Write. Click. Scrapbook.

write.

Lately I’ve been re-reading the book A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. It’s a fairly remarkable book that explores each of the five senses—sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell. It’s reminded me of just how necessary it is to include sensory details in our journaling.

Why necessary?

Well, first consider this thought from Ackerman’s book:

There is no way in which to understand the world without first detecting it through the radar-net of our senses. . . [they] don’t just make sense of life in bold or subtle acts of clarity, they tear reality apart into vibrant morsels and reassemble them into a meaningful pattern.

It is through our senses that we understand and experience the world—so when we include sensory details in our journaling, we help the person reading it experience what we are writing about (a trip to the zoo, a moment in time, a birthday celebration, an injury, a funny story) along with us.

Sensory details (words that describe how something looks, tastes, sounds, feels, or smells) bring an immediacy to journaling that cannot come in any other way. They help readers to imagine something similar to what is in your head, because they also add specifics: a flower can be pretty, for example, but how do you see "pretty" in your head? But if the flower is violet, with a tinge of green on the tips and a delicate scent like powdered sugar—you can start to imagine that flower. (I'd like to plant it in my yard!)

When you are thinking about your journaling, spend some time on the sensory details. A carnival, for example, wouldn’t be a carnival without its alluring and mysterious combination of scents—the hot smell of the grease on the rides’ gears, someone’s cigarette smoke and someone else’s sun screen and, underlining everything, the sweetness of cotton candy.

"Smell," wrote Helen Keller, "is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and all the years we have lived." Though it might be the truest for smell—which is the sense most closely associated with memory in our brains—it goes for the others as well. Engage the reader’s and you bring her along whatever miles or years you need to in order to get to the one experience you’re describing.

Most of the time, sensory details are woven into the fabric of the writing, like here:

 
(the holidays are full of sensory experiences!)

In this layout’s journaling, the sensory details include touch (warm, silky, squishy), sight (the twinkly lights that sparkle off glittery ornaments), and scent (the dusty air from the heater). They help tell the story without being the point of the story.

Other times, you might try writing just about the sensory details, like Aliza did in this layout about the textures she discovered during a trip to Israel. I love how her photographs, supplies, and design all connect with her journaling—which includes touch and sight—in a thematic way.

In my layout, I wanted to focus just on the scents that go along with autumn:

Writing about the sensory details is a great way to develop journaling for photos you're not sure what to journal about. They help your journaling sparkle—but the thinking and writing itself will help you remember more than you think. So that's today's Write. challenge:

Grab a photo or a group of photos you want to scrap but aren't sure how to journal about.

Spend a few minutes thinking about either the textures or the scents associated with something from the photos.

Write some journaling that focuses on those sensory details.

As always, I'd be delighted if you linked us up to your words and stories.

Santa Claus is Coming to Write. Click. Scrapbook!

With the holidays coming ever closer, we thought perhaps a shopping list would be fun and helpful. We want to introduce or reacquaint you with some fantastic products. Shall we get started?

 

Epson R2000

We all know that often our photographs are the heart of our layouts. We research and research and pick out the best camera we can afford. Then we study and study to take the best photographs that we can. And then, we send these cared for, belabored, beloved photos to the drugstore to have them printed. And while it is cheap and easy, it doesn't quite give our photos the love they deserve.

Did you know that my best photos are printed at home? Truly. I can control the color balance and the sharpness so much better than when I send them away. And I can control the paper they are printed on. Let's talk about each.

The Epson R2000 is a beauty to behold. Measuring 25 inches wide and 13 inches deep, its majesty will be evident from the moment the box arrives at your door. Setup is easy, and it is wifi, which means that it doesn't need to sit right by your computer to work! I love that!

 

My favorite part of this printer is that it prints 13 inch wide paper and can handle a photopaper roll. Did you know you can print a photo that is 13 x 44? How cool is that? Imagine the possibilities.

 

Now, I must tell you, that paper matters. And Epson has so many to choose from. I would suggest their Velvet Fine Art Paper if you have something to print that will double as art. A print, a beautiful photo. Anything where you would love to see the depth of color. And for every photograph hanging in your home, be sure to try Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster. You will love the richness of the image, the thickness of the paper, and the clarity of the picture.

