life. photos. scrapbooking.

Getting organized is half the battle.

As promised (below) - here's the video footage. :)

 

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Oddly enough. Having the boogers in preschool twice a week has kept me pretty caught up with the photography business as of late. Woot.

So caught up - in fact - that last Thursday - I granted myself reprieve on "getting ahead" on things and instead used the peace and quiet - to exercise my piece of mind.

Yes... I got down and crafty y'all. I scrapbooked.

And I was efficient.

You see...  I've developed a new system for helping me to dive in more quickly.

Sometimes I sit down and look at my "TO SCRAP" pile and I just get a little paralyzed. Where to begin? How to flip the creative switch and get busy on-demand? I only have an hour here people! That's what usually goes through my mind.

Usually I start combing through photos on my computer waiting for a great story to come to mind.... or vice versa.... I'll have the story written on scrap paper and I'm hunting for an appropriate photo.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Time's a wasting.

Then there's the process of sifting through supplies... Looking for just the right things that will help the layout sing. Finding those that will help tell the story more completely. The right patterned paper - the right embellishments... finding that bit of life ephemera to staple on.... Just, where did I put those concert tickets... Right?

Any of you suffer from this too? Sound familiar?

And finally -  just when I have everything at my fingertips and I'm about to start cutting and glueing - I'll get interrupted. The phone - the kids - the washing machine.

Derailed.

Fun time - over.

Layouts completed?

Zero.

Mamma puts up a big FAT goose egg on the scoreboard.

Knowing this was the way of things and I was determined not to let myself waste this afternoon in my empty workroom. I had a plan.

In order for me to scrap with speed and efficiency - I lift. I scrap lift. I take a sketch or idea from a layout I've seen somewhere - magazine - Pinterest - blog - book - advertisement... and I run with it. It may be the layout design... or just a color scheme I like... or maybe it's the way the person used some patterned paper that I own in my stash. Something to get me going.

SO! On Wednesday evening, knowing the kids were gonna be in preschool and that I was gonna use a bit of the afternoon to be a naughty little scrapbooker... here's what I did.

I compiled my "TO SCRAP" stuff and started sorting the stories and photos and put each coordinating thing into a simple page protector. Then I started combing through the various scrapbooking magazine tear outs that I keep at my desk.

I subscribe to "Creating Keepsakes" and "Scrapbooks Etc." and when I get them each month insted of dog-earing the pages to the layouts I like and saving the entire magazine (as was my old routine) - I've recently begun just tearing out the pages with layouts I find inspiring and throwing the rest in the recycling bin. I clip the whole stack together and then I would flip through it when I sit down to crop.

But not this time.

THIS time I unclipped that stack of inspiration and tried to find layouts that would pair nicely with either the photos or the amount of journaling that I had already in those page protector sleeves. When I felt I had a match - I slipped them inside the plastic as well.

In addition - I have a few books on scrapbooking (some of which I've written about here) - namely the ones by Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske.

I leafed through those too looking for inspiration. Since I didn't want to rip anything out of these "reference materials," (or as I like to call my two SIGNED copies of Clean & Simple I & II - "my holy grails") instead I simply tucked the photo and/or paper containing my handwritten journaling inside on the appropriate page.

Organize.... divide... conquer.

I was ready for the day ahead.

Did it work?

Indeed it did.

Come Thursday afternoon - I opened one of those books to the first page I had marked with stuff stuck inside and I got crack-a-lackin'!

And I finished 5 - yes that's right  F-I-V-E layouts in a single afternoon. And completed two more the following evening.

I was on a roll.

Mamma's got a new system - and it's working baby.

Ok, folks - it's pretty late right now - and so I'm gonna hit the hay and get this post scheduled to publish.... but tomorrow morning I'm going to film a very short video showing you this great new system and I'll post it here by lunchtime....

So all you AM readers - come on back for a look-see. :)

And because I wholeheartedly believe that every post needs at least ONE photo... I'll give you one.

"Whassup wich U?"

"Awww. I dunno. Same ol' - same ol'. Whassup wichu?"

Say wah?

:)

Oh yeah almost forgot - ACTUAL fruit of thy labor (the layouts people) will be posted tomorrow! Stay tuned.

xo

Easiest DIY Ever.

Scoped out the new line of Martha Stewart office supplies at Staples last week.

Invested in a packet of her chalkboard labels...

Decided to give them a try on some empty cans of my current favorite guilty pleasure - Pepperidge Farms Cream Filled Pirouette sticks.... Mamma Mia.

Step 1 :: Gather supplies.

An empty container + A can of spray paint + Chalkboard label

Step 2 :: Choose a ventilated area and begin coating your can with thin layers of spray paint.

**Note - the blue covered the letters several coats before the orange did!

Step 3 :: After several coats... Let em dry completely.

Step 4 :: Peel and stick the label.

Step 5 :: Identify the contents of your container!

I think doing these ahead of time and saving them for teachers gifts, household organization, hostess gifts, housewarming gifts... the list goes on... would come in super handy!

Happy Monday!!

2011 Calendar SALE!!!

Hey Guys!

