trimmingthesails

WITL (Wednesday)

Those of you who've read along for a little while might remember that in projects like Week In The Life (Ali Edwards), I like to have a focus: a lens through which to view and record, an angle of some kind. I was pondering this as I started the journalling for this page. I'll divide it up into non-chronological sections, I thought, with titles like "Health and Exercise", or "Work", or "Home", or "Creative". But half-way through, I realised how unsatisfactory it felt and I got up and walked away. A few cups of tea later, I realised that this year, I just want to record how the days flow (or not, as the case may be!) I want to be able to look back and remember how full they can feel, how many things have to be fitted in, and what the shape of it was as it happened - rather than themed chunks. So back to chronology I went - that is the focus this year...

Life is about to get a whole lot busier, as Himself will be in hospital for a few days, and family members will be coming to help out here: so I may be a little random in my posting and visiting. But I will be popping in to see you when I can - warm regards in the meantime!

WITL Tuesday

And the learning so far about the process of doing a daily photo-diary, like A Week in The Life? Notes to self so far run like this:

• download photos as often in the day as possible, and delete them from the camera
• quickly trash any non-starters: the duplicates, the seriously wonky and the total duds. Don't waste time agonizing.
• adjust (lighten, sharpen, crop etc.) the rest as soon as you can
• name photos and keep in the correct date folder
• the ideal would be to be able to type the journalling at regular intervals during the day. Failing this, jot things down. You think you'll remember. You won't.

A little more imagination in the journalling layout line might have been nice, but as there are only so many hours - or minutes - in the day, I have written very simply. I'm trying to be brave (and diligent) enough to include more photos of myself this year, and this one comes with grateful thanks to Himself who selflessly put down his early morning tea and took charge of the camera. Here's Tuesday ...

Two down, five to go ... :).

WIML '12, Monday

 This, alas, is as far as I've got in Ali Edward's Week in the Life; plus a clutch of Tuesday's photos which are still being processed along with notes in my diary. But I am not giving up hope, or giving up on the project, yet!


How is it going for you? And if you're not doing it yourself, do you get weary seeing it around the blogosphere or do you quite enjoy it? Hoping you are creatively thriving as we steamroller through another week!

Yes, no, yes, no ...

There's been much dithering and changing of mind up here. At first, I thought: Gosh, that's come round quick. Better get organised! Then: oh, I don't know if I have the energy. Followed by: it's always like this - you just forget, so get on with it. Slithering into: too many choices to make - layout design, colour ... I'll do it next year. And then a small, cool voice: you don't know what next year will bring. Yes, life may be very full right now but you might be glad in the future to be able to look back and remember the details ...

So it's a yes, then, to Ali Edwards' A Week In my Life. Ali is not putting her pages together this week - she is spending the next seven days capturing and recording, and using the following week to make her pages. However, I'm going to need to be able to do quite a lot of mine as I go. Ali's templates are lovely, with lots of page variation and delightful add-ons. I know from past experience that too many options from which to choose slows me down and leaves me fraught, so I've come up with a simple design below (my current album is landscape). (Amy's recent post about photo-collages was timely: thank-you for the inspiration, Amy!) I'll use the same double-page spread each day, and any space might have photos, text, pockets etc. If there are any spare moments, I might design some additional 'Today' notes ...

Keeping things as lean and spare as I can, I think I'm ready:

• templates, seven: one for each day
• folders, labelled ready for the photos: with ruthless editing every day to keep it manageable.
• paper: A4 double-sized PhotoDuo. Photos and text can be printed onto the same surface, crisply and clearly. I used it here, and really liked it
• camera and batteries
• diary for jotting things down: my usual one. Special record-of-the-day pages would just be an added complication for me this time.
• ink cartridges: for the printer

 Anyone else doing it this year? Wish me luck! I think I might need it ...

Simple solution ...

One of the most fascinating features of the Bloom True class I took recently, was seeing work in progress. The final outcome was not the point. We showed our paintings as they progressed through different stages: a bit like showing your working out of a maths problem. And I was thinking how this doesn't tend to happen much in scrapbooking, and how enjoyable it would be to see and understand how we arrive at our final pages. If this is not of interest to you, click away now, for this is what I am about to share!

This page took rather longer than I would have liked: faster skills would be a bonus! The magazine design was the inspiration - those vertical lines behind the text and pictures seemed just right for a long thin photo I wanted to scrap, and I liked the positioning of the title. But running text along the top on my layout conflicted with the text within the photo, and there were other problems too ...

So the solution I came up with was to abandon the other photos, and concentrate on the main one: cutting off the top half-inch and adding the journalling very simply at the bottom. A couple of vertical lines with arrowheads and it was done ...

When I print the layout, I'll do the large photo separately and hinge it down the left, so that the additonal photos can be slipped in behind ...

Now you might have come up with something entirely different, so please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below! If there's one thing I love, it's learning from others ... Hoping you have a lovely weekend. :)

A Dear John Letter ...

Dear John,
Thank-you so much for your lovely email which arrived today. Your warm invitation "Let's meet in Person!" made my heart leap: but fall again quickly on realising there is no earthly way in which I can leave my life here and fly to be with you in San Francisco. I'd love to spend time with you - alas, it is not going to be possible. But this comes with every good wish as you speak at the Print and ePublishing Conference, and I am sad not to be there ... In the meantime, I am consoling myself with the 'sneak peek' of your presentation on design which you kindly sent me us and will, as ever, be hanging on your words and absorbing what you teach ...

