Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Tradition!

I've been in the scrapbooking industry for several years, having started as the editorial assistant for Simple Scrapbooks magazine. But I've only been seriously scrapbooking since the beginning of this year. The inspiration for me to start scrapbooking our family's stories was the impending birth of our first daughter. I have three boys, two of whom are already adults going to college and one who is still in high school. So, having a baby now has been like starting over.

(photo courtesy of Sarah Anderson)

As I thought about the gap between my children, I realized that there were so many little things - traditions and memories - that we have with the boys that Elise may never know about or get to share with us and it breaks my heart.

When I hear the word, "Tradition," I think about my Dad and how when I was a child I would stand on his feet and he would sing, "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. He continued this tradition with all of the grandchildren. But this is one of those traditions that Elise may never get to experience for herself.

Traditions are so important. They connect our family and friends to us. They give us something to look forward to and they teach important lessons to our children. So I decided that I'd better start writing these special stories down as a way to connect my two families. What a better way to do this than to scrapbook them with photos and everything! Even though I don't have tons of photos to illustrate every tradition we have, I do remember the following stories, so I took a photo to help illustrate one of the pages. (You can see one of our family traditions that is now also legend in our November Gallery.)

This first page documents beloved story books that I read to my boys. Story-time at our house happened every day after bath-time and was a very special time that we shared together. I wanted to illustrate a few of our favorite books, so I fanned them out and took a photo. The photo of the boys reading just happened to be in a filebox full of photos that need homes in a scrapbook. What luck!

Brandon is reading his favorite book, "Garfield's Two-Minute Stories" to his brothers. And true to what I wrote on my profile, there's my own handwriting. I ran out of printer ink Sunday night and keep forgetting to buy more, so I did what any true-blue scrapbooker would do - improvise! It's not about being perfect, it's about getting the story down on paper, right? RIGHT! And there's a lot to be said about the virtues of preserving your handwriting for posterity.

materials: 12x12 | patterned paper & puffy stickers & rub-ons (Imaginisce) + die-cut letters (QuicKutz)

This next layout features our favorite holiday - Halloween! Every year, until this one, we spent the holiday with my two sisters and our cousins trick-or-treating, watching movies, playing games and eating yummy food. 

To create this page I pulled photos from a few different years. Since I had several photos to showcase, I hid my journaling in the spiderweb paper. Hidden journaling is one of my favorite scrapbooking tricks. In this case, it allowed the photos to really shine and me to use more product without the page looking cluttered.

materials: 12 x 12 | patterned paper & cardstock stickers (Heidi Grace for Fiskars) + die-cut letters (QuicKutz) + Slick Writer pen (American Crafts)

I asked our Collective to share a tradition that is important to them. Maybe our traditions will spark your memory and inspire you to create a page about one of your family traditions. Here's what they shared:

Black Friday shopping with my sister-in-law Suzanne. I AM one of those crazy ladies who gets up at 5 a.m. on the day after Thanksgiving to brave the crowds. It's something Suz and I look forward to for weeks, and it's a great bonding experience for us. ~Angie Lucas

My friend always has a holiday party called Pseudo Turkey Day: the Thanksgiving you really want with your friends not family. We dress up, everybody brings wine and food, we play games and hang out. It really is more fun than the real holiday. Another tradition is since I'm vegetarian I always make my own food for Turkey Day. I make a cranberry nut stuffing shaped like a turkey and a spicy brown gravy. My family teased me about it, even refused to try it, but now they look forward to it ever year. ~Jen Wozab

The week before Thanksgiving we put a page up on the fridge with numbers and blank spaces. Each day of that week we each add one thing we're thankful for to the list.  we read the whole list together on Thanksgiving day. ~Aly Dosdall

When I was growing up, my family had the tradition of always going to Pizza Hut on Christmas Eve. It's a little strange, but nothing says Christmas Eve (even now!) to me like pizza and Dr Pepper served in those tall, red plastic cups pizza places have!
As for Thanksgiving traditions, we mostly follow the standard ones, but I always make my Grandma Watson's stuffing from her recipe every year--I'm a big believer in cooking being an important connection to the past. We also do something other than shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving--last year we went to Mount Vernon for a tour. Anything to keep us out of stores that day! No Dillow functions well in mobs/crowds. ~Elizabeth Dillow

