Weekly Gratitude – My Format

When I was trying to figure out what format might be the best for me to use for my gratitude journey, I decided to focus on what I value the most: photos and words.

I take pictures everyday. Mostly of my children, but also of other things that are in my life. This is something I’ve been doing every day for the last two years and I plan to continue doing it in 2010. I also write on my blog every day. I decided that in 2010, each of my daily entries will list three things that I am thankful for on that day. This is something I did for a while in 2008 and I really loved it, so I think it’s good to bring it back. This way, I will have tons of ideas to choose from when it comes to doing my weekly art.

Since I am on the computer most of my day, I decided to do my project fully digitally. I made simple photoshop templates that accommodate photos of either orientation and different amounts of text. Each week, I will simply change the date, add a photo, and write my few words. This way, I am not spending so much time worrying about what paper to pick, what embellishments to add, etc. I am just focusing on the core element of practicing gratitude. I have found that sometimes worrying about the “artistic” side can get in the way of things and I don’t want anything to stop me from doing this project and I don’t want anything to take away from the essence of the project.

With all that in mind, here is what I made:

For a landscape photo:

And for portrait photo (I made two options here). One with smaller photo, more text.

And another with bigger photo, less text.

All of these are 4×6 so at the end of the year (or at periodic times throughout the year) I will print them all out and put them in a photo album or box of my choice. This way, I get to have them in paper form as well. And I can embellish the cover or box as I please.

If you’d like to use the same format, you are welcome to download my templates.

The only caveat is that I am using two fonts that aren’t free. For the date, I used “Big Caslon” and for the title and text, I used “Avenir” (in different weights.) Since neither of those are free, I changed the fonts in the templates so the dates are in “Old Rubber Stamp” (free download here) and the title and text are in Verdana. If you’re a digi person, each of the frames are their own layer so you can also change their color as you wish.

If you have questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will do my best to help. And, remember, the goal here is to practice weekly gratitude so when you’re thinking about your own format, make sure to keep it simple and doable.

15 comments to Weekly Gratitude – My Format

  • Thank you, Karen! I think it’s a good idea keep this project simple! I’ve just posted at Weekly Gratitude blog that I intend to do a 4×6 album, with double pages each week. I think about doing scrapbook pages, but maybe I can use some of them digitally too.

  • Monika Wright

    Hi there! I found your blog and downloaded several of your brushes. I have used these on many of my December Daily pages. I notice that you are on the flickr group, too. I wanted you to know that someone commented on the brush I used and I left her a link to your downloads. I hope that is okay. I gave you credit, but forgot to link it at the time. You can view my photostream here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/living_wright/sets/72157622602166037/
    I hope this works for you. I am new to all things digital.
    Many thanks for sharing all your goodies. I’ve really enjoyed them and your blog!

  • Christina

    thankyou thankyou thankyou. You are so generous. I read your blog almost daily and love it. I love the new look also. Have a great Christmas with all your family.
    Christina

  • Lisa

    Karen you are awesome and generous – thankyou thankyou thankyou. I particularly love the second template. Getting excited. Bye
    Lisa

  • Karen

    Thanks! As part of Reclaiming My Time, I am thinking about having a “regular schedule” on my blog as well. I started a wonderful Gratitude Journal several years ago, but it was one of those projects that I dropped. I still love it, and maybe this is the incentive to get back to it. I love the class, your blog, and your digital templates. Thanks for your generosity.

  • Kim

    I’m thinking about using a deck of cards – 52 cards, 52 weeks. I have loved doing Emily Falconbridge’s tags so much that I wanted to continue in a small format.

  • Stefanie

    These are stunning.
    Thanks so much for the great idea and the tools to implement them as well.

  • thank you for these – i have downloaded them, but am not sure if they work with pse 7. i’m reaolly new to didi, but have been enjoying your blog for months now. thanks again, and happy holidays!

  • Christina

    It’s me again. Can I ask a question about the fonts. I have avenir so I was wondering if you could tell me which one it is please that you used for the weekly gratitude on the side. I hope I can work out how to change the font. I think I understood correctly. The one on the download is a different font as Avenir is not a free download so you used the other font. (hope this makes sense).
    thanks again.

    • karenika

      Christina, there are 4 fonts on the templates.

      1. For the journaling text: Avenir 45 Book (in 6pt)
      2. For the journaling title: Avenir 85 Heavy in Small Caps (in 9pt)
      3. For the number on the photo: Big Caslon in 11pt
      4. For the “weekly gratitude” text (which is rasterized in the templates since that never changes): Sansumi (pt changes depending on template) you can download sansumi for free.

      does this make sense?

      If you want to change the font I used for the “weekly gratitude” text, just hide that layer (it’s called “side text”) and create one of your own.

      Let me know if I missed something and/or if you have any other questions 🙂

  • Dana

    I came across your link on the Write.Click.Scrapbook blog today and I love this idea. I’m going to give it a try in 2011!

  • MichelleGB

    Thank you for sharing these templates! I love this format and I think it’s a great idea to document my gratitude and get to practice in PSE. I’m off to download them and get started!

  • […] There is one thing I will be committing to each week of the year though, and that would be the Weekly Gratitude project. […]

  • […] to make my own–using SEI’s Sunny Days Collection, digital templates that I adapted from Karen Grunberg’s Weekly Gratitude Project and a handful of everyday items including jute and a piece of […]

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