Here are some noteworthy items for those who like the details. When you use Velvet Fine Art Paper, you load the paper manually from the back. (And you can't forget as the printer dialogue box sends you a kind reminder! Hooray!) The instructions say to push the paper in as far as you can, and then wait. I set it politely on the tray and waited. And nothing! You really do need to slide the paper down as far as you can. It disappears about halfway. Really do push it in. This is not the time to be a mambi pambi. And then be sure to have a chair ready to sit down in as you might swoon when you see the results. Just sayin'... This paper is THICK. Think of the chipboard that comes in a paper pack for protection. Nearly that thick. Really. It is meant for display, too, so have place ready to go--you are going to want to put up your artwork immediately! And be patient once it comes out. Let it dry. Really dry. And then hold it gently by the edges and marvel. That you really did take a photo that was THAT good.

The Ultra Premium Luster paper reminds me of the first pack of photo paper that I bought long long ago, back before everything went cheap and light. It is as thick (or a bit more even) as the paper that your photo processing stand uses. Having read all the reviews that talked about how good this printer was for oranges and reds, I opted for a green photo. (Really,me? testing the rules, really? :) ) It was more than I could have hoped for. Which of course meant that I suddenly had to print a fall photo, too! The directions say to remove the printed photo from the tray, cover it with plain white paper, and let it sit for a minute. I did exactly that, letting the colors cure and that they did. 

Honestly, I know I am a paper snob, refusing to buy the cheap bulk stuff even when money is tight. But I really believe that it is worth it. Otherwise I may as well send my photos to the random guy down the street. I don't skimp on butter or paper!! heehee.

 

There are a couple of other things to remember about printing at home. First, you can do it in the middle of the night. Second, you don't have to wait 30 minutes for your photos to print. Third, you can make them any size you want. Fourth, as you get to know your printer and how it looks compared to that which you see on your screen, you will learn the adjustments to make to get exactly what you want. And no matter how much you love your photo guy, he is not going to see it like you do. Isn't it time you took control over getting your photographs to look as good as they do in photoshop? I just know you will love the R2000 as much as I do. 

Cricut Mini

Cricut has a new player in town and it is small and sleek and easy to use! The Cricut Mini has two switches, two internal adjustments, a lid and a couple of cords. That's it! It weighs a mere 5.5 pounds and sits prettily on any desk awaiting crafting fun.

As soon as I took it out of the box, I loved it more than the original. It takes up much less space on my desk. And I don't need cartridges! What?? I know. 

Now rather than storing all my cartridges in my desk, I just set up an account in the Cricut Craft Room. You can load all your cartridges into your Craft Room account and put them away. You can buy more while you are there and they will be stored and kept safely away in your account.

In your Craft Room, you will see a virtual cutting matte. This becomes your project background. Here you can add shapes, or type words or phrases. Then you can resize, skew, flip, or rotate your images with a click and a drag of your mouse. You can see exactly where it will cut, allowing you to move your images close together to maximize your medium. Imagine using less vinyl as you can now put all your projects on the matte at the same time!

Not only can you place images side by side, but you can also layer them up, so that you can see how they will look stacked. When it comes to cutting time, they will cut one layer at a time, just as you have come to expect.

Even though the Mini is not a standalone machine (as you need your computer and an internet connection to use it), you will love what you can do. My two favorite features are having my cartridges linked to my account, and getting to see on my screen what is going to be cut. It helps me feel more brave when I can plot it out exactly. A close runner up for favorite features is that when I push the cut button, it prompts me as to my trimming settings. I no longer have to look up what depth, speed, or pressure is proper for my paper, vinyl, or fabric.

Lastly, Cricut is currently offering a rental program for their holiday cartridges. Holiday Rental Bundles are available for purchase until December 31 and you can choose between two 60-day rental options: the Holiday Basics Bundle (700 images of holiday-themed digital artwork and Cricut Craft Room exclusive images) for $19.99, or the Holiday Deluxe Bundle (Basics Bundle plus nearly 500 additional images from previously released Christmas cartridges) for $29.99.

