If you have arrived here via the LOAD Blog -hop ---WELCOME!!!
If you have arrived here because you are lost in the web of the internet---WELCOME!!!
I know that reading down the side bar of my blog you can probably tell
I have been a participant of every Lay Out A Day Challenge that
Lain Ehmann has held since the very first one she held at Big Picture
Scrapbooking as a month long free challenge.
I don't know what it is about making a lay out a day for a set number of
days but for some reason I just manage to scrap more if I set myself the
goal to finish '28 layouts in 28 days' or '31 layouts in 31 days'. The
challenge of dropping everything for 15 to 20 minutes a day to quickly
put together a layout that I might never have put together is big. Every
day is busy, every evening is full of taking the twins to extra curricular activities
and getting dinner ready/cleaned up. Nothing really changes from day to day,
except for that certain number of days I actually remind myself to stop and
play in the scrapbook materials for a few minutes and require myself to actually
post the results to prove to others that I did, indeed, take a few minutes for me.
Just about every layout I have done for the LOAD challenges have been super
fast (for me) projects. They were almost all put together within 15 to 20 minutes
and are probably not my best creative work but I'm happy with 99% of them.
(There is one I wasn't happy with and re-made later but on the whole I'm
pleased with most of them!)
My best piece of advice for LOAD? Leave perfection behind!
Scrapbooking becomes super easy!
Grab a photo, some paper, a few embellishments (or not)
and slap it all together and viola! It's a layout!
I have a pile of photos that I have printed out over the last
couple of years (I just keep adding to the pile) and I flip
through a few and choose one (or a few) and that is the
focus for my layout of the day. I grab paper and embellies
and go to town making a quick but cute layout. Now, I'm not
the most creative scrapbooker in the bunch but I do like to
get artistic every now and then. Those pages do take a little
longer but not much. I have also learned to quit fretting over
the 'perfect paper' or the 'perfect embellishment' or the 'perfect
ribbon', etc. You get the idea. I glue and go.
Also- when I'm not home during LOAD, and there have been
several different challenges where I have been on the road, I
use freebie digital scrapbooking supplies that I have downloaded
over the last several months. As I get emails of sales from digi-scrapping
companies that have freebies or free w/purchase kits I squirrel them
away for LOAD. I have learned how to change a background in Photoshop
and add the layer or cluster or whatever to my photo. It's quick and easy
and already on the computer so no photographing required before uploading
to the Flickr account. Pretty handy in a hotel room! I have learned to let go
and just put that photo on a page. Then, when I get home, I print it out as
a 12x12 layout, maybe add a little handwritten journaling, slid it into a
page protector, and add it to one of my albums. Easy- peasy- lemon-squeezy
as my kids would say!
The biggest thing to remember is - LOAD is FUN not stressful. Don't make it
work and don't stress over it. It is supposed to be a fun 'you time' activity
and a chance for you to be creative for a little while each day. Don't over think
it and you will enjoy it a whole lot more.
Here are a few posts I have done in the past showcasing my
LOAD layouts...
October 2010
February 2010
October 2009
Obviously, there are lots more posts on my blog regarding LOAD
but I didn't want to fill up a whole page just listing old posts. Feel
free to check the archives and take a look.
Now that you've visited me you need to go here and visit Tambur.
And if you are just starting on this Pre-LOAD hop check
Lisa's blog and then continue on through the rest of us!
Here's the list of all the participants! Enjoy!
Lisa: http://lisahausmann.blogspot.
Katherine: (me) http://www.csmoferret.
Tambur: http://myhearties.blogspot.com
Pam: http://dailypamage.blogspot.
Katrina: http://k84mansramblings.
Christie: http://mrsingie.com
xoxox
Csmoferret
12 comments:
Happy Gramma 1 sliding on by.
I like how you stress the "fun you-time activity." Thanks for sharing such great insight into doing a LOAD.
Thanks so much for putting out the welcome mat to LOADsters! and most especially for stressing the "FUN ME-TIME" aspect - hoppin' on :~)
LCSmithSAVED
Hsve fun!
Wow, I spend way too much time on my pages (I knew that already but compared to you even more!) Thanks so much for sharing this!
Katrina (akakskreations)
Great post Katherine, I need you to teach me speedy tricks, even though I am a simple scrapper each paper LO still takes me an hour. It is definitely a fun "me-time" activity and I love seeing the creativity from our group. Can't wait to see your work in the gallery!
15 minutes? wow! I'm impressed! Mine take way longer but you are so right about the time for you, the letting go of perfection and the FUN! So glad we seem to have synced our posts with the same message! So interesting to read how you manage to fit this time into your busy day. Counting the days :-)
Great inspiration. Thanks!
I remember when I did my first LOAD and spent way too much time scrapbooking, worrying about the process and how people would react. I quickly learned that it's not about perfection, but about having fun and joining in such a wonderful community.
Hopped over from Lisa ... no promises (yet) ... I am a VERY slow scrapper!
i totally know what you mean that nothing changes for those 29 or 31 days except for our willingness to take that extra time to ourselves to complete something. Great post. Looking forward to spotting your layouts on the gallery.
Looking forward to it. Love your digi layouts!
http://adayinthelifeor5.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment