Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Travel.

 “A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.”      Tim Cahill

Photo by Tina Cockburn

Readers Speak!

You guys are really rocking the lifts! I was so impressed with what you came up with. Here's a handful of reader-submitted scraplifts.

First, Margie Scarpignato lifted the esteemed Ali Edwards:

Ali's original:

 

And Margie's lift:

 

I'm lovin' how Margie adapted the design for her number of photos. She writes, "I love to scraplift. Sometimes I do it more literally than others. This one was a pretty straight forward scraplift. I didn't change much out besides the photos, journaling and the stamp. I love how it turned out. I find I learn alot by scraplifting. It helps me step outside of my comfort zone and learn techniques as well as aspects of design I might not discover on my own. Often after scraplifting I then find I can incorporate new things into my own original designs.

In some cultures & art disciplines students learn by copying the masters. In Japan students even take on the name of their master." Impressive job, lady (and can I change my name to Lain WenkeSmithSimickFloresWinnickCostenDillowDickinsonOvertonPalmer... oh, you get the picture!)

Next, MargotMacG lifted Brenda Arnell.

Here's Brenda's layout:

 

And here's Margot's spin:

 

I like how she changed the title just a nudge, and used the edges for journaling. Woohoo, chica!

Now, guess which layout from Wednesday Kate lifted?

 

You got it! She lifted my lift of Celeste Smith's layout... how's that for six degrees of separation! 

Here's another Ali inspiration from Meastmanak (originally in CK 9/09):

 

...and her spin:

 

Once again, NO ONE would ever have guessed these two were "the same." 

Finally, another reader, Agata, shares my Jody love. Here's Jody Wenke's original layout:

 

And Agata's adaptation:

 
 

Now, if I haven't inspired you to give scraplifting a try, then I have failed... and I hate failing! So go give it a try. Save me some angst, will ya? ;) 

Thanks for spending the week with me!

 
 

Birds Do It, Bees Do It...

...even your favorite Write.Click.Scrapbook. ladies do it! Scraplift, that is!

Hard as it may be to believe, even the "professionals" run out of ideas at times. The jiggy juice runs low, the mojo takes a vacay, and we're left with a deadline and a blank piece of 12x12 cardstock in front of us!

Now, I would NEVER suggest that any designer submit a project for publication that relies heavily on someone else's design. After all, our readers and audiences are expecting fresh content. But inspiration can come from the smallest page element -- the combination of two patterned papers, for instance, or the angle of a photo. The spark of creativity is ignited, and we're off!

If you are scrapping for your own purposes exclusively -- for your personal scrapbooks, for instance -- scraplift away with abandon! But as I mentioned the other day, if you are posting your creations in a public forum (like a gallery or on a public blog), please do the courtesy of mentioning the source of your creation. Likely, your "liftee" will be honored to have inspired you!

Speaking of inspiration, I asked some more of the WCS team to share pages they'd lifted from each other (we're just one big happy family around here!). Here's what we came up with.

First, from the talented Cheryl Overton, who found inspiration in this layout of darling Candice Palmer:

 

(I told you she was adorable!). 

Now, here's Cheryl's take on it:

 

If you saw these two layouts several pages apart in a magazine, I bet you'd never notice they were the same design! The different subject matter, the varying color schemes, and the color photo vs. the B/W photo on the original are all ways Cheryl made Candice's original design "her own." 

Next, Melanie Louette found inspiration from Elizabeth Dillow. This layout is from Elizabeth's wonderfully inspiring book, "The Scrapbooker's Almanac:"

Melanie created this:

 

Once more, these pages are so different that the uninformed would never pick up on their shared origins! But you, Gentle WCS Reader, now know the truth. 

The moral of this story? Scraplifting can be pure imitation, and that's fine! But it also can be the first step in creating art of your own. Don't knock it or write it off as "cheating." After all, all those magazines, galleries, and blogs (including this one!) are out there to HELP you. Use them. Enjoy them. And Scrap Happy!
 

and the giveaway goes to . . .

Thank you, to Lain for letting us crash your LOAD party! It seems like many of us are anxious to put the winter blues behind us and get cracking on some scrapbooking! The two that get to join in the fun for free are:

Bridgette seems like a woman after my own heart, with her list of yummies! And I must say I was humbled by how many of you listed your husbands first. A good reminder for my shallow self.