 

Scrapbook & Cards Today

Have you though about a subscription to our favorite scrapbooking magazine? Scrapbook and Cards Today is a wonderful stocking stuffer. (One you could buy for yourself! This Mrs. Clause loves to surprise others with the delights in my own stocking!) For the mere price of shipping, you could have the lustrous and wonderful Scrapbook & Cards Today in your hot little hands four times a year. And you will love everything about it. Don't forget to stop by to see the new edition which is hot off the presses today!

 

Jessica Sprague Project Life Class

It is no secret that Project Life has transformed the scrapbooking world. Much as her original scrapbooking how to books offered us permission to scrapbook with clean lines and lots of photos, Becky's new system offers us permission to enjoy more and record more, with less. Less time. Less guilt. And less stuff. Imagine how fun it would be to give the gift of Project Life this year!

Becky Higgins (creator or Project Life) has given Jessica Sprague her exclusive stamp of approval to teach a Digital Project Life in Photoshop class! This online, video-based class will teach the basic Photoshop tools to create Project Life pages that integrate photographs, templates, embellishments and type. The class will run from January 7 – 13, 2013. But don’t worry if that week is a busy one for you – all class content that you purchase from JessicaSprague.com is available to you forever! Awesome, no?

 

Support Local Artists

We have some favorites we thought you might like!

Who wouldn't love a print or mini album from Monika Wright's etsy shop? 

Francine Clouden has some delightful peekaboo journals in her shop, Callaloo Soup Designs.

You might also want to stop by Rebecca Cooper's site and download her free holiday cards, or she has others for purchase as well!

Crystal Wilkerson has her 2013 Planner available for purchase. If you haven't seen it before, stop by and check it out. It would be a wonderful present for someone you love in your life.

Melissa Kaiserman is making terrific cash budget wallets that will help a friend stay on budget in the new year!

And lastly, our favorite irreverent, Cheryl Overton, has a delightful new holiday print that is sure to make you snort.

 

And for the extra news... Today is a surprise holiday

We have three lovely items for you today. One of you will take home a new Cricut Mini, thanks to the generosity of Provo Craft.

One of you will take home a free subscription to Scrapbook & Cards Today, as well as their 2013 Calendar.

And our third lucky number will receive a seat in Jessica Sprague's Project Life Class. But wait, there's more! We all want amazing pictures for our Project Life Projects, so the giveaway also includes Jessica’s new Photo Editing 1 class. This new and improved version of Jessica’s most popular class will help you take your photos from good to great! This course, which is the first in a photo editing series, focuses on global editing - things you can apply to an entire photo. You'll learn the basic photo editing techniques to take your photos straight from the camera through simple transformations that will have you (and your loved ones) saying WOW!

 

If you would like to be considered for our amazing holiday giveaway, please leave us a comment telling us your favorite WCS blog features (i.e. monthly gallery, printables, giveaways, etc.) If you would like extra comment opportunities, please like Cricut, Scrapbook Cards & Today, or Jessica Sprague on Facebook. Or you can follow Cricut on their Pinterest page. Then pop back by and leave a comment telling us that you have stopped by the other pages!

 

We will leave comments open through Sunday evening. Three lucky numbers will be drawn at random and posted on Monday morning. Please remember to check back to see if yours is the lucky number. If it is, please claim it by email (writeclickscrapbook at gmail dot com) by the time the clock strikes twelve on Tuesday night!

Happy Hanukkah tomorrow! 

A special thank you to Epson for providing the R2000 printer and papers, and Provo Craft for providing the Cricut Mini for trial and review. We appreciate their sponsorship for our fourth annual WCS For the Holidays celebration!

Oh Christmas Tag, Oh Christmas Tag!

Happy Holidays everyone! Kelly here, with a quick project that will brighten your season - and as a bonus, it can be made with supplies you probably already have!

