Welcome to the LOAD 213 bloghop! We’ve got a special treat today, with a bloghop featuring both veteran and brave new LOADsters.

If you’ve never been on a bloghop before, this is how it works: after you are done here, I’ll have a link for the next person for you to visit on the hop, and she will have a link on her blog for the next person, and so on, until you get all the way back here. It’s a great big circle of LOAD-loving scrappiness! Sound good? Let’s hop!

I have been participating in Layout a Day for a long time. I just realized this week that this will be my tenth LOAD! That’s a lot of pages! As I was going through previous collections of pages, I kept noticing how many of the pages I’ve made during LOAD are some of my favorites. It occurred to me that a LOAD Hall of Fame might be in order, so here they are: One favorite from each LOAD I’ve participated in. These are the pages that make me scrap happy:

1. The first page I made for the first Layout a Day I joined. The night before LOAD started, I dreamed this page. It came out pretty much the way I wanted, with the self-deprecating humor, the internet-sourced thumbnails, and a photo my grandfather took of me when I was applying for a job on a cruise liner. Bonus? It’s just one piece of paper run through my wide-format printer.

2. My wide format printer isn’t always kind to me. Especially when something gets stuck in it and smears the print, like on this photo. Love that I dealt with it by adding some stamp flourishes. Mistakes are just problems looking for a creative solution.

3. I can NOT get a decent group family photo. These individual shots will have to do. Love this design; it’s one of my go-to layouts.

4. I love the imperfections of this. The messy handprints, the incomplete rolled “happy” stamp, the not quite in focus pictures. I also love that I have these pictures, because they really show my youngest’s personality.

5. This is one of those photos that sneaks up on you and makes you laugh. I really wanted to let that happen by letting the photo be the most important thing on the page.

6. I love drawing odd conclusions from a group of photos. If I can turn it into a bad joke? I’m even happier. As a side note, this is another one of my go-to designs, albeit slightly askew. 😉

7. I love to experiment with new techniques. I began seriously dabbling in paper crafts with rubber stamping, which can be a very technique-happy field. Being able to play with new ideas is one of the many reasons LOAD makes me happy. Bonus: I made this nametag and took this picture right before MotherLOAD when Lain tweeted about having a nightmare about needing nametags for everyone, and not being able to find them. Inspiration truly is everywhere.

8. When my previous house was on the market, I cleaned my house ALOT. It got very frustrating to do all that cleaning, and not get any positive feedback. I also have four cats and a dog, so as soon as I got done cleaning, I’d find a dust bunny drifting by. Made me want to shave my animals. 😉 It also made good fodder for a page, because it is such an everyday and always type of theme.

9. The number one reason LOAD makes me scrap happy is because of this. Not because it’s a great page (which I happen to believe, but then I’m biased) but because this is a case where, the more you do something, the better you get at it, until what you make matches your vision. This is one of those rare pages that came out just as I envisioned it, all thanks to LOAD.

Layout a Day is one of the best challenges out there. You stretch your creative muscles, and get into a very productive routine. If you haven’t signed up for it yet, give it a try.   You won’t regret it!

Now it’s time for you to hop on to the next blog: my very creative friend Alison Day

If you get lost, you can head back here, and find all the participating blogs:

***These are old posts, updated and re-published to gear up for Friday’s blog-hop for this year’s LOAD. Enjoy this week’s LOAD overload!***

I’m not going to tell you how to prepare. I’ve already done that. Most of you are old hands at LOAD by now anyway. You’ve all found your way to LOAD in one way or another, and found a very welcoming community. You’ve figured out how to make it work for you, and why you keep coming back to this fun and rewarding challenge.

You’ve got this challenge mastered.

That’s wonderful.

There’s more though. Have you gone back and looked at how LOAD has changed you? Or, perhaps to be more specific, how LOAD has changed your scrapbooking? I thought that might be interesting, and gathered together all the pages I have created during the various LOAD challenges I’ve participated in. Let’s see how I’ve changed, and how I’ve stayed the same:

My first LOAD, I did 44 layouts, completed two mini-albums, started a class project, experimented a bit, and scrapped 109 photos. There are a lot of pages in this set that I still love, and some where I can see that the experiments didn’t come out quite as planned.

My second LOAD, I really hit my stride. I dabbled in digi-pages when I couldn’t face the mess on my desk, scrapped some photos multiple times, worked on another class project, and finished my eldest’s baby book. Thirty-two pages in the gallery, and another 107 photos scrapped.

