What's up Wednesday

Hi All!
As you may have noticed ... if you look at the dates of my posts, I was gone last week. I ended up traveling with my hubby on business. It was a much needed break and I was able to clear my head a bit. There are a few changes coming to the blog also. New posts will be added on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I'll be able to keep up much better and the hubby will be happier since he'll get actual food cooked for him more regularly!

Today let's talk about scapbooking. I've been a scrapbooking for over 15 years. I've seen all the fads come and go. I've tried my hand at a lot of different styles and techniques over the years too. All-in-all I'd have to say that my personal style is pretty clean and simple. I like a simple elegant look to my pages and want the focus on the photos, not all the extra "stuff" that can be stuck on a page.

When I'm planning pages I first look at my photos. More often than not I plan to tell a story to go with the photos. The story doesn't have to be exactly the who/what/when/where of the photo. Often it's the story behind the photo - why I took it, what it reminds me of, where I was in my life journey when I took the photo - the deeper stuff. I do also note somewhere on the page the who/what/when/where of the photo but it isn't always the main point.


Next I start looking at color. This is my favorite part. I like to pick colors from the photos that work well together and enhance the photo to make it pop off the page. This step is important and should not be over looked. This is a HUGE reason why I love Stampin' Up! products. All the papers go with the inks. Matching colors is so much easier and so much less time consuming.


The next step - placement. I often work from sketches to help with placement. They're nice and easy and make that step move just a bit faster. Most of the time I end up with something that differs from the sketch - but that's ok. I need it to work for my photos not some imagined "scrapbook judge & jury". Stop the negative talk in your head. If you like your page that's all that is important. Don't strive to have your pages look like someone else's - your style and expression are important - make it look like your work. Your style is just as important as anyone else's - that's what is important to your family.


There are ALL kinds of ways to scrapbook and no way is more "correct" than another. This is a very personal hobby. At the risk of repeating myself ... you need to work in a way that is comfortable for YOU!


Digital scrapbooking - there are all kinds of digital layouts. That is a totally different post.

Traditional Scrapbooking - pieces of paper, adhesive and photos. Sizes for traditional scrapbooking vary greatly. I lean toward 12 x 12 pages simply because that works the best for me. It allows me the best space for photos, story telling and some artistic embellishments.

Project Life - Project Life or PL is the brain child of Becky Higgins. You may remember her from Creative Memories magazine and her sketches. She's a busy mom and traditional ways of scrapbooking just weren't working for her any more. So she developed this new way of scapping. It's faster, uniform and really allows for the story to come forth in an easy way. Here's a video by Beck that shows it much better than I could explain. I've found that for me, PL helps keep me focused. I'm better able to tell the story of life at my house now that we're empty-nesters. It also gave me a place for all those bits and pieces that I want to keep but have trouble getting into a Traditional scrapbook page - like
movie tickets and programs from plays or  performances that the grandkids are in. Those bits find a home in PL quickly. I know they are safe as part of our family history not stuffed in a box or lost.

I was able to quickly document some serious rainfall, my son's Going Away party & move, along with  seeing a movie and had a place to keep the ticket. 

 

Here I had a place to keep the invitation to my 50th birthday party and one of my cards. They're not shoved in a box waiting for me to "get around to it someday". It's safe and out to enjoy - along with photos from that event.

 

A trip to Washington DC was documented quickly and easily. I added a photo sleeve page for some extra photos. Not hiding in a box or sitting on my hard drive but out to enjoy.

With this system I have a place for things like my cool ticket to a college football game. It wont' get lost now because it is in the book.

I also do traditional 12 x 12 layouts that go in my family albums. I've posted many of those on my blog for you to use as ideas for your work. I use photo pocket pages for extra photos to go with layouts. Honestly, do you realllllllly think that you're going to have enough time, energy, inspiration or money to scrap every single photo? Use the various products out there to get your photos out of those boxes and into a format that can be enjoyed. Be realistic. Do what you enjoy and move on.   

Stampin' Up! has page projectors for all of your various scapbooking styles. Whether you work digitally and need to put your printed work in a page protector, a traditional scrapper, if you need pocket style pages for extra photos to go with a layout or if you are doing a variation of  Project Life - Stampin' Up! has what you need.

Scrapbooks  

Scrapbooking kits

Page Protectors

Everyone has had experiences that need to be shared with others. Scrapbooking needn't be time consuming or expensive. Everyone has a story to tell. What's your's?