be AUDacious

in limbo

One quick note of good news: I'm guest posting on the Ella blog today. Look to the left -- see that snazzy orange elephant button? Just click on it and you'll go directly to my post. Hope you'll check it out! Thanks!

In other news, my laptop (which is less than 2 years old) is dead. Looks like either the processor or the motherboard went out on it. Of course, there was a ton of stuff that I hadn't backed up recently, including the wonderful photos of the girls that I took while we were in Gulf Shores. Chris is seeing what he can do to get the files off the hard drive, but so far nothing is working, so it looks like there was some hard drive damage somehow as well. I'm just sick about it.

This is the second time I've lost information when a computer went down, and while I have more stuff backed up this time, I just hate that so much of what I consider important is now lost. I am seriously rethinking technology -- not completely -- but just how I handle it and how much I depend on it. I foresee a number of changes in the future, I think, beginning with much less reliance on a computer system.

ETA: Does anyone know of a software program that lets you take small photos (for example, photos that I saved to Facebook or my blog at 600 pixels, approximately) and restore them to a larger size more suitable for printing? I remember there being a program mentioned in an old issue of Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, but I don't have it anymore. Any help that anyone could provide would be wonderful!!!

guest blogger: May Flaum

May is probably one of the first scrappers that I met in real life, and since then we've worked together on a number of teams and projects. Working with her has always been such an easy process, and her insight and expertise has always improved any project on which we've collaborated. I love May's enthusiasm, her practicality, her sense of humor, and her work ethic. She's a true teacher, in every sense of the word, and she's constantly coming up with great ideas, one of which I'm happy to share with you today. Enjoy.

Once upon a time, there was a crafter named May who loved to play with all kinds of pretty things. When she wasn’t creating up a storm she could be found reading books, her favorites being those that end up with happily ever after. 

Hi everyone! My name is May Flaum, I’m the co-author (with Audrey) of Paper + Pixels, a great guide to hybrid scrapbooking if I do say so myself, and I’ve been happily scrapbooking my life for as long as I could write. One thing I’m guilty of is not telling all my best stories. I’m betting you know what I’m talking about. The stories that are ingrained in our lives, that are part of the lore and legend that is known by every family member, those defining moments that you never ever forget. Things that are so known, often it’s easy to forget to scrapbook them.

We are starting to plan a trip to Disney World, and my husband and I were talking about the start of our honeymoon (in Disney World) where we encountered a family in a restaurant with a kid that literally had too much fun and ‘refunded’ part of her dinner. It was just one of those inside joke/private moments, and has become stuff of legend around here. So why didn’t it make the honeymoon scrapbook? For that matter, why don’t I scrap it now? 

I run into problems with scrapbooking these big stories for a few reasons:

1. No photos to coordinate
2. Don’t think of scrapbooking it/forget to
3. Not sure how to get started

 For the first problem (no photos) I simply find one that will work. Some random photo that ties in loosely – either people involved, subject in general, or just something. Or, if the story is long I simply make a photo-free page. No big deal!

 Now as to getting started, as I searched for inspiration for this guest blog post it hit me. Books. Stories. I’m a certified bookworm, so why not take a cue from that? You can take a serious or funny, light or heavy approach with this. But writing it as if writing a story about others (vs in first person) is a fun way to mix it up and get that tale down. I suggest starting with a clichéd intro like...

• Once upon a time...
• It was a dark and stormy night...
• One bright sunny day...
• In a land far, far, away...
• A long time ago...

 Or try writing from the middle of happily ever after, as a mystery, thriller, or any other genre you like! I have found that my love of books can help my crafting. How? Not only giving me ideas and bringing up memories I’ve yet to scrapbook, but providing inspiration in the form of titles, fonts, and so much more.

 
In this layout I created I went with “Once upon a time...” since I’m writing about our honeymoon eight years ago. I thought putting a photo of my girls instead of us back on our honeymoon was fun – though including both could be fun too. I tried a number of fonts and title treatments before deciding that simple printing on vellum would get the look I was really after. Creative play is fun, but sometimes simple really is best! There were tons of fonts I loved at www.dafont.com where I downloaded this free font (the king and queen font) – it’s such a great resource for fun and unusual fonts.

Supplies: The Girls’ Paperie patterned paper, flower, chipboard button, die cut clock, and metal accent; Kaiser Craft lace; Jillibean-Soup gingham paper; Jenni Bowlin large cream and pink buttons; Tattered Angels chalkboard glimmer mist; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L crafty power tape and EZ-Runner permanent vellum adhesive; unknown photo corners, thread, and smaller buttons

 I hope that you’ve enjoyed my layout, and if you create a book inspired layout please be sure to share with me! You can find me at my blog www.mayflaum.wordpress.com and also at my new on-line class Camp Scrap http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/campscrap.php

guest blogger: Amy Sorensen

Amy is another of my guest bloggers whom I've never really met. But I've followed her blog for quite some time -- again, because she is someone with whom I share a number of interests: writing, scrapbooking, reading, poetry. (But not running. I am not a fan of running. Well, I admire others, such as my oldest daughter, and their ability to run, but I do not run. No.) Amy's writing is amazing -- it's deep and heartfelt and reflective and very real. And it's that quality that I would love to bring to more of my writing, and I think that other scrappers feel the same way. So that's why I invited Amy here today. Enjoy.

