Posts Tagged ‘sketches’

organizing. memory lane. and a giveaway.

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

Should I just warn you right now? I should. This blog post contains a lot of pictures. And maybe — just maybe – a little nostalgia for some of you.

This is the sight of organization in progress:

I recently had the sudden urge to go through every cabinet, every drawer, every shelf in our home office. And since the drive and the energy and the motivation were all very much alive, I went with it. I didn’t resist.

In this process, I came across a lot of stuff. Stuff as in … a lot of stuff I have been hanging on to for years. I take on a big project like this at least annually and it was definitely that time again. I did a serious assessment. Even more “serious” than in past years because of the personal evolution I’ve experienced these past couple of years.

In going through my stuff, I asked myself a few simple questions:

- Why am I hanging on to this?

- Do I ever use this?

- Do I really value this?

No? Then buh-bye. Clear out the clutter. Let someone else enjoy it. If yes, then fine. Keep it. Note to self: Remember I have this stuff and make more effort to use it more often. Otherwise there is no point for it to take up valuable storage space.

Want to know what supplies in my stash I couldn’t let go of? Well, plenty of things actually. You know — patterned paper, cardstock, basics like that. But also — flowers & brads. Even though my decorative/creative scrapbooking days are far & few between these days, I just can’t seem to let those go.

And letter stickers. Gave a ton of letter stickers away to friends … among many other products. I love that you can see Claire & her little friend reaching in to choose some for themselves here. But I still hung on to a healthy amount of favorites. To me, letter stickers are a staple for creative projects.

So you know what I did throw away … and I even surprised myself? Old Christmas cards! No – not our family’s extra copies. That’s our family history. But after 15 years of hoarding Christmas cards from loved ones, and realizing we truly never go back and dig them out, and reminding myself that I’m not responsible to be the keeper of other families’ histories … well … in the name of SIMPLIFYING … I finally let go.

And it felt very liberating.

Here are some other nostalgic pieces from the past. Like the binder where I kept all of our house ideas for years and years — floor plan ideas, decorating ideas, favorite magazine tear-outs, sketches, color inspiration.

Other books full of inspiration, more specific to scrapbooking and paper-crafting projects.

I know this will bring back some memories for some of you who have been familiar with my work from “long ago”. Behold … the sketches. Many, many, many sketches.

And some organizational stuff from several of my book projects. Lists & calendars & scheduling my tasks and deadlines. Some things never change. : )

Even my homemade Prismacolor colored pencil reference sheets. Nerdy? You bet. Necessary? I sure thought so at the time.

Oooooh. Anyone remember this album? I taught a Creating Keepsakes University class called “Snapshot of Me” that was all about telling the story of your life & personality right then & there in that time of your life. Anyone happen to be in one of my classes? This was from 5 years ago. I’m so glad I did that project. I’m even more glad that hundreds of others did it too. That’s a lot of story telling. A lot of life documenting.

Here are even more themed books that are currently sitting pretty in a cabinet.

And this … This. Wow. Talk about nostalgia. This album was the start of my very first little Project 365 – a picture every day of the year, starting January 2008 — just 3 years ago.

I used a photo album I picked up at Target, stayed faithful with my daily documenting until a very sick pregnancy took over my life that year. But the idea never died. It was only a matter of months that the concept came to be in the form of a scrapbooking kit. Of course this eventually evolved into what we now know as Project Life.

Kinda fun to come across that.

………………..

Oh, and one more thing. I came across a lot of homemade cards that I made over the years, especially ones that I designed specifically for my 2002 Creative Cards book. I’m hanging on to a few favorites.

But the rest of them? Good grief. Did I really hand-stitch pieces like this for a card?

Guess what? I’ve got a collection of about 40 cards — each one of them a unique handmade card by yours truly — and I am giving them away. The whole collection. Got a strong desire for handmade cards? Know of an upcoming auction that we could donate these to? Another way you plan to use the cards? Leave a comment and be sure to include your first name, city, and state. I’ll announce the winner by the end of the week.

…………..

Thanks for taking a stroll down memory lane with me.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in organization, scrapbooking | 596 Comments »

my latest sketch

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

You guys know I read your comments here. While I can’t possibly respond to every one, I do my best to address your questions from time to time. One that keeps coming up is — When can we see more sketches??

Well I guess today’s the day. Here’s a new sketch!

Look familiar? Allow me to explain.

I’ve been scrapbooking for 17 years. It’s safe to say it’s in my blood. How I go about preserving our memories has changed and twisted and experimented and EVOLVED over the years. Any of you remember back in the mid- to late-nineties when creative lettering was my niche? I l-o-v-e-d creative lettering. I spent years doing plenty of creative artwork and layout design. Most of you are familiar with my sketches. Another niche. You’re the ones wondering when I’m going to share more.  : )

Here’s the thing. In my personal evolution, I’ve had babies. I’ve grown busier. I spend more time outside of myself, and more time serving my family as well as those outside my family. I am equally passionate about scrapbooking as I have always been. Only now I am so, so, so much more practical in my approach. I spend way less hours putting together layouts. All the adorable accents, cool gadgets, and detailed techniques? They’re fun, but I simply don’t prioritize that in my life right now.

