Getting an Entire Previous Year Scrapbooked (Digi)

Storyteller Subscription, 6.99 per month

So, back in 2010, I had a one-year-old, I was working and trying to balance being a mom. I did not get one page scrapbooked from that year, but I did take lots of cute photos. This year I am new to the Just Jaimee Creative Team, but I'm not new to her amazing design work. If you don't know StoryTeller, you need to check it out.

Another great thing that she creates are Ready-To-Go Pages, and they are exactly what you think they are. They come out every week, in time for you to keep up with your Project Life style pages and they are glorious. They are editable, too. By that, I mean you can move things around, or delete pieces that don't quite fit with your photos. Or, leave it exactly as it is and be done super quick.

So, you guessed it, I decided to use the Ready-To-Go 2017 design to go back to my archives and document our lives at my daughter's second year. I found that the first layout required the most photoshop work to change the title year to 2010 and a few other spots where the year needed changing. If you subscribe to Storyteller, you will get all the pieces you need to make adjustments with alphas and elements. The large black 2010 was just recreated with a similar font.

Here is week 6, when we went on a family trip to a vacation rental home that fit our gigantic family. It feels so great to be documenting 2010!

And this is incredible! Right now there is a retirement sale going on at The LilyPad, which ends on March 26, just a few days away. You can get the entire Ready-To-Go Weekly Templates from 2015 for a great deal. Don't let the year 2015 hold you back. I changed 2017 templates very easily to go with 2010. Even the weekly cards! Stay tuned for another blog post with a lot more detail on that. 

Happy Memory Keeping!

Holly Genc

Off-Theme Scrapbook Layouts

What is an Off-Theme Scrapbook Layout? Well, let me start by saying there are many "everyday" type scrapbooking kits that can fit most typical Project Life pages, or everyday life type layouts. Then, there are themed kits. I'm talking about birthday, holiday, baby, Valentine's Day, etc. So, an "Off-Theme" layout could be a page you create with a kit that is themed for something else. For instance, a baby kit for a ballet class page (those soft pinks could be perfect!).  

OUTER SPACE THEME to GRADUATION LAYOUT!

Let's take a look at some examples, because I love seeing examples! This first one is by Stacia Hall. She used Outer Limits cards and elements (which is a great star gazer kit) to document a graduation. "Never Stop Exploring" is perfect for this page!

BABY THEME to GEM OF A HUSBAND

Here's an example of a baby kit being repurposed! Lynette used Brave New World to highlight "what a gem" her husband is.

GRADUATION THEME to HERITAGE LAYOUT
This beautiful heritage page by Luly G. uses a graduation kit, Life's Journey. I love the old world feel of this kit and think it is perfect for using with old family photos.

FALL THEME to CALIFORNIA MISSIONS
Jan created this layout about the California Missions using some Fall themed papers, Golden. The colors in these fall papers go wonderfully with the architecture of the Missions she photographed.

BABY THEME to KITTEN'S FIRST SNOW
Here's another off-theme layout using Brave New World. Diana documented a cute little adventure of her kitten getting its first snow experience. Brave New World, indeed!

BIRTHDAY THEME to POOL DAY
And one last one that I created using the new birthday kit, Cake Smash. What a fun, colorful kit perfect for a summer day at the pool.

I hope this post has inspired you to take a fresh new look at some of your themed kits! I'd love to hear what off-theme pages you have created!

This post was also published over at www.amberlabau.com, here.
Holly Genc

Birthday Calendar Reference Cards

Do you like to use calendar cards in your Project Life Scrapbooks? I decided to incorporate them this year. I always liked the look, but don't always have photos every week, and sometimes I have tons of photos in one week. I'm just all over the place, so I never really included calendar cards. However, I decided to just flow with it this year. I'll put them in when it makes sense! Now that I have the cards for 2017, I thought I could use the 4x6 version that Amber LaBau designed to create a printed reference set that has all the birthdays of people in my life (are you also a card maker?). I will keep this for years, not just 2017. 

First, I did some work in Photoshop Elements. I used a pack of "Labely Bits" from Amber LaBau's shop at the Lilypad to add some pops of color to these cards. One thing of note, the calendar cards are in grayscale. You need to change them to color mode (RGB) before adding color. I also recommend picking a scale for the elements you are adding and actually scaling them down on each card, so they are all the same size. You can place them all and then select all at once to scale. (From menu bar: Image>Resize>Scale) Those nice big labels came in a tad too large for the scale of the card. I scaled everything by 50%.