We have many traditions for Thanksgiving, including a three-hour drive to Los Angeles from San Diego with our three kids singing a chorus of displeasure at the amount of time stuck in the car, despite all manner of video games, movies and iPods.
We also do the drawing of names for the Christmas gift exchange. And without fail I end up picking the same name every year. As my grandparents have aged, our Thanksgiving meals have become much more of a potluck meal, with each family being responsible for a side dish. And because we have 35 people gathering at my grandparents house on Thanksgiving, there are usually three or four different tables set up to accommodate us all, and usually involves a potluck of chairs as well. And every year, without fail, something always gets left in the oven. Usually a hapless pile of dinner rolls or a crock of peas and onions. Lastly, at every family gathering at my grandparent's house, you need to start your good-byes a good 30 to 45 minutes before you actually want to leave. With 35 people to hug and kiss and three kids to round up, it takes a very long time. ~Tina Cockburn

My sister and I spend Thanksgiving post-dinner planning our attack for Black Friday. That morning, we head out at oh-dark-thirty and stay in touch via phone. We used to meet up at some point, but this year we are 3000 miles apart so it will be remote check in only. ~Lain Ehmann

Usually it's just the four of us for Thanksgiving. So I usually declare the day a pajama day - the kids love it and so do I. Terry not so much. ~Celeste Smith

We have a "stray" party for Christmas Eve - meaning we invite all our friends who don't have family or plans over for dinner and I make up a pile of quesadillas, homemade salsa and guacamole and we have a casual dinner and then play games or watch a Christmas movie together.  There are usually a bunch of kids here so we check NORAD and follow Santa and make reindeer food for the kids to sprinkle outside when they get home.
We don't have any Thanksgiving traditions.  Well, except the weekend after Thanksgiving for the last 4 years we've gone camping with the same group of friends and the Saturday night we have a deep fried turkey and everyone brings a side dish.  I guess that kind of counts. ~Cheryl Overton

I go shopping on Black Friday with my mom and sister. Nothing too crazy, we don't meet up until 10 or so. Christmas Eve is always at my mom's. That's when the girls wear their dresses, we have a big meal and exchange gifts. Christmas Day is much more laid back. ~Erin Sweeney

We don't have Thanksgiving here, though I did make my first ever pumpkin pie last year with the tinned pumpkin Elizabeth sent me (it was wonderful and new to our whole family). 
Christmas Day is always the formal day where we have the big lunch and the lighting of the Christmas pudding (no matter how full you are, you always make room for pudding, custard and ice-cream!). Boxing Day (December 26th) traditionally is a day of rest; playing with your gifts, swimming, and eating yummy leftovers. ~Jody Dent-Pruks

How about you? Do you have an important tradition that your family shares? I hope you'll create a page about your tradition and share it with us on our Flickr Gallery. Or share your tradition with us in the comments section.

and the giveaway goes to. . .

Congratulations to JennL who told us why she loves pink:

 

Thank you to Pink Paislee for sending some love to Jenn this holiday season. For those who weren't so lucky, look for the Cupid line in stores beginning December 1st.

JennL, please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com by midnight Saturday with your contact information! Thank you!

give.away.day. featuring PINK PAISLEE

Pink Paislee is in the house!

A tiny bit of math for you...

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Today we are giving away one complete cupid collection from Pink Paislee. You can see the whole collection here (or click on that yummy photo up there!) With this fantastic collection, you could make such lovelies as these:

 

If you would like to be considered for today's giveaway, please leave us a comment telling us what you most love about pink, paisley, or Pink Paislee. Feel free to browse their collections, stop by their blog, and check out their projects. Today's giveaway will be limited to those with an United States' mailing address.

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted tomorrow. Commenters must check back tomorrow to see if they are the lucky number. If it is you, don't forget to email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com before midnight Saturday.

