Monthly Archives: May 2013

WITL: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

WITL: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

The filler pages for my Week in the Life Project are done! Woo hoo!

Here’s a quick slideshow for you:

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I’m loving some of these pages a LOT. Others not as much. But some of the stories of the week are being told, and that’s a good thing. Next up: putting together the title, closing, and weekday title pages. I’ll record a video while doing it. Hopefully you’ll find something fun and interesting in that.

What have you made lately? Do you think you’d like to attempt a week in the life project of your very own?

WITL: Wednesday and Thursday

WITL: Wednesday and Thursday

I finished Wednesday’s and Thursday’s pages last week. Editing the video today, I was struck by how similar my process was to the previous days’. Rather than bore you with ten more minutes of me shuffling photos and paper, let’s just skip to the end, and see how the pages turned out.

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I LOVE the Thursday pages. Not because there’s a lot there (there aren’t) or because the photos are lovely (which I think they are) but because they include pictures taken by someone other than myself. I love when I get to add someone else’s viewpoint to our family’s stories.

The rest of the pages will be up the end of the week. If anyone wants me to record the process again, I’d be glad to, just let me know. It’s the same basic process for each day. Sort photos by chronology/story and by size/orientation. Slip in pockets, add journaling cards, and maybe a little embellishment, and call it done.

This is not hard. Just time consuming if you have too many choices. I have too many journaling cards! I’ll have to narrow it down next time.

Actually that’s one of things that you really have to think about and understand when you scrapbook. Many people don’t scrapbook because they think they need a lot of materials or supplies. In reality, an abundance of options can lead to indecision, and no scrapbooking at all.

Limiting your product choices is a great way to get pages done, and increase your creativity.

Now go scrap something!

WITL: Tuesday’s Pages

WITL: Tuesday’s Pages

We’re going to get our scrappy tools out, and rock to some Big Country while we put together Tuesday’s pages. This is quick and easy. I did add a tiny bit of technique to a page. That Tim Holtz distress stain was calling me!

With no further ado:

Let me know if you have any questions about this process. Most of Wednesday and Thursday’s pages are done and recorded. The camera battery keeps dying on me, and not holding its charge. New battery arrives tomorrow, so I should be able to speed up my recording over the weekend. Yay!

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If you haven’t started making something yet, why not? It’s time to DO SOMETHING with those memories!

One more thing–if you’re feeling the need for some 80’s rock after watching that video, you can get some Big Country through my affiliate link in iTunes.
In a Big Country (Radio) – The Best of Big Country
Wonderland – The Best of Big Country

Setting Up the Binder and Monday’s Pages

Setting Up the Binder and Monday’s Pages

The video walking you through the binder set up and the creation of Monday’s pages is ready for you. Yay!

Rather than add subtitles to the video, I’ve got some notes for you that will help explain my thought process.

1. I start off by sorting my photos by general time/subject, and by orientation. Orientation is important, because any vertical photos will need a creative solution if I want to keep the book in a standard orientation. I don’t want my readers to have to rotate the book repeatedly as they look at it, so I’ll have to either trim the vertical photos down, mount them on a cardstock page, or something even more interesting. It’s also important to keep related photos together, to create better story flow.

2. As I start trimming photos, I begin to decide whether I’m going to break the photo up between pockets, or trim the photo down to fit a single pocket.

3. When I’m flipping pages back and forth, I’m trying to keep track of the bigger picture, and the story of the day.

4. When I’m flipping endlessly through the cards, I’m realizing, I didn’t plan enough room for story telling, so am reevaluating the photo placement in regards to the day’s story.

5. Unmentioned product alert! Martha Stewart labels from her office supply line. Loving using them!

6. This is the easiest type of journaling to do: just tell what happened. No need to make it complicated.

A couple quick close ups for you:

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I’ll share close ups of the whole book with you when we’re done.

Have you gotten started yet? If you haven’t, don’t you think it’s time to get creating? If you have, share it! I’d love to see it!

Upcycle Your Old Vinyl Binders

Upcycle Your Old Vinyl Binders

My camera’s battery died in the middle of recording the video about putting together the Monday pages for our Week in the Life project. That slowed me down a bit! 😉

So, to keep you entertained, I’ve put together a little video for you while my battery charged that will help you pretty up any old vinyl binders you’ve got lying around.

You’ll need a sheet of paper large enough to cover your binder, mod podge, a brush, and a pair of scissors.

Oh, and an ugly old binder.

If you could throw in a few stray cat hairs, I’d be much obliged. I’m not the only one who finds cat hair in odd places, am I?

Let me know if you have any questions! I’m sure I forgot to mention something that you’d find helpful!

Oh, and don’t forget to say “Hi!” to Simon. He loves the attention.