Do you like to send snail mail to family & friends on their birthday? I want to do that more. I thought having this handy (note to self: put it in the pocket of my planner) would help remind me. I used Canon Matte Photo paper. One thing I learned about this paper is that it has two different sides. One side is bright white and the other is cream. Make sure you put your paper in your printer correctly!

Happy New Year!

Holly Genc

In the Orchard

Fall is just around the corner in my neck of the woods. We are still having warm days, but rain and chilly weather pop up, too (Welcome to Chicago weather). What better time than now to share some Apple Picking Layouts with you? Are you going to an orchard soon? Have you already been? We love this family activity.

Amber LaBau Designs has a wonder kit to document your day at the orchard. It's called In the Orchard, and you can find a list of all supplies linked at the bottom of this blog post. I came home with so many photos from that day that I decided to do two two-page spreads. Above is the first page. I wanted to use a larger photo for the first page, so I grabbed a template to achieve that. This is no new tip, but in case you haven't heard it, I always try to take at least a few pictures that have a lot of sky or grass. That way, I have a great background for a title.

The bottom right corner is a 4x6 template that I modified to fit the theme. (link at bottom of this post). Templates are a great way to get a little more into your layout!

I used another large scale photo on the next layout, using a photo of my daughter holding a cute little apple she picked out in front of her. I love the look of a repeated stamp, like I did here with the "Apples" stamp in the elements kit.

I had so many stories to squeeze in from this memorable day! Write them down, or record them somewhere so that you have them when you are ready to scrap. (Or ask your sister with the better memory, as I did.)

Page 1 and 2 together.

Here is Page 4. As you can see, I am a pocket page scrapper. I used a lot of the cards from the In the Orchard Pocket Cards set, but I also like to add items from the coordinating paper collection, as in the top right card in this layout. I also used papers in the middle card below.

And here is the final layout. I really had to narrow down my photos from the day. I chose the best quality ones and the ones that told the story I wanted to document.

Layouts 3 and 4, side by side.

I hope I've inspired you to document your apple orchard adventures, or to get out and go apple picking!

Holly Genc 
Amber LaBau Creative Team Member
Original Post can be found at www.amberlabau.com

Supply List:
      

In the Orchard Papers                 
In the Orchard Elements           
In the Orchard Pocket Cards
Cork-abet Alphas

4x6 Template from the DISCOVER Memory Pockets Monthly

Week in the Life - 2015 Edition Day One

So I decided last week that I really needed to get into the groove and attempt Ali Edward's Week in the Life. I thought about doing it last week since it was my birthday and I was traveling for work, and both of my sons were home ( most importantly) but in the end I thought I really wanted to follow along with everyone else and enjoy the enthusiasm!

Capturing the everyday details in my life is something I do occasionally but not on a regular basis. Understanding where I am now and looking back later is a real gift- it especially resonated after I read Cathy Zielski's blog post . 

So my plan is to include this in my regular  2015 digital book, but that also might change. I bought some of the digi files from Ali's site and I will use The Lilypad's Memory Pockets Monthly August Edition - Almanac. There are some great cards that fit this theme perfectly!

Another great resource was a few things I heard on the Scrap Gals podcast- specifically talking about Ali's #WITL. Megan from the Nerd Nest talk about things that she has been successful in the past. I lived the idea of focusing one day on each member of my family. Since one of the boys is already at school it might be a little more difficult but I will keep to it and figure it out!

Now on to my day and some photos and my first spread. 

Here is my cover photo for this project. I love it from our recent trip to central IL. 

Our morning routine is back to normal since hubby is back at school so early alarm and both of us getting up

At the train station. And then heading to the office in the morning which included a meeting outside of the office. Since I work downtown and take the train downtown, I got a rental car and took some selfie photos in the car and some of the typical site downtown- both in the car and walking back after dropping off the car. 

I had left my son a "to do list" for outside work so he had questions and we did FaceTime for further details. 

We had an employee event with lots of fun Olympic "games" that I documented. Here is Bozo buckets with bean bags. 

After work was fairly simple-  life was crazy last week so I really wanted to spend time just hanging out with my oldest before he goes back next week. Dinner was a mixture of cheese quesadillas and leftovers.

Loading the dishwasher with "help" from the puppy. He licks each plate and fork, spoon just in case they aren't clean enough to go into the machine.

Today I will interview my hubby, so I got him to take a selfie at work too!

I will come back later to share my day each day and then my layouts to go along with each day.  I am so excited to document my Week in the Life

Down This Road Designs digi pages

Just sharing a few layouts I created using Down This Road creations products.  I was fortunate to be asked by Angie to join her creative team about a month ago and I couldn't be more thrilled.  Scrap Orchard was my first stop in my Digi journey - and I still love the designers at that store!

