Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Social Media Week - Day One

Welcome to

Social Media Week!

Hi all! I'm Lisa Kisch, and I'm so excited to be hosting this week on the topic that has truly changed the way I keep memories-- Social Media. Have you found a shift in your scrapping since Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram have taken over the planet? I know that I document more and scrap faster because these tools are instantly at hand in my day to day life. (My camera would probably not agree that this is a good thing. She's been rather neglected since Instagram came to town!)

Today I'm going to show you some of the ways I use these tools in my scrapping-- and then over the next few days I will feature some of your favourite social media sites, and how we are scrapping with them. Not only that, how we are scrapping ABOUT them! Social media has become such a part of our lives that they themselves have become the topic of many layouts and minis in galleries all over the web. (Don't forget about our Thursday giveaway! I won't ruin the surprise, but suffice to say that there will be a whole lotta scrap inspiration up for grabs!)

 

First There Was Facebook

For me, it all began with Facebook. I don't twitter...tweet...whatever...but I do update my status all the time! I quickly began to think of this as a form of "slice of life" journaling. Whereas we often get caught up in scrapping the big events in our lives, Facebook statuses allowed me to quickly journal the minutiae of the day to day. What is important to me right this second? That's what I write on my status. Collect all of these together, and you have an amazing overview of your week, or month, or year. The first time I collected all of my status updates on one page was 2008:

(Remember to click on any of these to make them a bit bigger and clearer!)

A favourite photo from every month, paired with all of my status updates:

What makes me laugh here is that all of my status updates fit on one page! The next year, 2009, It took two pages, plus the back of the layout to fit them all:

Although it took some time to go back and assemble all of my status updates-- it really was worth it! There are even some Facebook apps that will do it for you.

 

Last summer, you may remember that I did a summer version of this as a mini book for our "Summertime Dailies." I paired favourite photos with my June/July/August status updates:

...and then this past winter I put a similar book together on-line at blurb.com, this time featuring status updates that were specifically kid related. I printed off 5 of these and -- voila-- Christmas presents done!

You may notice in this last example that the photos are square, slightly fuzzy with an ever-so-cool texture-- which brings me to my next topic...

 

Then Came Instagram...

When Instagram came along, I was able to document the teeny little moments visually-- just like status updates did it in written form. I always have my phone on me, and it's (almost) always charged. Although the quality isn't spectacular, there is an immediacy that is so intoxicating. I'm not saying this is a good thing-- but probably more than half of my layouts these days are using Instagram photos. There is less pressure on being a good photographer. They are bonus photos! I say use 'em!

Here are a few examples:

Print them big or small, in groups or alone, those little squares of goodness are a pleasure to scrap!

I think that's a good start for today! There are so many more ways to use social media in memory keeping, though. Come back tomorrow for more some pinning/tweeting/updating fun!

write.

Welcome to write. Saturday on this beautiful (Inter) National Scrapbooking Day! Today's journaling prompt is quite near and dear to my heart. Why? Because my self proclaimed non-scrapbooking sister, Katherine Willis Pershey, wrote a book. A beautiful memoir about her life as a wife, pastor, and mother; and really, what is a memoir but a very large scrapbook? Her book is called Any Day a Beautiful Change.

I am also very excited about the cover, as my sister used a photo I took of her sweet family, not knowing one day it would be on the cover of a famous author's book!

Katherine borrowed (giving credit where credit is due) her title for her book from an Innocence Mission song. The song begins: “Oh I’m going to find some peace of mind. At any time I could change, any day, a beautiful change.” I see how she was so heavily inspired by those words.

So this Saturday's prompt is to write about a beautiful change in your life. Some of these beautiful changes can be monumental, like the birth of a child and the life chosen as a stay at home mom.
  (by Erin Sweeney)

Or believing in something greater that can bring such beautiful inner change like in Emily's layout here.

And another beautiful layout by Emily, recapping the last four years of change-because change can be more than just one moment; it can span time.

Beautiful changes also occur in relationships, like with Amy and her now teen-aged daughter.

Here is Amy's beautiful journaling:

I remember the first time Haley and I had a teenage-esque argument. She was about seven, and she wanted me to buy her a belly shirt. "Britney Spears wears shirts like these!" she insisted (not ever guessing she was ruining her case). Looked at from this distance, it seems cute, but it wasn't cute then. I was stunned. Floored. Utterly taken aback: where had my Haley gone and when had she been replaced with this girl who was actually mad at me?

