Monday, January 24, 2011

LOAD 211 Blog Hop!

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!

20 comments:

Susanne said...

I have yet to find a good way to organize my online inspiration. Books and magazines, sure. But that's old school. So I think I'll look into Tumblr or the new Pinterest for that purpose. Hopefully Lain will have some tips for us too. Can't wait to start, see you there.

Lee said...

Like you I tend to scale back which results in so much more done. Great advice. See you there!

Unknown said...

Some great advice. I look forward to seeing what you create!

Lisa said...

Good advice and I heard about Pintrest today on last week's PRT so I will be checking that out for sure.

And yes, if I only finish 5 layouts during the month, it will still be more than if I wasn't doing LOAD!

See you over at Flickr

OhioDanielle said...

I did experience a bit of stress during my first LOAD since I was like you, unprepared, which was one of the reasons why I decided to organize this blog hop - to help the newbies and to see how all of you prepare for LOAD as well. You gave great advice about getting a fresh outlook and moving on when you get stuck. Looking forward to seeing your layouts!

elin said...

Good advice. Looking forward to play with you during February.

Unknown said...

Wonderful post! I had forced some layouts in May10's challenge and didn't like it. This time I have a few mini-albums that I want to work on so that I don't have to force any work. Can't wait to see ya over there.

Junelle Jacobsen said...

Yes~ I totally agree with not forcing a page. I wrote that to myself as well, that was my biggest stumbling block, thinking I had to make something of it when I didn't have it in me?

I love that you reminded me of my tumbler. I have stashed away months of inspiration in there. What a find!

I am excited to get to know you~ see you soon!
Junelle

Tere Azua said...

Focus... very important!!!!
See you in the gallery!!!

Laura T. said...

Great tips - looking forward to seeing your creations in the gallery.

Heather said...

The idea of preparing for LOAD like you would for a crop is really useful. Not that I do that. I am definitely a wing it kind of girl :)
See you in February!

Susan said...

I like your tip about having a Plan B. It's frustrating sometimes to try and force myself to follow a prompt when I'm not immediately inspired. Thanks for a great post!

Unknown said...

that's what i need: focus!
jennifer mcintyre
@atthebluebarn

Margie S (Nihao, Cupcake! xnomads.typepad.com) said...

Great ideas! Wonderful post. See you in the gallery.

LCSmithSAVED said...

Thx! I did LOAD in Oct and loved it, but signed up at the last possible moment so had NO PREP - see ya there!

Dani said...

I'm excited to see what Lain has in store for us too!!

Lain said...

Such a great idea to review your own inspiration files. You are so smart! :)

TracyBzz said...

The easiest LOAD I had was the one that I did a Disney album. I wasn't digging out a bunch of paper and embellishments each day, and then not putting them away. Thus causing a bit of an explosion in my scrap area. I could pull all the paper and embellishments and leave them out.

nicehands said...

Niki - Thanks for the thoughtful post about LOAD! Blog hopping through. (And loved your DD first 2 days posts!) I look forward to seeing your LOs starting next week! Heidi aka move 4life

Marygail said...

I agree - one of my previous LOADs was stressful because I wasn't prepared! Great advice- see you on Flickr :)