One of the last real conversations I had with my dad, who has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t speak anymore, focused, oddly enough, on scrapbooking. It isn’t a hobby he has any real connection to, other than the fact that he remembered one of his daughters did it. Plus, he was the photographer in our family; he was a reader and a closet writer, and understood, I think, the power of words and photographs combined. He sat on my couch for an entire afternoon, reading my scrapbooks; he’d finish one and ask for another. By that point, reading was a challenge for him, yet he kept at it, commenting now and then about a detail or something funny. 

Until that day, I had occasionally questioned my scrapbooking approach. My layouts are full of words—full of them. I have layouts that are only words. I eliminate pictures or embellishments to have more room for words. Much as I love all the patterned paper and the ribbon and the rub-ons, the painting and the designing and the making that is involved with a layout, what continues to draw me towards scrapbooking (and I’ve been doing it for almost 15 years) is, quite simply, the words. Scrapbooking creates a space where I can to do something with words—stories and ideas and information and epiphanies—rather than leaving them, unseen, to linger in journals.

Watching my dad read my scrapbooks eliminated any doubt. Watching him was nearly like seeing the future, a glimpse of how, perhaps, my scrapbooks might impact someone reading them after I am gone. Watching him, seeing what he noticed (not once was it an embellishment), recognizing the emotional response on his face, my scrapping aesthetic settled firmly into place. Words + images: This is what matters.

Whenever I share this opinion of mine, I am always met with some version of the same question: OK, but how? How do you write well? How do you write something evocative, something that prompts an emotional response? My first gut response is always this one: you have to be a little bit obsessive about it. Read books about writing and books about words. Read books about anything, but pay attention to how the writers use language. Write something every single day. Practice. Read poetry and essays and comic books and newspapers, simply for the sheer joy of discovering a well-wrought phrase. Keep notebooks that you fill with odd snippets of observations. (Today, for example, I wrote about the patient mother robin sitting in her nest in our sycamore tree, waiting out the day's ceaseless rain, waiting out the starving of incubation.)

Of course, you’re also going to want some actual real advice, some “do this” sort of ideas. Steinbeck said that the way to find the magic in writing “seems to lie solely in the aching urge of the writer to convey something he feels important to the reader.” Write what is aching to be written, rather than what comes next chronologically. What I know about writing journaling I have learned by writing journaling. While I am, like my dad, a closet writer who fills up notebooks and backup hard drives with unpublished poetry and essays and stabs at novels—not yet, in other words, a “real” writer—these things that I know about writing journaling will help everyone write better.

1. Be honest. Trying to fake an emotion is a sure way to sap any feeling from your journaling. Say, for example, your last family holiday was awful. You had an argument with your husband, the potato salad made everyone sick, all of the gifts were wrong sizes and had to be returned. Aiming for a “this was the best Arbor Day ever” feeling in your journaling won’t work well because your writing is based on the ideal rather than the real. Be honest. Write what you feel, even if it isn’t the prettiest emotion. Work from the bad stuff—what did you learn from the experience? How did it impact or change those involved? This doesn’t mean you have to only focus on the negative. It does mean you must be authentic, even if you aren’t perfect.

2. Be fearless. I’ve written about this on my blog before; almost any writing book you read will confront the idea of confronting your writing fears. If you stop to think about it too long, journaling is a little bit scary. You’re putting yourself down on paper—what if someone laughs? Or rolls their eyes? What if you sound stupid, or cheesy, or boring? What if you spell a word wrong or make an enormously embarrassing grammar mistake? I obsess and worry over those things, too. Sometimes they stop my writing completely, and I have to take a little break. (Chocolate is generally involved.) But what drives me to keep going is a deeper fear: what if I didn't write it? What if what I journal is something someone will need? The fear of not-writing influences me more than fear of the grammar police.

3. Be specific and concrete. Emotions are abstract. You can’t hold love in your hand, you can’t take a big whiff of joy. (Except metaphorically, of course.) Especially when you’re writing about emotion, specificities and concrete details relay meaning. For example, say you’re journaling about your newborn, and you want to convey how much you love her. You can just say it: I love you. Or add some modifiers: I love you so much. Or get even more modified: I love you so, so, so very much! But you’re still not saying much because all of those words are worn out and overused. Try getting specific and concrete instead: The rosebud of your hand curls free from the swaddling blanket and then, as you sleep, it opens and closes as if you are welcoming the world. You can convey emotion by using specific, concrete details and with your word choice. (If I had written something like The baby's sticky, sour hand creeps out of the swaddling blanket, convulsing open and shut as if to beckon something dark into the world you feel something completely different, even though the structure of the sentence is nearly identical.) You can write “I love you” without ever saying the words. The things we can sense—touch, hear, smell, taste, see—are what our hearts respond to.

4. Be a rule breaker. Nothing stifles creativity like a “should.” Someone telling you that you should write journaling will make you want to never write it again. Break the rules; ignore the shoulds.  You don't have to write down every detail of what happened at your son's thirteenth birthday party; you can just write the way it made you feel to have a teenaged boy. You can write journaling about today and pair it with a photo you took ten years ago. Write a paragraph in second person, then write the next one in first. Write your journaling from the perspective of your Christmas tree or your lilac bush. Don't let yourself get bound by “shoulds”; don't let expectations hold you to a course you don't want to take. Write exactly what you want to write—how you want to write it.

5.  Be yourself. Sometimes, when I am reading a particularly good book, I want to fling the tome across the room in sheer frustrated envy that I will never write so well. I feel that way about other people’s blogs and scrapbook journaling, too. Am I alone here? I hope not! Still, there is something to be praised about your own writing. You might not manage words like your favorite author or blogger, but you do manage words like you. And that is all you need to do. Try, as you write, to find your voice, to speak with your words and word patterns and rhythms.