LOAD number three. I’m starting to recognize trends in my pages, go-to designs I repeat and alter as needed, once again going digi while traveling or when overwhelmed with a messy desk. Thirty-three pages done, 70 more photos scrapbooked, and a photo-album scrapbook completed.

With a full year of LOAD under my belt, I scrap faster and with more confidence. I focus even more on the story, and less on “using up” my photos. I get another 34 stories told, and 74 more photos onto pages.

As each LOAD progresses, I try more techniques, and find more ways to tell my story. From dabbling in creating digi-templates and pages to going old school and fussy cutting people out of photos, I get more done, and my style becomes more and more apparent with each page done. This month’s totals: 29 layouts, and 82 photos used!

As life got busier, and more hectic, I kept coming back to LOAD as a way to relax and recharge. By connecting with my creative side on a daily basis, I was able to be more constructive in my daily life as well. Completed this month: 31 layouts using 73 photos, and the yearbook for my son’s elementary school.

That summer, I participated in MotherLOAD at BPC. Rather than a month of doing a page every day, we had 7 weeks of prep work, where Lain walked newcomers through the thought processes that help you successfully make scrapbooking a priority in your life, and then four weeks of creating a layout every day. Between helping out by keeping an eye on the gallery, and prepping our house for sale, I knew going in that I would not be finishing the challenge. I still managed to make 21 layouts and use 52 photos.

October 2011 was the first ScrapHappy community only LOAD. Having just finished MotherLOAD, and having to clean my house every other day for showings and inspections, I opted not to even try to do LOAD. I missed the camaraderie of LOAD, but could not face cleaning my craft room that often.

When February 2012 rolled around, I was ready and raring to go. I used some of my oldest photos, some that had been sent to me by a cousin doing genealogical research, and some taken the day I scrapped them. I used memorabilia and stickers as starting points. I told funny stories, and stories that showed myself in less than flattering light. I kept some pages to the simple facts, and went into great depth on other stories. I made 30 layouts, and used 70 photos.

Then we finally sold our house, found a new one, and moved. In May, during LOAD. I couldn’t participate because all my materials were packed away, and even after we moved, I couldn’t find what I wanted. So I didn’t make a single page. But, oh how I wanted to. I missed LOAD.

That brings us up to the last LOAD, the second ScrapHappy community only one. This time I was on a mission. I decided to make pages for my sister’s baby book, and have them ready for her by the time our mother’s birthday rolled around. I made over 25 pages in a two week period. And then I kept going once she’d been and gone. I uploaded 35 layouts that used 76 photos.

Through it all, I’ve discovered a few style consistencies about myself. I like color. Orange and blue is my favorite color combination. I like techniques. Some of most favorite pages are the ones that use techniques to emphasize the story theme. I hand write my journaling, a lot, even though I frequently make mistakes. I scrap fast. Even on days when I’m being especially indecisive, pages are usually done in less than an hour. I use certain types of layouts frequently. Shapes I like to call the band, the column, the cross, or the photo block are go-to designs. (And for those keeping count, I completed 289 layouts, with 713 photos. That’s a lot of pages done and stories told!)

These are just some of the things I’ve learned as I’ve dedicated myself to my craft through LOAD. Won’t you join me for this month’s LOAD, and discover who you are as a scrapbooker?

***These are old posts, updated and re-published to gear up for Friday’s blog-hop for this year’s LOAD. Enjoy this week’s LOAD overload!***

It’s time to talk about how, by doing LOAD, you become a better scrapbooker, and you discover your own strengths (and weaknesses) by committing to a month of dedicated creativity.

It’s true. It really is true.

Have you seen this poster?

I saw it on Pinterest a few months ago. And then, Stacy Julian linked to the interview with Ira Glass that this quote comes from, and everything clicked.

Do a lot of work. On a deadline. Create a volume of work. As you make more, and learn more, your output improves, until it meshes with your own taste and style.

That’s LOAD!

LOAD is how you find your creative style. Or one way to find your creative style. There are other ways to commit to a creative life, but this one works for me.

So this is what you need to do. Commit to making a page every day for the month of February. Don’t allow yourself to make excuses. No “I’m tired, I’m sick, I’m too busy,” excuses. If you really want to scrapbook, make, no scratch that, TAKE time to do it. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time. In fact, having too much time can get in the way of finishing a page. Just make a promise to yourself to do it.

Of course there are things that can get in the way of finishing a page. Important, life altering things. Only you can decide if the excuses that get in the way of creating are important enough for you to walk away from the crafting table. But everyday life? You shouldn’t let that stop you.

Listen to Lain’s prompts. Do they speak to you? Do they inspire you? Then work with them. If the prompt isn’t working for you that day, work on something else. A project you’ve been working on for ages. A story that’s just begging to be told. A photo that just grabs your heart, and you need to showcase it. Do something. 

Some days you will love, love, love, what you have made. Other days, it will all seem to fall apart as you go, and you’ll be disappointed in the final product. Don’t second guess yourself. Just move on to the next page.

Keep everything you create in one place. Make a big pile. Keep it in a binder for your brand new pages. Your pile of pages will grow. You might even make a dent in your stash. (I’d have to do hundreds of pages for that to happen.)

And at the end of the month, look at what you have done. What pages are your favorites? Why? Do you have any pages that you dislike? Again, why? What are the common threads that run through your pages? How are they alike? What makes them different?

By answering those questions, you will discover what kind of scrapbooker you are. Are you a story teller? A technique lover? A fan of color or monochrome?

Only by creating a body of work, and then going back and examining it, will you be able to find your creative process and style. Only by committing to creating do you build a body of work.

If you haven’t signed up for LOAD yet, what are you waiting for? This is the quickest and easiest way to build a body of work.

Commit. Create. Explore. Find yourself.

***These are old posts, updated and re-published to gear up for Friday’s blog-hop for this year’s LOAD. Enjoy this week’s LOAD overload!***

I have to admit, I haven’t had a lot of problems completing a LOAD. There have been days when I’m less motivated than others, and days when I’ve been forgetful or neglectful, but on the whole, LOAD has been fairly easy for me.

Part of the reason I’ve been so successful is my motivation. I’m doing this for ME. Not because I have to, not to win prizes, not to earn the moniker of  “über-scrapbooker,” but because scrapbooking makes me happy. Seriously, if you approach scrapbooking as a chore, step away from the glue stick immediately. Go do something that makes you happy. Garden. Organize your closets. Play hockey. Whatever you look forward to with enthusiasm. Do it, and find some other way to tell your story. Blog it. Record it on video. Tell your children as many stories as you can stand to tell, and they can stand to hear. Or keep it to yourself. That’s okay, too. You do not HAVE to scrapbook.

So. Anyway.
I am a self-motivated scrapbooker. Think about what motivates you, and then move on. There are a few other things you need to think about and do in order to be ready for LOAD.

Have photos you want to use ready and available. If you’re a digi scrapbooker, make sure they’re organized so you can find what you’re looking for. If you’re a paper fiend like I am, make sure you have plenty of photos on hand that inspire you. I just ordered a bunch of pics from Shutterfly, and they should be here with plenty of time to spare.

Do you like to work with sketches or pre-planned page kits? Have those at your finger tips. Have your paper organized so you can find what you want when you want it. Put your favorite embellishments somewhere you can see them, use them, and be inspired by them. Have tools that you use all the time closer to your workspace than things you only use occasionally.

You do not have to go shopping. What you have will work fine. Unless you hate it. And in that case, why are you holding on to it in the first place?

Make sure you have lots of adhesive on hand.

And then on the first day of LOAD, scrapbook. Make one page. Make two pages. Make a mini book. Go wherever your muse leads you. You do not have to follow Lain’s prompts. They can be fun to do, but if you’re not feeling the inspiration, find your own. You are a scrapbooker. You are creative. And you can do this.

Do not make excuses for why you can’t scrapbook. Put scrapbook time on your to-do list. If you’re a technique heavy person, work on pages in stages, with one page in the works, while you finish another page. You don’t need to do your scrapbooking all at once. 5 minutes here, 10 minutes there, really add up.

Commit. If you’re one of those scrapbookers who shuffles things around on your page for days before taping it down, give yourself a time limit, and stick with it. Perfection is overrated. And don’t look back until LOAD is over. What you get done will amaze and delight you.

Don’t forget to upload. Take a picture or scan your layout. Check out the pages of other people who have already uploaded. Share some love, and comment. Don’t worry if your picture is blurry. Ask for help on the message boards if you need it. We all want you to succeed.

What it all boils down to is this: Organize your supplies in the way that you use them, and make scrapbooking a priority. It’s not just a reward for getting all your other chores done. (And really, when are all your other chores actually done?) It’s something that you need for yourself. The latest Paperclipping Round table episode talks about that idea at some length. If you aren’t sure about how to organize yourself, LOAD will be a great way for you to figure that out. By scrapping every day, you will be more aware of how you look for things, and you’ll be able to organize yourself after it’s done. I don’t recommend organizing during LOAD, however. While that can be fun, the goal is to make pages, not think about making pages. 😉

So what are you waiting for? Sign up now!