That day our relationship began to change. And really: don't get me wrong. When I remember the relationship I had as a teenager with my mom, I am more than grateful for mine with Haley. But no mother-daughter relationship is ever perfect. In fact, I have a theory: the closer you are when your daughter is young, the bumpier the relationship will be during adolescence. This is because it has to happen—the severing. A daughter cannot be young forever. She has to become her own person and to do so has to cut some of the ties.

 

Of course, having that theory doesn't really make things a whole lot easier. I confess:  I've shed many tears, out of frustration and hurt and disappointment. I have wished for things to be less antagonistic between us. I've known deep in my soul the many ways I've failed her. I've made mistakes & apologized & shouted when I shouldn't. I've learned some truths about myself and how (hopefully) to be a better parent. And I think it's all been fairly average. Painful, but ultimately OK.

 

Despite all the storminess I had with my own mom, something strange started to happen when I was 17: my animosity began to fade. She could say something like "did you do your homework?" and I wouldn't immediately spike with annoyance. I started talking to her about stuff I'd previously only talked about with friends. I started realizing that she was a person, and that I was a person, too, not a child.

 

And now here Haley is: 17. And while I've learned to assume nothing and to just see what happens, I'm also letting myself think about how things will change during the next year or so. Some of the changes will be tough because they will put distance between us. But I also believe that good changes will happen, too, as she continues to grow. The rocky parts will perhaps be less frequent and we will start to have a more grown-up-people relationship.

 

Not all the changes may be as powerful and tear inducing, some changes can be ever so slightly silly, like my excitement about getting an iPhone. Finally.

I have been so inspired by this prompt, that I plan on creating an entire album of my beautiful changes. It will include the moments of great significance, like this layout I made years ago which informed my husband that baby #2 was on it's way.
Yes, I took the test, gasped, and immediately ran to my scrap room to modify a layout I recently completed. I believe that is what we call a slightly neurotic scrapbooker ;)

 

I did this layout about the day my camera died. On National (Inter)national Scrapbooking Day. In the middle of my 365. It didn't seem like a beautiful change at the time, but ended up being the catalyst for learning even more about photography. Loving photography even more. It certainly turned into a beautiful change.


All of these layouts didn't necessarily have a perfect place in my albums, but now will have a permanent home in my Beautiful Changes album. Now I am finally going to take the time scrap the stories of my wedding, the birth of each of my children, and all the little changes in between. MY beautiful changes in my own words. I just keep thinking, wouldn't it be wonderful to know about the birth of my mother, in my grandmother's own words. Or how my grandfather proposed. I would love to know that. Isn't that what this day, this site, this hobby is all about? Recording life's beautiful changes. Scrapbooking has become my beautiful change indeed.

Be sure to come back on Thursday for a giveaway of Any Day a Beautiful Change. You definitely need your own copy. If you can't wait, you can purchase the book or ebook edition at Amazon or Chalice Press. Now start writing about the beautiful changes in your life! Enjoy yourself this (Inter) National Scrapbooking Day!

Making it Work for You

Hi everyone! What I love about Project Life is how flexible it is and, today, I wanted to share a litte bit about my story of how I use the Project Life structure to tell our day-to-day stories as they happen.

I was first introduced into the idea of Project Life four years ago, when Becky Higgins created a kit called Project 365 for Kit-of-the-Month club from Lisa Bearnson. I loved the idea and was already taking a photo every day so I bought two of the kits when they went on sale. 

The kits were sold towards the end of one year, so when the new year began, I immediately started using my kit. I printed my photos, put them in their sleeves and wrote on the little journaling cards that came along with the kit I had. 

A few months in, I quit.

What's important to note here is that I never quit. I am not one of those people who starts several projects and then walks away. I tend to pick my projects carefully and then stick with them all the way to the end. 

But not so for Project 365. 

To be fair, I did end up printing all daily the photos in bulk at the end and sticking them into the album. But I didn't have the patience to write all the journaling cards and I considered the project a total letdown for me. Which is why, when the new incarnation, Project Life, became really popular, I was reluctant to try it again. (Even though I still had my second kit from four years ago.)

Here's what didn't seem to work for me:

• using and printing 4x6 photos 
  • I prefer smaller photos and just putting pictures page after page felt like putting together a photo album (but more work) and the page didn't feel substantial to me somehow. It also felt like I was posting the photos on my blog daily and then printing them and doing a lot of repetitive activities that I didn't enjoy. 
• the journaling cards
  • I didn't like my handwriting and, again, I was writing these thoughts on my blog already so it felt repetitive, ugly, and time-consuming. (In fairness, I probably could have figured out how to type directly on to the cards but this felt like at lot of extra work.)

Since I disliked both the larger photos and the journaling cards, it was easy to think that I disliked the whole structure of Project Life. This was partly because I already wrote a blog daily and a lot of the work I did felt repetitive and time-consuming.