Bridgette and Stacy, please email us at writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com with your contact information! Thanks for all your comments and stay tuned for more helpful tips from Lain!

give.away.day. featuring LAIN & 2010 LOAD

Here is your hint for today's giveaway...

Before you go all crazy thinking you can win a date with Hugh, for our

two (!) lucky numbers will receive spots in Lain's 2010 Layout A Day Challenge. For those who have never taken part, it is a bit like depriving yourself of chocolate every day. You may think creating one layout a day for 28 days is impossible, but you are wrong! You can do it! And Lain will be there to hold your shaking, nervous little cyber hand. The Layout a Day (LOAD) challenge is a way for scrappers around the globe to push themselves through "scrapper's block" and get scrapping! For a month, you will join other challengers on a private message board and gallery where you share your daily layouts. 

Lain will send you a daily prompt and inspiration email, and then you create a layout a day. Every day. Yes, 28 layouts in 28 days. Yes, EVERY DAY! You also receive weekly tutorials, all sorts of camaraderie and inspiration, and an opportunity to win the Grand Prize (if you create and upload a layout each day for the entire month) as well as surPRIZES along the way.

And where does Hugh fit in? Where doesn't he, I say!

If you would like to be considered for a seat in the 2010 LOAD challenge, please leave us a comment telling us who your Hugh is. (Mine is Brad Pitt. Hands down. Always and forever. TLF.) You can see from Lain's posts this week that she means it when she says scrapping can be fun and fast. Join in and you may just surprise yourself! And if you aren't the lucky number, you still have time to sign up. And remember,

For less than $1 a day, you too can have the perfect excuse for why you can't do the laundry/drive carpool/make dinner!

Comments will remain open until 8:00 pm PST. Lucky numbers will be drawn at random and posted tomorrow. It is the responsibility of those commenting to check back and claim their gifts by Saturday at midnight.

Banishing Perfectionism

So, several of you mentioned that you face the demon called PERFECTIONISM. I think this goes hand-in-hand with product overload. It goes something like this:

Because you HAVE 1000 buttons, you think you HAVE to find "the perfect one" to use on any given layout. You know it's there, in the stash, if you could just find it. Or maybe a brad would be better. You have a few hundred of those... or perhaps you should try a silk flower? Or an epoxy sticker? Or some staples... or some ribbon... and that's just for the embellishments! You go through the same thing for the letter stickers (red looks good -- but maybe orangey-red would be better... or maybe you should stamp it... or cut it out on your Cricut... but what font should you use? And what size???). And for the photos. And for the patterned paper. On and on it goes, and the next thing you know, it's 1 AM and you haven't even selected your cardstock yet!

I will tell you right now: NO ONE CARES IF YOUR SCRAPBOOK PAGES ARE PERFECT. In fact, there's no such thing as "perfect." There's "done" and "not done." And I know which one I want!

So how can scraplifting help you with this particular onus? By helping you narrow your field of vision. Once you pick a design to follow, you know how many different patterned papers you need, how many buttons, how many photos, etc. (NOTE: In general, I encourage people to adjust scraplifts to their tastes, but if you are suffering from perfectionitis, you may want to stick with the design as-is. As soon as you start messing with it, you'll fall into the same trap all over again!)

Still need convincing? To show you how easy and versatile scraplifting is, I asked two of my fave Write.Click.Scrapbook. sistahs to help me out.

First, the incomparable Emily Pitts lifted a page by Kendra McCracken. Here's Kendra's:

 

And here's what Emily did with it:

 

I love how she converted the 12x12 to an 8 1/2x11. And the different background paper gives the page a totally different look, even though she used many of the same basic design elements and title. Emily says, "It was SO fast and easy. Scraplifting takes all the thought out of designing. I needed that this week!" 

Next, the oh-so-talented Jody Wenke lifted another one of my fave scrappers -- herself!

The original:

 
And the lift, with the exact same title:

 

What a great way to track time and show the changes! In this case, Jody was showcasing the difference between the time when her daughter was diagnosed with cancer, and now that it's a year that she's been cancer free. 

