Jan20

Exciting things on the way!

Posted on January 20, 2015 by Heather

There are so many fun things heading our way.

First up, on January 31st is the next True Scrap production, Truth Scrap! This one day online, live event will focus on the hows and whys of scrapbooking your faith. I’ve seen a couple previews of class samples, and they look amazing! If you are into art journaling or faith-booking, this is the event for you.

This will be the first True Scrap production I won’t be able to attend. Which I am rather bummed about. But I’ll keep my ear to the ground and let you know which ones my scrappy friends really love!

Also coming up real fast is the next Layout a Day challenge, which starts February 1st. The theme of this year’s LOAD is “Once Upon a Time… Celebrating the Stories and Books of Our Youth.” As an avowed book nerd from a very early age, I’m excited to see where February’s month of prompts will take us. Lain usually comes up with some great, thought provoking ideas. I’ll be posting my daily layouts here, as well as on Flickr, so you’ll get to see how creating a page a day works. I think you’ll be surprised at how quickly you start to scrapbook once you’ve gotten into the groove of creating a page daily.

My book is almost done. I’m doing one final edit to check for errors and unclear sentences. I want beginning scrapbookers to understand what I’m trying to tell them! This book is intended specifically for the beginning scrapbooker; it lays out the process for creating a page from start to finish based on three common starting points. It’s very definitely process based, rather than project based.

By the end of February, I should have a class based on the book ready for sale. That will include three process videos, worksheets and printable PDFs, and possibly layered photoshop templates for the digitally inclined. If I do include the layered templates, I’ll probably include another video on how to use them. Maybe. I’m still finalizing details on the class. Also, there will be a bit of instructor interaction, with review of up to three layouts that the student produces.

That’s a lot of excitement for one day, don’t you think? I think I’m going to go calm down by doing my December Project Life pages. Yep. I do find scrapbooking therapeutic, don’t you?

Jan14

Feeling the Urge to Create

Posted on January 14, 2015 by Heather

Feeling the Urge to Create

Some days, it feels like it’s been MONTHS since I’ve made anything. (It’s only been a few days! I made pages on Saturday!) Some days, I don’t know where I want to start. Some days, I feel the need to expand my inspirational horizons. Those are the days that Pinterest is made for.

Last night, looking for color inspiration, I came across these pins. I was looking for something warm to counteract all the cold around here, but these are the images that caught my eye.

First this fun fox captured my fancy:

Illustration by Chris Garbutt from Journey to the Centre of My Brain by James Carter

The expression on this fox’s face is filled with excitement and whimsy. And the white brush marks on the tail really make me think of snow and cold.

And then I saw this:

Card by essillustration available on etsy

More foxes! And you know they are warm foxes since they are curled up all tight together.

Apparently I now have a thing for foxes.

Finally, these two items finished the inspiration injection:

photo by Doc. Ing. of Lake Sauris in Italy from Flickr

Illustration for magazine Revue XXI no. 23 by Cruschiform (Fukushima)

The scenic photo is so lovely and relaxing. You can tell it’s just about a perfect day. Or you can imagine that it is. And the structure of the bottom illustration is calling for a scrapbook interpretation of it.

I have no idea what I’m going to do with all of these ideas. But the thing about inspiration is that you can let it brew in the back of your mind while you’re working on other things, and then, when you can concentrate on it, you will have figured out what you want to do with it. At least that’s the plan for now. We’ll see how it turns out next week!

What do you all think of these inspiration pieces? What would you do with them?

I wonder what I’ll come up with…

Jan9

No Stress Project Life

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Heather

No Stress Project Life

I have not been doing Project Life on a daily basis. Nor on a weekly basis, or even on a monthly basis.

The thing is, I’m not scrapping all the time. (Shocking, I know!) Sometimes I’m sewing, sometimes I’m making cards, sometimes I’m crocheting. I scrapbook in batches. I find I like how I scrapbook if I do a bunch at a time. Also, I appreciate it more every time I get back to it from some other project. I really do love scrapbooking.

