Write. Click. Scrapbook.

Making a vacation album: memorabilia and journaling

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson. Since the monthly theme is vacationers, I wanted to share my process for creating a vacation album. I've shared my vacation albums before, but I am looking at it more fully from the beginning of the planning stages this time, and I've started trying something new that I'd like to share later this week. Here's the plan for the week:

Monday: Memorabilia and journaling

Tuesday: Organizing the album

Wednesday: Selection photos

Thursday: Layouts

Friday: Alternate albums

When I go on vacation, I usually keep a shopping bag in the car tucked under a front seat for memorabilia and ephemera: postcards, maps, stickers, etc. When I get home, I put them in a Craft Keeper or Iris container until I'm ready to make the album. Here's one I am working on right now from 2013, our trip to Glacier National Park and Spokane:

And the one I started for this year's vacation to Maine:

After I select the album I will use to scrap the vacation, I glue an envelope into the back of the album, cutting the flap off before I do. Then I cull the memorabilia/ephemera, keeping only the ones that accompany the story best, and I put them in the envelope, sort of as a last chapter for the vacation. Here's what I did for Glacier/Spokane:

While vacationing, I usually take a small notebook and write lists of memorable details that happen every day. When we return home, I tear out the pages and put them in the Craft Keeper with the ephemera. When I'm ready to make the layouts, I use these lists to recreate the vacation, even if I make the album years later. I'll discuss this more on Thursday.

That's it for today! Tomorrow I'll be back to share my process for organizing the album.

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Out with the old: My Books on the Nightstand

Hello! This week we'll be writing about letting go of the old and welcoming in the new. Today I'll talk about my nightstand.

I used to work in a bookstore, so I collected and read a lot of books. I've been in a book club for a while. I'm also a book addict, picking up books I see on sale that I like. As a result, I ended up with over 30+ books on my nightstand. Ouch. This is especially tough for me because I'm an English teacher. When I'm grading papers, the last thing in the world I want to do is read to relax. So my bookstand has been...well, booked! for a long time. Since I listen to the podcast Books on the Nightstand, this has been killing me. I have a huge To be Read (TBR) list, but I feel I can't start it until I lower this pile. Hence my resolution, which I started last year: reducing the pile.

Here's one thing about goals: studies say you are more likely to achieve your goals if you write it down and tell someone. So I scrapbooked my piles and my plan. Here's the page, using materials from Simple Scrapper:

I made a list of the books I'd read from the pile this year and listed the ones I wanted to read next. I didn't make my goal of reading them by the end of the year, but guess what?  I am now reading The Days of Rondo, which, if you look closely, is third from the bottom. YES! I should finish this goal by the end of February and read the rest of the pile by summer.

So what's next for me? I went through my TBR list last fall and made this page, using a kit from Scrapbook Circle:

I have many more books on my list, but I look forward to reading these the most. Hooray! Nothing like achieving a goal.

Thank you for visiting today! I hope you'll come back tomorrow, when I'll share another hobby long neglected that I am dedicating myself to dusting off and returning to.

Write: Using someone else's words

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson, with something new I am trying out to share the burden of journaling.

My boys recently went to sleepaway camp for the first time, a Bible Camp in Wisconsin. I ugly cried after I dropped them off, and when I picked them up, they saw me as soon as I parked and ran over to hug me. It was quite a reunion. This picture is the drop off:

The boys could not stop talking about how wonderful the week was.I had a few pictures--from the drop off and pick up, a few from our church youth director, and some online from the camp that we could order--so I decided to scrap it, but I struggled with the journaling, for an obvious reason: I wasn't there. 

Both boys asked me to make a page for their album, so when we got home, I handed each boy a piece of paper and asked them to write their favorites. (This is a family tradition for vacation, so they're used to reflecting like this.) Here's what they did (ignore the handwriting, plus the fact that I gave them note paper from a brew pup. Gah.):

I may post the lists on the page, or I may type them with more detail I glean from the boys later. I'm not sure yet, but I'm glad I asked another person to journal for me. This is something I don't do often enough and will have to do more often!

