It's time again! Yea! I enjoy LOAD more each time and I think the reason is that it has truly become FUN! The first one and one somewhere in the middle were really stressful for me. But thanks to Lain and a great group of LOAD followers, I have learned to let go of the pressure. It doesn't matter if you complete 1, 5 or 28 layouts, what matters is that you got something done and that is certainly more than I would have done without LOAD!
How do I prepare for LOAD?
Prepare. That is the key! The LOADs that I found stressful were for two reasons:
1. I was not prepared.
2. I forced layouts. I have learned that if something is not coming tobether fairly quickly within 20 minutes...STOP! Go to Plan B. (be prepared!) Choose a different topic and a new set of photos. Get a fresh outlook!
Preparing looks like this for me:
a) Focus. I choose a theme or album to focus on. This eliminates 100s of possibilities. I will probably bird walk due to a daily prompt but may also use it on an already planned layout. (Themes might be portraits, posed pictures such as sports team photos or dance, etc. An album might be a trip to Disney, Halloween or your December Daily.)
b) Organize. Gather your photos, papers, ephemera, embellishments and inspiration in the next couple of weeks. Place them together in ziploc bags, scrapbook totes, files or page protectors. It's like making a kit ahead of time and putting it together one the given day. This is the same thing I try to do to prepare for a crop. This way when you have a large chunk of time set aside, scrapper's block will not set in!
c) Inspiration. That is the theme of LOAD so I will be looking at what I have already gathered. Looking in my tumblr account, LOAD faves. in Flickr and in my notebook of printed layouts / magazine pages for ideas. I will then take these ideas and place them with the photos in the page protector.
I can't wait to see what Lain has in store for us! She is so inspiring!
Monday, January 24, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
2010 Dec. Daily - Day 1
Sunday, January 16, 2011
So, you want to make a December Daily album....
but can't!
I tried three times to get started and just couldn't get going. I had photos printed, papers selected, embellishments located, inspiration bookmarked and printed but kept getting stuck. I finally figured out what was stopping me....it was the whole left/page right page concept due to the shape of my pages! It made a difference. I needed to know which side the holes would be punched on. So what I did was to create an outline of what photos I decided to include, the story I wanted to tell, the ephemera I wanted to include and general things I did not want to forget. Here's page one of my outline. It took about two hours to create the whole outline but it's been worth it. Pages will be posted soon!
December Daily - Day 24
Christmas Eve.
Attending candle light service at 7 p.m.
Sisters ready to go.
Girls ready to go.
Girls ready to go.
Can you guess who does not want to go?
The boys ready to go?!
December Daily - Day 23
Today found us frantically folding letters, stamping and stuffing envelopestrying to get the annual Christmas mailing on it's way before Christmas Day!
The evening found us driving around looking at lights in
all the traditional spots.
This is downtown NP.
The evening found us driving around looking at lights inall the traditional spots.
This is downtown NP.
December Daily - Day 22
Santa at the mall.
The Platte River Mall at Christmas time.Jon took the kids shopping this afternoon for gifts for me.
Awww...how sweet!
December Daily - Day 20
Christmas at The Cody's!
Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...one or two aren't bad but I can't see myself eating more than that in one sitting.
A fun experience!
Many gingerbread houses were created an open for bids in a silent auction.
The Cody's house was fully decorated inside and out.20 trees were decorated inside with various themes.
T. and I took a horse drawn hayride around the property.
It was cold and the horses were fragrant!
December Daily - Day 19
Wrapping an XL gift for "the Dad"!
Baking cookies to share with the neighbors.December Daily - Day 18
I volunteered to ring bells for our church at Wal Mart.
It was amazing how many people I saw in that 30 minute period that I knew.
That night I finished reading Holiday Grind, a coffeehouse mystery book
that included an insert at the end about how the red kettles originated.
I plan to included it in my album.
December Daily - Day 16
C. needs to take ethnic foods to her Spanish class for a Christmas party. 11:00 p.m. Google recipe for Mexican Christmas Cookies
11:08 p.m. Begin mixing up the cookie dough.
11:59 p.m. First set is rolled and cut for baking.
12:11 a.m. First set is baked and sprinkle with powdered sugar.3 more sets to go!
December Daily - Day 15
T. was challenging himself to naming all the reindeer without the assistance of Google. He did it and wrote them down as he recalled each name then numbered them to be sure their were eight. I think he must have sung the song 5 times trying to get the names and order right!
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