Wednesday Wonder – Scrapbook Planning

Planning for Fun, planning scrapbook pagesToday is an excellent day to talk about scrapbooking, because I am heading out tomorrow afternoon to go with one of my daughters and some friends to a scrapbook retreat! This will not be quite the pampering event that Kathy and I are accustomed to with another group of friends, because at this location…. we all have to be responsible for a meal! YIKES. Can scrapbooking be fun if we have to cook, too? I’m sure we’ll manage. Thank goodness for things like lasagne that can be made ahead, to take and toss in the oven! Can you guess what I’m taking? wink, wink

My sweet Aussie friend, Melissa Shanhun, from Digital Scrapbooking HQ, has a great guest post about scrapbook planning and scheduling over at the The Daily Digi blog. Even though Melissa teaches digital scrapping, the info she shares in this post is appropriate for any method of scrapbooking.

I have to admit, there have been very few time I have planned a scrapbook.  I mostly create pages from photos that I love, or from prompts I receive at events like the Layout A Day challenge, which begins again, February 1. However, Melissa talks about pages she plans for through the year, and I think that without really thinking about it, many of us create our scrapbook pages like this. We DO have a plan for some pages, in the back of our mind.

It would be silly of me to tell you everything Melissa said in her post about scrapbook planning and scheduling, so run on over and check it out!

You can check out the LOAD215 Challenge here. 

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

Scrapbook Page a Day – Prepping for LOAD215

Creating at least one scrapbook page each day of the month is not as difficult or crazy as it may sound at first. Especially if you are doing it with a group of people! LOAD 215 is just around the corner and that is exactly what we will be doing, creating a LayOut A Day. Each day we receive a prompt to interpret any way we choose, or we can just create a page of whatever we like. The goal is to get at least one scrapbook layout done each day.

LOAD215 Blog Hop

 

How in the world can you be prepared to create scrapbook pages for ideas yet to come? That’s a great question and here are some things I wish I had known before my first LOAD event.

  • Whether you are a paper scrapper or digital scrapper, I think one of the most important things is to take a look at what you have for photos and supplies. Even though I think I am a faster paper scrapper, I usually create digital pages during LOAD. I guess I like the flexibility it affords me, because of the number of kits I have available.
    • Browse through your kits and supplies for a brief review of what you already own! There is no need to spend more money if you already have a stash! You will find that by just reviewing your supplies, you’ll retain that info and be able to more quickly pull together a page.
    • Look at your photos. The same holds true about browsing your photos, and being able to think of a photo that may fit a prompt. When you’ve recently looked at your photos, you’ll think of something that will fit a prompt.
  • If you are paper scrapping, make sure you have plenty of adhesive and sharp blades for your paper trimmer!
  • Listen to the prompt as early as possible each day. That way, it may give you some extra time to process an idea before you actually sit down to create your page.
  • Join the Flickr group and share your pages! It is so much fun to see individual pages, and learn more about our online friends!
  • Don’t compare your work to other people’s. It’s not a contest. If all you did was put the photos on notebook paper and wrote something about the photo, or the story behind it, it would be a perfect page. In the end, it’s all about the photos and the words!
  • If you fall behind, don’t beat yourself up. Life happens! Just pick up and move forward. No matter how many pages you complete during LOAD, it will probably be more than if you had not participated. So be proud of yourself!

If I decide to do some paper scrapbooking during this LOAD, I am excited to already have some of my Close To My Heart Workshop On the Go kits on-hand. They not only include a paper pack, but even have layout instructions for two double layouts, along with embellishments and a special stamp set. How easy can it get?

If you are participating in LOAD 215, I wish you many completed pages!

Here are more helpful hints I’ve talked about before other previous LOAD events: LOAD212  LOAD 213

Be sure and check out what some of my other LOAD friends have to say about getting ready for LOAD.

Karen Fitting from Photos Kept Alive
Nicole Gray from Nicole’s Scrapbook
Alice Boll from Scrapbook Wonderland
Lisa Hausmann from  Recklinghausen Musings
Wendy Aebi from  Life in the Button Factory
Connie Hanks from Clicky Chick Creates

Kristie Sloan from Artful Adventures {You are Here}
Kelli Panique from Use It Scrapbooking
Lain Ehmann from Layout A Day
Christy Strickler from My Scrapbook Evolution
Lynnette Nagle from The Sassy Scrapper
Danielle Leonetti from Scrapper on the Street
Danielle Hunter from Ecoscrapbook
Leslie Smith from Out of the Mire

Heather Dubarry from No Excuse Scrapbooking
Melissa Kay from A Day in the Life Of
Valerie Smith from From Valerie’s Heart
Marcia Fortunato from Musings and Memories

Cheers to YOUR creativity!

KS


Disclosure: Links to products or events may be affiliate links. I only share items or events I use or love myself. If you choose to make a purchase, I receive a small commission for sharing with you.

Celebrate Winter – Card and Scrapbook Layout

Winter can seem like a LONG time when you live somewhere cold and snowy.