Bottom line: This is how I scrapbook now: Project Life. (See pictured sketch above.) Drop the pictures in. Add my journaling. Done. Photos and stories. That’s it. That’s the way I like it. I’m very, very comfortable with the system I’ve settled into and kinda wish all my books from the past 17 years were like this. Honestly. Although, believe me — I appreciate all of those stages and niches and all that resulted from thousands of hours pouring my heart into this hobby.

I still sketch. Only it’s not so much for scrapbook page design. It’s more for product design and web design and things like that. I am so grateful to know my sketches have helped in some way. I appreciate your kind notes and requests. I am just not in that mode of artistic scrapbook pages these days.

I’m in the mode of simplifying. I like helping others to simplify as well.

—–

Alright. Enough of that. Let’s open up this post to more of your questions. Go for it.  : )

Tags: ,
Posted in Q&A, scrapbooking | 82 Comments »

Q&A: Tuesday

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

It’s been fun to see what’s on your mind. I’ll take a handful of your questions at a time and try to answer some all week long. Here we go!

Q: Do you have any suggestions for people who don’t get their photo taken because they are always taking the photos. I have tried getting my husband to take some but he doesn’t get those in the moment shots (which I love more).

A: You could always hand the camera over to your kids. Sure, they won’t get the most amazing composition and you are guaranteed to get a handful of blurry shots. But they will love that Mom’s letting them use the camera and they will take a LOT of pictures. And you will be in front of the camera for once! Of course you could hire a photographer too. But my favorite idea is to trade real-life photography with a friend. I’ve actually been thinking about doing this for a long time. You would have a friend come to your house for a couple of hours when there’s a lot of activity and she clicks away while you and your family just do what you do. She captures you in the essence of your roles and duties at home. And then of course you would do the same for her. Think of the documentation that results from such an activity.

–

Q: How do you keep track of everything going on in your life? Do you use a big paper calendar? On-line calendar, notepads, etc?

A: We use iCal. It comes on every Mac computer. It has become the key to our scheduling coordination success. Seriously. I love it. And it syncs with our other computers, iPhone, iPod Touch, etc. So I could add something to iCal right now and David would see it on the calendar at work almost immediately. I especially love the color coding for categories. So our family stuff is red, birthdays are blue, church stuff is purple, work stuff is green and so forth. I am experiencing one of the very busiest times of my life and organized calendaring has never been so important. I’d show you a screenshot of our iCal as it looks right now, but that’s a bit personal. So here’s a screenshot I found online. You can learn more about iCal here.

I also keep a small notebook by my computer and sometimes it even follows me to bed. This is my place for random notes, ideas, sketches, lists, etc. For all areas of my life. I have learned that whenever ideas pop into my head, writing them down is the BEST thing to do with the ideas. What this does is frees my mind for better ability to think creatively because I’m not always trying to remember stuff. If I write it down, I don’t have to work hard to remember something. If I have to work hard to remember stuff, I am not able to clearly think about stuff. Get it?

–

Q: I wonder if you’ve considered, now that you are not affiliated with any company or entity, writing a book on organizing? People read your blog for so many different kinds of ideas, not just scrapbook-related. I’d sure buy a book with chapters on organizing for a party, organizing for crafting, organizing nightly dinners (recipes), organizing your home/chores, etc. I’ll bet I’m not the only one who feels this way.

A: You’re sweet. I’m not that organized. I have a long way to go before I would feel like I could write a whole book on organizing, although I do love the subject. So I will continue to share my organizational thoughts & ideas here on my blog. Free of charge.

–

Q: I always use your sketch books for my layouts. Your sketches were the only thing that kept me buying Creating Keepsakes mag. Are you going to be doing anymore sketch books ???

A: It makes me happy to hear how my sketches have helped scrapbookers. Thank you for sharing that. I think I have exhausted my mental supply of sketch ideas. But that’s not to say that you’ve seen my very last sketch. Next time I come up with one for a layout I’m working on, I’ll be sure to share it with you here.

–

Q: Has cancer affected anyone close to you?

A: My brother, my dad, my grandmother, several extended relatives. Close friends. So, yes. It has.

–

Q: Do you scrapbook everyday? I work full time and have four boys and am really struggling to find time. I’ve been scheduling scrap nights once a month with friends but I miss my scrap time! How do you do it?

A: Heck no. I’m struggling to find time just like you. In fact, I haven’t scrapbooked in months. Months. But I’m itching to do some catching-up in our kids’ books and am hoping to do that in the next month or so.

–

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have about 5 or 6 things to check off my to-do list before I do what’s next up on iCal. Meeting some girlfriends for a quick lunch. So excited to see a friend I haven’t seen in a while. Be back tomorrow.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Q&A | 7 Comments »