I love plain, ordinary, manila-colored shipping tags. You know, the kind you buy at an office-supply store for next to nothing. I love that you can dress them up, or leave them bare. I love how useful they are. I love that they come in all different sizes. So a few years ago, I decided to make them part of my holiday decor.

Here's a peek:

I found a fabulous list of how to say "Merry Christmas" in different languages, along with the pronunciation. With a bit of measuring and the help of a word processing program, I taped my plain tags to a sheet of paper and ran them through my printer. Each tag now had a phrase on it. Then I gathered a few supplies and went to work embellishing them.

I used stickers, stamps, chipboard, and bits of ribbon and twine to make each tag unique. Then I lightly inked all the edges with red ink.

After I finished all my tags, I strung them on a bit of ribbon to make a banner. It's fun to try and pronounce the different greetings, and of course, I never get tired of those manila tags!

Here's a shot of the banner from a bit farther away:

Happy crafting to all and to all, Her za Krismas! (That's Swahili).

The Christmas Book of December Days

Hi, it's Amy Sorensen, and I’m starting my post today with a confession:

December Daily albums and I don’t get along.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m an admirer. A fan, even. Of other people’s December Daily albums. I love the concept. I love the notion of capturing the little moments that make December so beloved. I love the thought of all those moments kept in one space.

I just don’t know how anyone manages to ever finish one.

I mean, here it is, only December 5, and already I feel like I’m running out of time before December 25. Only twenty days away! I still have tons of shopping left to do. Neighbor gifts. A family photo shoot. I need to write our Christmas card, make the photo calendar for my husband, and wrap all those presents I haven’t bought yet. Make fudge and caramel, bake sugar cookies and candy cane cookies and minty-triple-chocolate cookies. Help my mom get her tree decorated, figure out stocking stuffers, and find the chocolate oranges without which Christmas would not be Christmas.

I can’t seem to fit much scrapbooking into December. Aside from the photos for the cards and the calendar, Photoshop doesn’t get opened. My supplies get dusty. I get antsy from the lack of creativity. And I am awed by those of you who make (and finish!) December Daily albums.

But I also remain enamored of the concept: capturing little moments, the experiences which add depth and breadth to Christmas but can get lost in the drama of The Big Day.

So I came up with a way to capture little moments. Little tiny moments. This isn’t elaborate; it’s simple and straightforward and quick and entirely doable in the frenetic pace my life takes on in December: 

This is my book of December days. It’s a perpetual calendar for the next ten years’ worth of Decembers. There is a page for each day in December (embellished with a quote about Christmas or the holiday spirit) and a little space to write what we did on that day each year. Nothing enormous, just a small, simple pleasure or two from the day:

 

It fits in a little 4x6 1-up albums I picked up at Target last January on clearance for fifty cents. (I checked; Target still carries them!) Once all 31 days of cards are in the album, there are exactly enough pages left for ten photos (if I use the inside back cover), so each year I’ll slide in one family or absolutely favorite photo from that December.

And that’s it: a simple way of documenting my family’s December in a method even I can manage!

 

I’ve only written in my Christmas book of December days four times (as today is the fifth and who knows what it will bring!), but I’ve discovered an unexpected perk: I’m finding myself paying more attention, watching for the thing I want to include for that day. So far, nothing big or earth-shattering.

(I've even already had to abbreviate!) But I like the idea of slowly filling in the slots, creating a document of little memories I’d otherwise lose.

 

Want to make your own Christmas Book of December Days? Here’s how:

1.   Find six 12x12 sheets of holiday-esque patterned paper that is subtle enough to be printed on. (I used the b-side of THIS Basic Grey paper.) You could use a bunch of different scraps (you’d need a total of 17 4x12 scraps), six coordinating sheets from the same manufacterer, or six of the same pattern. Up to you!

2. Cut each sheet into one 4x12 and one 8x12 piece.

3. Download the PDF printable: Christmas book of december days.

4.  Print pages 1-6 on each of the 6 8x12 pieces you cut in step 2.

5. Print pages 7-12 on the same pieces from step 4, only feed them in the opposite direction. (So you are printing on the bottom, empty space. The direction you feed into your printer will vary depending on your printer.)