Scrap Orchard has a very active community - lots of inspiration, challenges and lots of freebies!  That was a big consideration for me as I was starting my digital journey about 18 months ago...you see having been a paper scrapper for so many years, I loved that I had a huge stash to use and select from.

When I started digital - I had almost nothing!  I love that I have been able to look around and actually be more particular about my design style.  I am trying to be good about not purchasing or even downloading freebies that I will not use.  Since part of my move to digi was to help purge the physical clutter of paper - I couldn't move down that same path in digital.  So far I have been about 50% successful...

Right now Scrap Orchard is having their big challenge for the year called Iron Scrapper - its lots of fun and a great way to challenge yourself at whatever level you are.  The great thing about Iron Scrapper is that everyone who completes at least 1 challenge has a chance to earn prizes! Plus there are lots of sales and chats to keep you motivated!

Here are some of my pages for the challenges so far:

Week 2 Tiki Tiki Tiki Room



Some of the other fun stuff I've made with Down This Road Design's - let me share some of my recent pages, enjoy!

Using DTRD Road Maps, Simply Pockets Vol. 2 and I Love Teaching kit

Using DTRD If Life Gives you Lemons and Scrapping With Liz SOT Template

Using Down This Road Designs (DTRD) June's Scrap Orchard newsletter freebie and Chelle's Creations Bunny Hop

Digital Process - What Works for Me

For me to be able to complete my scrapping in an efficient manner I need to have 3 components - digital kits, photographs & memorabilia and then organizing the completed layouts for printing.

One of the biggest hurdles I had when I first started digital scrapbooking is learning how to organize my digital files.  Each digi store has different naming conventions plus there is are so many freebies available - how do you know where everything is and how to find them later.  One thing that was clear to me from the beginning - I am a "kit" scrapper - I was even this way as a paper scrapper.  I like things to match so a kit with elements, papers and alphas will be my first stop for every page.  The bigger monthly subscriptions, like Just Jaimee's Storyteller Storyteller Subscription and now The Lilypad's  Memory Pocket Monthly subscription  make my heart leap with joy!!  Everything in one place that matches.  It is my inner architect taking over - and genetic so I won't fight it!  Even the store collab kits or blog hops like the Digi Scrap Parade  are a great start for me - plus many are free or free with purchase. 

So I shared a little about how I link my kits for a theme in one folder (travel) in the blog before, but going back a few steps  -how do I organize my kits once I've seen the new one of my dreams…which may happen once or twice a week (or more if I'm being honest..)! I purchase the kit and download right away so that I am not distracted by my busy life and forget. I might be on either my laptop or desktop - so how do I keep track of them?  I have a "Digi Transfer" folder in Dropbox that I have set up so that I can move my files to my Desktop computer as that is where my backup is scheduled weekly for my digi supplies. 

My photos are similar - I have weekly folders set up in a 2015 folder in Dropbox.  As I take photos I download all photos, news articles, scanned or photographed memorabilia and movie posters (for ones that I have viewed) into that weekly folder.  I move photos from my iPhone through Dropbox's automatic camera download or from my "big camera" into the same folder.  Since it's on Dropbox it doesn't matter what computer I've used.  As my weekly spreads are completed I move the entire folder to my desktop in that 2015 folder in Pictures subfolder.  That is backed up via Carbonite (real time) and on an external hard drive (daily).

Finally and not insignificant is how I save my in progress and completed layouts.  I also have a specific folder in Dropbox where I save my in progress digi pages.  I call it "To Print" for in Progress and "Completed Layouts 2015".  Last year's layouts are in "Completed Layouts 2014".  I do save the fully layered PSD, a full size JPEG (flattened) and a reduced sized JPEG at 72 dpi and 600x600 pixels resolution.

I hope this helps explain my process  - I have completed over 300 pages since January of 2014 so there are lot of pages to keep track of! As soon as I'm done with a digi layout - I upload right away to Persnickety or Shutterfly depending on whether or not i am printing individual pages or a photo book.  I do this so that I know that they are safely stored in a remote location that i can access at anytime!!!

Drop me a line if there is something I can help you understand better!

Week 12 pages

I love the options that many digi stores have for subscriptions.  I've already highlighted some of the pages I've done with Just Jaimee's Storyteller subscription, but I also love the other monthly kit at The Lilypad Memory Pocket Monthly!  This kit is designed each month by a kit of designers - which gives you lots of products, styles and then discounted add ons too!  One of my favorite "add ons" are the Sara Gleason Arboretum Templates. These pre-designed pocket templates look great and speed up the process of scrapping lots of pictures aka Project Life style!  I'll be posting some of the my other template goodies shortly as I'm excited to announce a new design team shortly....

