Write. Click. Scrapbook.

They Say a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words...

...but I don't actually buy it. Oh I know it's true sometimes, but it sounds like pictures don't need words to go with them, when in fact, they do. For instance, my sister just told me that she has so many thousands of pictures of her twin sons’ sports games that she doesn’t know what to do with them. And personally, I have what I consider to be terribly photogenic children, and a camera I like to play with, which means I end up with loads of very beautiful close-ups that take my breath away. I could look at them for ages, but it might get a little boring for anyone else to flip through page after page of me noting just how beautiful my kids are. If you're like me (or my sister) you probably take enough pictures that they can get a little repetitive unless they have a story to go with them.

Which leads me to the point we’re all waiting for: my number one tip for getting more of the stories you want to tell into your scrapbooks.

(Just in case you have absolutely no interest in my number one journaling tip, scroll on down to Part B: Digital Q&A).

And for those of you who are interested in my number one journaling tip, here it is:

Your photo and your journaling do not have to match. They don’t even have to coordinate. They don't have to be from the same day. They don’t need to have the same subject matter, although having the same subject is probably a good idea.

This may sound like a no-brainer, but here's an example: I had all these fun pictures of my kids out front playing with chalk and 3-D glasses that my mom gave them. But I don’t like to start a page until I have some idea what I’m going to say on it, so I started thinking about journaling. I could say:

The kids had such a great time yesterday drawing with chalk and checking out their creations through the 3-D glasses my mom got them last time she visited. We had lots of fun.

And that would be fine. But I have lots of pictures of my kids having fun doing different activities, and I don't want the journaling on every page to boil down to the same thing: here are the kids doing such and such and having fun. Again. So rather than make a page that says the same old thing, I kept the pictures in my “to print” folder in iPhoto and didn’t do anything with them for a few months. (Keeping them in a “to print” folder reminds me I want to use them on a layout at some point in the future.)

So fast forward to a few weeks ago—my husband makes the comment that our son, Jackson, has a theory on everything. I think, that’s so true! and then I realize I have notes in my notebook (see yesterday's post) that go right along with that idea (Jack and strawberry milk, Jack and centipede). So I sit down and make this layout:

I used photos I loved AND recorded a bit of my son’s personality, even though the pictures and the journaling have absolutely nothing to do with each other except that they happen to be about Jack at this time of life. Does it matter that they don’t match? No! Could I have used a close-up from a photo shoot? Yup. Could I have used a sports picture? Sure. People are interested in stories. When your kids are grown up, they will be interested in their own stories, and their kids will be interested in those same stories. As long as the story and picture don’t conflict (you might not want to use pictures of your son throwing a tantrum paired with the story about how well he gets along with his sister), no one is going to care that the story isn’t about what’s happening in the picture. They’ll be thrilled that each page in your album is filled with a new story that captures life from the time you made that layout.

Now what about all the pictures I had of the other kids playing with chalk that day? They’ll stay in iPhoto, where I can review them whenever I want. Some people like to print these “extra” photos and keep them in standard photo albums, but I’m happy having them on my computer (and backed up in two places). I don’t ever feel like I have to make scrapbook pages with all the pictures I take. That would be a pretty scary proposition.

Anyway, if you start mixing photos and stories that don’t really go together, you will be able to make your scrapbooks BOTH photo AND story based, and you will record the real stuff of your life. Here's one more example:

I didn't take a picture of my older boys wrapping up the baby and crowning him the prince, but I didn't want to leave the story out of my scrapbooks just because I didn't have a picture. So I used a picture of each boy holding Baby James to illustrate the story. The pictures weren't taken on the same day, don't really match each other (that's why they are B&W), and frankly aren't that great. But I love the layout.

More journaling ideas tomorrow (along with the fact that even I don't actually tell a story on every single layout, so please don't start feeling bad about your journaling or lack thereof).

Part B: Digital Q&A

What computer programs do I need? How can I see if I enjoy digiscrapping before investing in an expensive program?