Yesterday's assignment was to pick a design to lift. Today, get cracking! Don't let yourself be bogged down in choices. Pick the first photo, paper, etc., that matches the design and goes with your other page elements. Don't forget your new mantra: "There is only done and not done -- perfection doesn't exist." Upload your results to our WCS flickr gallery, and tag it as "scraplift." Can't wait to see what you've done!

The Secret Weapon

Thank you all so much for your fabulous questions, concerns, and comments yesterday. I think we covered the gamut from perfectionism, to journaling, to design worries, to product overload, to cranky bosses. While I can't help much with the cranky boss (though I did offer to write a "Please excuse so-and-so" note), I think I can help with a lot of the other concerns!

Here's my secret weapon: Scraplifting.

Now, to some, scraplifting is akin to cheating on your Algebra test or entering the Betty Crocker Cook-off with someone else's recipe. Not so! Simply put, scraplifting is simply using other designers' layouts to give you a headstart on your own page. You can lift just the design, take only the title or journaling, use their embellishment placement or photo idea, or just use it as a springboard.(NOTE: Later this week, I'll be talking more about scraplifting etiquette, but let me say right now that if you are posting a page you "lifted" to a public gallery, common courtesy requires that you give credit where credit is due. A simple "Inspired by..." is sufficient.)

Scraplifting can help you:

• Learn about basic design rules as you learn from "the masters"
• Improve your photography as you learn what works and what doesn't
• Scrapbook more quickly as you're starting from a framework instead of from scratch
• Become more familiar with your own style as you earmark pages and layouts that resonate with you
• Capture more memories as you get ideas from other scrapbookers
• Get out of a scrapbooking rut as you challenge yourself to stretch in new ways
• Overcome product overload as you limit yourself before you even start a new layout
• Generate new ideas for journaling as you get inspiration from others
• Give you whiter teeth, fresher breath, and spot-free dishes!

Today I'm going to show you some of my personal fave layouts, with the pages that inspired them. You'll see how I adapted another designer's page for my own photos or purposes. Tomorrow I'll share some pages from other WCS designers, and then on Friday we'll talk more in depth about scraplifting etiquette. Finally, on Saturday, I'll showcase some of YOUR pages that you're going to post to our WCS flickr group with the tag "scraplift."

Lift #1: Design

The inspiration piece from Elsie Flannigan's 52 Scrapbook Challenges (one of my favorite books!):

... And my lift:

 

I knew I wanted to do a page about some random facts about me, so I was leafing through my various idea books for a design that could handle a LOT of journaling. Elsie's was perfect! For this page, I took the design but nothing else. Different topic, different execution (you'll NEVER catch me watercoloring a page!), different photo.

Lift #2: Design

The inspiration piece, from Betsy Veldman, published in BHG Scrapbooks Etc., April '08:

 

...And my adaptation:

  

I loved Betsy's four-column design the second I saw it, and tucked it away in one of my many (!!) inspiration binders. When it was time to do a multi-photo page about my brother's family, I was leafing through said binder, and Betsy's design grabbed me. I even mimicked her curlique patterned paper with hand-stitching (one of the few pages I've hand-stitched -- I had the time to do so because the design was taken care of!).

Lift #3: Design

The inspiration piece, from the darling and oh-so-talented Celeste Smith:

And my take on it:

 

Sorry, that scan is definitely sub-par, but you get the picture (wink, wink). I had a single photo of my little gal, and when I saw Celeste's page I knew it was a match made in heaven. I even hand-threaded the buttons (again, I had oodles of time left once the design was set!).

As you can see, these were all DESIGN lifts. For me, that's what I mostly need help with. But I could just as easily have taken the topic, the photo angle, the title... any element of the page where I was stuck. I'll show you a few other adaptations later this week.

Some people say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Me? I think it's the shortest distance between you and a completed scrapbook page! Now you're going to start on your own scraplifts, because I wanna see what you got goin'! 

Your assignment -- depending on your personal "stuck" point (journaling, titles, design, etc.) flip through the Write.Click.Scrapbook. gallery, or one of your oodles of idea books, and pick a page you'd like to lift. Don't spend a ton of time on this -- just go with the first page that "speaks" to you! Then start looking through your photos for appropriate shots. Tomorrow we'll talk more about product selection and how to combat product overwhelm.