But then something interesting happened. For 2012, I chose "savor" as my one-little-word. I had begun practicing gratitude regularly and wanted to increase my awareness. Pay more attention to my life as it happened. Savor all the little moments that everyday life and miracles are made of. So I created something called The Savor Project. 

The idea behind this project was to document our little, daily stories each week. In its first incarnation, it was just a Moleskine journal that I was altering. But the album got unwieldy really quickly and it was obvious that this idea wouldn't scale to a year-long project. (You can see the album here.)

I loved the idea of the project but I needed to find a different execution. That's when I finally revisited the Project Life structure and realized it could totally work for my personal goals. I still had my second kit from four years ago and decided to give it a try. 

And it worked like a charm.

I know this post is all words and no images so far, so here is what my spreads look like in my album:

So here's the structure I use for my spreads:

• Pick 4-8 stories from this week
• Pick and print images to represent the stories (I use a small polaroid printer that prints stickers)
• Create 6x8 mini-layout-like pages. Stitch, have fun and then cut them in the middle, so they fit vertically into the 4x6 slots. 
• Hand-journal stories directly on to the pages
• Embellish to my heart's content (though I try to keep them flattish just to not make the album too thick.)
• Since I have very specific art-related goals this year, too, I use the bottom sections that are originally for the journaling cards, to store copies of my art from that week.
• Even though most of the stories come from that week, I don't keep track of the date. The goal is to have a collection of small stories from that year in one album.

Here's another spread:

If there are one or two extra stories, I might let them spill into the next week. But there are some weeks when I just have too many stories to tell and I don't want to give them up. So I will occasionally add half-a-page so I can sneak in 2-4 more stories. Here's an example:

A month ago, I wrote a detailed post on the My Mind's Eye blog about my process. You can read it here. But I wanted to show you what my pages look like before I put the stories down. Here they are as 6x8 pages with some layering of pretty papers:

and then I add stitching and then cut the papers in half. 

And finally here's a look at a set with photo/journaling added:

And there you go! Fourteen weeks in, I love this project almost as much (if not more) than I did when I first began. Here are some advantages of the story-based approach:

• I can prep the pages ahead of time and then if my week is really busy all I do is stick the photos (which are are stickers so require no extra adhesive), write some journaling, and add a title. 
• I don't have to have photos from the whole week, I only need four stories. Sometimes even fewer if there was a big event. For example, my son's birthday took four sections to cover so all I needed were two more stories that week.
• I get to use a LOT of my stash. This is like mini-scrapping. So I feel the same sense of joy and accomplishment as I do when I scrap but it's much faster.
• Because it's a story based approach, it covers that week's stories much more deeply than if I were trying to do a general review of the week. These are stories I'd usually be scrapping. It's like making 4-8 scrapbooking pages a week, but MUCH faster.
• I haven't yet, but if I do end up completely missing a week, there's no way to tell that by looking at my album. Even though it's sequential, it doesn't specifically indicate a timeframe on each spread so I could easily have one spread span two weeks (or even a month!) if I wanted. The only reason I am sticking to a spread a week is cause I want to. 
• And most importantly, while I do get to play with a lot of product (and use my unacceptably large stash), I love that this is about preserving stories. For me, it's all about finding a way to savor our moments. I love that when I am living those moments, I get to enjoy them. When I process the photos, I remember them once again. And when I sit to do this project, I get to live them a third time. I am always filled with so much gratitude for my life when I look at my pages. For me, product always comes second. Things are in fashion only for this moment. And years later, I might not care for the embellishment I was in love with now. But the memories are eternal. They will make me happy and fill me with gratitude forever. So I keep my focus on them. 

Before I end, I wanted to share today's downloadables with you. They are by the awesome Marnie!

You may download the colored version here and the grey cards here.

And there is one more set that coordinates with the printables from Tuesday.

You may download it here.

Aren't they magnificent? Thanks Marnie!!

So now, to conclude: Whether you like my personal way of approaching Project Life or not, the one takeaway I hope you have today is that the Project Life system is super-flexible. There's no rule saying you have to use the cards that indicate a particular week. There's no rule saying you need to print 4x6 photos. You don't have to use the journaling cards. You don't have to use anything you don't want to. You can make it work for you. For your particular likes and dislikes. For your personal goals. I can tell you that it's worth taking the time to find a way that makes it truly work for you.  Remember that, at the end of the day, this is your project. You are doing it the people you love and for yourself.

Do what fulfills you. 

In Review

First, thank you, dear readers, for your kind excitement and comments for our month of mini albums. We appreciate your patience with our trying new things and hope that you have enjoyed the monthly theme.