L in snow

Fun in the snow

Every year seems to take on a personality of its own, and you never know what it will be like. You may have a year with a lot of snow, or maybe not much. There are places in the USA that have had more than their share of snow this winter. Ours hasn’t been too bad, so far. We haven’t had a lot of snow, and it hasn’t been nearly as cold as it was last year, so far. No matter what it’s like, there will still be many days to figure out something to do, and if there’s enough snow, it is so fun to watch kids go sledding! I was reminded of this as I was going through some photos. Once again, I realized there was a story that needed to be told and saved!

When I first started scrapbooking, I wanted to get as many photos on a page as possible! I couldn’t image why anybody would use up a whole page and only put one single photo on it. I guess I felt like it was wasting all that precious scrapbook page real estate! Now days, I often have a story that only has one photo to go with it. Sometimes there is a lot to the story, and other times it is just one sentence or paragraph. In the end, it’s all about the photos stories!

I have really enjoyed the Close to My Heart Snowhaven papers and embellishments, and thought it would be fun to create a winter layout using that set.

When I decided to print out my photo, it just wasn’t coming out right! I finally gave up and decided to use the Snowhaven kit in the Studio J online digital scrapbooking website. All the papers and Complements pieces were right there online, and I was able to still use them all together. In the end, I was able to create my page, and ended up having my physical products to use for something else. I’m not sure what I’ll do with them!

Here is the page:

Snowhaven kit in Studio J used for winter scrapbook layout.

CTMH Snowhaven papers and embellishments are available in both physical or digital!

Why can I not catch the typos until I am already posting my layout here for the world to see? I really do know how to spell “friends.”

I hope you will take time to celebrate each season of your life, and those who are close to you! Capture even the little stories that will be fun to look back on and remember.

I promised a card in this post. The SnowHaven card kit was so fun to use to make some Christmas cards. All the materials were gathered and directions put together so I didn’t even have to plan them out!

There were left overs from the kit, and I thought they would be fun to use in part, for a card.

A few scraps can be pulled together for a quick card.

A few scraps can be pulled together for a quick card.

  • White card stock was the base of the card, and snowflakes from the SnowHaven card kit stamp set were stamped in Glacier.
  • A little strip of red and white design from one of the kit papers made a great accent.
  • Silver Shimmer Trim and the red heart were left over from the kit as well.
  • I stamped the “Have a day filled with…” and “Fun” from one of the stamp sets that accompanies the Cricut Art Philosophy bundle.
  • I used a shimmer mist on the card, and got too close.
  • Then I added some bling by attaching some little sparkles to the center of some of the snowflakes.

I think it still needs something, but I’m not sure what. Moving on…. What do you think you would do it at this point? Comments are welcome!

make it monday-pink logoIf you are following the Make It Monday blog circle, you arrived here from Jen’s site, where she is sharing a template for another one of her 52 week pocket pages.

Next, stop by and see how to Celebrate 2014! Create a layout with your top photos from last year. Alice shows you how!

 

Feel free to shop my Close to My Heart online store!

Cheers to YOUR Artful Adventures!

KS

 

Why Use Food Photos?

Have you used food photos in capturing your memories when creating a journal or scrapbook page? I’ll admit that I have not done it very often. Yet, I have found that it really does bring up memories — good or bad! I have an opportunity for you to learn more about using food photos, so be sure and read to the end!

Many of you have heard me talk about Layout A Day, the online event where everyone’s goal is to create a memory page each day for a month. There is a theme to the month, and prompts for each day, which makes it interesting. It really helps you think of stories that had escaped your memory, and it’s fun to capture those memories once more! At least a couple of times, I used food as part of those stories. Here is a story about angel food cake, and how it reminds me of my grandmother. In later years, I found out that she made it all the time not because they loved it, but because my grandpa had a sensitive stomach and it was one of the things he could eat. I still think of them when I smell it! (Sorry about the photo quality!)

A memory of angel food cake at Grandma's!

A memory of angel food cake at Grandma’s!

 

Various Jello dishes and memories of them.

The many faces of Jello!

 

My friend Dani Leonetti, AKA Scrapper On The Street, is an avid photographer who really urges people to capture their everyday life in photos. She prompts us to take photos of things we may normally overlook. I wish she had been around a long time ago, because there have been several things lately that I just can’t remember the way they were, and a simple photo in the room at that time, could tell the tale! Dani has had several online classes and she has a new one starting next week.

Dani is passionate about food! Not just the food, but the meaning we attach to it — the events, the relationships, the traditions, etc. What better time to think of that than holidays and the foods we share; and feel like we can’t have the holidays without them! Listen to her in this video:

Dani’s new Insta-Food, Christmas Edition is starting December 18, and runs until January 1st! I am giving one of the prizes during the event! It will be a free spot in my Art Journaling Basics class, with a twist on how to give photos an artful twist!

Go over to Dani’s Scrapper On the Street site and read more about the Insta-Food, Christmas Edition class, and get signed up!    Hurry and register before you forget!  Use Coupon Code: SCRAPFANS to save $10  Dani is giving away 1 Free Seat to my readers, so use the rafflecopter entry below. If you win the free seat, and have already registered, the money will be refunded. Plus, you can enter once each day before the giveaway closes!

a Rafflecopter giveaway