Karena and I are promo-ing our 2011 Desk Calendars!~ 

We have a couple left and are putting them on SALE!

Originally $22.50 - now only $15.00!!!

All of the photos were taken in Talbot County, Maryland. They are 5" x 7" printed on fine art linen paper (touching is believing people - it's awesome paper!) arriving in a crystal clear box with yellow ribbon. 

And here's a suggestion... once the month is over - trim off the calendar bottom and you have a nice piece of photographic art you can place in a frame to enjoy again and again. Just change them out with the seasons!

 

Here are the months individually... ** Note: They will not arrive watermarked.

 

In the words of the great Cousin Eddie from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...

"It's the gift that keeps on givin' the whooole year, Clark."

And because I have no shame whatsoever, here's that buy button one more time.

:)

Please Send the Bomb Squad

A look at my desk(s) right now....

Thank you for your cooperation.

Video Tutorial: Creating a Digital Elements Sidekick Book

When I create digital layouts, these are my sidekicks:

They are nifty little 4 x 6 photo albums that I made that house the library of digital supplies I have on stored on my computer. It's much easier for me to flip through the thumbnail preview images "in the flesh" rather than scrolling through the seemingly endless folders on my hard drive when I'm looking for stuff to create with.

I blogged about how to assemble these nifty little albums HERE and HERE

Today, however, I thought I'd take you through the workflow on how to format the PREVIEW files that come with every digital kit or template or embellishment you buy to a 4 x 6 size canvas so you can upload them and have them printed.

BIG WARNING: I'm playing with the trial version of some new video software which allows me to record what I'm doing on my desktop, and sadly it has a huge annoying watermark on it. I'm hoping you can just look past this annoyance and bear with me.

Thanks for letting me use you as guinea pigs.

P.S.  You look nothing like a pig.

ENJOY!

Capture & Collect: My Method

I always like to have a few ideas stockpiled when I sit down to scrap. I may not delve into that stockpile, because perhaps I've got something pressing on my mind that needs to be scrapped RIGHT NOW. Like yesterday's "Anticipation" layout - I knew when I sat down, that's what was coming out.

Other times, however, when I have a half hour or so I want to dedicate to this wonderful hobby, with nothing in particular in mind - it's nice to know there's a trove of material right at my fingertips.

Today I'd like to share how I capture, collect and store this material for future use....

I employ several tools.

1. My camera. I take it pretty much everywhere. It's important to me to be able to capture our life on the spur of the moment. For some people it may seem cumbersome to drag a big camera with you everywhere - but it's such a habit for me now, it's second nature.

This is my new D90 (there are choruses of angels singing right now... can you hear them?) Hamina... hamina... hamina...

2. My weekly planner / agenda book. When an idea for a layout strikes me, I'll draw a funny little light bulb on that day - and write a few words on the topic that sprung to mind. This is a little tip I picked up from Cathy Zielske's second book (I highly recommend both of them). Again, these are not "MUST SCRAP" things - they are just ideas with potential that I don't want to forget.

3. My writer's notebook. This is where I'll take one of those not-so-fancy little lightbulbs and actually do a first draft at journaling. When the mood strikes - I'll sit down to write out my thoughts - whether it's a spur of the moment thing or whether it's an idea I've pulled from the daily planner. If I have time to actually put a page together from this journaling, I move on - but if not - what I wanted to say has been recorded in the moment I was thinking about it.

Nothing bugs me more than to think of something I want to remember - but I'm too busy to stop and write it down. Then a week later when I have the time, I sit down to a blank piece of paper with a pen in my hand wondering what it was I wanted to say in the first place! This is the only "regret" I experience with this hobby. My solemn advice is this... Take the stinkin' 5 minutes and write it down - right then! Save it for later to scrap into an album - at least it's there.

Then I just tear out the page when it's time to put it into a "for real" layout.

Sometimes - I'll use the notebook to just record ideas like the planner.

4. My pile & file. I have this on my desk to remind me to keep going. I'm not one for a lot of clutter - so it really bugs me if this pile gets too out of hand. It's out of hand right now. Just one look at this spawned the idea for this post.

This is where I collect stuff - the ephemera - I've kept "to be scrapped in the VERY near future."

There's also this file - which serves the same purpose for keeping some of the littler things (clothing tags, photos, embellishments, receipts, magazine clippings, hospital bracelets, you name it) out of Macho's line of sight... If he sees them - they are bound to disappear.

5. My blog. Let's face it, this is an online record keeper of my life. While, I have yet to take a post and work it into a layout all its own - I love knowing that all of the information and photos are here for me when I need them. It's probably the last place I'd go in search of materials and ideas - since the aforementioned 4 keep me pretty busy - but again - it's a great safety net for ideas.

This list of 5 - may seem like a lot to keep track of - but it's the system I've become accustomed to. If you are finding that the "capture & collect" is a source of struggle for you - I'd encourage you to adopt one of these techniques and see how it goes!

P.S.

