I will be the first to admit that the last little while I’ve been getting bored with how I document the goings on around here. I used the weekly or monthly pocket scrapping documenting from 2011 until 2017 and, not gonna lie, it was a lot. Am I happy that I documented every little thing? Yes. Was it time for something different ? Heck yes.
Times change, things change and it was time to move on. I had picked up a Heidi Swapp Storyline album awhile back at Michaels and ordered extra pages. I was intrigued because it seemed like it was getting back to what documenting/storytelling had been when it was simpler. (you can check out what it’s about HERE on Heidi’s website) I organized my photos using smart albums in my Lightroom catalog to pull together photos per month that used the keyword “pl” which designates images I want to use in my weekly documenting.
After coming off a stretch of really intensive documenting, I have to say I felt super energized and a little bit freed by picking just one story a week to focus on. There were some extra stories and goodies thrown in for good measure but that was pretty much it! So without further ado, I present a little video overview of my completed 2018 album!
I’m extremely happy with the results and it was so. much. easier. to manage one story a week. Also… if anyone has suggestions for working with the arkon iPhone stand I’m all ears. Learning new stuff over here everyday. This project was one of my 20in20 projects from a class I’m taking with Stacy Julian and boy was it nice to tick off a project!
Thanks for taking a look, here’s to getting projects done!
I guess I am crafting my way through the pandemic…that and walking the dog, cooking and puttering around the house is kind of keeping me sane. That and the occasional zoom cocktail hour with girlfriends!
Last week, I finished a project that was not even on my radar to work on-at all ! I am taking Stacy Julian’s 20in20 class (which is a memory keeping class to complete [there is my word again] 20 projects in 2020) and she was hosting FB Live class on completing an album in two evening sessions using her “short story” method of organizing, cropping and embellishing pages. Honestly, I wasn’t even going to join until about 30 minutes before the first session was to start…I was thinking about what I could work on that already had photos printed (you needed around 35-50) and an album, page protectors and white cardstock… plus your patterned paper and a very limited range of embellishments.
Because I had just finished inventorying my unfinished project bins AND my empty albums, I realized that I had photos and memorabilia printed from our 2015 April trip to Islamorada AND I had an album, protectors and paper already cut PLUS a super gorgeous kit from October Afternoon (now sadly out of business) that I had been hoarding saving for a good cause… so I grabbed all my stuff, cleared off the table and dove in.
Over the course of two 2-hour Live casts plus some extra time-because I had more photos to do, I finished the album !! I will say I had my doubts but it worked out and I’m super happy with the results! Here’s my amateur video tour of the album. One huge check off the unfinished list!
What unexpected wins have you had lately? Working on anything to share?? Hang in there everyone, stay home and wash your hands! xo
Hello my fellow stay-at-home people! Are you feeling like me that you should be able to be accomplishing many more things than you actually are? Honestly my projects to work on / Things to do list was quite hefty before there were about 10,000 facebook posts and articles giving us ideas on how to fill our time. I have stopped reading those posts… I have plenty to do as it is, and when you add in constant mask making to donate. I have no lack of ways to spend my time.
This morning I decided to finish up my March OLW … yeah, because we are almost half way through April and I have not started any of that yet LOL. So here is March… the March prompt was to pick one thing to do for 30 days, do it and then write about it at the end of the month. I picked movement and as you can see, I was woefully bad at it even before the world shut down. I am proud of myself that I at least picked only ONE thing and not 47 so I consider that winning.
Here are my pages:
I didn’t feel like making any additional cards with sentiments etc.. so I added in a few photos that basically defined the month (other than the cat on my head filter one which is just odd and needed to be included). Glad to have it done and to not be too far behind! I also continue to be happy about my organization for this project, that continues to work well!
Thanks for taking a look at my project! Have you participated in Ali’s workshops? Have you picked a word for the year? Has your word changed since the world turned up-side down?