Here’s a layout with journaling that I think embodies those five suggestions:

In a sense, this could have been a throw-away photo. I wasn’t really thinking very much when I took it, sort of snapped it just because. But I managed to capture that look, the one that moms of teenage girls will recognize. Then I had to ask myself: do I really want to document this emotion? But it was aching to be told, and so I told it. I suppose I could have written about her running instead. But I want to be honest, so I told the honest reaction. I think the result is something worth keeping, even if it’s not rainbows and ponies.

 

Amy Sorensen is a long-time scrapper and lover of words. Four kids call her Mom; she's also a librarian and teaches scrapbooking classes at www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com. When she's not scrapping or reading or thinking about scrapping or reading, you'll find her writing or quilting or working in her flowerbeds. She's also a fan of running and hiking and anything that gets her outdoors.

 

guest blogger: Lee Currie

One of the things that I love about blogging is that it gives me a chance to interact with people that I otherwise would never have met. I've been inspired by photos and words from so many different people, and Lee is one of them. I asked for camera advice one day, and Lee sent me this fantastic email that contained so much great information. From there, I checked out her blog and started reading on a daily basis, commenting when possible and just getting to know her. What draws me to Lee's blog is the way she captures her daily life with photos and words; it's the same goal I have, and she's always a source of inspiration and ideas for me. More than anything, though, I like getting to know her in this way, through our similarities and our differences.

It was such a thrill to receive the e-mail from Audrey inviting me to participate here on Fortune favors the AUDACIOUS as a guest blogger! I’m such a huge fan, and thrilled to be in such tremendous guest blogger company! It’s such a thrill to have this opportunity to share some of my interests with you.

Like everyone, I am busy. As a result of my lifestyle, I have become a big believer in the idea that you do not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to blogging, scrapbooking and creating and still end up with a fun, creative and meaningful result. 

One of my favourite short-cuts to creativity is to participate in memes and challenges – more often than not, they are the same thing: challenging memes.

The result of my participating in these challenges over a period of time? They give me oodles of creative content: photos + words which I can use to create collections.  I find the consistency; routine and similarity in form appealing. They can be done with a partner, within a group or as a stand-alone project within a larger group. They make awesome, simple and meaningful scrapbook pages!

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I suppose the best way to explain is to show you what I mean. To varying degrees, I participate in:

TEAM-UP THURSDAY

Challenge: Few Words + Photos

This is a new team photography meme my friend Shirley invited me to participate in with her.  The brainchild of Melody and Megan in which we have been participating for a little more than a month and I’m enjoying the collaborative effort required. We have been taking turns selecting the theme and, lucky for me, I send my photo to Shirley and she magically creates a diptych and posts it over on the Flickr Group: All of our submissions can be found here: Team-up Thursday. A couple of weeks ago the challenge was “pastel” and this is the diptych result:

 

SOOC SATURDAY

Challenge: Few Words + Photos

This is a perfect photography meme for me! Why? I never “fix” my photos, I have no idea how to use actions and a histogram gives me a headache. Melody has a nice little, and growing, group of participants who have interesting perspectives to offer. I am all about learning visually and I really enjoy looking through photos and learning from others. I’ve got a pretty nice little collection of SOOC photos  I’ve submitted for this meme here. The most recent:

 

MY BEST SHOT MONDAY

Challenge: Few Words + Photos

This challenge is hosted by the multi-talented and energetic Tracy Clark over on her blog, Mother May I. Tracy may be best recognized as a founding member of Shutter Sisters and a current member of the teaching roster over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. The idea is for you to go through your photos from the week and select your best shot and post it on Monday. Over the months of doing this project, I’ve come to realize that “best” is subjective and often my best shot is not my most technically accurate shot, but the one that evokes the most emotion. My current shots can be found on http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/my-best-shot-monday/ and the older ones can be found on my now defunct blog: Lemons2Lemonade  After looking at all of my shots again, I can’t even select a FAVOURITE of the Best Shots, but, boy, I do take a lot of floral pics, but my favourite topic:

 

WISHCASTING WEDNESDAY

 Challenge: Words 

Jamie Ridler, a creative self-development coach and fellow Canadian, asks: what would happen if every week you made a wish? What magic might start to stir? I enjoy this meme so much as I often get lost in the day-to-day of my life. Raising four active kids can keep me from focusing some time on myself, so first thing Wednesday mornings, Jamie proposes a question, if it strikes a chord, I write a post; if not, I don’t. Jamie strikes many chords! I hope to collect all of my wishcasting and make a quick mini-album of her questions and my answers. You can find my Wishcasting Wednesday on my Embrace Life blog. Jamie has amassed a lovely community who, if you leave your link, will visit you and support your wish.

 

12 of 12

Challenge: Words + Photos (and a layout!)

If it’s true that my children will remember the every day occurrences of their childhoods more than the special occasions then they will certainly have vivid memories of the12^th of every month! Susan Keuter started this challenge a while ago and it has recently been moved onto Facebook where there are quite a number of participants. The idea is to go through your day, the 12^th of each month, and take 12 pictures that best represent your day. Now, inevitably I take about 100 photos, but over time it’s become easy to narrow things down and give a good representation of what our day and life routine is all about. Of course, adding the journaling definitely helps! I’ve been participating in this project the most consistently, and the longest, of all the challenges. I just love it. And ta-da, while typing up this entry, I finally figured out how best to put it in scrapbook form! So far, every 12^th has been posted on my blogs: new and old  but I’ve never settled on a scrapbook layout format. Since this project is for my kids, I’d best get at it. This is my plan, what do you think:

 

*8 THINGS

 Challenge: Words

The way Rachelle (Magpie Girl) put it, *8 Things was a game she made up to quiet her “monkey mind”. I could relate and I found her challenge appealing. Though, I have to admit, I’ve fallen off a bit recently. Too many other things to do! But, I have very much enjoyed this meme. Again, easy to transfer to layout or even simple digi-book form the thoughts and ideas expressed. I have about 20 entries sitting in draft form ready to be finished off and published. Like Rachelle, I’m filled with countless half-formed ideas and creative passions; this has proven to be a wonderful “catch all”.  On her blog, my friend, Jill, participates in a similar meme called Thursday Thirteen, I don’t because it just means I would have to come up with five more ideas, so I’ll stick with my *8 Things!

  

WELLNESS WEDNESDAY

Challenge: Words + Occasional Photos

I’m sure somewhere this exists as a challenge, but this has been my thing. On occasion, I’ve put together a post on wellness: spiritual, health, children … if it falls into the category of my own personal well being then I write about it. Eventually this will translate into something. A scrapbook? A digi-book? Or *gasp* a book! All of my recent posts can be found on Embrace Life. 

 

PROJECT 365

Challenge: Photos

This project is being done EVERYWHERE! It is quite an undertaking. I’m in the first half of my second year and I’m really enjoying it - though I still occasionally forget to bring my camera with me when I leave the house. There are countless blogs and Flickr groups dedicated to this idea. I am in the process of moving my project onto my Embrace Life blog.

 

WEEKLY GRATITUDE

Challenge: Words + Photos

Hosted by Karen Grünberg and Lori Gentile at this is a wonderful opportunity to express your appreciation for the little things in life. After all, it’s the little things that make everything so lovely, right? They provide a monthly theme (so far topics covered include: Work, Soul, Home and Nature) and they have offered a few communities in which to participate: Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and the Willow Traders Gratitude Forum. I started when they started, at the beginning of 2010 and, with help from Karen (and the lovely Audrey), I managed to figure out how to use the digital template created and freely shared by Karen. You can find my contributions here in my Weekly Gratitude Gallery (http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/photos/weekly_gratitude/index.html).

This manner of expressing gratitude replaced:

TGIF

Challenge: Words

Brené Brown is such an incredibly inspiring woman, I have learned so much from her this past 18 months or so. I’ve participated in her read-alongs and her blog is in my reader. Her TGIF meme, which stands for Trust, Gratitude, Inspiration Friday is set up to make you more aware of those things in your life you are trusting, for which you are grateful and what inspires you. I stopped participating after a time. I felt my posts were becoming redundant and I felt self-imposed pressure to be original, creative and heart-felt when I find it hard to express in this format. It certainly isn’t because I’m not grateful or mindful, just that I would rather live my gratitude than express it. My last posts were here: http://thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife/tgif/

 

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There are oodles of memes and challenges that can be found all over the Internet. Some have McLinky applications where you can add your link when your entry is completed – and you can visit others participating in the same challenge. I’m terrible at adding my link but have added many of my fellow contributors to my google reader so I don’t miss out on theirs! Some have branched out to Facebook and Flickr. There is so much inspiration out there that requires consistency and routine rather than creativity and originality. This doesn’t mean I’m not original or creative, but these memes and challenges give me a chance to be productive. In the end, to me, it’s about collecting those consistent bits of goodness and creating something that best represents me and still gives time for me to be original, creative and free with my other endeavours.

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 I am:

mother | photographer | writer | friend | artist | student | wife | designer | laundress | volunteer | entrepreneur

 

I can be found writing, reading, talking or taking photos:

hockey rink | grocery store | football field | school blacktop | parking lot | rugby pitch | waiting room | auditorium

 

I enjoy:

laundry | laughter | a clean house | california rolls | white wine | hugs | scrapbooking | blogging

 

I avoid:

cooking | grocery shopping | talking on the phone | drama | the dentist

 

 

guest blogger: Elizabeth Dillow

Elizabeth is one of those people that I wish I knew in person. One of these days I'll get a chance to meet up with her and talk scrapbooking, books, teaching, music, and all the other things we have in common. She's a phenomenal storyteller, and her scrapbook pages get right to what matters most: telling a story with pictures and words. Her blog is proof of that same incredible voice; spending time in her pages or on her blog is much like I'm sure spending time with her in real life would be: full of humor, intelligence, and great stories.

 

 

When Audrey invited me to be a part of this guest blogger series, she asked if I would talk about using timelines to build pages and guide journaling. Absolutely! I love a good timeline. When I was teaching high school history before my children were born, I always started a new unit with one; it was fun to see my students measuring off years, decades, even centuries of history and arranging stories in the right order. Sometimes if a unit end coincided on a Thursday leaving Friday open for something new, we would take a break and play one of my favorite history games called Chronology, a game where the objective is to build timelines and place events in the right order—always easy at first (which comes first on the timeline: the fall of Rome or the invention of the Model T?) but increasingly difficult as the game went on. Even the most reluctant of my students played along, clearly enjoying themselves despite their best anti-history class instincts. There is something comforting about a timeline when so much of the world is painted in grey; a timeline is black and white. It’s only the first part of the equating to truly understanding history, though; making the jump to filling in the details of events and interpreting their impact is the real work of history, and the work we do in scrapbooking.

 

As long as I can remember, I’ve always been interested in chronology. Understanding how events unfold in history is inextricably tied to my love of scrapbooking, because I love a good story—and everyone knows scrapbooking is really about telling small stories that add up to one really big story, which eventually connect to another generation’s really big story, creating connections that transcend life expectancies and geography.

 

I really like playing with pretty paper just for fun, too. But sometimes I like to think about the real significance of what it is we’re doing in our respective scrapbook spaces.

 

So, timelines. They really are a terrific technique to try in scrapbooking, because they serve two very distinct purposes:

 

1.)    to help the people viewing our pages understand specific details about our lives and

2.)    to help us organize events in our own minds.

 

Sounds easy? It definitely is. So easy that we forget how useful it can be, actually. Here are a few examples to get you started.

 

I created this timeline page for an assignment at Ella Publishing Co. as a way to sum up an entire decade on one layout. It was fun to create; obviously there is no way I could fit every single thing that happened to me between 2000-2009, but I definitely documented some of the things that defined much of those years. It’s a very traditional way to incorporate information, and came together quickly. It would be very easy to include twelve boxes and sum up each month of a year the same way!

 

 

Because we move so much due to my husband’s career in the Air Force, I wanted to capture a quick list of places we’ve lived in the first 15 years of our marriage. My daughters love to see a visual representation like this, and I wanted to interpret all those moves for them in a simple way—that wherever we go, having each other is the most important part. I’m sure one day I’ll be using lists like these to remember where exactly we were living in any given year, too!

 

Tip: to perfectly space your years as I did, simply create a timeline and include every year; then use your software’s method of distributing the space evenly, and go back and delete the years you don’t need. Or, if imperfect measurements don’t keep you up at night, just eyeball it. That works, too!

 

 

When you think in terms of events and timelines, you’ll no doubt recognize the pivotal “before and after” events quickly—sometimes, they’re even announced from your refrigerator. I’ll never forget how I opened my refrigerator three years ago and was stopped in my tracks by this orange juice container, which was dated three days past the due date of my third daughter. Suddenly, my life was defined by a timeline of everything that still needed to be done before the date on the orange juice container and everything that would change forever after the orange juice expired. If I actually plotted it out, it might look something like this:

 

 

Silly, perhaps. But it made a huge impact on me.

 

I used this same kind of before/after thinking to make this page that appeared in my book The Scrapbooker’s Almanac:

 

 

I know very little about my grandma’s life before she was married, and even though this page doesn’t provide any new facts, it does inspire me to imagine what her life might have been like, and to consider how my own has changed over the years. It’s definitely an abstract way of using a timeline, but thinking about her life as a series of unfolding events helped me organize this page. You don’t have to use a traditional timeline to think of things in a… timeline-esque way.

 

 

Timelines don’t have to be actual lines and hatch marks, either! I consider this series of time-lapse photographs to fit into the category of timeline scrapbooking. You can choose any subject matter to recreate your own photographic timeline of events; it’s a fun way to see them unfold.

 

 

I recently saw a family tree featured in an article in Ohdeedoh and instantly fell in love with the creative method the artist used to present a family’s basic information. It got me thinking in terms of timelines, too—since each ring inside a tree represents a year, I decided to make my own and create a family tree that doubled as a visual representation of the years my husband and I have been together (six years of dating, and almost fifteen years of marriage). I drew the circles freehand in pencil, then carefully painted over them with a paintbrush in acrylic paint. The result is a unique addition to our family album!

 

Note: you can find the original, far more professional version here. Spread the word and support her unique Etsy shop!

 

Whether you’re documenting the events leading to the birth of a child, a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, or even how your own life fits in with historical events, using a timeline can organize the details and theme of a page in a fun and functional way!

 

Elizabeth Dillow currently lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming with her husband and three daughters. She is the author of The Scrapbooker’s Almanac, an instructor for Big Picture Scrapbooking, and the co-founder and content editor for Write. Click. Scrapbook. She loves her iMac, Canon 5D, Pilot pens, and sports teams from Cleveland.

 

www.elizabethdillow.typepad.com

www.writeclickscrapbook.com

www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

guest blogger: Peppermint Granberg

Peppermint was part of the team at {we are} storytellers with me, and she's become one of my most favorite scrappers. I love her minimalist design and gorgeous photos, but I'm most drawn to the way she tells a story. Her voice combines wit and sarcasm with insight and reflection, and each layout beautifully captures a piece of her life in a way that's truly unique. I think she just rocks, and I pretty much decided, when I first met her, that I want to be Peppermint when I grow up. Just sayin'. :)

There came a fateful day late in 2008 where I was asked to take a few minutes to choose a few of my favorite layouts from that year, and since I’m all about delegating I felt it was only fair to tear my son away from a pile of Legos and make him do it. That’s why I’m here – to ruin all his fun. Perhaps you all have children who come willingly to their scrapbooks, but that wasn’t my boy. That would all change one day, but more on that later.

As we flipped through the images I started pointing out to him all the interesting techniques and design concepts I had used on each page. You can imagine how enthralled he was. “Ooo, what about this page? I had really great depth on my shadows here, and notice how the composition flows from one side to the other? Is THIS one a favorite?” Not. Even. Kind of. Turns out my boy didn’t really care about shadows. Can you imagine? I was already opening up my browser to Google the nearest DNA lab, because obviously there was a mix-up at the hospital 8 years prior. I’d had my suspicions all along because he doesn’t like cookies either, but this drop shadow thing was the final straw. Oh sure, this one looks exactly like me, but something is horribly amiss.

About halfway through 2008 I joined the creative team at {we are} storytellers, which is where I first met Audrey, and to say that I joined the team as a “reluctant journaler” would be an understatement. I was utterly convinced they would not turn me into a storyteller, but there was something in the water there that eventually had me writing on my pages with ease. And wouldn’t you know it, once Nicholas arrived at the halfway point in his album the post-it note markers started flying. He plowed through the first half of 2008 in about 10 minutes, he spent over an hour in the last half of 2008 – and it wasn’t the shadows that were drawing him in.

At that exact moment my entire scrapbooking philosophy changed. I vowed then and there that in 2009 I would create more meaningful pages. Not just meaningful to me – meaningful to him. 

The thing about 7 year old boys (and 8 year olds, and so far 9 year olds, too) is that you probably have a ton of things you want to say to them, but only so much they’ll listen to. So when I started journaling on my pages I thought about all the things I wanted him to know one day - entire streams of thought that didn’t always get verbalized because his favorite show was starting in five minutes. I will admit that there’s a lot of sappy, mushy mom stuff in his albums.

But I try to temper it all with a smattering of odd-ball commentary on the puzzling things he does, or the funny things that come tumbling out of his mouth – the ones he didn’t know I’d be preserving for all of eternity.

I don’t always need a picture, I just need a moment. I’ll paint the picture with words, because there are things I never want him to forget.

As time went on, telling the story of our lives became more of a deep-seated need for me than a casual idea. Putting a thought down on a scrapbooking page allowed me to release it, free from the fear that it would be gone forever. Four days after the loss of our family pet, I created this page with tears streaming down my face – but it gave me a sense of closure to know that I could look back on it at any time. I still choke up to this day when I open it, but I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything. This is part of our history.

Nobody is safe in my new kingdom of storytelling. If you’re in my life, chances are you’ll appear in my scrapbook at some point in time - even if I don’t have a picture of you. In this past year, telling the story of our lives has actually become far more important to me than whether I actually have an image to go along with it. Have words, no image necessary. I bet our snow plow driver wouldn’t guess in a million years that he’s a part of our family history, but his mere existence (and apparent vendetta against Tom) is a big part of our lives every winter! I’ll want to remember that when we’re sixty years old, believe it or not.

And that’s what it really boils down to for me – what I want us all to remember. All of the conversations Nicholas never thought I’d memorialize for all time. All the little ways that I marvel at the person he’s becoming. The happy times, the sad times, the people who come into our lives and stay forever and those who pass through too quickly. I want to flip through pages describing our favorite pastimes, our favorite technology (at the moment), the stories of who we were, who we are, and who we want to become. Those pretty pictures and well placed elements of early 2008 are no longer enough. I want the history of us.

About Peppermint:  I'm a 30-something mom to an 8 year old boy (Nicholas), a clinically diagnosed reality TV junkie and a lover of all things technological. I'm lighthearted - getting lighter by the year, which is the one thing I appreciate most about growing older. I love to laugh and do so as often as I can. I'm a champion of the underdog. I tell it like it is. My life is an open book and I treasure the lows just as much as the highs. Life is beautiful, and scrapbooking allows me to put it all on a page.

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guest blogger: Stephanie Howell

I've "known" Stephanie through 2Peas for quite some time, and like many of you, I've followed along as she blogged about life with her two girlies and a husband who was deployed in Afghanistan. There's just something about Stephanie that I really like: a kindness, a genuine glowing spirit. She's the kind of girl who can laugh at herself, but still carries a sense of vulnerability about her. She just strikes me as a great mix of t-shirts and pearls, or ratty jeans and high heels. And her smile just makes me smile -- I like that about her. Almost as much as I like what she has to share with you all today. :) Enjoy.

Journaling from the Heart

 

 My layouts are not complicated. They don’t showcase in-depth techniques. I don’t sew, stamp (much), or do paper piecing. I’m not a professional photographer.

While I think all of these things are fantastic (and wish I could be better at many of them!!!), they aren’t the focus of my layouts.

 

The focus of my layouts is getting the story down. Sharing photos that are important to me, and writing how they make me feel. 

 

I have many old photos from my family…what I don’t know is the emotions or story behind them. I’d give anything to know how my mom felt when she was falling in love with my dad. To know that  some days, she didn’t know what to do as a mother. That some days she was frustrated and overwhelmed…but full of love for her babies.

 

Those are the things I try to translate into scrapbooking pages. My pages are love letters for my children and my husband.

 

How do I journal? Simple. From the heart.

 

 My journaling is very stream-of-consciousness. I don’t have much of a filter. I kind of just write what I’m feeling. I look at the photo(s) I’m scrapping, and I write about how they make me feel. Things I want my family to know.

 

I want my girls to grow knowing they are treasured. And one day when they have babies of their own, they can rest assured that every mama goes through what they are going through (or at least their mama went through it!!).

 

My advice? Keep it authentic. All of your pages do not have to be schmaltzy, cheesy, or deep. Some might be and that’s great. Some might be light-hearted and funny. I love telling funny stories on my pages. Some pages might be introspective and a bit sad. Some will be hilarious. Just do what feels real to you.

 

Write what is in your heart.

Stephanie has been published in Creating Keepsakes, Simple Scrapbooks, Scrapbook and Cards Today, Scrapbooks Etc., Memory Makers and Scrapbook Trends magazines. She designs for Lily Bee and Jenni Bowlin Studio and has guest designed for a multitude of wonderful companies. Stephanie lives in Georgia and is married to Jimmy, who is a Captain in the army. She is also a stay-at-home mom to Harper Elizabeth, who is three, and Sadie Caroline, who is almost two. In her spare time, she loves antiquing, reading, and watching reality tv (her dirty little secret). She dreams of learning to sew, embroider, knit, quilt, and cook (well). But most of all, she loves just being together as a family, and she relishes those moments…as they are few and far between.

guest blogger: Debbie Hodge

I first "met" Debbie when we were both selected to be part of the Scrapbook Answers Magazine creative team; we worked together on a number of assignments and found that we both shared a passion for writing. Unfortunately, Scrapbook Answers ceased publication, but I'm so excited that Debbie has carved out a niche for herself in the online scrapbooking education arena. Her layouts get to the true heart of what scrapbooking -- in my eyes, at least -- is all about, and I'm thrilled that she's sharing this knowledge with all of you today.

USE PROVEN STORY FORMS FOR TELLING STORIES ON YOUR SCRAPBOOK PAGES

When are you at your storytelling best? Is it when you’re recounting recent events at coffee with friends? On the phone? At the dinner table with family? And what makes that your best? What are you doing at that point? Are you entertaining, informing, presenting your life the way you’d like it to be understood? Maybe all of the above? There are common story forms that have been used through the ages, and you can use them to tell your stories on your scrapbook pages.

Tell a “bear at the door” story.
The beginning of your story is your hook, the element that you use to draw your listener in. One of the easiest kinds of stories to “hook” a reader with is the “bear-at-the-door” story. This is a story in which there’s an immediate and pressing problem -- like, say, if there really were a bear at your door. 

When telling a bear-at-the-door story:
1) Make your reader immediately aware: a) of the problem; and b) of the urgency of the problem.
2) Be aware of (and share) how the personalities of your main characters impact the events you’re recounting. (Adding these aspects to the story takes it beyond an action-filled recount to a story that tells a longer-lasting lesson.)
3) Be sure to include how the problem was resolved, and, if it’s relevant, any longer-lasting impact. 

The opening lines of the journaling on “Heroes of the Day” tell just what the problem is and why it’s pressing: we’re leaving for the airport and our keys are locked in the house. The story proceeds with character complications, and stress, and, then, finally a happy resolution.

Tell an “aha” story
In this kind of story a character comes to a new realization (aka epiphany). This could be a realization about other people or about self. It could be a realization about the past or a new understanding of current life. Tell this story from the point of view of the person who arrives at the new understanding—which would most likely be you (and, thus, first person).

When telling an “aha” story:
1) Establish your main character’s current view on the relevant subject.
2) Describe an incident that brings about a change in this view. This part should be in scene (i.e., in a place with people who do and say things).
3) Tell what the new insight is.

In “See Why” I write about what “we’ve all said about rather than to” my father, thus establishing my view. The journaling describes a bumpy tractor ride with lots of sensory details. By the end of the journaling my new understanding of why he has been a farmer all of his life is revealed.  

Tell of a journey—small or large, figurative or real.
The “journey” is the oldest story form known. It’s in the bible, children’s storybooks, and Greek myths. It’s a story in which your subject leaves home on a “journey” and returns transformed. The journey can be a true trip or a more figurative journey of the spirit. Examples of real life incidents that are “journey” stories include pursuing a weight-loss program, getting through a year with an intimidating boss, or doing something new that’s out of your comfort zone. In journey stories, there are often unexpected meetings and events along the way that all contribute to the effect of the journey.

When writing a journey story:
1) Begin by conveying how the journey came about.
2) Tell of the events along the way.
3) By the end, be sure you’ve told about the impact of the journey on your subject. 

The journey described in “Been There” begins with my own greatly desired departure from a small-town farm. The journaling is written in letter form to my nieces. My pursuits are encapsulated—college, early failed marriage, successful business career,  and, then, finally a stay-at-home mom living a life closer to that I left than I ever imagined I’d have. The final paragraph describes the resulting impact: that I now appreciate the land I left in a way I never did as a child.

Tell the story of when a stranger came to town.
If the journey story is the oldest story form in existence, the “visitation” story is the next oldest. This is the story of an unexpected visitor—or demand or event—showing up at your door and the subsequent detour from everyday life as you know it. The detour you take because of the “stranger in town” may be brief or long-lasting, but it is caused by the intruder. Your visitor might be a new neighbor, an influential teacher, even a new family member.

When writing a visitation story:
1) Begin with the introduction of your visitor.
2) Proceed to make clear what disruption to life as you’ve known it the visitor makes.
3) Continue the story to an ending that shows and/or tells of the changes that have come about as a result of this visitor entering your life.  

The journaling in “Campaigning with Victoria” opens by revealing how Victoria came into my life and how important she became to me for a short time. The middle elaborates on the time we spent together, and the end tells of her exit from town and my feelings about that as well as all that I gained from our brief work together.

While you may not use these story forms exactly as I’ve described, I believe that knowing about them and seeing how your own stories fit with them, gets you thinking about what the incidents in your life mean in a way that goes beyond the obvious, in a way that yields stories with complexity and multiple layers of meaning. I share many more journaling writing approaches and strategies in my online, self-paced class “Be Real.”