Enjoy the weekend - time to start planting the garden!

Some additional Travel pages

I will occasionally share some additional Spain vacation albums on the blog.  My album will be a mix of kits - but in general will be on the more masculine end of the scale since I have lots of building pictures and my sons don't enjoy lots of flowers...Publishing keeps me accountable and I love to share the great experience we had!

Just Jaimee's Bryce Storyteller Collection - Pre Made pages Ready-To-Go-12-x-12-Pocket-Page-Templates-Weeks-10-14-Storyteller-Bryce-Add-On.html

Detail of right page

Using Just Jaimee's Bryce Storyteller Collection - Quick Pockets & Frames from The Lilypad Quick Pockets & Frames from The Lilypad

Project Life Disney Album: Part 2

I'm back with another post about my Disney Project Life album using Sahlin Studio's Project Mouse. This time I'm going to be sharing 3 things I think you might also like to use. Two of the three items are free. Yay, free stuff.

First Item: In my previous post, I hastily mentioned a very helpful, amazing PS/PSE action that I'm using. Actually, it's a script that you, too, can install. Here's how it works: You create your digital 12x12 Project Life layout and if you are going hybrid, like moi, you want to print individual 4x6 pieces to put in your physical pocket pages. Now, the easy way to do this (note: I did not do it this way, of coarse) is to then save the file as a jpg so that it's all one layer, run the script and waa-laa, it sends (6) 4x6 jpg's to the same folder where the original file resides. Neat. Easy-peasy. Done and done. Ok, I'll stop dragging on, go here and download it. Anika's blog has some good stuff. She also has a video for the simple way of using the script. She's an engineer and as far as I'm concerned a genius. I haven't explored her whole blog. Probably more stuff we want there. Start following her. You'll thank me. You're welcome. Oh, and she's a PLJunkie Creative Team Member. Since there are over 10,000 members in the facebook group, I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about.

Back to that nagging question that I know you all are asking (or not, but I'm sharing anyways). What is it she is doing and WHY ON EARTH not do it the easy way? Well, the short answer is that I'm a complicated woman, people, like most creative types. The actual concrete answer is that since I'm doing two types of books (refer to previous blog post), I have certain needs. It might be less complicated to just tell you "I'm complicated". For my parents' Shutterfly book, I want the straight-forward- stitched-template-with-rounded-corners look.

Shutterfly Version with rounded corners

Then, for my hybrid album, I want square corners. This means, it's now a several step process. Here it is:

1. Create Shutterfly version with rounded corners  
   
2. Save it. In fact, just upload that to Shutterfly now as a way to back it up, just in case the unthinkable happens. I won't even say it out loud. Bad juju.
3. Save as new file. Adjust the 12x12 layout so it fills the page edge to edge with no rounded corners. I undo all the masks and turn off the stitch pattern to make it work.  (Turn on the grid to help line it up, but don't sweat it. Don't try to get it perfect because you will be trimming them down anyway)
   
4. After getting them squared off, I put any journaling cards together and photos together. That way, I can print journal cards on cardstock and photos on photo paper. It's just smart. 
   
5. Now you save again as a jpg. 
6. Finally, you are ready to run the script on that jpg. Go to File, Automation Tools, and (if you've installed it) it will show up as "Save 12x12 to 6x4" 

   

   Print on cardstock

   
   

   

   Print on photo paper

Second Item: All of my Disney Album templates are the stitched grid pocket pages designed by Traci Reed. Love them. They just look great with anything. It's like the little black dress of digi-scrapping. This is the set of templates that I am using in the Shutterfly book version. My co-blogger, Luly Gonzalez, (sidenote: I thought I made that word up, "co-blogger", but I didn't. Apparently, it's all the rage. So, go find a best bud and get co-blogging. It's a hot new thing. At least, I'm trying to make it a thing. Pass it on.) Luly, she's my co-blogger, remember? She introduced me to Traci Reed (well, not LITERALLY, but you know, her stuff.) Check it out. Good stuff.

Third and FINAL item: Another freebie. Our first day, if you noticed by the pictures or because I probably already said it, was at Epcot. I found some free fonts that matched the rides we did and places we visited there. Super fun to use. Go grab them right HERE. (And btw, WDW Prep School is a brilliant resource for planning a trip to the happiest place on earth)

Fun Epcot Fonts in use.

Our next day was at Animal Kingdom, so come back soon to see what I'm using for those pages. Fun safari stuff. 

Holly Genc