A Process for Creating a Layout a Day (LOAD in Vogue Bloghop)

Welcome to the ScrapHappy LOAD in Vogue bloghop! This should be your third stop on the hop, after Christy, and before Lisa. If you want to start at the beginning, head on over to Lynnette’s blog! Everyone’s site is listed below if you want to jump and skip around. Now on with the show:

As some of you may know by now, I am a big proponent of periodically participating in a Layout a Day Challenge. (Or LOAD as we regulars like to call it.) What is a LOAD? It’s when you commit to making one scrapbook layout each day for a month. Lain Ehmann runs this twice a year in February and May, and then the members of her ScrapHappy community put together a members only challenge in October. Which means another challenge is rapidly approaching.

I’ve already told you how I got on the LOAD bandwagon, how I prepare for it, and why I think it’s an important part of anyone’s scrapbooking journey. However, I’ve never told you how I manage to fit LOAD into my daily life, and the process I go through when participating in the challenge.

Each morning, after the kids get off to school, I check the prompt. If it immediately triggers an idea, I’ll sit down and start working on it right away. If, however, a related story or photo doesn’t pop into my head immediately, I let the prompt marinate for a bit.

Sometimes the prompt just doesn’t work for where my head is on that particular day.

Not that it matters. The wonderful thing about LOAD is not that you’re creating pages based on various prompts, but that you’re committing to making pages. THAT’s the important part. The commitment to yourself and your creativity is what’s inspiring and empowering. The prompts are just the delicious icing on the cake.

Alright-y then, time to get off the soap box…

At some point in the day, I make time to sit down and start a page. I don’t always finish it in one sitting. However, I do try to have a story idea and photos and papers chosen before I move on to the next task.

Some days, I’m so busy I completely forget about LOAD until 10pm, and then I don’t worry about the prompt at all, and just make a page with the first story that comes to mind. I scrap fast. I can make a page in half an hour. That’s one thing I’ve become good at with LOAD.

For the slower days, if I don’t create a page from start to finish, I come back and work on it in chunks. Choosing supplies in one step, and then building a design, writing the journaling, and finally adding a title and embellishments.

It’s a very organic and relaxing process actually.

If you want more details on how I create, I made a video last fall of one of the pages created during the ScrapHappy LOAD based on a prompt. You can find the video here: Process