Debbie Hodge is the owner of Get It Scrapped!, a website offering online classes for scrapbookers and art journalers. She’s the author of the book Get It Scrapped! from Memory Makers Books as well as Embellishing with Alphas and Every Little Thing from DesignerDigitals.

 

guest blogger: Jennifer S. Wilson

I've been fortunate enough to team with Jennifer Wilson at Simple Scrapper for a number of projects: Capture the Season, guest posts, and several giveaways. I think the content she provides at Simple Scrapper is so invaluable; while scrapbooking is a hobby that I love dearly, I know that it's also something that can be a huge time- and money-sink for me if I'm not careful. Jennifer's tips on simplifying and managing the process have truly helped me to think seriously about what I do and why I'm doing things the way I do them. Plus, Jennifer has what I think of as a teacher's eye -- she can spot a teachable moment immediately, and I learn something new from her every.single.day.

 

Storytelling shouldn't feel like a chore. It's OK for the documentation process to tug at your heartstrings (and even your nerves), but the feeling of "I hate writing" isn't a necessity. Journaling on your scrapbook layouts can be easy and fun if you keep a positive mindset. These tips will help you feel more love for this part of scrapping. (Audrey's note: All images are linked to their respective galleries, so please stop by and share your praise with these scrappers!)

Lists are easy

When you think "but I don't know what to write", just start with a list. It can even be a list you already have, like your bucket list or even a grocery list.

Sometimes a title is enough

With every story you tell, consider what kind of words and how many are truly necessary. Think quality over quantity.

It's OK to be selfish

Our scrapbook pages are one place where its OK to be totally self-centered and self-indulgent. Write in the first person and make it all about you. Be thrilled that you're the center of attention!

Do you remember snail mail?

Remember when you wrote 6 pages in one fell swoop to your best friend? Recapture the lost art of letter writing on your next layout.

Begin with real words

In digital, we can get so wrapped up in our online lives that it can become harder to cherish each moment in the IRL world. Focus on the little things important people say and use those as launch points for your writing.

Cheaper than therapy

The root of journaling is journal, as in diary. If you're comfortable, your next layout can be the perfect vehicle for a gush, rant, whine or letting go of the past. Catharsis is possible via scrapping.

Play pretend

Are you a poet who didn't know it? With clever placement, your words can be poetry. Explore the more creative side of your writing with no judgment.

Re-gifting is cool

Scrap a page celebrating a few important people in your life and gush in black and white about what they mean to you. Print multiple copies and you've got gifts at the ready.

Just do it

Not every page needs to be though-provoking or touchy-feeling. Documentation in its purest form is still journaling. Don't beat yourself up when you only have a little to say.

We all get stuck at times, languishing in that feeling of writer's block. Jump out of it free and clear by just writing. One. word. at. a. time. Don't forget about delete and undo -- isn't that why we all love digital anyway?

Jennifer S. Wilson writes daily at simplescrapper.com where she provides tips to make scrapbooking easier and more fun for busy people.

Jennifer's post is a great way to get your journaling mojo jumpstarted, but it's really just the tip of the iceberg. I'd love for you to add your ideas to hers -- and as extra incentive, I'll give one reader all my new releases tomorrow (that's a minimum of 8 products). Here's how you can win:

• Leave a comment with your favorite way to jumpstart your journaling.
• Retweet this post (make sure you let me know you retweeted) for a second chance to win.
• Blog about this post and contest for a third chance to win (leave a link to your blog post in the comments!)

The contest closes at 12:00 pm EST; I'll use a random number generator to select the winner. Keep your eyes peeled (on Facebook, Formspring, Twitter, and here) for more chances to win free product and coupons very soon!

guest blogger: Laura Kurz

I don't really remember when I first came across Laura's work; it must've been shortly after I discovered 2Ps (that's where most of my scrapbooking crushes started). Laura is another scrapper with an impeccable sense of design; she's queen of the minimalist layout, but with a unique flair that makes me instantly recognize her work. I particularly love the way she scrapbooks travel and heritage photos, and the interesting ways she incorporates titles and journaling into her overall design. When I found out that Laura is working on her Master's degree in Nonfiction Writing, I asked her to share some tips she's gleaned not just from her own journaling experience but also from the memoirs she's studied for her coursework.

1. If you are having trouble writing, use a writing prompt. Try to remember your first memory. Remember a time you were scared. One I had my last semester was to write about an altercation/argument I had witnessed. You don't think about writing about this kind of stuff until prompted! I just googled and found this website: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/# - they have a lot of great prompts (some are for writing fiction - check out the ones for non-fiction).

2. Ask questions of your family and friends. I am constantly e-mailing my mom and dad asking them to remind me about something about our family or my childhood. I have a really, really bad memory and rely a lot on my mom's excellent memory. (Audrey's note: These emails have resulted in some of my favorite posts on Laura's blog -- I love looking at pictures of her from high school or college and reading the stories that go along with them.)

3. Use photos as a prompt. For my 365-day blog, a lot of the things I wrote about people came to me by looking at pictures of a time when these people were part of my life.

Here are some of my favorite layouts by Laura.

Laura lives in an old house in an old neighborhood of Baltimore with her husband, Ken, son, Charlie, and golden retriever, Charmer the dog. She will finish her master’s in writing from Johns Hopkins University in 2010.She is a member of the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame, a Garden Girl at Two Peas in a Bucket, and was recently named a new addition to Studio Calico's design team.