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. One lucky number will be drawn at random and posted tomorrow. Commenters must check back tomorrow to see if they are the lucky number. If it is you, don't forget to email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com before midnight Saturday.

Happy Veteran's Day!

Happy Veteran's day! I'd like to publicly say "Thank you!" to the many men and women out there who are currently serving or have served our country. Your sacrifice and service is an amazing offering of yourself and does not go unnoticed around here. (Photo of the Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial on the Mall in Washington, D.C. Courtesy of Elizabeth Dillow.)

I personally have a brother who has served in the Air Force and is now in the National Guard (way to go big brother, Brian!).




And my father-in-law served in the Army 40ish years ago (yeah, Boyd!).

This is a photo of Emily Pitts' great-grandfather and his buddies in WWI:

I've always wondered what I could do with my limited resources and skills to let these amazing people know how loved and thought of they are. Recently, a fellow scrapbooking friend sent me the link to an amazing organization who sends cards that scrapbookers/crafters/cardmakers have created, to people who are serving in all branches of the United States military. (Photo of Sec. 1 of Arlington National Cemetery. Courtesy Elizabeth Dillow.)

Operation Write Home is an organization with a mission "To support our nation's armed forces by sending blank greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." What a cool, and might I say, simple goal, that each of us can get involved in! I encourage you to take some time to look around their website, to learn the guidelines and then write an "AnyHero" greeting to let these unsung heroes know they are thought of warmly. If you're a little more ambitious get out a few more supplies, a cup of cocoa and create a bundle of blank wintry-themed cards, blank thank you notes or blank birthday cards for the soldiers to use. This is just what I did! On Monday afternoon I held a card making party at my home where my friends and I made 50 thank you cards for our Troops who are currently serving in the military! Thanks, ladies!

I challenged my fellow WCS team members to create at least one AnyHero card to send out and they came up with some amazing cards! Thank you, Ladies!

Card by Angie Lucas

Cards by Celeste Smith

Cards by Elizabeth Dillow.

 
Cards by Sara Winnick.

Since today is Veteran's Day, remember to thank someone who is serving our great country. Heck! Throw a card-making party yourself and then go to our Flickr Gallery and show us what you've made. This is a great way to use up your extra scraps AND brighten someone's day.

While you're making these cards, remember to involve your children so they will learn to love and respect our military men and women.(These girls live in my neighborhood and joined in on the fun.)

Women in Military Service to America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery (that's Maddie and Gracie looking into the water!) Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Dillow.

If you don't live in the United States, remember that you also have amazing men and women serving in your country's military. WCS team member, Melanie Louette, lives in Canada and her community throws a Remembrance Day Parade every year in honor of their veterans. Melanie and her family attended the parade this past Sunday and she was kind enough to share her photos.

What's in a Story?

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact your family's stories have on yourself or your children? What about your brothers and sisters? Which family stories do you tell over and over at the dinner table? Now, consider what would happen to your sense of the world if those stories were lost or if you didn't know them. Really! Take a minute, I'll wait. Got it? Okay, read on.

Historically, stories define who we are, what we stand for and ultimately how we see the world. Cultures without a formal written language hand stories down through the generations orally, telling them over and over through a designated orator or someone whose job it is to see that he/she remembers the stories for the village and then retells them. These orators are highly respected Elders for good reason: They are responsible for the entire history of their village. As a scrapbooker, I'm sure you're keenly aware that if you don't tell your story, no one will.

It was this kind of thought pattern that led me on a small journey last week down the path of family history. Being the youngest of six (my oldest brother is 20 years older than I am) and having come from a divorced family, there are many stories that I'm not familiar with. There are also people whom I've never met whose stories I haven't heard.

So I paid a visit to my mom, scanned a few photos and then picked her brain about the people in the photos. I can remember Mom talking about Great Grandma Jenson, her mother's mother, very fondly. But I simply couldn't remember the stories. I remembered that she was deaf, but that was about it. After our interview, I completed this page:

She was an amazing person! It must have been very difficult for her to raise her children without hearing in the late 1800's to early 1900's. (Then again, when my little one spouts off one of her high-pitched screams I wonder...)

materials 8.5x11 | patterned paper (Kaiser Craft) + charm (K&Company) + fonts (Segoe Print, Monotype Corsiva fonts)

It was a treat to hear about my great grandmother. But there was one story that I'd only heard in snippets - the story of my mom and dad's marriage. It just always seemed like a taboo subject so I never asked, fearing that I might hurt someone's feelings. That's the "blue" in me coming out ;) I finally broached the subject and I'm so glad I did.

This is the only photo I have of my parents together and now I have the story saved for my children.

These two pages will always be treasures to me, not just for the photos, but for the stories.

If you're not sure where to start, try using a quiz created just for the occasion and interview your prospect or fill in the quiz according to what you read about a person. Ella Publishing has a brand new eBook called Quick & Creative Quizzes that may be helpful to you. Also, be sure to check out our WCS gallery for more inspiration and ideas about telling your family's stories.

materials 8.5x11 | patterned paper (Kaiser Craft) + ribbon + fonts (Bradley Hand, Monotype Corsiva)

So, what's in a story? It's the essence of who you are and what you will become. It's your history and your future all at the same time. Pretty important stuff, huh?

Here's your challenge: Research one ancestor or family member that you don't know much about and then create a page or two about that person. Be sure to upload it to our Flickr group by clicking on the link above. I can't wait to see what you create. Happy hunting!

What Are You Grateful For?

Hello! Welcome! I'll be your guide for the week. My name is Carolyn Jolley and I'm grateful to be the proud momma of three sons, one daughter and one angel son.

To kick off the week I'm going to focus on gratitude. After all, this is the month traditionally known for celebrating gratitude. According to Dictionary.com, gratitude is "the quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful," and being grateful is to be "warmly or deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received."

To begin, let me give you a few ideas of ways you can scrapbook your gratitude.

I have a friend who is determined to find something to be grateful for every single day during November and she is following through by updating her Facebook status with a statement of gratitude every single time she updates. When she's finished, she'll have a whole month's worth of gratitude statements that she can put in a scrapbook. Our own Elizabeth Dillow did something similar for Simple Scrapbooks magazine last year where she listed her FB status updates for a whole week on one 12 x 12 page.

A year ago, a friend (thanks, Wendy!) gave me this sweet journal with room to write one thing I was grateful for every single day of the year. She used cute little tags, beautiful scraps of paper and chipboard or cardstock and bound these altogether. It was fun and easy to write one sentence each day.

 See how cute this is? She layered each piece and used a Zutter Bind It All to keep it together. Wouldn't this make a nice Christmas gift this year? I bet most of you have spare tags, paper and other odds n' ends laying around that would work very nicely for this project. A lot of scrapbook stores allow you to use their tools if you go to a crop. Or you might find a store near you that allows you to use their crop room and tools free during certain hours. I did this a lot at the beginning of the year. It's a great way to figure out which tools you like and if you might be willing to spend money on pricier items.

Another scrapbooker (I'm pretty sure it was one of our WCS Collective members - sorry, I don't remember which one) asked each family member at Thanksgiving dinner to write down what they were thankful for and then she took their picture. She paired these next to each other in a small album. Now every year, they can look back and see what they were thankful for at that time in their life. (This is still one of my favorites. Maybe she'll read this and leave a comment telling us where this idea was published and who she is. ;)

This year, I'm grateful that I'm able to stay home with our brand new daughter. What a HUGE blessing in my life.

