A Shout Out to the Engineers of Scrapbooking

Engineer (en- juh neer) : to arrange, manage, or carry through by skillful or artful contrivance

This weekend, I celebrated my son's graduation from high school.  Being a Pinterest-phile, I spent some time strolling the boards looking for decoration ideas.  It is sufficient to say that I got a little overwhelmed.  I mean, come on...there are cookies you can have made in the image of your graduate!  This was a challenge for sure.  

I decided that my love of pictures needed to come to the forefront of the occasion.  I was down on myself, as I have this notion that my son has taken second place to my career for quite some time.  Lots of mama (real or imagined) guilt has been placed in my mind.  Two Master's degrees.  Two National Board certification processes.  Four different schools in which I have taught.  Dealing with my depression, anxiety, OCD (undiagnosed), and workaholism.  This kid has lived through it all. 

When I started going through photos, I realized that, one way or another, I had a LOT of moments captured in the last 8 years that I have been a diehard scrapper.  I realized that a lot of my "work" for this party was already done.  I have a few engineers of scrapbooking to thank for this.  It's time they have their shout outs.

Cathy Zielske

This pin inspired me to use some of my ribbon and my photos as a gallery of sorts.  As I looked for photos and realized many were archived already, I decided to use Cathy's digital templates to create a stairway that was a journey through time.

Looks like a lot of work, eh?  What helped is that I had long ago purchased Cathy's School Album layered template set and had put in photos of my son a while ago, only needing to finish junior and senior year for the party.  I then printed these on cardstock (although you can keep it purely digital if you wanted), and then displayed them on ribbons (Stampin' Up!) going up my stairs.  

I also took a few classes of Cathy's through Big Picture Scrapbooking.  These have resulted in some of my favorite scrapbook pages ever.  I realized that instead of recreating the wheel, I needed to just use the scrapbooks as part of the decor for the party.

I placed a few scrapbooks opened here and there to some favorite pages about my son, and had various other scrapbooks available for guests to peruse if they wished.  Which brings me to the next few engineers of scrapbooking I feel deserve recognition.

Becky Higgins

Project Life changed my entire scrapbook flow.  Boom.  I was able to display a good amount of life that I did not spend that much time doing to get a nice-looking final product.  One of the main displays was this one, where I asked my kiddo to document a week in his life.  

Now, the Project Life app is becoming my favorite, easiest way of documenting life.  I have been a "Lifer" since the beginning of Becky's adventure, having been a fan of hers through Creating Keepsakes.  Her ideas in pocket scrapbooking have helped me get memories saved in a lot less time.  I still obsess, just not as acutely.

Ali Edwards

Story.  That is what is synonymous with Ali Edwards.  While it is important to take the pictures and enjoy the craft, it's not "done" without the words that tell the story.  Ali's designs have been instrumental in my recent scrapbooking adventures.  I have "borrowed" her layout ideas and made them my own.  This little gem documenting prom was a way to pull together all that weekend offered in a timeline form.

Stacy Julian

Oh, how I adored Simple Scrapbooks magazine.  And then, it was no more.  Along came a little site called Big Picture Scrapbooking, where I could take virtual classes with scrapbooking geniuses while I was in the comfort of my own home.  All from the mind of Stacy Julian.  She is simply brilliant.

Thus ends my ode to the Engineers of Scrapbooking.  I have other people who inspire me, but these ladies gave me the outlets to create awesome things in very little time.  I thank them for their innovation and willingness to take chances in an unstable industry.