I use Photoshop Elements 7. I purchased the Mac version for $80 from Amazon, but I have seen the PC version for as little as $50 if you catch a deal at Costco. Elements can do just about anything I could wish in digital scrapbooking, and all the digital elements you would buy will work just fine on it, as long as your version isn’t ancient. Please do not feel like you need to purchase the much more expensive CS version of Photoshop to learn to digiscrap. You can do cool stuff like this with Elements:

Adobe usually runs a free 30 day trial of Elements through their website here. If you download this at a time when you know you’ll have a chance to play around with it (i.e. not right before Christmas or during baseball season or whenever is your busiest time of year), then you should have sufficient time to decide if this is worth your investment or not. Or better yet, download the free trial before you start an online class. That way you'll be sure to spend enough time with it to decide if it's worth the investment.

I think I’ll miss the feel of real paper, or won’t get the same satisfaction. Plus I’ve invested so much in scrapbook supplies, I don’t want to start over.

I have found digiscrapping just as rewarding as paper scrapping—even more so in some ways (like the fact that my desk stays clean, and I can work on layouts immediately instead of waiting until I’ve printed my pictures). I’ve been surprised by how much fun it is. But when I get the itch to use things I can touch, I just make a paper page. There’s no rule that says you have to stick to one method or the other. Another option is making hybrid pages, which are layouts that use digital elements on a paper page or vice versa. On this layout (seen in Simple Scrapbooks Photo Play), I used Photoshop Elements to extend the background of my pictures out to the right, then add text. Then I printed the photo block and used it to make a paper layout.

However, for some people the satisfaction may just not be there with digital scrapping. Some people might never want to make the switch, and that’s ok. I’ll be the first to tell you how cool and convenient it is, but I also want to tell you that if you are happy with paper scrapbooking, you don’t need to feel like you should learn digital just because it’s the “new thing” or the “in” thing. If you’re more comfortable with your paper than you are with your computer, that’s fine! If you spend too much time at your computer already and scrapbooking is an alternative to that, that’s great! If you’re happy with the way things are going or not up to making the effort right now to learn something new, then keep going with what works for you. Guilt has no part in this hobby.

So now we come to the money issue, and in some ways that’s a tough one. We might feel like we have to keep making paper layouts for years just to get some value out the money we’ve spent on supplies. However, while too much money spent in the past is a good reason to curtail spending in the future, it’s not a good reason (in my opinion) NOT to learn something new. The money I’ve spent on paper supplies isn’t a waste now that I can make digital pages as well as paper ones; in fact, I’ve spent much less on supplies in the past few months because I’m not going through my stash as quickly. And if I ever decide to switch to digital completely, there are lots of organizations that could make good use of my leftover paper supplies.

Come back tomorrow for more digital discussions and to learn the identity of our Thursday guest blogger (who's bringing a giveaway with her!). And keep your comments and questions coming. Patricia asked yesterday about printing digital layouts - I'll cover that tomorrow. Christina asked whether digital scrapbooking saves time as compared to paper scrapbooking - I'll talk about that on Friday. I hope you plan to join me!

 

Split Personality

Hi, it's Autumn here, and I don't actually have a split personality--it's just going to feel like I do this week. That's because I'd planned to spend my week talking about my approach to journaling, but then I got another great idea: a few weeks ago we asked you what scares you most about digital scrapbooking, and seven hundred and seventy two of your responded. We read all your comments and compiled a list of the main concerns. Since I started digiscrapping less than a year ago, I've dealt with many of those fears and concerns in the past few months, so I figured I could address some of these issues from a fellow beginner's viewpoint. And we'll have a special guest here on Thursday who can address things from an expert's viewpoint (a very well-known digital scrapping expert's viewpoint, that is).

But I didn't want to abandon my earlier ideas, so you get a split personality for the week, or at least split blog posts. We'll start each day with journaling thoughts and ideas, and then move on to digital questions and answers. So read Part A, or scroll on down to Part B, or put your feet up and read it all. I'm just glad somebody's here reading any of this :)

Part A: Journaling

I have loved reading and writing as long as I can remember. I just love stories. I think everybody does. It’s what we do when we get together with people we love—we tell the stories of our life. What the kids did yesterday while we were on the phone, that hilarious thing that happened to our sister involving cool whip, the story about the guy we never, ever should have dated but did anyway, etc. So stories have become the focus of my scrapbook pages.