What are you grateful for? I asked my fellow WCS members to share a few things that they are grateful for. Here is what they said:

I am thankful for community...the people in my life! ~Sara Winnick

I am thankful for the easy transition to our new home in Boston. All the kids are in schools they love, sports they love, and church youth groups they love. Life is good! ~Lain Ehmann

I’m so thankful for my husband’s steady job in this unsteady economy, that he is able to adequately supply for myself and my little family. ~Elisha Snow

I'm thankful for my health. I had a biopsy a couple weeks ago and it came back normal. ~Celeste Smith

Last year at this time my daughter Ryan was battling cancer, so this year I am very thankful she is healthy and cancer-free! ~Jody Wenke

I'm so grateful our baby arrived safe and sound! ~Aly Dosdall

I am grateful that I have the chance to spend one on one time with my kids this year. It’s been a sweet thing, getting to know them as they enter their teen years. I'm also grateful for my siblings. ~Emily Pitts

I am grateful for dedicated people with a vision to build something as cool as the Paul Smith Children's Village (like a big outdoor children's museum) to Cheyenne. This is just one little corner of it, the brick puppet theater. ~Elizabeth Dillow

I am grateful for happy little girls who think jumping in leaf piles is fun, and even more grateful that I am here to watch them do it. ~Elizabeth Dillow

I'm thankful to be a mother. ~Rebecca Cooper

This is a photo of my grandmother, who recently celebrated her 84th birthday.  She is mother of 6, grandmother to 13, and great-grandma to 5.  There are not enough words to describe all the ways in which she has blessed our entire family or that could possibly convey just how amazing she is.  I am so thankful for her strong family values and unwavering faith, and I am so grateful for her selflessness and generosity.  She is and always has been the glue that has held this family together. ~Tina Cockburn

What are you thankful for? If you've created something that shows your gratitude for something or someone, share it with us on our Flickr gallery. Just click the link at the top of the page. Or, if you haven't created anything yet, why not take this opportunity before the holidays get into full swing and capture something that will remind you what you are grateful for right now? In time, you'll be "grateful" you did!

Doors

 
photo and quote selection by Emily Pitts

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Thank you to all who joined me this week! We had just over a dozen entries in the ad challenge and random.org chose #6, which was naomimaciver! So please email me at emilygpitts at gmail dot com within 24 hours to claim your prize. Congratulations.

And I promised a quick run down on Tumblr. If you click on the Tumblr button at the top of the WCS screen, you'll come to this page:

And then my friends, I'm just going to admit it right now. Even though I only set up my own Tumblr account less than two months ago, I can't for the life of me remember how to do it. Can you see why I scrapbook? I forget things really quickly. But if I figured it out, I trust that you can. Please forgive me.

You should go check it out and see the inspiration that has been shared already, and once you figure out how to get an account (make sure you "follow" the WCS group as well as making your own personal one), please start adding things that you find interesting. I'd suggest you stay with our group and not go exploring. Some of the other content is offensive.

And finally, if I may suggest you look into Elizabeth's upcoming class on BPS called Inspiration Defined. She will be going into much more detail on a few of the topics I mentioned this week, plus many more. And I bet she could tell you how to set up a Tumblr account. ;)

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change.–Alfred North Whitehead

My last post of the week, it kind of makes me sad to come to an end. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey of self reflection. I have enjoyed all your comments and if you haven't had a chance, go take a peek in the Write. Click. Scrapbook Flickr gallery, I was a little worried I'd have to hold onto that gift card for Studio Calico. But no worries, I was rather pleased at how many of you played along with me. Thank you! I'm always amazed at the different directions two people can take the same inspiration piece.

CATALYST #9 LOSING & FINDING
**WARNING** Very much a section wherein Emily looks into the depths of her soul and shares some deep dark insecurities that she may have had.**WARNING**

When my one of my favorite magazines closed, I was crushed and really thought it was all over. I know I'm not alone, because that's how Write.Click.Scrapbook came to be. Instead of being sad and moping, Marnie, Elizabeth, and Tina got to work creating this amazing concept, to keep the message of simple scrapbooking going. That's probably why you're here too, am I right? It's a really good idea, this whole thing about not going overboard, just getting the story told in a fun and stress-free way. Well I was raised on this philosphy, it made sense to me, but I thought I had to scrap a "certain" way to belong to a group who believed in this. I guess I thought it was more about the style than it was about the philosophy. So when it was all gone, I was kind of like a teenager who finds themselves all alone and can try anything. I stepped away from my style and decided to start experimenting, going way outside the lines I'd drawn in a large part because of the magazine. I guess you could say I decided to go the opposite of simple scrapbooking, at least design-wise. A few years ago, I was shopping in Boulder and discovered this really fun collage artist's work, she goes by the moniker Curly Girl and she's fabulous at layering things, but keeping a simple look. But most of all I found her work FUN and humorous. I had been drawn to her work and decided to take the plunge and be inspired by her in my own work. This is one of the first pages that I remember doing after that conscious decision. I have a LOT of stuff on this page. And there's a LOT of texture. When I take close up shots for my design team work, I like that I can have 5-7 products in a very contained area. But I actually really fell in love with this new style. Knowing when to stop became the new challenge, and that was really fun.
 

