Kerri Bradford Studio: Week After Week

Hey everyone! I've got a new layout up at Kerri Bradford Studio today. I've accumulated so many photos of my daycare kiddos lately, all taken with my phone, and thought it was about time to do another layout about what a typical work week for me looks like. Quite honestly, a typical work week for me looks almost exactly like any other work week I've had over the last fourteen years of doing daycare. Just different faces, as kids come and go.

I picked out a few photos that show a bit of the crazy moments of my days (kids making huge messes, huge amounts of kids, and lunchtime), and a few photos that show a bit of the calm moments of my days (sitting on the floor with little ones in my lap, and rocking babies to sleep), and combined them into one of Kerri's collage templates from her Half Pints #1 kit.

The colors in my photos were definitely all over the place, but I ended up picking my patterned papers pretty quickly. I find that when I don't have any particular papers in mind, I will often turn to my collection of Dear Lizzy and Amy Tangerine first to see what I can find. And that's exactly what I did for this page, as I ended up with a mix of patterned papers from the two of them. I thought the days of the week patterned paper would tie in nicely with the "week" theme I had going, and added a strip of it across the top and bottom of the page. 

I was going to link up another layout I created about the daycare kids last year, and when I went to find it, I realized I had created it for my January layout for Kerri also. Must be a January thing, that I like to scrap the daycare kiddos. It's THIS LAYOUT, and I thought it was a fun coincidence that I talked about the colors being all over in my photos, and that I also turned to my Dear Lizzy patterned papers for that layout. 

For my title, I loved the chunkier "week" found in the Life Additions: Weeklies kit, and cut it twice from my aqua patterned paper. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I love a title combining a chunkier font with a cursive font. The "after" was actually taken from "afternoon", found in Kerri's Today kit, and was perfect for adding in between my two "weeks". I also cut each of the three words from black cardstock, which I layered behind my patterned paper words, slightly offsetting the two for a little dimension.

I left plenty of room to add my journaling, as I had a lot to say on this layout. I could have gone on and on about what makes up a normal work week for me, but I think I touched on the most important ones. I love doing layouts like this from time to time, as so much of the facts remain the same, and yet there's always bound to be a few new tidbits that stand out more at different times. Some years I've had less kids, some years I've had more kids. Some years, I've had lots of babies, and some years I've had way more toddlers. 

This past year with the daycare has been the busiest year I've had in a long time. Anyone that follows me on Instagram already gets peeks into the craziness that makes up my days! Right now, I've got a 8 month old boy, 2.5 year old girl, 3.5 year old boy, 3.5 year old girl, and a 4 year old boy. I have another 2 year old girl that's been home with mom on her maternity leave, and will be back soon, along with her 3 month old baby brother. Like I said, it's pure crazy up in here. I love them all to death, but they seriously suck the life out of me daily. Every night, I wonder why I'm so tired - and then I think about my day, and say "oh yeah, that's why". 

Comments

[Sheila E]

I'm forever grateful for the special lady that took care of my girls when they were small & I needed to work. I knew they were safe & well taken care of & this was a comfort when I had to concentrate on my duties as a social worker. Like MLK, jr. said: "No work is insignificant, all labor that uplifts humanity has dignity & importance & should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." You are doing just that, Thank you.

[John Vonhof]

The life of a day care mom is long and tiring. We are proud of you for being good at it and how you have scrapbooked their lives over the years. Love this page. There's more to it then meets the eye.

[Tracey]

6 toddlers - you are amazing!! Loving this page! An awesome way to document your everyday.

[Ruth Gauss]

Thanks for sharing your amazing job and your fabulous layout! I'm in awe that you get any scrapping done at all with how much work it is to care for all these little ones!

Thanks always for the inspiration and the openness you share! I appreciate it so much!