Second, we could not have made this month work without our kit sponsors. Thank you Cocoa Daisy, JBS Mercantile, and Studio Calico for your generosity in not only providing kits for our giveaways, but also for our designers. Please stop by and visit them and leave them a big thank you!!

Did you know that this month you have had the pleasure of 37 mini albums? Did you have a favorite theme? topic? design? As our last hurrah, let's take our monthly stroll through our gallery. A last lingering look before we move on to another weekly and monthly topic.

 

I enlisted Amy's help and together we have compiled a summary of the gallery and some prompts for your creativity.

Aly’s mini focuses on some of her beliefs and values. Try journaling about a belief you are passionate about, a value you hope your child implements throughout his life, or a concept that you think will help your child become a stronger person. Or try journaling about a time when your child showed she’d really learned one of your values or beliefs.

Amy's album is a collection of photos that tell their own story. Have you begun a pattern of taking a particular photo? If so, go back and find them, and put them together as Amy has in a book that highlights them and allows them to shine.

Celeste’s mini is a vacation album. On one page, she wrote about her son seeing whales and how that was one of his bucket-list items. Try journaling about one of your children’s or your own experiences with crossing an item off of your bucket list.

In her Summer 2011 album, Christa journals about her family’s affection for Myrtle Beach. Try writing some journaling about why you go to a specific place for your vacations.

In Diane’s year-in-review album, there is a page about making pizza. Try journaling about your family’s pizza traditions. Do you make yours or buy them? Which brand is everyone’s favorite and how do you conquer the great topping debate?

Donna’s album documents her favorite season, fall. Try journaling about your favorite season. What do you love about it? And why? What is your favorite seasonal tradition? What do you remember about this season from your childhood? How does your affection for the season influence your family?

EmilyS made a mini with space for writing the funny and cute things her daughter says. Try journaling about your child’s own funny conversations or way with words. If you can’t think of any, spend a day or two just listening for the funny things; jot them down and you’ve made a great start on your journaling!

Erin dedicated an entire page in her mini to journaling about one month in her son’s life. Try journaling about a single month in your children's lives. What kinds of activities and learning are they focused on? What were the highlights? What were the hard parts? What changes were made in those 30-odd days?

Francine's sweet mini shows how we can celebrate the mini in a literal way. Maybe set a two hour window for yourself and create a mini mini that can be at the ready for adding in photos as they are ready.

Karen’s album gives an overview of her current goals. Try journaling about one of your children’s goals. How is she going about accomplishing it? What setbacks has she had? How has she pushed forward? How does seeing your children achieve their goals make you feel?

Katrina’s mini gave an overview of her affection for her iPhone. Try journaling about how a specific piece of technology affects you, your children, or your entire family. Or, write a contrast piece: how has technology changed since you were a kid?

Do you ever take photos with a particular purpose in mind? Kelly's album has this potential. Knowing you wanted to collect your photos in a vertical album, you could concentrate your efforts on snapping vertical photos at a particular event or occasion. We are scrapbookers. We do plan these things!!

Keshet’s mini focuses on her daughter’s first week of life. One of the little layouts has a photo of her daughter and her husband together. Try journaling about your children’s relationship with their father. What sort of relationship do they have? How are they similar and what do they butt heads over? Is there a specific moment that encapsulates their relationship?

LisaK put together a mini with all of her favorite photos. Try journaling about one of your favorite pictures. Why do you love it? What are the details behind the pic—who took it, where was it taken? What does the photo capture that no other pictures do?

LisaO's album is a collection of her favorite photos. Try assembling an album such as this little by little as the year goes by so that it is less intimidating. Perhaps keep your ever growing album nearby so that it is easy to add pages.

Marie's happily ever after album is a quick summary of her 12 on the 12th project. Have you a scrapbook page that would also make a fun album that could sit out for easy reference, and show? Sometimes having others see our albums can be just the push we need to finish our projects.

Marnie’s entire mini focuses on her reading choices. Trying journaling about your reading habits. (Your kids’ book opinions aren’t the only ones that count!) What kind of books do you like to read and why? How do you fit reading into your busy life? What’s your opinion on eBooks? Or get even more specific and write about the book you are reading right now.

Monika's Easter album shows how you can use a mini to house event photos. Have you considered making a mini to display photos that deserve more than just a page in a photo album?

Paula’s Q&A album asks the big question: what are your favorites? One of the questions asks about favorite books. Try journaling about what your children are reading right now. Do they love it or are they just sort of “ehh” about it? What is their relationship with the book? (Is it part of a series, or by a favorite author, or one a good friend couldn’t stop raving about?)