 

Play to Your Strengths

Hello! I am so excited to be hosting this week on the Write. Click. Scrapbook. blog. It's always fun to be among friendly faces. :)

Each of us collective members gets the opportunity to share a little about about her “specialty.” Now, I'm not a photographer at the level of, say, Melanie Louette or Rebecca Cooper. I can't rock the digi like Ann Costen or Celeste Smith. I don't create journaling that makes the page sing like Elizabeth Dillow. But you know what I can do really, really well?

I scrap fast.

 

Somedays, you have four hours to spend on a single layout, hand-sewing each sequin and detailing your journaling with gold leaf and a horsehair paintbrush. And somedays? Well, somedays you just don't. The dog is sick, the kids are due at the groomer's (or maybe it's the reverse – but you've lost your planner, so you're not sure). You need to get dinner on the table, and the laundry! The laundry is EVERYWHERE. But you still want to scrapbook. And you can!

   

This week, I'm going to share one of my very favorite ways to jumpstart my scrapbooking. My mantra is, if it doesn't get done in the length of one “Barney” video, it isn't getting done. And if you follow my advice, you'll be well on your way to beating the clock, too.

Whatever your scrapbooking roadblock, I promise I'll have the answers. But in the meantime, fess up: What gets in the way of your scrapbooking? Product selection? Page ideas? Design? Journaling? Do tell!

 

Snow

photo and quote selection by Aly Dosdall

A Project We All Can Do

Remember when I said at the beginning of the week that there were some projects from Jeffrey Yamaguchi's 52 Projects that I probably wouldn't do? Project #8—make a poster—was on that list. Here is the description of Project #8:

Make a poster. It can be sized however you want, but 8.5 X 11 is easiest to copy and post. In terms of what should be on your poster, that’s wide open. The poster can be political, it can promote something you need to get the word out about, it can feature your art, or it can just be something that looks cool and is totally nonsensical. Anything. Once your poster is done, post it all over. You can post it all over a room, an office, a building, a school, a campus, a town, a city, a state, a nation, the world.

When I read the book, I couldn't imagine why in the world I would want to make a poster and then circulate it. I've since changed my mind, and today I hope I can convince you, too. Bear with me while I explain:

I read yesterday that since Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, the American Red Cross alone has received $8 million dollars in donations from cell phone users texting to the special number the U.S. State Department set up. That's $4 million more than the Red Cross received using this method for all of 2009. People want to help.

For the last few years my sister has organized a group of scrapbookers to make a calendar available for sale on Cafe Press. The 2009 theme required each participant to highlight a particular cause; we donated the proceeds from the sale of the calendars to charity. I chose to feature the organization Nothing But Nets, because it was the first international cause we introduced our oldest daughter to when she was four. As the page says, all kids can understand mosquitoes.

 

If you were to run this through a copy machine, it would look a lot like a poster, wouldn't it?

Like all of you, I've watched news coverage all week with a sense of frustration that there isn't more I could do beyond donating money. It occurred to me yesterday, though, that scrapbookers can do something more. We can complete Project #8. We have the tools, the design sense, the ability to convey a message on paper with simple design techniques. I sat down at the computer to see if I could create a poster in ten minutes that could be copied and tacked up on the bulletin boards you see everywhere you go—the library, the grocery store, the hallways at Panera and Starbucks that are usually covered with apartment rentals, for sale signs, and foreign language chat group meetings.

It was so easy I made three more:

This took ten minutes. I'll print out a handful at different sizes and stick a few pins and some tape in my purse when I'm out during the next week. Feel free to swipe mine to print and distribute where you live, too. If you design your own poster, you can make it say anything you want. The end result is the same: you'll be raising awareness and reminding people that this is an ongoing tragedy that we can't turn away from.

Here at Write. Click. Scrapbook, the disaster is personal. Our own Tina Cockburn and her husband Chris adopted their oldest child from Haiti, and have witnessed firsthand the challenges this country faced even before the earthquake. Together, we can do something more, however small.

Thanks for reading this week!