Keep it simple: less is almost always more
Have a focal point: every page needs an anchor
Get unblocked: design isn't arranging boxes!
Get extreme: the bigger or smaller the better!
Think negative: how to make white space work for you
Work center out: your page doesn't start in the corner
This vs. that: contrasts are how we see
Set type boldly: essential tricks for setting great type
Color magic: how to get great colors fast

And as I zigzag across the hills and past this stretch of water during the next few days, I will be mindful of your mantra ...


With very best wishes, John, for your continued success,
one of your many (slightly-too-old-to-be-adoring-but-appreciative-nonetheless) fans,
alexa :)

 

Pebbles and sticks of memory ...

It has certainly been a most memorable Christmas present to Himself and me from our lovely son, and we're only a third of the way through it - fifty-two "thank-you"s, pebbles of memory from his childhood and teenage years plopping gently and happily into our inboxes once a week. Each makes ripples of recollections in my mind too: things we'd forgotton, things we remember in turn which he may have forgotton ...

One of the biggest surprises, is how important some things were for him - and how little I knew it at the time. And how significant they are for me too, though I did not realise it till he brought them to my attention. I'm still absorbing them, letting them find their place, touched by hindsight. Perhaps that is one of lovely things about a memory shared: it can bring a gift to the listener too. Perhaps when we scrapbook, our pages hold a memory, an event, an intuition, a moment, until it can plop into the life of a reader years down the line, creating ripples of meaning for them ...

All this was hovering at the back of my mind on a walk with one of my favourite people, when I saw her hesitate by the path, look down, take a few steps, then go back and pick something up. Nothing special: just a stick. Some lovely things from a pack of Julie's Plundered Pages helped me record it:

It might be just a stick. Or perhaps it is something more. Perhaps she'll tell me, years down the line, when she reads the page ...

Artful dottiness and a download ...

It's dots and scribbles and painty splashes up here this week. The more tightly choreographed my days (of necessity), the more I am having to use little pockets of time to lay down a line here, a dotty frame there, and a dash of doodling with a cup of tea in one hand ...

But scrapbooking is not forgotton! A number of you commented on the dotted frame on my last page, and so I've made a bunch in different sizes, square and rectangular, and bundled them together for you into a download of PNG files. They can be reduced in size proportionately (click on a corner, hold Shift and drag to enlarge/reduce), and the dots will change size too. Though black when you open them, they can be recoloured easily: the instructions below are in PSE but work equally in PS. They could be used around the edge of a page, around a photo or piece of journalling, or dropped onto a photo or section of text. In my layout, I cropped one, duplicated it, recoloured it, and turned it upside down (PSE Image>Rotate>FlipVertical; PS Edit>Transform>FlipVertical). I hope you enjoy them!

Download AlexaDottedFramesSR

And it was a delightful surprise to hear from Irene over at heart.hearth.home who used the recent quirky template to such wonderful effect right here: do go and admire her skill and lovely photos. Hoping you have an enjoyable weekend, and thank-you for visiting me this week. Very warm regards to you all ... :)

And it's hello ...

Hard to believe it's an Easter scene, with snow still filling the heathery hollows and lying stubbornly along the foot of the grey stone walls. Even the beech leaves are clinging on tightly for dear life. Still, we've had much-loved ones, laughter, and chocolate this weekend, and it does not get much better than that! Simple pleasures, and a simple page ...


Today, I am reminded how our calendars provide us with so many new opportunities to make a fresh start: New Year, the beginning of the school term in September, and the feast of Easter ... Honoré loves every Monday for just this reason, and often starts her week with an Hello Monday! Hoping you are happy for me to join in, Honoré? For me, it's ...

Hello ... to a bread-and-butter week of work, paperwork, and house work (if I can fit in the last two)
Hello ... to a new class, The Art of Abstraction (if I'm not too distracted to keep up)
Hello ... to the promise of new deliciousness in the one sixth of an allotment we look after (if rhubarb counts)
Hello ... to spring and summer clothes (if I dare get them out: I did a fortnight ago and look what happened)
Hello ... to more digital learning and experimenting (if my brain can expand that far)
Hello ... to all of you! and wishing you good things in the days ahead.

I'm wondering: what are you saying Hello to this week? :)

Good to go ...

Two 'good to go's from me today ...

Pass The Book ...
And the lucky person who is going to receive Sian's very generous loan of The Shutter Sisters' Expressive Photography is ... Rosie! Many congratulations Rosie, and if you email me your details, it will be in the post to you before the weekend. Marcie, you didn't specify whether you wished to be in the draw, but I inferred from your comment that you were already familiar with the book and so I haven't included you: I hope that was the right call? For those of you who don't know Marcie's already stunning photography and words, do visit her here. Her work is just lovely. Commiserations to those of you who were not so fortunate this time - I do so wish I had copies for you all!

And the Graphically Quirky Page ...
It looks like this - it was great fun to do, in little pockets of time across the last few days. Some of you have let me know you have downloaded the digital template, and Sian has wondered about doing a paper version (would look great, Sian!), so if you do play with it, do let us all know and we'll come and admire. :)

I see that it's time for slipping past time for Julie's excellent Month in Numbers, so getting my skates on is the order of the day. How can it possibly be nearly Easter already? Anyone else feel that this year is speeding by? Yikes ...