Author Archives: Heather

Sep13

A Peek Behind the Curtain: My Unfinished Projects

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A Peek Behind the Curtain: My Unfinished Projects

One of the things that can hang over your head when you’ve been scrapbooking for a while is the dreaded unfinished project. We’re all guilty of biting off more than we can finish, but that doesn’t mean we can’t complete a project if we have a plan.

As mentioned in previous posts, I have an unfinished Project Life album from 2011. I’ve got a plan for finishing it, and have made quite a lot of progress. All the photos are in it, and the cards are loaded as well. Now it’s time for writing. I think what I’ll do is, while watching TV, fill out a few cards at a time each evening. It will take awhile to finish that way, but what’s the rush? It should be more fun, and invite more input from my family by doing it this way. But that may just be my optimistic nature showing.Unfinished Project Life

Then there’s this summer’s digi album. I need to make a list of events to add to the book, and then I’ll be able to really get cracking on it. Hey, I’ll do that tonight! Little steps get you closer all the time.

OFN pics

Then there are my kids’ School of Life albums, which both need to be updated. I’ll pull photos for both of them, and pack them with my school supplies, and bring those with me the next time I head to a crop. The School of Life albums are great for getting things done, and allowing for chat time while scrapping.School of Life albums

Then I’ve got a couple chipboard mini albums, where I know what I want to talk about, but haven’t got pictures yet, or need info from family members. Those are further down the list.

chipboard albums

The thing about all these projects is that I DON’T HAVE TO do any of these projects, but I want to, so I’m planning time and processes that will help me get them done.

That’s what you need to do in order to get your unfinished projects done. Break projects into pieces, and plan each step. You don’t have to go into a huge amount of detail, but knowing what the chunks are can really help you see projects as do-able instead of insurmountable and guilt inspiring.

One more thing. Are any of your unfinished projects stories you no longer want to tell? You don’t have to you know.

You have my permission to throw them in the circular file, or recycle them. Turn them into something you love, instead of something that weighs you down.

The only person who should be setting your scrapbooking goals is yourself. Not your kids. Not your friends. Not your mother, and most especially not me. Do exactly as much as you want to do. It’s all okay.

So what projects do you have unfinished? What are you going to do about them?

 

Sep11

Getting Started on Project Life After the Fact

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Getting Started on Project Life After the Fact

You know how some things take longer than you expect? Well Project Life isn’t like that, it’s all my other chores that seem to expand like balloons to fill all the available space/time around me.

Let’s start with a few basic steps, and then add a video later that will have more helpful details for you.

One: Gather the photos you want to use. Keep in mind that you’re looking for highlights and photos that expand on the details of daily life. You don’t need 15 photos from one particular birthday party, but rather photos that capture the essence of what happened. If you’re dealing with previously printed photos, this is a great step to do while multitasking. You can catch up with your favorite shows or listen to podcasts or even supervise kids cleaning while doing this!

Two: Organize your photos. If you are making a chronological book, put them in general date and event order. If you’re telling another kind of story, sort your photos so you can use them in a way that helps tell your story.

Three: If you haven’t already, set up a binder with divided page protectors. I had already done this, but if you haven’t, you’ll need to do this before you can go any further. The old Project Life supplies only had one orientation for page protectors. There are a lot more choices now. If you go for all one orientation, just slap them in your binder, and you’re done. If you have a variety, you can either alternate them, or group them by type in your binder. If you group them by type, you can decide as you go regarding which orientation type will work best with each particular set of photos.

divided page protectors

 

Case in point: I don’t have very many photos for this particular date range, and two of them are vertical, so it made sense to use a page protector with fewer photo slots that include room for vertical photos.

Four: Slip photos in pockets. Yep it really is that simple. Typical Project Life format is title/date card in upper left, journaling cards across the middle, and 4×6 photos in the rest of the pockets. You can change that up to suit the photos you have. Some need to be cropped smaller? Go right ahead, and put them in the middle pockets. Want to use a larger photo? Use multiple pockets for it. (How to do that will be in the video later.) Have a lot to say? Use a 4×6 pocket for a journaling card, or one of the foldable pull out tab cards that come with the Project Life sets, or both. If you like the look of rounded corners, you may want to do that now too.

Five: Write. It doesn’t have to be a lot. Who, what, where, when, why, and how are good places to start. Just think to yourself, “If I was showing this to someone, what would I be telling them?” That’s what you write down.

Six: Embellish. This is where you get out the date stamp, and stamp dates on journaling cards or photos. Or use arrows and number stickers. Or labels and twine. This is where you get as creative as you want to be. If that thought scares you, don’t do anything. If the thought of not having inky fingers when you’re done makes you sad, play! This is where you make your Project Life album fit your style.

Seven: Share. Show it to your family and friends so they can be impressed. Then tell them how easy it was to put together. You’ll have scrapping company in no time. 😉

If you want to use Project Life to document your story, either today’s or ten year ago’s, you can find Project Life supplies on Amazon.

Sep2

Blast From the Past: Background Stamping

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Blast From the Past: Background Stamping

Way back in the dawn of time (or 2007 as the case may be) I had a little blog on blogger called The Dragon’s Den. On it I talked about whatever struck my fancy, whether it was stamping, or family life, or how much I loved LOAD. It now has its very own domain name, but it’s purely for personal thoughts now. Some of the old posts have some fun information though, and I thought I’d share one of the oldies with you now:

Today I’ve got a simple project you can do with stamps. This will work with any stamp. I’m using a very architectural stamp, but you could use an animal stamp if you’ve gone zoo crazy, or a Christmas stamp if you’re putting together holiday cards, or a ball stamp if you’ve got a kid whose second word was ball. You’ve got the idea.