I thought I'd really strayed from my roots. When I was approached to join WCS, I felt a little like a fake, like I didn't really fit in anymore. But then I read the ABOUT US section, have you read it lately? I realized that even though my style had changed, I still believed all the same things.

1. We believe in telling stories. {CHECK}

2. We believe that understanding photography and design make scrapbooking a little more fun. {CHECK}

3. We believe in the power of color. We also believe in the power of kraft, black, and white. {CHECK}

4. We believe that scrapbooking should be fun and guilt-free.{CHECK}

5. We believe that there is no one right way to scrapbook. {DOUBLE CHECK} 

So while I did lose something, I ended up gaining it right back, just in a new form. And I still can scrap in a very simple style, both of my October and November gallery layouts are really simple, and I'm OK with that. Actually, I love them! I learned that it's alright to play around with your scrap style, see #4 in the list above.

CATALYST #10  THE INTERNET
My last changing point can't be nailed down to a specific time, probably because I'm right in the middle of it. I've been discovering just how very helpful the internet can be in inspiring my creativity. I'm going to walk you through my processes. Open a new window. Go to Google and type in the word "art." See above the Google logo, the word Images? Click on it and you should come to a screen similar to this one. Hello inspiration! I can see 5 things that immediately inspire me on this page. And if I took more time, I know I could find something in each image. This is kind of similar to the Pub Ad Challenge, but it's much broader.  

I found this image on the web one day, I don't know the original artist so if you do, please help a girl out. It's REALLY important to give credit where credit is due. There are laws to protect artists and they should be followed. So if you know the artist, please note them as your inspiration. Even better, shoot them an email and let them know you were inspired by their work and share what you've done. I've had some really nice interactions with the artists that I've corresponded with in the past. Anyway, back to the inspiration piece:

 

I took this and made this:

Can you see how valuable Google Images is?

Another favorite place to find ideas is Flickr. Open another new window. See how there's a spot to find a group? Type in something that interests you, like art or creativity.

One group I recently found is called Fuel Your Creativity. Lots of really fun images to be found there. Every group is different, but I've learned that if you share your work and not just take take take, you'll have a better experience in some groups. Most artists enjoy sharing, but they want to be inspired too. So look and see what that group has and see what you can contribute. Don't forget that Write.Click.Scrapbook. has it's own Flickr group. Just a plug.

Yet another place where I've found inspiration is a site called StumbleUpon. This concept is kind of hard to explain, you let them know what you're interested in, they link you to a random website or blog that has to do with your interest. For this example I clicked on Graphic Design. You can create an account, or just stumble when you have a few minutes.

This is the first website I got. There's so many possiblities from this page, you could use it as design inspiration or you could actually go through the tutorials and learn how to manipulate photos if you have photoshop. See the ad for Premium Textures? I love it. I will use it sometime.

Now look in the upper left hand corner, there's an arrow pointing to the Stumble button. There's also an I like this button and a Share button. You can start to narrow your field of interest by clicking on the I like it button or, you can do just what the Share button sounds like it might do, email the link to your friends. But we need to go back to the Stumble button. Click on it.

I got a website where a bunch of walking tables would follow my mouse cursor wherever it went on the screen. Actually a little bit creepy. I'll stumble one more time.

 

And I get this really cool site about a parking garage that has uses distortion to direct patrons to the correct area. It just depends on how you look at it. Very cool.