But when I started scrapping, this wasn’t the case. I would take pictures, print out the ones I liked, and make pages with them. Somewhere along the way I realized I was only telling the stories I happened to have captures on film, and that the rest were most likely going to be forgotten in the years to come. I decided I wasn’t going to leave the content of my pages to chance any longer.

So now I keep a little notebook on my desk in the family room, and every few weeks I take a few minutes to jot down notes. I don’t actually write out any journaling, I just make notes, like kids&the royal baby, that will remind me of the story I want to write down. Then when I scrapbook, I refer back to my notebook for ideas of what sorts of pages to work on. This helps out when I have pictures I like but not much to say about them. It also helps remind me to take certain pictures I might not have thought about taking otherwise.

Sometimes I still make pages that are driven by the pictures I happen to have:

Sometimes I make pages that are driven by the story I want to tell, which might mean I remind myself to take a picture that will go along with it:

And sometimes pages are a combination of a picture I love and thoughts or stories I want to remember.

I'm not trying to tell you that all your pages have to have huge chunks of journaling. I just think our scrapbooks will do a better job capturing the essence of our life if we consider the stories we want to preserve as well as the photos. Check back tomorrow for more on journaling, including my number one tip for actually getting more of those stories into your scrapbooks.

Part B: Digital Q&A

Remember, these questions came straight from your comments!

Where do I even start? There’s so much to learn.

I played around with Photoshop Elements for a few months (with the help of a Dummies book) and figured out some basics. I was even able to complete this layout:

But I didn’t know enough to feel very comfortable trying to design a page, and trying was really more frustrating than enjoyable. So I decided to take an online class, and after reading great reviews on 2peasinabucket.com of Jessica’s Sprague’s digital classes, I signed up for Now We’re Rockin’ with Photoshop, the second out of three digital classes Jessica offers through her website. I just loved it. The classes are easy to follow, chock full of information AND you end up with four beautiful layouts and all the digital supplies you need to complete them (plus a lot of freebies). I really couldn’t believe how much I learned. After Now We’re Rockin' I was able to design this layout:

And after Digi in Deep (the third class in the series) I was able to design this one:

So I highly recommend taking an online class if you're interested in starting digital (it's the perfect un-birthday gift to yourself). It will save you hours of frustration and you'll be amazed at what you can create when you are through. And Jessica Sprague (check her out here) isn't the only one who offers great online classes. Sande Krieger has a series of FREE photoshop elements tutorials at twopeasinabucket, with more tutorials to come every month in 2009. Patti Knox, who designs for designerdigitals.com, offers a series of classes here. And Renee Pearson, well-known digital expert, offers classes at her website. Prices, included supplies, and styles vary, so check out a few different websites to find the best fit for you. And if you've taken an online class, let us know what you thought! If you know of other websites that offer classes, tell us where to go! And let's see some digital pages in the flickr gallery this week.

I don’t feel comfortable with a computer, so I’m scared of digital.

I think this is a valid concern. I was pretty comfortable with computers and used them a lot to do titles/journaling/etc before I started digital, so the transition to digital pages was fairly easy for me. If you aren’t comfortable with computers, the learning curve will be steeper, so you'll have to decide if you're willing to put in the time. One good option might be checking out local continuing ed classes to see if a beginning computer or photoshop class is offered in your community. Taking a class like this, with a live instructor who can help you out immediately, might be a good way to brush up skills before you try digi scrapping.

Come back tomorrow for more questions and answers!

Nature

photo and quote selection by Celeste Smith

No Need to Reinvent the Wheel

While browsing through some of my albums today, I noticed that there are so many times that I will use a layout I've already done as inspiration for a new one--or just simply copy it outright.

For the longest time I somehow believed it was "wrong" to scraplift myself. For some reason I felt that everything needed to be original! Not so, my friends. If you've done layouts before that you really like, there is NOTHING wrong with doing them again in a different theme.

So, short and sweet, here are a few examples of me scraplifting me.

Set 1:

 

 

Set 2:

  

 

Set 3:

 

 

Set 4:

 

 

Set 5:

 

 

So your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to scraplift yourself. Come on...you can do it. Throw all originality out the window just this once and be happy for a layout that comes together SO quickly and easily. And who couldn't use a little more quick and easy in their lives, right?