To my husband the Professional Golfer / Calvin Klein Underwear Model / Superhero:

Happy 4th Anniversary Clark! Love ya more-n'-more every single day!~ 

Love,

Your wife the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Supermodel / Mary Poppins / Billionaire Heiress

xo

Organizing My Digital Library, Part One

Remember earlier this week when I noted I would be posting some digital layouts on account of being away from home/scrap stuff? Well, for those of you keeping score, the number of completed layouts stands at a whopping two... the same two that were posted the day I said to be on the lookout. Ahem.

The cause of this dilemma? Organization. Specifically, the organization of my digital supplies. You see when I was putting together this layout for Tuesday's post

It took me FAR too long to find and decide which digital elements to use. Seriously, I worked on this layout for over an hour... Does it really look all that complex? No, it doesn't. Heck, theres's only one photo!

I knew this was a problem... So I put the brakes on all the creating until I could find a solution.

Currently, my organization looks like this:

Um... I'm sorry, but even though there are proper folders for all the different types of digital materials... and everything is put away in it's proper location... this just isn't a conducive way for me to let the creativity flow.

I mean, when I'm doing a traditional layout, I need to have all my crap spread out front of me. Ya know? So I can pick and choose what will work best. Opening and highlighting file names the other night was a slow, nearly painful process. And let's face it, scrapbooking should NEVER be painful.

One other little detail that sent me to this screeching halt was I committed, in my opinion, a cardinal sin. I purchased the same digital element twice because I didn't know I already had it. It was lost among the so-called "organized file names." When I discovered this... I knew I needed to take immediate action.

Then I had an idea. When you purchase digital items online (or download freebies in some cases). The wonderful people who make them will include what's called a PREVIEW file with the download. It's usually a .jpg and it looks like this:

This is one for a layered template:

This is a set of patterned paper:

this is a PREVIEW for a set of alpha stickers:

You get the idea. What I decided to do... and this took some serious time - but I believe it's worth it in the end because I'll only have to do it once - was drop these onto blank 4x6 Photoshop documents - resize, flatten, and then save as .JPGs....

Altogether I think I had 109 pieces of digital stuff on my hard drive, which translates into 109 individual .jpgs formatted to 4x6 snapshots. Tedious yes, but worth it. Just trust me and keep reading.

The next step was to upload them to CVS Pharmacy Photo Lab where they were printed off in about an hour.

Aaaah... A real life, touchable tangible reference library of my stash o' digital goods. 

I separated the photos in the same "folder order" as they appear on my computer, and then used a Crop-A-Dile to punch holes in them. Finally, I strung them onto 1 inch metal rings which I picked up with the prints at CVS. I know that Staples and other office supply stores sell them in various sizes.

When I return home, I plan on adding a chipboard front and back cover and category separator pages, then gussying them up with some pretty patterned paper, a book title and tabs.

Look for that post on Monday or Tuesday - Part 2... the finished product.

This way, the next time I sit down to create a digital page - all I'll need with me is my laptop and this little pocket reference.

I can say, to myself, "Hmmm...self... What paper should I use?" and simply flip to my paper section and choose one and look it up on the corresponding folder on my desktop. The same with embellishments, templates, masks, overlays, you name it. Problem solved for now.

I'd love to hear how some of you organize your digital materials. Leave me a comment about it! I think sharing ideas only helps us to learn and encourage each other. At least that's my hope most days when I'm writing this to all of you. Take care everyone and have a great weekend!

Tweak your routine...

Morning folks. Hard to believe we are already more than half way through January - eh? How are your resolutions coming along? So many people I know resolve each year to GET ORGANIZED... This is something that I've never really had a problem with. Seriously, while other kids were out playing on Saturday afternoons, my mom would find me in my bedroom unloading my closet so that I could neatly refold everything and have all the hanging stuff in ROYGBIV color order. I know, even I realize that I'm a total freak. It's not normal behavior.

Now as an adult, part of my anal retentive tendency, is to constantly keep some kind of list close by.

My method is simple... Write it all down - big stuff, small stuff... cross it off as you go - and when the whole thing looks messy and you are down to your last few things - copy them to a fresh sheet and start again. This was my practice for much of last year.

But this system was faulty. One thing I noticed was the same three things kept being carried over from one list to another. The things I was procrastinating on most. It got to the point where I became embarased that I had not yet even made an attempt at these tasks. Each time I'd write them on a fresh sheet with more and more self-inflicted shame.

So.... here's how I solved it. This year, I bought a daily planner by Lily Pullitzer.

Ain't she cute?

I was determined to morph my lengthy list keeping onto calendar pages (which have limited available space).

What I decided to do was take those things that I had been avoiding for so long and space them out over the month of January... one task every couple of days - the really daunting ones saved for weekends. And ya know what? So far so good! It's much easier to wake up in the morning and deal with one main task, (and a bunch of other little ones that spring up on a moments notice) than to wake up and look at some big long list and think, "Where do I start?"

Nevertheless, the weeks will always end up looking pretty full...

But what an awesome feeling it is to know that I can simply and confidently turn the page and know that there will be no scribbling over any of last week's "to-do's" to this.

Just thought I'd share this little revelation with you. Leave me a comment today and let me know how you stay organized!!!