On Skipping and Scrapbooking

8.22.2011

(Where my inner scrapbooking nerd goes on full display)


Today, I didn't go to work.

I took a personal day and spent most of the day working on my scrapbook. I really got into a groove and ended up finishing two spreads, which is crazy for two oddly dissimilar reasons.

1) Because I worked all day and only finished two spreads.
2) Because I worked all day and finished two spreads.

I set up shop at my kitchen table, which almost immediately became a complete mess--with pens, stickers, paper, and of course pictures scattered everywhere. (Two shots from different times today.)



My process consists of spreading out the pictures I want to use on that page and then staring at the page for however long it takes to come up with a layout idea. I have a few books that I use for inspiration, but I rarely just flat-out copy a design. 

It takes a while for me to put it all together, because getting it right is tedious work. There's cutting the paper, choosing colors, finding stickers... and that takes much longer than you might think. It for sure takes longer than I think.

For my wedding scrapbook, I'm going for classic--something that will look good years down the road. I really don't want future me thinking, What is going on with this page? (Like what happens when I look at my high school and college scrapbooks.) So I'm trying not to overdue it with stickers and words while at the same time making sure the page doesn't look boring.

I have a lot of materials to work with, all thanks to my grandma, who has stocked me well over the years for numerous birthdays and Christmases. But my favorite tool by far is this pencil thingy:


I have no idea what it's actually called, but in my head I refer to it as "that blue stick thing." This has saved my life so many times, and I'm not even kidding. 

I actually only use the flat end (the left end in the above picture). It's super thin and works perfectly for lifting a sticker up off the page so I can move the sticker to a different spot. I don't know what I would do without this, because I have to move things a lot, and when I try to move a sticker without this, I tore up the sticker and the page, and it was a huge mess.

It's also super handy for placing small letters and stickers exactly where I want them. Where my clumsy large fingers would fail, this stick tool can place them easily. I guess my point in all this is that if you're an avid scrapbooker, you should really consider adding this to your bag of tools. It's pretty awesome.

Okay. So, I don't know how this post turned into a sales pitch for the stick tool, but maybe it's just because I was scrapbooking all day today and this was the one thing that never left my sight. I only used it about a billion times.

And my other point is, every so often it's just a good idea to skip out on your regular schedule and do something unusual...like staying home on a Monday to work on a scrapbook, I guess. And I don't even care that that made me sound like a huge nerd.

Check back on Wednesday for pictures of the new pages! 
See my previous pages by clicking on the "scrapbooking" link on the left sidebar. 
Veronica Lee Burns said...

I recognize lots of those tools! ;)

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