I was trying to write every day when I first started this year’s version of Project Life, but that quickly got away from me. It’s hard to remember to write things down, when it feels like everyday is the same. Wake up, get kids to school, work/write/chores till the kids get home, then nag about homework, make dinner, and chase everyone off to bed.

It sometimes feels like a boring daily slog. But, I am using Project Life to try to remember all the little things that WILL change as the kids grow up.

And that really is what Project Life is to me. A chance to capture details that are going to change, no matter how repetitive they seem now.

During December I found time to catch up on the past two and a half months. Family visits. Birthdays. Exciting announcements.

I had chances to get crafty with both kids for Halloween. Even though my oldest didn’t go trick or treating because he didn’t get armor for his birthday. (Seriously. He wanted chain mail!)

That’s the thing about Project Life. It can be anything you want it to be, and you can manage it in whatever way works best for you.

If you like to print photos on a daily or weekly basis at home, you can. If you like to save up and do big batches all at once, you can.

Project Life is flexible. Scrapbooking is flexible. There’s no one, right way to do any of it.

Do whatever works best for you. Tell your story. Tell your family’s story.

That’s all that really matters.

Dec25

A Very Merry Christmas to You!

Posted on December 25, 2014 by Heather

A Very Merry Christmas to You!

A very Merry Christmas to you all!

Do you have a favorite Christmas song? Growing up, one of my favorites was Christmas Is. It was on a compilation of classics that my parents had, and that I played repeatedly during the holidays as a kid. (Oh cool, the original vinyl is up on Amazon! Affiliate link)

It is the quintessential 70s Christmas tune. And it seems to repeat itself endless in my head every year. (I don’t need the vinyl, I’ve got the earworm permanently installed!)

The lyrics work as the journaling for the title page of the Christmas album that I sporadically add to when the mood arises.

Merry Christmas everybody! May all you wishes come true!

Dec17

A Moment of Reflection

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Heather

A Moment of Reflection

This blog has been up and running for two years now. How cool is that?

In the past two years, I’ve published 236 posts. That’s an average of a post every three days. Not too shabby.

The most popular post by far has been the post where I shared tools to help document a Week in the Life. A lot of people have been using it for inspiration for Project Life as well.

The most popular video has been the one that I made about how to cover an old vinyl binder with a large sheet of paper. Definitely NOT my best video. (So much time wasted, and so many goofy errors!) But it definitely has good information in it. My favorite videos are my very first– a start to finish process video, and a tool technique one, where I show three ways to use alpha stamps other than as titles or journaling. Also, the video I made for those who sign up for my email list, about ways to avoid making stamping errors is pretty awesome too. But that one you need to pay me with your email address.

I’ve made one mini-digital supply kit. You can find it here for free! I have plans to make more. I keep getting hung up on the idea that I need to be able to draw. I don’t really, but mental roadblocks are hard to work around sometimes.

I’ve done two full months of cards, in November 2013, and November 2014. I think that qualifies as a yearly tradition now, don’t you?

I’ve talked philosophy, and organization, and my favorite challenge, LOAD.

So many topics! So many posts! Each time I go through the archives I come across something I really like, either from a design perspective, or from a writing perspective.

Go ahead, pick a month from the archive list, I bet you’ll find something interesting!

Moving forward?

I hope to keep giving you inspiration that helps you avoid the excuses that get in the way of scrapbooking.

And for those of you who want to scrapbook but have yet to actually make a page?

I’ve got something coming for you:

I’m planning on releasing it on Kindle in January. Hopefully it will be the first of many. How’s that for exciting?

NoExcuseScrapbooking.com

What's stopping you from starting?

Exciting things on the way!

Feeling the Urge to Create

No Stress Project Life

A Very Merry Christmas to You!

A Moment of Reflection

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