And lastly, Vivian's honesty about not loving mini's is sweet. And we love the page she made using up minialbum materials. Clever.

 

This month, there was so much that moved me. I have made a file of some great ideas and hope you have, too! I wondered if you could let us know if you enjoyed the month and would like to see it again next year. If you could please leave us a comment and let us know if you liked it, we would appreciate it! Thank you!

A Weekend in NYC Mini

I am a huge fan of Studio Calico. Their eponymous line and exclusive collaborations means kits that are exquisitely unique! I had never worked with kits until a year or so ago-- but now I buy them every once in a while and keep them in plastic folders for times when I want to scrap quickly, or scrap on the go-- without dragging out every supply I own!

The Daydream Believer kit is a gem, and it perfectly suited my minibook topic-- a spring weekend in NYC!

Now, this was a working weekend, and so I didn't bring my camera with me. The weather was so beautiful, though, that I couldn't help but take out my phone and capture the city by Instagram. I almost always print my photos at home, and in this case I just used regular 4X6 photo paper, printing edge to edge.

For the design I used the 4x6 postcards that many businesses use to advertise as my inspiration. (For ease of photographing the book, I shot it before adding my binder rings as binding.) I used the exclusive Norwich alpha in the naked chipboard state, as I loved how it blended in with the scenery. I'm also a tad obsessed with mini alphas-- so I used the Dear Lizzy set to the max! (Click any of these photos to make them larger.)

Dinner at Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich's "Eataly" market. Oh. So. Good.

The little yellow envelope contains extra bits of ephemera...

I spent most of my time in Harlem, where my friend lives, and I was amazed by the beautiful architecture and wide boulevards. It's a vibrant neighbourhood, and I understand why my friends love living there.

This sunset over Harlem was a view I will never forget!

Thanks, Studio Calico, for the perfect kit to document my trip!

oh, JBS! you Thrill Me!

Hello, and welcome to day two of the Jenni Bowlin kit week! This is Amy and I have to tell  you: this kit thrilled me. It was the perfect bunch of supplies I needed to scrap some photos of a trip that I've been wanting to scrap for more than 18 months.

Nearly two years ago, my two oldest kids and I went on a pioneer trek with our church group. This involved dressing up as pioneers (which sometimes, honestly, felt a little bit silly!) and pushing handcarts along the Oregon and Mormon pioneer trails. We learned about our ancestors—some of whom walked those same trails—as well as a little bit about ourselves. 

And I took a whole bunch of photos! 

But I haven’t scrapped any of them. That’s because I’ve been waiting for the right spark. And, you know? The JBS kit was exactly what I needed!

The soft colors and vintage patterns brought my trek photos instantly to my mind and I had zero hesitation: my mini needed to be a combination of those photos and the supplies in the JBS kit.

Confession: my absolute favorite item in the kit was the alphabet stamps. I mean, I am already an alpha-anything addict. But these stamps? Swoon! 

 

With over 500 photos from that trip, I knew I would need to make a fairly-large mini, so I chose an 8x8 post-bound album. I also knew I’d need to be super-selective for which photos to include. I let the organization of my mini determine which photos to print. Here’s how I organized it:

I divided the trek into eight different sections. These covered the different experiences we had on the trek. For each section, I printed a 6x8 photo and adhered it to an 8x8 layout, then stamped the title:  (The section page from the time we spent at, obviously, Independence Rock, Wyoming) 

 

Then I chose the best photos from the rest of that section and made as many layouts as I had photos for. Most of my sections have 3 or 4 layouts, along with the section page. I had most of my photos printed as 3x4s, but the most dramatic or memorable ones I printed as 4x6s, 4x8s or 5x7s. Here’s an example of a layout from the album: 

 

I also used the main supplies in the kit to organize each section. I used one pattern from the kit in each section. I used punched circles, small strips, and chunky squares to give pops of color and pattern. I also used all of the labels on the back of the Magpie Accessory paper for journaling spaces, as well as the label stamps.

 

Speaking of journaling—each section had a lot.To keep the words from becoming overwhelming (and taking up a lot of space), I made journaling booklets for each section: I used the corresponding smaller prints from the Magpie Mini Pattern Sheet to make a pocket to hold each journaling booklet, and then decorated each section's booklet using the supplies in the kit.

(Some journaling booklet details from the section one booklet. I swiped the JBS Malted Milk ink pad across the paper to age it a bit.)  (the journaling booklet from section 5) (please note: covering the spine on a journaling booklet with washi tape is one of my favorite ways to use it!)

 

Here's another layout:

(The section #5 page and its corresponding right side.)

