We have a quote we use a lot where I work which is: Take the Bull by the Horns. Of course, there is a
Michelangelo-esque image of one of our engineers (well just his face) riding a bull. I will spare you the actual graphic for your sake and his. Looks something like what is below.
It should be Lllama by the Horns in this case, but somehow it doesn't have the same ring.
I got fed up early last week when I just could not fit one more scrapbook page in my Peru book.
So, I got on Amazon and bought a second matching one. If I need a third, I know where they are. I am not going to skimp telling my Peru trip story.
I also pledged to start writing up the journaling to my trip on FLAT pages to conserve space.
I have been curious to know what Helen, Lizzy Hill, and Heather are going to do. They all took recent trips and took THOUSANDS of photos. Heather wrote up a really good Day by Day post that I think is cool. Perhaps she will be printing it out and inserting in her book? Of course, she also does digital scrapbooking and flat stuff does fit nicer! ;-)
I was also going to go that route, but it hurt my brain and made me sad, so I decided if I wanted to actually get this book done, I had to do it in a way that would make me happy.
So in the spirit of organization, I got my two books and started putting pages in order.
I also settled on my "cover" page. This is one of my favorite Peru pages as it's the start of something fun.
I also wrote up journaling for Day 1 and Day 2 of Peru. They span across two pages in my book and are tabbed. It is not the most beautiful solution, but I am choosing to view this book as more of a Smash 12 by 12 book with page protectors. I am hoping at some point to find cooler tabs, but these were cheap and I'm moving forward, which is sometimes half the battle.
I have some stories to print off for it and also some cool tickets that really can stand alone in a clear pocket.
And on the subject of journaling:
Helen posted something on Facebook the other day: Something I've noticed about layouts. Want to make a slick page? Leave off all journaling. {Regret it later when no-one knows the story behind the photo}. To me a beautiful page with photos, a title and embellishments only tells half the story. Sometimes that's just fine but not all the time...
Now, many of my Peru pages do not have journaling on them. Not to make them more or less beautiful, but because I am anal and I wanted matching font for my entire book. And no, putting journaling on the back doesn't work for me since it explains the pages. Some of them standing alone are quite puzzling, but fit together with my writing.
And I wanted journaling PAGES in the middle of it that explains the illustrations around it.
It's kinda of weird. And the problem with a page full of a lot of writing is that there is not a lot of room for fancy pretty papers or flowers.
It does seem to be working for me. I feel organized and happy and like I am making some progress with my book. I have also discovered photos that I needed to use to illustrate and made more pages out of them.
Taking the Bull by the Horns may involve some creative out of the box thinking, but since when has that hurt a Scrapbooker!
Happy Monday! Back tomorrow with one of my "flat" journaling pages. Lizzy Hill, totally agree with you that writing is at least half the fun!
When did scrapbooking become "slick"? I have been making scrap books with journalling since before my children were born and my daughter is 48 this year! Without words the pictures are just pictures and no matter how beautiful they are they are worthless without the words. Oh and flat pages and scrapbooking don't really compute do they? I love bulgy albums, and the people who look at them love them too.
ReplyDeleteWell I guess if you had lots of journalling to do you could always put it on the back or in a little envelope or tucked under the photo.. at least the date of the photo and place is what I try to put on a layout!!
ReplyDeleteI think you're working out a Very Mitra Solution to your problem....I like the idea of a 'stories' page amongst the photo ones....I CHEATED. Did my 'visual diary' [also a sort of smash album, but slightly smaller] - so I've EVERY day of our hols already written up before we even got home....sooo my 'big page' album is an addendum...sort of Extra Photos that I didn't put in the Smash are getting put there. Also, I shove all the receipts, maps, accommodation & tourist visitor stuff behind my pages...mostly! I DOOO like your matching albums. I never have anything matching. I pretend its 'eclectic' & that makes me feel better!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteI fight with myself all the time about whether to match or not, the same way I used to wonder if I should scrap chronologically or not - what a dilemma we sometimes have. I can't wait to see some more of your creativeness Mitra.
ReplyDeleteA great post! The whole room-for-words on a page thing is something I fight with myself over all the time. I do put the words on the back sometimes, because I reckon it's better having them there than nowhere (often I'll print out a blog post), but I've been doing pages with flaps lately too. Lots to think about here
ReplyDeleteI am filled with guilt that I put away scrapbooking years ago. I do have 9 books filled, but years have passed and I am SOOO far behind. The title of your post is the kick in the pants I needed!
ReplyDeleteThe worst part is that my old pages SUCK, awful techniques and crazy papers and now I want to do them ALL over again, but won't...the progression of detail is something to draw from and ALL of your tips are filed in my brain for what to do. It's a journey for sure, but I draw so much inspiration from your style. :)
Some interesting comments ;). I agree that getting going is half the battle won and rather settle for something less than perfect and get it done than nothing at all. Excellent choice of albums. I have 48 of those but about 10 are ruined as our cats mistook them for a scratching post! Will have to import more one day!! Whilst I have no hard-drive, no computer and therefore no access to my printer hooked up to it I'm not even thinking about my travel albums. Just printing once a week via a flash drive. I don't ever do themed albums. I just scrap individual pages then collate them together in a "holiday" album. Our trip was way too busy to write out a daily log but I do have memorabilia etc and some stories to tell and for that I intend interspersing my layouts with divided page protectors that I purchased in a moment of madness when I contemplated doing my own version of project life LOL
ReplyDeleteI hear you all...taking the bull by the horns is not going to happen this year for me! Great job, Mitra.
ReplyDeleteEspecially for travel albums I've always done a day by day journaling page followed by photos from that day (or theme/area occasionally) with only snippets on the photo pages. Usual pages though have to have stories - on tags tucked behind things, or behind a flap but more usually on the page and easy to read. Am enjoying the resurgence of pocket page protectors - they are a lovely addition to my story telling.
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