6. Print pages 13-17 on each of the 4x12 pieces you cut in step 2. (You’ll have one 4x12 piece left over.)

7. Print pages 18-21 on the same pieces from step 6, only feed them in the opposite direction.

8. Create the cover by using the cardboard insert that comes in the album. Cover each side with the printed 4x6 Title and Intro pages (pages 20 and 21 in the PDF file) and embellish the left over half inch as you wish. (I used the little patterned strip on the paper’s selvage.)

9. Using the piece you have left and whatever embellishments you want, cover both sides of the back cardboard insert. (You'll be using the inside side of this back cover in 2021 for your family or absolute-favorite photo, so plan accordingly!)

10. Stick everything into the album pages.

(The printing is a little bit laborious but it allows you to use every inch of a 12x12 sheet of patterned paper. You can skip steps 4-7 if you have a wide format printer by downloading this 12x12 file instead: Christmas book of december days 12x12, and then just push "print"!)

Another thing I’ve enjoyed so far: flipping through the pages and thinking about how my family might change during the next ten years. What will our lives be like in five or seven or ten years? How will we change? I’m excited to see, and happy to know little pieces of it will be documented along the way.

An adult version of the Advent calender

Happy 4th of December! How are you doing now that one of the busiest months has started? I am doing good. My December started with a Christmas fair where me and my friend sold handmade stuff. So much fun! 

I wanted to show you two of the items that I sold. I made different kinds of chocolate goodies like dried fruit covered in melted chocolate and rice puff chocolates and package them in four different tiny packages, one for each Sunday in advent. 

I thought that it would be fun for the adults to have something to look forward in advent as well as for the kids! And this way you know you have something to go with your coffee every Sunday :)

I used some small tags and embellished them very simply with some washitape and a glittery snowflake. It took some time to stamp the words with my letterstamps, but I made a pact with myself a long time ago to not stamp perfectly so I made them while watching the latest episode of Grey´s Anatomy :) 

When I thought about it I guess there are people (crazy ones!) that actually don't like chocolate! So, I made an advent calender with tea bags. I bought different kinds of teas and removed the tags and made my own. On the ones that didn´t have a string I just punched a star from patterned papers, stamped the date and attached it with a gluedot.With the ones with string, I attached the star onto the string and wired it to look like the usual tag. 

These items were a big hit and I sold several kits that people were giving away as gifts. Great idea!

CD Case Calendar

Hi there, it's Celeste along with Christine bringing you this year's printable CD Calendar and PNG files! Christine used her mad digi skillz and created the fabulous PNGs that are the basis for the calendar. Celeste put together the easy printable PDF calendar that you can display in an empty CD case. Please download the PNG files at this link and the printable calendar here. The printable calendar file includes blank printable PDFs for each month of 2013. The PNG files are there for digital scrappers who want to create their very own calendar. You can use these and create any size calendar you’d like. 

To start off, Celeste decided to create her calendar digitally. She plans on having it printed at an online photo printer. Celeste started with a 5 inch by 4.65 inch canvas and then added Christine's PNG file. Then she had fun decorating this Christmas-y month with digital supplies!

materials paper (Jolly Holiday by Nerdy Scrapper Studio, Christmas Memories by Tracy Martin, One Story Down) + label (Scrap Your Heart Out, Lauren Reid, One Story Down) + elements (Christmas Memories by Tracy Martin, One Story Down)

Christine made a set of 3x4 printable cards that can be used in Project Life or on pages. AWESOME!

Marnie Flores made this great poster calendar using Christine's PNG files. You may remember she made one with Celeste's calendar files last year. It was so well received that she had to make another! The twelve photo squares represent each month of the year as she tries to capture the activities of the year. I just love the photo collage she made here, so fun! What a great gift for grandparents!

To make it easy for you to make your own, Marnie created a psd file ready for your photos using Photoshop. Just add your photos and clip them to the photo boxes and you have a delightful add on for the grandparents in you life! You can download it here.

If you make a calendar or use the date stamps, be sure to share it with us in the Flickr gallery. Happy Holidays!

Sunday photo+words