A word about stamp pads

There are a lot of different inks. But when it comes to putting ink on your stamp there’s only one thing you need to know: is it a felt/cloth pad or a foam pad?100_1861

If it’s a felt pad like the one on the left, you bring the stamp to the pad and tap it gently on the pad, then give it a little twist before lifting it off the pad. If it’s a foam pad like the one on the right, you turn your stamp upside down, and gently tap your pad on the stamp. No twisting! You can rip or separate the pad from it’s case if you aren’t gentle. If you follow these instructions, you can have stamp pads for years! They will need re-inking eventually, but that’s another easy thing to do. How to tell if a stamp pad is felt or foam? Get your fingers dirty! A felt pad feels like a piece of canvas, and a foam pad feels like, well, foam.

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The Technique

We are going to make a background. I used this technique to make a card and a scrapbook page, but there are lots of other things you can do with this idea–even use paint and you have a home decor treatment that looks like wallpaper, without the need to scrape and peel in ten years when you decide you must have been crazy to do that. First you need to choose a stamp. Base this on what your end project is going to be. I knew I was going to be doing something with my husband in it, so I chose a stamp that could be considered masculine. (Maybe.) This one is from a The Angel Company set. (I miss TAC! They are now out of business.) Then I chose three colors–2 colors close in hue, and then an accent color. I used Versamagic chalk inks in Niagara Mist, Hint of Pesto, and Night Sky.

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Start with the lighter of the two colors close in hue, and stamp in a staggered pattern, leaving room between images for the image in the darker color. If you aren’t comfortable with eyeballing it, stamp the image on a post it note, with as much of the image on the side with the sticky strip as possible. Cut close to the image, and you’ve got a repositionable place holder that you can use to help space your images. In StamperSpeak, it’s called a mask, and it’s a very useful trick for layering images, and creating scenes.

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After you’ve filled the page with the lighter color, choose where you want your accent spot to be, and stamp the image once with the accent color. Then fill in all the empty spots with the darker background color. Don’t forget to go off the edge of your page. This will ground your background, and it won’t look like it’s just floating there, waiting for you to finish it.

I used it for a page about my husband on his birthday two years ago. (Now seven years ago! Wait, seven? Wow!)

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And a little detail for you:

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So are you ready to make your own background? Show me what you’ve got!

 

Aug29

Solutions for the Chronological Scrapbooker

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Solutions for the Chronological Scrapbooker

Let’s switch gears a little bit, and talk to those scrapbookers who are stuck because they’ve wandered into the land of chronological guilt.

There are a lot of scrapbookers who feel they MUST scrapbook in order. Baby years must be done before school age years, and graduation after that. Never mind that the stories that keep popping up in their head have nothing to do with chronological events, but rather something like how much their child reminds them of another loved one, or of memories of their own childhood.

They’ve decided they must scrapbook chronologically, and forget about the stories that occur to them during their daily life. And then it happens. They see how much they have to do to get “caught up” to today’s stories that they loose their joy and enthusiasm for the hobby. They stop scrapbooking. And then the guilt really sets in.

We can solve this problem. And we don’t have to stop scrapbooking chronologically to do that.

I bet, by now, if you’ve been wandering around the world of scrapbooking for any length of time, you’ve heard of Project Life, by Becky Higgins. This, believe it or not, is how you can get “caught up.”

Project Life was originally designed so that people could take a photo a day, write a little something each day, and then just slip the photos and journaling cards into pockets. Quick, easy and done. It has since evolved and spread, and most people are using it weekly, and documenting the details of their lives.

I started a Project Life album in 2011, but never finished it. Here, take a look:

All very nice you say, but how does that apply to the pile of photos you have from 10, 15,  or even 20 years ago that you have to scrapbook before you can even think about today’s stories?

Well, as you saw, the Project Life I started two years ago is still incomplete. I’ll break down the process for you in easily digestible chunks, and show you how to pull an album together.

You should be able to apply that process to any time frame you want to document, whether it’s last week, or ten years ago.

I’ll have that ready for you next week. While I’m working on that, why don’t you pull together the photos you want to use, and pick out some Project Life pocket pages and cards you like? You’ll need them to make your own album!

Check out the Project Life supplies at Amazon. (affiliate link) There are a LOT of choices!

Aug24

Using a Color Prompt

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Using a Color Prompt

How about a small step by step showing you how I used the color prompt from Design Seeds?

I don’t know about you, but I am terrible at keeping my desk clean. So the first order of business, before I can create anything, is to:

 Clear off my desk:

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Can anyone tell me why I have a bottle of nail polish on my desk? Oh, right! Entertained a niece the other day. 😉

Alrighty then. Let’s have a prompt check, shall we?

ChiliColor

Such gorgeous, rich colors, let’s see what’s in the stash.

Pull papers:

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Using some 8×8 papers from the days when I sold The Angel Company products? Excellent!

Let’s pull some photos now:

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The boys have discovered the joys of playing Magic: the Gathering. Did you notice the design starting to come together as well? As I shuffled papers and photos around I realized the monthly sketch from the ScrapHappy Community would work wonderfully. (If you’ve never heard of ScrapHappy you should definitely check it out. Friendliest scrapbook community on the interwebs!)

 Finalize photo placement:

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Organized photos so everyone was looking towards the center of the layout, and added photo mats to help the photos stand out from the patterned paper, rather than blend in.

Add titles and journaling:

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A bit journaling about how the Magic bug has bit the boys, and it’s done!

Did any of you make anything? I’d love to see what you create!