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Congratulations to Abbie who said:

READ THE MANUAL for the camera!! Saves on time in the long run, stress, tears and lost opportunities to take pictures when you were just messing with the settings. A few hours up front to better enjoy taking pictures = priceless!

Hooray Abbie! We hope you enjoy your Studio Calico shopping! Please email us before Saturday at midnight so that we may be able to get your gift to you!

Thank you to everyone who came to play. Next week we will be back with more fun gift giving! Though you may be in full holiday prep mode next week, I assure you that you want to stop by on Thursday. It will be worth your time...

give.away.day. featuring STUDIO CALICO

edited to add: comments are now closed. please check back in the morning to see if you're the lucky number! thank you!

Today there are no antics, no crazies, no absurd pleas to take over the world. No nuthin' but this:

Want it? Me too. Only I can't have it. But you can... The new kit releases in just 63 hours and you want to have this in hand or you will see this. And there is nothing fun about having to wait because you procrastinated. It's not worth the tears, I promise.

All you need to do is comment. Today we want to hear your favorite photo tip (we love group teaching sessions!) or question. Tomorrow, before you dash off to the pool or the campground or the pool at the campground, take a minute to check in and see if you are the lucky one. If you are, email us at writeclickscrapbook dot com so you may be prepared for the stroke of midnight on June 28th when the Documentary kit is released. 

You may click here for sneak peeks. Or go to Tina's blog where you will find a list of all the designers' blogs. If you click through them you will see things that look like this:

Doesn't it look fun? I thought so, too.

One last thing to check out at Studio Calico: watch this. The June kit's projects set to the Beastie Boys. Clever. See if you can spot Tina's layouts, and check out our very own Lisa Dickinson who was the featured member!

Alright, let's begin! You know the routine: comments open at 9:00 am EST, close at 8:00 pm PST. Gift must be claimed by emailing us at writeclickscrapbook dot com before midnight on Saturday or will be forfeited.

Thanks for stopping. We know it's sunny outside and your days are full. We appreciate your taking time to visit!

Your Questions Answered

Q: Do you do self portraits? Do you have any tips on getting good self portraits or what is the best angle to shoot from?

A: I have to admit that I'm not great at self-portraits. For one thing, holding a heavy SLR camera steady out in front of your face is hard to do. And in order to get yourself in the shot at arm's length you have to have a really wide-angle lens. But, there's always the "photo in the mirror" shot, like this:

 

Or you can set up a tripod and set the timer on your camera like this:

 

The most flattering camera angle (for me anyway) is to take it slightly from above.

Q: I'd love quick photo editing tips -- what are the fixes you make most often to make a photo look great fast?

A: The first thing I do is load all of my photos into Adobe Lightroom and do any basic editing from there. Lightroom is nice because I can easily apply a basic edit to a whole batch of photos at one time. From there I export everything into Photoshop and do more extensive edits. For a quick boost I'll run some sort of color saturation action. A favorite of mine right now is from Anna Jones and is called "Indie Color Foundation." I usually run it at about 50% strength.

Original:

With a color boost:

 

Very subtle, but I think it just makes the colors warmer and gives it an extra punch.

Q: I would love to know how you save all of your files.

A: Like I mentioned above, Adobe Lightroom is a wonderful way to organize your photos. You can rate photos, tag, organize, rename and group them. It's been a wonderful tool for me.

Q: Just wondering where I should go so I can learn "good principles of design."

A: Someone actually responded to this in the comments section and mentioned Cathy Zielske's "Design Your Life" class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about this class, and the first place I learned those basic principles is from Cathy herself in her book "Clean and Simple Scrapbooking."

Q: I would love to know how to take good pictures indoors or outdoors at times with less than ideal light.

A: This is probably the number one question I get asked about photography. I wish there was some big secret I could divulge on how to get fabulous indoor shots, but there's not. You've basically got two options: use natural light from an open window, or get an external flash and learn how to use it. By "external" I mean the kind that attaches to the top of your camera, NOT the one that pops up. If you have an external flash, learn how to bounce the light off of the ceiling for a much more flattering look. A couple of GREAT books that I recommend are THESE BOOKS from Scott Kelby. He's got some wonderful lighting tips in there!

This photo was taken indoors in very low light, with the flash bounced off the ceiling (notice how even and "non-flashy" the light is):

 

And this photo was taken in my tiny bathroom, with no windows, and the light bounced into the mirror behind me.