 

Finally, I added an extra mini to the album using the hodge podge album that came with the kit. One of the amazing things that happened before we left on the trek was that we discovered the travel journal of my great-great-great uncle, Samuel Openshaw.

(His brother, Levi, was my great-great-great grandfather.)  Since this document proved important to the personal knowledge we gained, I wanted to include it, but again, it was a lot of words (perhaps that’s where I got my penchant for writing?). I printed the journal on 4x5 squares, double sided, and then spaced them in between the little bits and pieces from the hodge podge kit.

This breaks the diary up and gives it a visual impact as well as the emotional one it already packs. I keep this in a folder in the back of the album.

 

It's fair to say that I'm a pretty slow scrapbooker. So I was completely surprised at how quickly this entire album came together. The supplies were the perfect ones to enhance this project. In fact, aside from the 8x8 base pages, a little bit of washi tape from my drawer, and two pens, I didn't add anything extra to the album that wasn't in the kit. And that makes for some happy scrapping on my part. Thanks, JBS, for a perfect kit!

write.

One early morning when I was in junior high, I got in the shower to get ready for school. Even then, my eyes were pretty bad, and plus to give myself the illusion of getting more sleep, I liked to shower with the lights off. So the dark blotch in the corner of the shower didn’t catch my attention until I’d started washing my hair. I looked down, saw the blob, and then had to crouch down to see what it was. I expected a fuzzy. What I got was an enormous black spider. Being a girl in a houseful of girls, I didn’t like spiders. So I started screaming. My mom raced, completely panicked after being woken by a screeching girl from a dead sleep at 6:15 in the morning, into the bathroom. When she saw what I was screaming about—I was huddled, by the time she arrived, in the opposite corner of the shower—she rolled her eyes, squished the spider with a blob of toilet paper, and went back to bed. To this day? I never shower without putting my contacts in first AND I always make sure to check the corners of all showers before starting the water!

This is Amy Sorensen, and I’m bringing you something a little bit different for this month’s write. Saturday. It sort-of goes along with our monthly theme of minis because honestly, this album is one I keep fairly updated, even though I’m not certain that it really qualifies as an album or a scrapbook or a mini, per se:

That is my "My Stories" album. And in it I keep—well, my stories! Like the story of the shower spider, which at least one of my children will inevitably request I tell them whenever we are on vacation. (Because checking all corners of a hotel room for spiders is one of my vacation necessities!) Or the story about the time my then-boyfriend was chasing my younger sister around the front yard (just being playful) and a policeman stopped because he thought that Kendell was trying to beat her up. (He really wasn’t.) (We all still giggle about this!) Or the late night when one of my ex-boyfriends decided to get back at me by shoving a duck into my bedroom window. (Seriously!)

What I mean by "stories" are the little incidents and experiences that add flavor to your life. The chestnuts you pull out at family get-togethers or the tales of mirth you tell at parties. The inside jokes and memories and embarrassing moments that make you unique. You know: your stories.

These are so easily overlooked in our scrapbooks. Take the spider story, for example. I’ve just never managed to tell that story on a regular scrapbook layout, because the impetus has never been there. I try to tell my children’s stories on their pages. My stories don’t always fit. And while I do keep an album about myself and believe strongly that every scrapbooker should do the same, the stories might not ever get told if I felt I had to make a layout (including photos!) of every single one.

Who wants a photo of a spider in the shower anyway?

But I also feel it’s important to record my own stories. This is mostly because when I was a child, I loved listening to my grandma talk about her parents, one of whom I was named for and the other I named my son after. Amy and Nathan, Nathan and Amy: I loved those stories. But now, as an adult, while I can remember sitting on Grandma’s bed and the sound of her voice and even the texture of her bedding, what I can’t remember are the actual stories about my great grandparents. They’re gone.

And I don’t want my stories to be gone.

So here’s how I keep track of my stories, the ones that don’t fit into any other album.

1. I developed a file system. On my computer, I have a folder labeled "my stories." In it I save the files with the stories. Each story has its own file and is named for the main concept. So, the shower spider story is saved in a file called "shower spider.wpd" (yes: I do still use WordPerfect!).

2. I developed a printing system. About every six months, I print out the files that haven’t already been printed. Then I move them into a sub-folder of the "my stories" folder called (creatively enough!) "printed." So, right now the folder looks like this:

Since I printed at the end of December, there aren’t a ton of files there yet. By the time June or July gets here, there will probably be about twenty. I’ll open all of the files and consolidate any that start with the same letter so they print on the same page. (I also do double-sided printing to keep the amount of pages as few as possible.) After a quick spelling and grammar review, I print the stories, punch the pages, and put them in the binder in the corresponding alphabet tab. Once this binder is full, I’ll make an Contents page and then move on to the next binder. (I bought four of this style about three years ago from Target.)

