absent from my feed…hmmm.

Let’s get back to you. I need to get back to me.

The things I let go of? Photography, scrapbooking and reading something besides business books. I’m no longer a professional in photography or scrapbooking (that was a past life) but that doesn’t mean I don’t still love it passionately. I miss it. My real life and my profession as a leader have overtaken my time dedicated to these two things because I haven’t made me a priority.

Recently, I picked up my big girl camera for a couple of occasions and it felt so good…like riding a bike. I’ll post more pictures of both of the things I photographed in other posts but I want to make a couple of recommendations to you based on what I remember as I sat down in my familiar seat at the computer to start on my favorite part of the photo process: editing. Loud music, pen in my hand, hot drink sitting on my desk. It’s so zen. It’s so…me.

Here’s what I think:

#1. If you don’t make time for the things you love, they sure won’t make time for you. Your kids will eat it up. The person in your life will eat it up. Your friends. Your co-workers. Your job. Your obligations. Your everything will eat up your time unless you don’t let it. It’s up to you to carve out the time without the guilt that surrounds that kind of activity. I know you have kids, responsibilities, jobs, commitments, things to do for others, a kitchen to scrub down. I know. Me, too. Spoiler alert: those things will all be there in an hour or two. As women, I don’t think we make enough time to do the things we love and I want to change that. We need to take back the us we were before we said too much yes. It’s our fault, guys. We did this to ourselves and we have the power to get ourselves out.

#2. I recently saw Jessica N. Turner speak about her book The Fringe Hours at a business event I put on in Scottsdale, Arizona. Why would I bring someone to talk about not working at a work event? Because it’s integral to sustained, high-quality work. Jessica talks to women about making time for the things we love. Something that we let go of so easily and yet can make such a big difference in our happiness. We have to do it. Read this book. It should be on every woman’s must-read list.

So, let’s do this, yea? Read the book. Pick up what you miss the most. Find something for you.

The Deets on Project Life In One Place

March 20, 2015 by Lindsay Teague Moreno 7 Comments

I get asked a lot about what Project Life is, how I do it digitally, what programs I use, how I bind the books, etc. So I’m going to answer all of those questions here because this process is really important to me and what I want my girls to value as they grow up and have families of their own.

I was passionate about this project since the day I started and being on the creative team gave me the ability to infect others with the same passion. I thought I’d post a little intro and a recap of what I’m doing with Project Life in case you’re new to the LTM Blog!

What is Project Life?

Here’s a 1-minute easy as pie explanation:

Why do I think you should do it?

Because your story is your legacy and it’s important. Someday, your kids and your family is going to want to know this stuff about you and themselves. I promise. Kids have a way of wondering how you did it when they start families of their own. This is the way to show them. One thing I would love more than anything is to ask my mom, “what did you do when we were this age?” or “how did you handle this situation?” or “how much did you drink every night?” If she had done scrapbooking for us, I would have known even though she’s not around anymore for me to ask her. Someday my kids are going to want to know what our everyday looked like as an adult. They will. This will show them.

How am I doing it?

I am doing my pages digitally. It saves me the counter space (which is limited with 3 little ones) and the hassle of cleaning up. I just put everything together on my computer and then I print the book out at the end of the year. Also, the majority of project life users do the project weekly (2 pages to recap your week, every week). I, however, am taking a different approach this year. I’m just putting our major events into the book. There’s too much stuff going on in my life to have the pressure of keeping up and we just don’t do all that much stuff yet because my girls are so little. I’ll probably start the weekly layout format next year. You can read more about what I’m doing and the pages I’ve completed by CLICKING HERE.

What are the options for you?

There are two options for you if you want to give Project Life a try:
Traditional Paper Version
Digital Version

I LOVE traditional paper scrapbooking but I don’t like having the stuff all around my house. Digital is the right option for me but there is a learning curve to doing it since I am using photoshop. Without some desire to learn clipping masks and photoshop, it may be best for you to just go paper kits and keep it in a little caddy that you can move around to keep out of the way. If I was able to have the space and time for traditional, I would absolutely have those cards in my house.

With the traditional version you only need 4 things (there are FAR more than 4 things you can purchase, of course but you only require 4):

1. Core Kit

Core Kits are loaded with enough beautifully-designed cards to fill an entire album.

2. Album

The Project Life snazzy Albums, designed to coordinate with our Core Kits, will safely house your Pocket Pages filled with your photos and journaling.

3. Pocket Pages

Pick up a pack of Photo Pocket Pages to slip in your treasured photos and the cards from your Core Kit.

4. Journaling Pens

My favorite pens in the world are the Zig Millennium Pens. They come in a pack with 5 sizes. Amazeballs.

With the digital version you need 4 things (there are FAR more than 4 things you can purchase, of course but you only require 4):

1. Computer

I use my Mac Pro and my laptop for Project Life. Either will work as long as you have enough space to run photoshop and save your work.

2. Photoshop

I use Photoshop Creative Cloud for mine but I know a lot of people that use Photoshop Elements and it works great for them (plus it’s less expensive and a bit easier).

3. Digital Kits

Someone I know has a real problem with buying digital items for her Project Life album. I won’t say who, but she can’t stop. They’re so pretty!

4. Printer to bind your book or Album with 12×12 Page Protectors

You can choose to bind your book and have it printed with a photo printer like i did at MPIX or you can have the pages printed individually and you can simply stick them into some 12×12 page protectors and a binder. Your call. I like the digital books because I can make copies of the book for the girls to take when they leave home.

Here’s a recent page I finished to give you an example of what your pages can look like:

This was a super simple and fast layout. Used our pictures that Melissa Koehler took of our family and threw a couple of cards and brushes over them. Boom! Done.

I hope you’ll consider giving Project Life a try this year. There’s not commitment, there are no requirements. I know your people sure would love you for it one day.

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Remembring Every Moment

March 19, 2015 by Lindsay Teague Moreno 1 Comment

I was telling Michael last night how much more of our life I remember when I put it in a Project Life page. I remember the little details because I took the picture, I wrote it down, I used creativity to put it together and I look at it again. It is sealed into my memory. Little things that I would likely have forgotten.

For example I would have remembered going to AZ last summer, but probably not that it was 118 degrees out one day when we took the girls to the little waterpark. I would have remembered going to see James Taylor, but probably not that we were the youngest people there by at least 20 years. You’ve gotta save the memories.

My kids are going to love this one day! I’d give just about anything to have something like this from my mom as we were growing up.

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All new Project Life addition

March 2, 2015 by Lindsay Teague Moreno 2 Comments

I am so in love with Project Life, you guys. Over the past two years, it’s been one of those things I love but just don’t make the time to do. This year, I’m making more time for it. Wanted to share a page I did not too long ago.

Last year, Michael and I had a little vacation in California after our first large event we put on. It was a really nice break after a lot of work. We went to one of our favorite places, The Hotel Del on Coronado Island and visited some of my favorite people (my cousin Adam and his wife, Stacy and their kids, Jackson & Savannah). Have you guys been to this hotel? IT. IS. AMAZING. Tons of really cool original pieces in this historic hotel. The view isn’t half bad either!

If you guys haven’t gone to this hotel, you gotta put it on the bucket list! It is so amazing. Totally throw back. We had a great time. We even did S’mores right on the beach at night.

Hope you guys are having a great Monday!

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