 

I hope that helps at least some of you a little! If you'd like to ask me anything else, feel free! I'll try to answer more questions by the end of the week. But for tomorrow...back to scrapbooking!

 

A Gift For My Dad

We had a fabulous Father's Day. We spent the morning feasting on homemade belgian waffles with fresh raspberries and whipped cream and then spent the afternoon going to church, napping and bestowing gifts on my husband, Matt. We spent the evening visiting my dad for dinner and Matt's dad for dessert. We're so incredibly lucky to have both set of parents so close by.

This father's day I was particularly excited to give a special gift to my dad.

A couple of months ago I took a trip down to Arizona to visit my grandparents (my dad's parents) and much of my extended family. While there, I sat out on their back porch and looked around at everything--an old stool my dad had made when he was little, weird peacocks hanging on the white brick wall, my grandpa's dusky blue Corvair, and the ripe tangerines drooping from the tree. I immediately thought to myself, "Oh my gosh...I want to remember these things." I want to remember EVERY detail of the house in Arizona that I loved to visit--the house my dad grew up in.

And it's because of memories like these, my friends, that I am so passionate about photography. So this is what my dad received from me in a simple black frame:

 

Technical Details: Photos taken with Canon 40d, 50mm f/1.8 lens; ISO 200, f/1.8, various shutter speeds

It's obvious that we need to take pictures of the people in our lives, but don't forget the details you want to remember. Take a picture of what you had for breakfast this morning. Take a picture of the front of the supermarket you shop at most. Take a picture of that beautiful flower popping up in your front yard. I promise you won't regret it.

Oh, and this is what else My dad got from me:

 

Technical Details: Photos taken with Canon 40d, 50mm f/1.8 lens; ISO 200, f/5.0, 1/250 sec

Oh how I love these grandparents of mine.

And here's a little something for you...a free download of the Photoshop template I used to create the above collage. Go crazy, have fun, and if you're so inclined, please share what you have created with it HERE!

Download Grid Template

Simply adjust your photos to fit over the black squares and replace the text with your own. I think the fonts I used are pretty standard in Photoshop (I used Orator Std and CODY). But if you don't have those, feel free to replace it with whatever font(s) you'd like.

ENJOY!

Let's Go!

Hi all! I'm so excited to be hosting the blog this week. This whole endeavor has been so fun and so inspiring for me! It's amazing how much I've already learned from Ann and Melissa in just the last two weeks. I only hope that I can inspire you as much as they've inspired me.

So a while ago a few of the members here had the chance to post some fun scrapbook pages, showing their progression over the years. Unfortunately I wasn't able to squeeze mine in. So I'm sharing now! I started scrapbooking when I was in college, when my cousin moved up here from Arizona (hi Kristy!). She got a job at Robert's Craft (Provo Craft) and started to tell me about the amazing scrapbook paper they had. At the time I was scrapbooking with a stack of construction paper, a bottle of rubber cement, and a Sharpie marker. So when I walked into the store and saw the array of paper, I was hooked. I left the store with a huge stack of supplies. And the following layouts were born:

 

 

Oh, I thought I was SO clever with the design of these! And check out the photo in the bottom left corner of the first layout. I could do a whole post on how much those photos from the 70's and 80's make me gag! But I wouldn't change these layouts (or the photos), because they really reflect the times and I remember how much fun I had making them. And I could go on and show you more examples of how my style evolved over the years, but instead I'm just going to jump right to my current style: clean, classic, and dare I say...timeless...thanks to knowing good principles of design.

  

 

One thing that has remained consistent over the years is that I have done a good job of scrapbooking myself. I so want to remember the stories and the wonderful moments from my childhood and I hope that my kids will some day read my scrapbooks and smile or laugh at what a dork I was.

This week I want to talk about what you want to know. I'm passionate about photography and would love to offer any tips or answer any questions that you may have (ask them now!). So we'll talk photography, more scrapbooking, organizing (look at my space on page 54 of Creating Keepsakes' July 2009 issue), and more.

Hooray! This is going to be fun!

 

To Our Fathers, With Thanks (and a Smile)

photo and quote selection from Elizabeth Dillow