3. I make sure to write or record my stories. Sometimes this happens because I’ll randomly remember something. Sometimes a trip, a conversation, even a smell will be a spark that leads to a story. Sometimes I write them as a response to a journaling prompt. (I’m a write every day sort of person.) A blog post, a Facebook comment, a question from one of my kids: nearly anything can spark the memory of a story. I just write it down without worrying too much over writing perfection. My goal is to get the details down with enough vividness that the story evokes some sort of emotional response. Then I save the file and move on with my life.

And I have to say: even though my stories binder doesn’t have any photos in it, it still is one of my favorite scrapbooks. It takes next to no time to update and it gives me a sort of happy peacefulness knowing that my stories are written down. Even if no one but me ever reads the stories, it’s still a great project.

Your stories are important, too. And instead of waiting until you have the time to scrapbook all of them, you might try this approach to recording them. It might just become your favorite "mini," too!

And, speaking of minis! HERE is a list of ten journaling prompts taken from this month’s mini-album gallery. That is one of the things I love about journaling: you can find ideas for your words almost everywhere. Think of it as a sort of translation, from mini to layout. These ideas will help you make the swap!

Vintage Photos: Making Connections

Hello! Welcome to the another day of vintage photo ideas. The last couple days we've discussed telling the stories of our ancestors, and how to include journaling for photos that are missing stories. Today, I want to talk about making connections!

Over the last couple days, as you looked through your vintage photos did you notice any traits or activities in your ancestors that are similar to your family's interests and traits today?

For example, I have a photo of both my mom and I playing with a doll as a child.

Even though we are separated by 25 years in age we both liked playing with dolls when we were young. Putting both of these photos on a page and journaling about the similarities is my favorite type of page to make.

Here is an example of using photos from different generations to show a shared activity.

{Note: I used an action on the photo of my son to make it match the style of the other photos}

What little boy doesn't like to dress up like a cowboy? This layout shows three generations of little cowpokes; my son, husband, and father-in-law.

Aly Dosdall shares a wonderful layout of three generations of mothers and daughters.
Aly listed all of their shared interests and traits on the circle around the photos.

Here is one last example.

On this layout I wanted to show the strong resemblance between my son and my dad and the personality traits they share. Someday future generations will look at this page and they may be able to pick out similar traits too.

I would like to leave you with a Chevrolet clip celebrating 100 years with then and now!

 

Doesn't that clip make you want to dig through your photos looking for connections so you can make a layout? It certainly shows, that although some things change, others stand the test of time and remain the same.

I'll be back here on Friday for the final vintage photo post. I hope you will join me!

 

Vintage Photos: Meaningful Layouts without a Story

Hello everyone! Welcome to another day of vintage photo fun. I must admit I'm having fun changing out my bio picture with vintage photos. Today I'm featuring my mom (click on the photo to enlarge it) on her very first day of school.

Yesterday I shared several ideas for telling meaningful and engaging stories from your past. You may be thinking to yourself, "I don't have any stories for my photos and there isn't anyone that I can ask".

Well, I'm here to tell you, you can still use them, and in some cases, even create meaningful layouts.  

 

Make Observations about Fashion, Trends or Surroundings

Creating a meaningful layout when you don't have a story is actually pretty easy to do if you take cues from the fashion, decor, trends and surroundings in the photo(s). Take this layout, for example.

When I was looking at these photos I realized I didn't know anything about them, except who the people were and a couple dates. However, I was fascinated by the clothing of my grandma and my husband's grandma so instead of creating a page saying "this is grandma in 1935",  I decided to journal my observations and thoughts about the fashions.

Here's another look at this approach.

In this photo of my grandma I was intrigued by the little details I saw; the flag hanging from the porch, the rocking chairs (one just the right size for her), and the doll and carriage. I simply made my observations into the journaling and even drew inspiration for the title from the flag hanging in the background.

Including your observations and perspective is a great way to make it meaningful and draw the reader into your layout, making them want to linger and really study the photo.

 

State the Facts

Another idea, is to simply state the facts about the photo.

Now, I could have journaled about our Easter traditions during my childhood, but I had already done that on another layout, so I decided to list the facts that I saw in this photo of my sister and I.

I thought I looked like I was pretty interested in what she was doing so I created a little blurb about that in my journaling. I also knew this was my first Easter since I was sitting in a bouncy seat so I used that for the title and added the date.

I don't have many photos of myself as a baby, so I'm happy I included this in my album, even without a story.

