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.

A New Project Life Album: Week 1

I decided it was time to get a Project Life album rockin' again.  This last school year with both boys at home is one that I felt needed to be documented.  It's the last breath of this stage of my parenting, and, quite frankly, it's going WAY too fast!  I needed some way to remind myself the happenings of this year.

The first page is actually a half page in the album.  I decided to crop photos as they are best cropped, and find page protectors after that, rather than taking/cropping pics to suit the pocket pages.  It worked pretty well, as I have a wide variety of the page protector designs.

The Title Page (12 x 6)
Photos by Studio Barbie and SarahKate Photography
Printed with permission

Week 1 DPS (well, 1.5PS)

Page 2

Page 3
Using two stamps that I love: My new Heidi Swapp roller date stamp (look carefully at the clocks) and Ali Edwards' Dear Time set

I am putting the pages in my new Heidi Swapp Project Life three-ring album.  (It's the second one from the left.)

Thicker Collection

Those who know me well know I am a collector of alphabet stickers.  Mostly I have American Craft Thickers, but I do have a few others in my collection.

I currently have them organized in drawers, as seen below.  That calls for a lot of digging.  They also get a little squished, and that does not do well over a long period of storing.

After watching some organization videos by Jennifer McGuire, and after adding pins after a Pinterest search, I decided that I definitely needed a sleeve or bag that made my stickers more uniform in size if I had any hopes of feeling "organized."  This idea was very appealing:

I started searching for 6 x 12" ziploc bags, and what kept coming up was 6 x 12" page protectors.  

"Hmmm," said I, "why not just go with what I know?"  

It also helped that I had an Amazon gift card.  So, for about $40 and free shipping, I will have 10 packs of these:

I was not feeling the plastic magazine holder vibe.  Then I remembered I had two magazine baskets that I bought long ago.  They are not the perfect width, so, I placed my stickers in sideways.  I used what 6 x 12 page protectors I had to see how it would work.  I think I will like it very much.

I will post more of my re-organization journey as I go.

Page Protectors Continued

In an attempt to have all of the aforementioned page protector designs in one place, I have decided to give Inlinkz a try.  This is the start of the protectors I have.  More to come, though not all are Inlinkz-abled.  This post will be edited as I locate more sites.  Also, I have some of the same protector sizes from different companies, so some sizes are repeated below (but not in my count!).

Stampin' Up Pocket Page Protectors (no longer available, which is a crying shame)

From Becky Higgins' Just Add Color HSN package (also disappeared!)

Project Life Page Protectors, 6x12 - 12 pack	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380004 Design A Page Protectors	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380007 Design D Page Protectors	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380008 Design E Page Protectors
*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380011 Design H Page Protectors	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380010 Design G Page Protectors	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380012 Design I Page Protectors	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380005 Design B Page Protectors
*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380009 Design F Page Protectors	*Becky Higgins American Crafts Project Life 380019 Vertical 5 X 7 Page Protectors

InLinkz.com

The answer is 30. What is the question?

• What are the number of years since I was a freshman in high school?
• How long ago did the original Footloose movie come out?
• How many pounds would I love to lose?

All great tries.  The question du jour is: How many different types of page protectors do I have in my stash?

Tonight, I was going to start (and might still do so) a layout of the day-to-day happenings of Spring Break 2014, Project Life style.  It would mean starting a new album for me as, even though I did not get through a whole year, last year's album was filled to the brim (March through October...and I still might squeeze a November 12 x 12 in there...).  To those of you who do Project Life, or anything similar to it with divided page protectors, you know this is no small decision.  It used to be, back in the day when Becky Higgins Design A was the only choice.  She was pretty smart, that Becky.  And then.  Chaos.  The complication bar was raised.

I have 30 styles of page protectors.  Thirty.  3-0. That makes decisions super hard which is, if I recall, NOT what the framer intended.  BH wanted this to be easy-- a quick documentation of your life.  Your choices were 4 x 6" horizontal pics or smaller 4 x 2.875" vertical pics.  Period.  Those pages are still predominant in my album from last year.  Then this whole little idea took flight with several companies.  I adored the possibilities of multiple styles.  I even bought an oversized printer because of the inspiration of one page protector.  Yes, I am a crazed lunatic from whom you should shield your impressionable children and young adults.  

So, tonight, I decided to take inventory.  My son gave me some graph paper, and I sketched all that I had accumulated.  Now, I can have, in one spot, a place where I can make some decisions without having to take them all out.  Or so I hope!

Project Life Week 18 and Some Observations

Today, I got to craft.  And it's my birthday.  Woot!  Happy birthday to me!

OBSERVATIONS: From afar, Project Life seems fairly restrictive.  However, I have allowed myself some free reign in layouts that I did not think I would, such as using different sized page protectors in one layout.  Enter, this week.  Finally, after 18 weeks, I decided to let pictures drive the layouts instead of page protectors.  I felt that freedom that I would print what I wanted and figure out placement later.  And that actually worked.  No one is more surprised than I.  Here is this week's DPS using a 12 x 12 page protector with, well, one that isn't 12 inches wide.

