trimmingthesails

October 15: Month In Numbers

It's thanks to Julie's inspirational Month In Numbers (waving, Julie!) that I have gathered up October fragments and snippets before they faded into oblivion and brought them together for a double-page spread in our This Is Life 2015 photo-book. I think it'll be fun to look back on these in years to come - a kind of miscellany. Given the glorious riot of colour in our autumn this year, I was a little surprised to find myself wanting something more subdued and tranquil - perhaps it's the influence of the November mists this week! (Click on the image for a new window and clearer text).

And for any of you who have embraced Project Life, this would be completely do-able in paper and card too; Julie has some great ideas for getting started in her tutorial here. Oh, and wouldn't it also be a great feature in a December Daily? Food shopping costs, numbers of presents or cards bought/received/made, how many ornaments on the tree, visitors across the threshold - I think I'd better go and make a list myself :).

Reading Habits ...

It has been niggling away at the back of my mind for weeks. Ever since the 9th of September, in fact. I'd pinned the questions on the cork board above my desk and added tattered notes around them, cricked my neck trying to take artsy photos, played around with Project Life-type pocket design in little chunks of time - then abandoned much of it. Finally, I can honour the lovely Helen over at I Will Bloom, who tagged me in her post on Reading Habits, with a page about my own ... (Click on the image for clearer print and detail).

As soon as I've popped these into my This is Life 2015 photobook, I'll be thinking 'What next?' Before we know it, it'll be time for the very talented Julie's Month In Numbers. Anyone seen October? I think it's done a runner ...

My Month in Numbers (April15)

Hello to you and welcome! Up here, I've been working on finishing April's My Month in Numbers, brainchild of the very talented Julie over at Notes on Paper - Julie always provides an entertaining read, so if you haven't popped over, then do :).

It's been fun playing around with the grid format in my This is Life 15 photobook, and a great way of scooping up all those little bits and pieces of life that might not make it onto a weekly or fortnightly page. I could see this working very nicely too for any of you who are doing a paper version of Project Life; as Julie points out in her super tutorial, there are numbers attached to every story. And you don't always need to have a photo either; I've popped in some screen shots from websites in mine. (If you'd like a closer look, click on the image for greater print clarity).

 

Deciding on a format in advance and then just adding things as and when they occur, helped to keep it moving. Which is what I really need to be doing, as my Bank Holiday Brain is only just catching up with the fact that we're sliding into mid-week already! Looking forward to calling in on you, and being back here soon ...

 

It's rather more fun ...

 ... than I thought it would be! And although it is sometimes said in the scrapbooking world that 'being caught up' is unimportant, I have to confess that I rather like the feeling of keeping pace. After all, when you're trimming the sails to make the best of the prevailing winds, you really don't want to be weighed down or get caught in an undertow. And making sure your log book is up-to-date is essential :).

Keeping it simple and flexible, like the design, I'm not planning to have set periods of time for popping photos and text together; a page or a spread might be a few days, a weekend, a fortnight, or anything inbetween. I think I'll just see how it flows ...


So far, so good: photos get taken and edited, quick notes made, and stories written. Nothing very earth-shattering or profound. But I think I'm getting the hang of it :).

 

A little something for you (1) ...

Photobooks? Ah, but where to have them printed and what size, if you'd like a scrapbooker's alternative to the 12x12" format! After devouring reviews (TechRadar and Digital Camera World) and sites (Blurb, Jessops, Albelli, Photobox, Bob's Books et al.), and scuttling down alleyways into dead-ends with Incompatibilities between versions of hardware, software and Javascript, I have finally slid to a halt at Blurb's 8x10" portrait offering. It's a tad smaller in format than the Mollie Makes craft magazine - but as Mollie's editors manage to pack in quite a lot, I am hopeful it's a size that will prove flexible.

Having made a clutch of Photoshop/Photoshop Elements templates, I am happy to share them with you (downloads below). I've experimented with copying the layers into an 8.5x11 page and they work well there too, giving a nice spacious margin; they can also be enlarged with the Transform/Scale tool (105%) or by selecting all layers, clicking and dragging. For those of you who either scrap, or are thinking of scrapping, digitally in a pocket style, the photo spaces are the same proportions as those offered by Becky Higgins.

Here's the clean Simply Modern version with a slim whisper of white between the photo or journalling spaces ...

Should you like a hint of a rounded corner, with just the outer ones shaped, this Simply Modern Soft collection might suit you ...

And if you like to go the whole hog, with every corner rounded and a drop shadow to boot, the Simply Modern Curve could be right up your street ...

Downloads here in zipped files ...