Write: Planning a vacation album

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson with you for the next few days to show you how I try to create a simple vacation album. Today I'll focus on the initial writing that organizes the album.

When we think of writing, we think about the journaling, but writing involves much more, including the initial planning. Scrapbooking a whole album requires another kind of planning: determining the subject of each "chapter" or layout in the album. I'd like to share some planning for a vacation album today.

Side note: I am VERY behind in scrapbooking vacations. The album I'll be planning with you is our Disney trip from 2010. (I'm now putting on the cone of shame.) It's on my bucket list this summer to finish it, so I'm using the next few days to get a jump start on it.

When I am on vacation I tend to journal on scraps of paper. After vacation, I put them in an Iris container along with supplies and memorabilia I am planning on using with the album:

 

Once I am ready to start the album, I look through the photos and this journaling and plan the "chapters" for the album. Here's what I did for this album:

In case it's hard to read in the photo, here are the chapters:

1. Title page
2. Journey and Hotel
3. MGM/Hollywood (4 pgs?)
4. Epcot
5. Pool?
6. Downtown Disney
7. Animal Kingdom
8. Date Night
9. Late Night Disney
10. Luau
11. Waterpark
12. Trip back? Last page

Please note that while it is generally chronological and organized by place or event, I also break that chronology in an album when needed. For example, sometimes I'll make pages about something we did the whole trip, or I'll put together a special page to focus on one detail. In this year's vacation album, for example, I may focus on cribbage, places we ate, and our dog as a major hiker when I finally scrapbook this vacation, hopefully before the year 2021.

Thank you for letting me share some ideas for scrapbooking your vacation! Tomorrow I'll be back to show how I put a lot of photos on the page in a clean and simple fashion.

write | every day at this time

This month our theme was about our every day lives. I got to thinking about how there are things that I do at the same time every day. For instance, every single weekday at 8:20 we are racing to not miss the bus. Monday through Thursday at 3:40 I am in the car driving to the gym. Thursdays at 7:00 we are headed to the church for youth activities. On Sundays, we go to church (though the hour on that one changes each year!). This schedule is what makes me happy and keep our lives orderly and centered.

 

Then there are the things that I never write on a calendar, but they happen pretty regularly. For instance I launder the bed linens every Monday morning. Like clockwork. Nigel practices the piano for half hour each night, but not at a set time. One year, when the kids were smaller and our Friday nights we calmer, we did a pizza picnic and Psych every Friday night. 

 

As I thought about our repeating patterned lives, I got excited to think about making pages based upon a time. And repeating elements. And our calendar. I can't wait to sit down this week and put some together. I might even see a mini album in my future. Having such focus will be certain to bring results, and to give my journaling a starting point.

Here is my first layout! It's on linens. I love them--especially when they are clean. Mmm. The smell of happiness.

What do you think? Doesn't it sound fun? Will you join me in creating some time/pattern/calendar/schedule pages? Pretty please? It's going to be so fun!

Write: Wordless

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson, and I'd like to share an idea that may be unexpected: journaling with few or no words.

Now, I'm an English teacher, so I generally find it easy to blather on a page, but occasionally I find a photo that epitomizes the story. In that case I select products that match the theme and let the photos speak for themselves. Here's one such page:

Recently my son started sneaking selfies on my phone every time I handed it over for him to take a group photo. I selected a couple of my favorites and paired them with some select word products. Since they seemed to do the job of epitomizing the story, I decided not to add any other words aside from one sentence explaining his selfie sneaks. (The products say Meh, Selfie Fail, You Can Never Take Too Many Photos, Click click click, and Real Life. My thoughts exactly!) 

Thank you for visiting on this first Monday of May, Star Wars day (May the Fourth be with you!). I hope you feel liberated about adding fewer words to your next page and think about raiding your supplies to express your feelings instead.

Scrapbook: ALL the favorites!

