Retrospect

documenting life, creating art.

Tag Archives: simple


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More Boot Camp Drills, part II.

Drill #2 from Cathy Zielske (Big Picture Boot Camp): Single Font Pages, as in, use the same font, any font, throughout the layout, from title to journaling, and even the date. This can give layouts a “timeless feel”, making them look “smart and chic”, according to Cathy, and to me, simple and clean. I used PT Sans, a font I got free when I downloaded the template from Designer Digitals (the link was included in the how-to PDF).

Drill #2

I like the grids Cathy uses, and those two adjectives I used above; clean and simple. Today, that’s just what I wanted, so I can just focus on the photos and the story. Thanks for the help, Cathy!

Thanks for coming by! Until next time….


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Day 5: McKay

Happy Labor Day!!! Having fun?

I’m scrapbooking, so of course I am, and today in The Mother LOAD class, it’s Mother May I Monday, which means we get to break the scrapbook rules (which are what…..I’m not quite sure…..). Today’s prompt is to create a layout in a different size that what we’re used to. So I created mine in an 8×8, rather than the traditional 12×12 or 8.5×11 size. And, I created not one, but four mini layouts because the photos I used are from my awesome brother Rob, and I couldn’t use just one!  I wanted each photo to have its own canvas. I didn’t feel like doing much to the layouts (I wasn’t there, so I had little to journal about) because I wanted the photos to have a chance to shine pretty much on their own.

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The word art is from Ali Edwards at Designer Digitals; ribbon is from Crate Paper (Toy Box collection); alpha stickers by Basic Grey.


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I’m keepin’ it simple.

Lately, I’ve been wanting to keep things simple. I’ve putting my photos in grids on a white background, keeping the journaling simple and embellishments to a minimum, if any are used at all. I have been making my layouts light, fresh, clean, simple. Could it be the heat? Maybe. I just know that getting caught up with scrapping my life’s latest events has been a snap since I adopted this “fad” I’m in. I know it won’t last long, and that’s okay. I believe that part of growing is trying new things, and moving from one phase to another without too much ado.

Here is what’s been going on in my life lately.

The river from my childhood. We drove past this last Father's Day.

My daughter flew to see her dad for the first time.

I found some photos on my computer I hadn't used and it made me want to scrap my kitchen.

I think these are good examples of what I mean by focusing on the photos and the stories and not getting caught up in the latest papers and cutest embellishments. I simply wanted to document events in my life that are meaningful to me. And when I say simply, I mean it!


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We call ourselves “Longshadow Press”.

Monday we received our final shipment of book-making materials from Bookmakers, Inc. Once we finally determined exactly how many books we will be making, and how much of the supplies will be needed, we plunked down a hefty chunk of change to make it happen. This is a dream of ours: Micha’s beautiful photos+my handiwork= one amazing book (we hope!). We settled on 12 copies, 11 of which have been sold (possibly the twelfth, as well) before they are even made. Once we completed one copy, our first try, we were able to figure out how to improve it; now we’re using it as the “artist’s copy” to show friends what we’re doing, and that’s how we were able to sell what we intend to make.

The last weekend I was not working, we had every intention of cranking out the first complete copies that we could sell. What we turned out instead was one disaster after another. Amazing how badly things turned out, and amazing how calm we stayed! No one was hurt in the process! So, we ended up wasting some supplies, and spending more money than intended, but our goal is to get each copy right and make it as perfect as possible, as if it were professionally made. Ugh. It’s so not easy! A few days ago, however, we did it. We created the first three copies, in their entirety, without any mistakes. We were so thrilled, we treated ourselves to dinner (!!). Three down, nine more to go. Sigh. I have also come to realize that I had not yet taken a photo of the final, completed book, probably because the artist copy doesn’t really count for me. Too many flaws. So, here you go.

Not fancy, nothing award-winning. A simple way to showcase the photos my husband created that will be exhibited at the art museum beginning this August. I am one proud woman. More details on the exhibit will be coming soon; any questions about the book are welcome. Thanks for letting me share!


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Less is more.

I discovered Laura Kurtz yesterday. I was blown away by her style; minimalistic, yet packs a powerful punch. She and Ali Edwards (and I’m sure many others as well) epitomize what scrapbooking is to me: words+photos=great stories and memories. Not a ton of embellishments. Use things from your stash. Paint, punch, staple, sew. Go with your feelings, make a statement. Less is more. I really admire their simplicity and honesty; get down to the nitty-gritty, and highlight what’s important. I was also reminded of something else today: this is my story, not a competition to get into the latest magazine, or become famous. I have been reminded, once again, not to strive for perfection, not to expect fabulousness, just put the photos and words down on paper in such a way that I will remember the experience, the moment, the person at that time. I’m able to scrap much faster this way, too.

3 friends, scraplifted from Laura Kurtz

Super Becky

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The journaling for the Super Becky layout says: (top)This child of mine loves to be         funny and she likes to be entertaining; give her a wig, some accessories and make-up, and her alter ego comes ’round to life. (bottom)She’s funny, silly, outrageous, whimsical, stylish, talented, goofy, ridiculous, crazy, outlandish, chatty, girlie…she’s Super Becky.

Thanks for stopping by, and happy scrapping!



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April, in retrospect

Getting a late start in encapsulating April; at the beginning of each month, I go back to the previous one and gather up photos to put together collage-style as a sort of retrospective for the month. I’m behind in doing April, but at least I got it done! So, here it is:

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So, as you can see, I don’t incorporate much journaling, there’s nothing fancy about it; just simple photos to sum up the month for me. It’s super easy using this digital template by Biograffiti at Oscraps; it also comes in 12×12, but I like the 8.5×11 simply because I can quickly print it out here at home. Of course, you can also add more journaling if you would like, as well as cute embellishments if that’s more your style; these templates are a breeze to manipulate and make your own. I enjoy having a “snapshot” of the months as they go by, so when I find myself asking, “Where did the time go?” I can just whip out my album to see! Happy scrapping, and enjoy your month!


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Documenting ordinary days

Have you ever thought to document one full day? Try it sometime. Pick a random day, get your camera out (or just use your phone’s camera), and capture your day. What do you actually do all day? What happens, and how much time do you really spend on ordinary things? I found out about that yesterday, which marked Week 9 in my Yesterday/Today class by Ali Edwards. I didn’t realize just how much time I spend on the computer, and little moments spent suddenly had more impact and meaning to me, especially seeing it captured in a photo.

I have often found myself wondering where the time goes, and what exactly did I do on such-and-such a day. If you do something like this, just for fun, put it in your scrapbook, and I can imagine you’ll be amazed at how you’ve lived, years from now. Your children will get a kick out of it, too! Perhaps it will do nothing more for you than to make you think about your day, your time, your life. That’s good enough. Life is short, after all, hold on to what you can (that’s one of my biggest reasons for scrapbooking ;-) ). Here’s another random, ordinary moment that I am so glad I caught with my camera; my daughter is growing by leaps and bounds, and in just a few years I will look back on this simple moment with such fondness and love.

Quintessentially you.

Enjoy your weekend, and if you document any of it, have fun!

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