Today is March 28, 2019. A lot has happened since I last posted, the world is spinning at an ever increasing rate it feels like. We are nearing the end of the first week of stay-home-so-you-don’t-infect-people here in Massachusettes. The news gets worse by the day. In the back of my mind, there is a corner that is in constant terror for my little sister who is a nurse in a medical icu unit that has just been turned into a covid unit. I have finally this afternoon put a name to the other feeling I have which is dread.
In an effort to not get sucked down that dark dank hole, I am keeping busy this afternoon scanning a clients slides. Having a yummy lunch of homemade knockoff Panera Autumn Squash soup. My daughter just brought me some yummy fruit smoothie she made and hubby is busy alternating working and doing laundry.
While the scanner is scanning (each batch of 30 takes over an hour), I decided to take a break from making masks to finish up a scrapbook layout that has been hanging around since probably 2014…
I had started a layout with this photo back then, didn’t like it, and there it sat in my unfinished layout folder …which we all know is the digital equivalent to that pile on the corner of the desk. I decided one of my projects for this year is to either finish/ re-work the layouts in that folder or delete them. This photo is from 2001 and seriously, don’t they look like they are conspiring against us?! Very happy to have made a start on a project that is useful and creative when we definitely need useful and creative things around us! The template is from this months Simple Scrapper templates and I think the kit is Just Jaimee’s Storyteller
No, I haven’t finished the year (because it’s only February and I could potentially be missing out on all sorts of cool stuff). Off and on for the last 9 years I’ve picked a word to contemplate for the year. Ali Edwards has kind of formalized this idea and even leads a year long workshop . My prior words have been Prosper, Brave, Passion and Forward and for 2020 “Complete”. I think that complete has a good flow from forward last year and I like that it has several meanings. Plus, I got a lot a stuff I want to get done!
This year, as last I am participating in Ali’s workshop and I thought I’d share my first two months of the album here…I have to say this is the first time that I have been this far ahead LOL we’ll see how long that lasts!
January
January is traditionally the set up month where you kind of think about all the different aspects of your word (or, some people use phrases) and make some notes about what you’d like to let in, leave behind and how you’d like things to go. I did purchase Ali’s kit this year in addition to the digital kits that come with the class so I wrote everything out on the included small cards and printed out the larger pages from the digital kit. The little instax photos of me were taken by the girls while we were in Florida in January while they were doing photo shoots around the pool (which I found endearing and hysterical at the same time). I pulled out some black and white washi tape and papers to add in to the pockets. Looking through this again…I think I actually skipped a photo of some of the cards but you get the idea.
February
February’s prompt was to make a collage exploring your word. I have done this in the past, I have two large ones hanging in my studio and honestly no more wall space so I decided to keep the collage to 6×8 to fit in this book and then when I started cutting out images, I decided to simplify even further and just add in a few images of things that make me feel “complete” and a quick photo I snapped of myself (trying to remember to include a photo of myself each month) Yes, I looked thrilled as I was running late to meet a friend for breakfast! I also realized looking at this again that i meant to attach the “February” word art piece at the bottom of my photo. At first I thought I was maybe just phoning it in because I didn’t do a big collage again but I like the simple aspect of the photos…these are by no means all the things that make me feel complete but a representative smattering.
Organizing
Last year, I found that having all of my OLW Album supplies in one place made things much quicker and easier. This bin which I repurposed from the bathroom project, has product from this years kit as well as leftovers from last year and a few things from my stash… I am keeping this tucked into my shelving unit until it’s time to work on the album so it’s out of the way yet accessible. My bin of washi tape and other embellishments are right there if I want to pull something from my stash to add to the book! I’m also really glad this year that the album fits in the bin with the supplies (last years arrangement I had to go hunting for the album which I stored separately) So I’m very happy everything is in one place!
Thanks for taking a look at my project! Have you participated in Ali’s workshops? Have you picked a word for the year?
triggsey 