It's Jennifer Larson, and I have a confession to make: I love scrapbooking, so I have a lot of favorite things. On this page I did pretty much all of them. Even though I try to create pages with new ideas, it gives me a lot of satisfaction to go back to those favorite ideas and products and techniques. Here they are:

First, I used a kit, my March Scrapbook Circle kit. Using kits makes my product selection easier.

Next, I picked my favorite colors--yellow, orange, blue, and green.

I journaled in strips.

I sewed on the page.

I clustered embellishments.

And then some details:

Another favorite! I love mixing fonts/products for titles.

And layering embellishments.

Thank you for sharing my page! I know that sometimes we pressure ourselves to create something original each time, but why not just surround yourself with your favorites?

Write: Interviews

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson with a favorite journaling technique: interviewing.

I get tired of trying to remember all the details when I am scrapbooking. When I scrapbook other people especially, I like to ask them to construct the page verbally, so that's what I did with this page about my younger son. I tend to use the Currents list with myself a lot just to keep track of what I'm into at a particular moment. (If you are unfamiliar with the Currents list, google "Currents Scrapbooking.") I've started doing that with my eldest on his birthday, and I decided recently to use the currents with my youngest to interview him. Here's the page:

Here I paired the list with his journaled list of what he's into right now. I typed his list, then spaced it about 2.0, then trimmed it out and stamped the category of Current. 

Here's a note about stamping: If you don't try to do it neatly, it will look like you did it cooler on purpose. Do that. I also tend to sew down journaling strips on one side just to keep it solid. 

Thank you for visiting! I hope you now go and interview others if you haven't done so yet, if not with currents, then to supplement details with whatever you are scrapbooking.

scrapbook | favorite approach

Hello lovies! Tracie Claiborne here to tell you about my favorite approach to scrapbooking. It's my scrappy motto which is, "Start With The Story." 

 

In the early days of my scrapbooking, I started with photos or even pretty paper and stickers but as the pages piled up, I realized many of my layouts said very little about the story behind the photos. When I grew in my scrapbooking skills, I began to add more journaling and now journaling is my favorite part of scrapbooking!

 

The layouts I treasure most are the ones that give me a glimpse into our life or tell a story that would be lost if I had not taken time to write it down. Case in point...my daughter and her current favorite things at age 14. Time passes so quickly that one year runs into the next and we often don't recall the small details of life so I asked her to text me a list of some of her current faves. (She sent me a text as we were driving down the road - Heaven forbid we write things down on a piece of paper!)

 

I scouted the interwebs for pictures of her favorite bands, candy, magazine and television show and I was pleasantly surprised by how great the images printed. I also looked in my phone for a few recent pics of her to make it more personal. I added simple, yet descriptive, journaling and here's a little snapshot of her life right now!

 

 

The journaling is list-style which is my favorite way to go. Anyone can make a list, right? If journaling leaves you stumped, give this style a whirl!

 

 

I wanted to keep the layout happy, fun and appropriate for her age so I chose happy colors. I cut the title on my Silhouette Cameo and added three groupings of embellishments to create a visual triangle. 

 

 

 

 

So how about it? Would you like to start with the story? I hope I've inspired you to create a layout that tells a story that might be lost if not written down. It's a great way to make your scrapbooking meaningful!

 

Scrapbook: Finishing things

Hello! It's Jennifer Larson. You know what one of my favorite things about scrapbooking is?

Finishing a layout.

Seriously, I love creating, but unfinished layouts float in the air about me all day, haunting me as they remind me of what I have not yet completed. When I get a chance to finish a page or project that's been in process for a while, I rejoice and do a happy dance.

Here's a page that I wrote the journaling for in January. It took me two months to go back and create the intended page, but I am doing the happy dance as I write this blog post. Here's the page:

 

 

And some details:

I picked photos that I had already printed but never scrapped to make the process quicker. I hand-wrote the journaling to make the process quicker as well, though my decision to machine sew every letter sticker down did nothing to speed up the finishing. Still, I'm happy with the final product, most especially because it is finished. Yes!