scrapping the right now

I finally feel like I am waking up after a week spent stumbling around in a cold-induced brain fog. Just when I thought I was feeling better, the next day would come along and kick my butt all over again. In spite of feeling like crap for much of the week, I kept getting this urge -- and really, that's the only way to explain it -- to make sure that I was capturing our "right now."

November is typically a pretty busy month for us; both of the girls have birthdays in November, and we travel a couple of times during the month for different family activities. This year has been no exception: we celebrated Oliver's first birthday in Memphis; I took my comps for my Master's degree; Cass had a bowling party with friends; Cami celebrated at Mr. Gatti's with a group of her classmates; Cass won "Most Improved" on the JV soccer team at the soccer banquet; I traveled to Cincinnatti for work...you get the point. There's a lot going on. But in the middle of all those big things were tons and tons of little things, and it's just as important to me to make sure I capture those things too.

So instead of spending any more time thinking about doing it, I grabbed my camera and snapped a series of pictures today, then I took about 30 minutes and created this simple layout with them.

 

Here are a few tips to help you make sure you are getting your "right now" recorded.

WORDS:
1. Break it into manageable pieces. I decided to use the captions "morning," "afternoon," and "night" to organize my journaling and give me a way to think about what was going on right now in our lives.
2. Stick with a list format. There's nothing easier than making a quick list when it comes to getting your story down on paper. You don't have to worry about how it sounds, and you can fit a good deal more information on the page when you use a list format too. Plus, it's easier to incorporate it into the design as well.
3. Be realistic. Every day isn't sunshine and roses. You'll notice that I started dishes this morning, but I didn't get them finished until this evening. I admitted to being a total grump for no reason. Those glimpses are realistic, but I don't beat myself up over what I should've done either. With the list format, the brevity gets my point across and moves on.

PHOTOS:
1. Mix it up. I used a combination of people and things as subjects for my photos. The nice thing about this is that the people photos help add a sense of motion and movement to what would otherwise be pretty "still" items.
2. Convert to black and white. That's always a good option when you are trying to unify a disparate group of photographs -- whether they are of different subjects or from different time periods.
3. Let your pictures add more to the story. Since I opted for list journaling, I chose photos that add another level of details to what I've written. This works as a personal trigger for me, in a sense. I know when I read the line "prepare for tomorrow's party" that my photos show some of those preparations: roses for the centerpiece, cupcakes waiting to be cooked and weenies in the crockpot, a Wal-mart gift card waiting to be spent.

I played around with a couple of different options, design-wise, but it's always fun to think about other ways you could create a layout using the same basic items. Here are a few options for a page like this:

OPTIONS:
1. Highlight one photo by keeping it in color or putting a cool frame or border around it.
2. Create three columns of photos instead of four and arrange your journaling in three vertical columns instead of horizontally. Add your title across the top or down the side as a fourth full column.
3. Replace photos with blocks of patterned paper, or use a bold pattern as your background paper.
4. List your day's activities as a timeline, rather than a general list like I did.
5. Opt for a "before" and "after" organizational format. Create your daily to-do list in the morning, and then in the evening, create a list of what you actually accomplished. (In my experience, those two lists rarely match up). Then use these lists for the journaling on your layout.

Credits: TaylorMade Designs and Fei-Fei's Stuff collaboration, "In Retrospect"
Daily Birdie font (by me, not available for sale anymore), Impact, CK Newsprint

Comments

[Christina Smith]

I love, love, LOVE this layout! Scrapping in the now...love that too! I think I might have to scraplift this 'template'. You are so creative!!

[Jennifer]

love your layout the design is just fabulous!! Might have to scraplift this one too ;)

[Tamara]

I love you post today. The font is great...I have it....and your design is just perfect for story telling.

Thanks