What if there aren't any clues in the photo?

You can follow Paula Gilarde's lead and journal about the mystery. I love the creative approach that Paula used for this photo of her dad with a parrot on his shoulder, even stating that it didn't seem like something her Dad would do.

 

I Don't Even Know Their Name

Now that you've been looking through your pile of vintage photos you probably have quite a few people that you can't identify. Aly Dosdall shares a great solution for using all those "nameless" faces on this layout.

I love how how Aly included every single person that she didn't have a name for and turned it into an opportunity to journal about why it is so important to tell her story! Genius!

I hope I have shown you that it is not only ok, but that you should be including heritage photos that don't have a story. They are part of your past and you and future generations will enjoy looking at all the people, places and things from days gone by.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing my favorite way to use vintage photos. I'll see you then!

Vintage Photos: Telling the Story

Hello everyone! I'm Diane Payne (that's me over there sitting on the horse), your blog hostess this week and I'm excited to be sharing some ideas about something I love…vintage photos.

Let's begin by defining  the term "vintage photo". In my book, that would be a photo that was taken at least 25 years ago. Not that I want to call myself vintage, but for me that would be any photos from my childhood and earlier.

On a recent visit, my Mom brought my Grandmother's scrapbook with her. One thing I noticed as I looked through the album was the typed caption for each photo that included who was in the photo and when it was taken. Some photos also included where it was taken. The only thing missing was the what and why. I think it is pretty awesome that in a day when scrapbooking wasn't even a hobby, she was documenting bits and pieces of their life that would tell future generations something about her family.

I loved looking at all the photos of my Mom, her siblings, my grandparents and many others that I didn't know.

I found myself asking these questions while browsing through the album…

• What did they do for a living?
• Where did they live and what was their home like?
• What kind of childhood did they have?
• What did they enjoy doing in their free time?
• Did the women work?
• What was their daily routine?

It made me realize those are the things that I should be documenting about my family and our life, but that is a topic for another day. 

Today I want to share a few ideas to get the photos and stories of your family's heritage out of the boxes and onto a layout.

 

Enlist the Help of your Family

Ask your parents, grandparents, siblings or aunts and uncles to help you fill in the blanks. They may be able to help you identify people and what they were doing. My Mom is a valuable resource for me. I call her on a regular basis to ask her questions about photos that I want to scrapbook.

This layout is a perfect example of a time my Mom helped tell the story.

I remembered from my childhood how much my Grandma liked pigs. She had little pig figurines throughout her house so when I stumbled upon this photo of her with a little pig I started planning a layout about her love for pigs.

After talking to my Mom, I learned there was much more to the story than Grandma just liking pigs. She was given the little pig shown in the photo and cared for it until it was large enough to sell. She was soon to be married and bought her china set with the money she earned from selling the pig. What an amazing story to tell!

Here is another great example of how my Mom helped me tell a meaningful story. 

I had this wonderful picture of her dressed in her cap and gown for high school graduation. I wanted to do a page about where she went to school, favorite subjects, and when she graduated. After talking to her I had a fabulous story about her plans to be a secretary and how she ended up being an accountant instead. 

 

Tell your story

What about your own story? Your children and grand kids will want to know all about your childhood too. Use your childhood photos to document favorite pastimes, relationships or something about your day-to-day life.

These photos of my Dad and I fishing bring back fond childhood memories. I wanted to document how much I loved fishing with my Dad and our routine. I included those thoughts on a journaling card attached to the back of the layout.

Using school photos on your pages and journaling your thoughts or hopes and dreams is another great way to give others a peek into your past.

On this layout, I used a sixth grade school photo of my husband and I to tell story of when we first met. I also included my thoughts about wondering who my future-husband would be.

Don't keep others guessing about your childhood, look for photos that relate to your stories and create a layout.

 

Stories about Heirlooms

All those family heirlooms and memorabilia that have been passed down through the generations have a story too and certainly deserve a place in your album. So what do you do if you don't have any photos of your heirlooms in a vintage photo? Take a current day photo of the heirloom.

This little yellow dress from my childhood has special meaning to me that I wanted to record. I couldn't find any photos of me in the dress and I obviously couldn't fit the dress on my page so I snapped a photo and used it to tell my story.

My challenge to you today is to dig your vintage photos out of storage and browse through them. Do any stories come to mind? Jot them down for a day when you have time to sit down and scrapbook. Do you have questions about the photos? Call your relatives and ask if they can help you fill in the blanks.If you have time scan a few photos in preparation for scrapping them at a later date.

Have fun reminiscing and I'll see you back here tomorrow with some more ideas for scrapping vintage photos.