Crazy cropping for a crazy nighttime shot.  One of these days, I will patiently await natural lighting when I take my photo.

I purchased some wood veneers from Studio Calico as well as stickers that match the sizes.  Hexagon joy!  Getting a lot of mileage with my Pebbles alpha stickers as well.

Yep, I am totally in love with the Project Life Kraft edition.  No joke.  And this blue?  Ah!  I am also in love with using my phone together with Photoshop and RadLab.  This trifecta of awesome has totally changed my picture capturing abilities.

Now, some honesty:

This is what my craft table looks like right now.  No doubt that it is well used, as opposed to my cobwebs of last summer.

This is my PL album after 18 of 52 weeks!  I am thinking another album will be needed before the year is up.

I am caught up!  Just in time for school to crash its way in.

Project Life Week 15

The benefit to waking at 4:54 AM unable to get back to sleep due to sinuses?  I wrapped up Week 15!  It is four 12 x 12s, one of which I showed in a previous post.  (iPhone pic...fuzziness as I edit in the car!)

How cute are those arrows from the Honey edition?  Perfect embellishment for a busy week.

More on this layout can be read here.  I clearly took this pic with the Nikon. 

Back of the Bon Jovi timeline.

I took advice, yet again, from Ali Edwards, and drew my setlist lines with a Copic marker.  I used a Recollections clear alphabet set and SU! White craft ink  for the title.  I then used the ticket stub and a couple of tickets from Taste of Chicago on the page.  The set list is nice, as it covers up the brad backs and  stitching from the timeline.  The patterned paper is the flipside of what I used for the timeline.

I used a combination of cards for this page, some from Project Life (I think Honey edition), some from Simple Stories, and the Smile was from a gift packet of cards from a friend, so I am not sure who the manufacturer is.

And there you have it, from the 2G hotspot in my car.  Let's just say, I am having a dialup flashback. :)

Onward on our car quest!

Project Life Weeks 13 and 14

I am finally finished with weeks 13 and 14.  The hold up?  Me and my bright ideas.  I purchased a We R Memory Keepers divided page protector that looked fabulous in theory.  In the center, it had a 6 x 12 (or so I thought) space, surrounded by 3 x 3 slots.  Enter the fact that I did not (note "did") have a wide format printer.  I found that printing larger prints is no small expense.  I have kicked around the idea of a wide format printer for years.  This inspired me to finally make the leap.  So, I am now the owner of an Epson Work Force wide format printer.  If only that were "enough" to print things out at the proper sizes.  I bought photo paper that I now know was WAY bigger than I need, so there was a lot of exacto knife cutting (my paper trimmers like 12 inches or less.

Then, I found that the middle slot is actually 6 x 12.5...AFTER I printed a 6 x 12...yeah.  I was thrilled.  Three prints later, I got something that worked.  I do, thank God, love these pages:

Week 13

Hexagon cards are from the Honey Edition of Project Life.  I loved the way they looked.  Also added some patterned paper (October Afternoon Travel Girl- Directions) and washi tape (Jenni Bowlin) on the lower left pic to mat the Instagram shot of Ignatius.

Here's the lovely page protector.  I went with LOTS of pics on this page.  Denny's was kind of a big deal with Max. :)

A close up of the larger pic of the July 4 DPS.  I loved this quote and thought it was perfect for the picture of the boys watching the fireworks.

Week 14 DPS

I printed the middle picture too short, so I added some of the patterned paper I had been using.

I used a lot of the same piece of 12 x 12 paper (We R Memory Keepers Red White & Blue- Patriot), which was totally cool.  I used almost the entire piece.  I also used some Studio Calico star stickers on the page.

New month means the monthly divider.  I also added some flyers from our crafting trip.

A Challenge

I challenged myself, and my crafty group on Facebook, to choose at random one picture or several and make a layout of any size using any media and materials on hand.  My hope was to make a fast layout and maybe remember a photo or two.  When you go to the Pictures Library in Windows 8, it brings up photos from your stash, as I discovered the other day.  I thought this would encourage me to use more than just "right now" to scrapbook.  This challenge also reminded me that my memory stinks, and I really need to at least jot something down regarding the shots I take, or the occasion can get "lost."

These three pics of Max showed up.  I cropped them and used some Rad Lab magic, as they were taken with my old iPhone (pre-Phone 4).    I thought the series of pics would look cute side by side, so I created a strip in Photoshop.  I then used my Ali Edwards Edge Sentiments for the "remember," which I color matched to Max's shirt (I love PNG files!).  I was going to branch out with some patterned paper layering, but the closest I could come was using my Glitz stickers.  I framed the photos using some Becky Higgins Project Life Rain patterned paper.

I don't recall exactly what was going on the day we took these shots, but his tiny face just looked so cute, I had to use all three.  I am sure we were just lazing around on a summer afternoon.