So you find all these really cool images, pictures, and websites online, but you're having a hard time keeping track of them? Enter my next and last thought. Go check out Tumblr. It's very late here in Denver and I can't think straight. I'm afraid if I tried to explain how to use this grand device, you might end up eating a cheeseburger at Starbucks. So I'm going to bed, I'll give you a mini tutorial on Tumblr tomorrow. But I will leave you with this quote on inspiration, that I find not only visually inspiring, but also very mentally inspiring.

 

Comfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort–Peter McWilliams

Hi there! Lookie at what I just got in the mail yesterday. Remember back on Tuesday, the very last part of my post? Remember when I challenged you to use the ad I posted as inspiration for a layout? Remember when I said I'd award a random participant at $10 gift certificate to Studio Calico ? Remember when I said the deadline was tonight at midnight MST? Remember when I said you should upload your layout to the Flickr group? Yah, that was great. Just thought I'd remind you. If you do it now, you have a REALLY good chance of winning. Like really good. Just wondered if you remembered. :)

My hair certainly looks scraggly in that picture. It's getting longer and longer. I should get it cut, but I'm not sure what to do with it. So I don't do anything. Sorry, that has nothing with the topic of today's post, just an observation. Now back to talking about me, I'm sure you've been waiting on the edge of your seat...

CATALYST #6 A KIT CLUB

In June of 2007, I joined my first kit club and that was the beginning of a new era. I loved the idea of having to use only what came in the kit. Having someone else pick paper, alphabets, and embellishments seemed a little scary to me, but there are so many great kit clubs out there, you're sure to find one to fit your taste. Note that I said a little SCARY? Well if you haven't noticed this about me yet, I'll let you in on a little fact about me, I kind of enjoy being pushed out of my box, even though it's a scary thing. But I've learned that it's also a very good thing, if you want your scrapbooking to evolve. Here's the first layout I did with my new kit. Note the changes: I do believe that's BLING on a layout! I never would have used bling on my own at that point. It just wasn't me, but since I had paid for the kit, I felt like I had to use every last drop of it. And you know what? I loved it. Also there's a huge Lisa Dickinson influence here. White edges on my photos, ripped papers, and tilted things. I met Lisa around this time and I notice my work started borrowing from hers. Also the use of labels, I never used them up until this point. Note the similarities: I'm much more comfortable now with patterned papers. Still some white space. Still my own handwriting.

CATALYST #7 ONE SKETCH 31 WAYS (ALMOST)

In January of 2008, I decided to do a random thought album, i made a layout a day. Following a basic sketch, I scrapped a random thought I had each day, trying stick to the sketch, but make it slightly different every time. I flipped it, traded patterned papers for pictures, buttons for patterned papers, moved the title and journaling, etc. I almost finished the full month. I still have the last few days of pictures ready to go, but I lost momentum. However, what I did gain from this exercise was the ability to change things within a very tight format. You should try it sometime, it was really fun. By the way, most of these layouts were created using my Studio Calico kits.

 
 

 

Note the changes: Not a lot of changes in my style here, but I think there was a lot of growth, for reasons stated above. Note the similarities: This exercise took me back to my original 8.5x11 format. I realized I could work in it again. Handwriting. Clean design.

CATALYST #8 DABBLING IN DIGITAL
The last thing I'll talk about today is my foray into digital scrapbooking. I took an introduction to digital scrapping class from Paula Gilarde. Talk about a totally different form of creating! I love bright and intense colors and a cleaner look when I paper scrap. But for some reason when I digi scrap, I am drawn toward muted grungy look. I wouldn't say I'm super comfortable in this arena yet, but do enjoy it. This is my first attempt, but I've taken a few more classes and played a lot with the technology since then, my layout for the November gallery is all digital. It's much better :) I love the flexiblity that comes with digital scrapping. It takes me just as long to put a layout together digitally, by the way.

Note the changes: Most obviously, it's digital :) and therefore I couldn't use my own handwriting. Now if I were to buy a tablet, I could change that... Note the similarities: White space. Tilting. Labels. Remember the eyelets from early on in my career? I made these digitally because I still love the look.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the last few catalysts, and announce the winner of the challenge.