Download SimplyModernA-J
Download SimplyModernSoftA-J
Download SimplyModernCurveA-J

Thank-you for all your good wishes for my back (much better) and the visit to the Littlies (delightful). And yes, the Baltic in winter has a bleak beauty of its own! Here's a quick peek of last Monday ...

Wishing you a warmly creative week, and see you soon?

Just my type (and something for you)

Hello and welcome! And I am very, very ...

to see you :). Inbetween a gazillion mini-crises (you will all know what that's like), I have escaped to my trusty and much-loved typewriter, taken a photo, and then hopped in and out of Waterlogue and Photoshop in a micro-managing sort of way to make these ...  And I thought: "Oooh, a little bit of brighter colour might be fun?" Especially since this boot in a diary-with-a-difference page just seemed to need a little journalling card with a flash of amber ...

 And, well, you know how it goes: one thing just seemed to lead to another. So this is ...

 ... that another little crop of funky watercolour typewriters hatched beneath my fingers ...

... and I have popped all eight onto a couple of pdfs for you below, with a layered psd. file for Photoshop or Elements. Just in case you are mad about typewriters too :).

Each card is 3"x4", and the pdfs are printer-ready for the standard paper size where you live. I'm thinking ...

• a greetings card with a row of little typewriters and a handwritten, stamped or typed letter spelling out 'Happy' on the front. or 'Hello' or 'For You' or a name perhaps? And the rest of the greeting inside, like Birthday, Anniversary ...
  
  
• tags for presents; or a tag added to a card
  
  
• a journalling card, typed or handwritten and popped onto a paper or digital layout or Project Life page

But being such a creative bunch, you will be able to think of many more! So please do help yourself to any which take your fancy. Or all of them. From me to you xxx.

Uh-oh. Chaos calls! See you soon?

Download AlexaTypewritersPSDfile
Download AlexaTypewriters8.5x11PDFs
Download AlexaTypewritersA4PDFs
Download AlexaTypeWriters8x10PDFs

 

Memory-keeping: a diary with a difference ...

Where has the year gone? seems to be the global refrain this month, as we sail past the Summer Solstice and settle into July. With six months of the year behind, I've been flicking through my own version of The Documented Life Project started in January for simple memory-keeping. (You'll find the official project here at Art to the 5th.) Should you be toying with the idea of something similar, or wondering about an alternative to Project Life, I have some information and reflections for you today on this kind of memory-keeping ...

The structure

• I loved the concept of the tip-in pages: these are additonal sheets of card or paper fastened along the outside edge of a diary page with washi tap to create a flap.

• Choosing a cheap shop-bought diary and taking it apart to make a six-month diary with a spiral binding (using the Bind-It-All) was a good decision - otherwise I'd have ended up with an unwieldy Moleskin which was thin on the left at the spine and hugely thick on the right at the outside edges.

 

The contents

• The two-days-to-a-page format was just enough space for helpful memory-keeping: recording the events and the flavour of a day. Yep, there are blanks, but I'm OK with that - it takes time to make diary-keeping a habit!

• In the original project, the tip-in pages were added in advance. As I didn't follow all the mixed media prompts, a number of mine were unused; in future I'll add them as needed. What else did they get used them for? Oh, all sorts of things!

            - freebies from magazines were turned into pockets and more flaps, with additional stories inside
            - little drawings by my daughter or samples of pen-and-paper games with the grand-children
            - hand-painted booklets holding thoughts and observations
            - journalling for Ali Edwards' One Little Word project
            - snap-shots that probably wouldn't make it onto a scrapbook page but were redolent of the moment

            - dollops of mixed media experiments from a variety of on-line classes
            - postcards and special cards from family and scrapbooking friends
            - memorable quotes and pieces of poetry which took my fancy
            - any other fragments of my life I wanted to collect and hold together in one place

• It was perfect for more substantial booklets too - this recent holiday journal is the first I have ever managed to complete en route and in the field, so as to speak. It will be invaluable when I come to scrap the hundreds of photos, and contains receipts, leaflets, tickets ...

In the light of experience ...

• I'm trying a few modifications. This next one for July to December is spiral bound at the top, like a Reporter's Notebook, to make writing from left to right easier and smoother: that spiral can get in the way!

• the Leuchtturm elasticated pen-holder, bought in a stationery shop, was perfect and stayed stuck to the back inside cover like, well, glue - I am sure they could hold shelves up with whatever they used. This time, I've moved the pen-holder to the foot of the pages, rather than at the side, and it's hidden by the front cover.

• I'll be experimenting with mini-scrapbook pages: watch this space!

• More drawing/sketching would be good. The next series of Sketchbook Skool is about to start :).

What's it good for?

• It holds memories. I like capturing at least some of the details of the day. When I look back, it brings what has happened freshly and vividly into view again. And, of course, as Gwendolen remarks in The Importance of Being Earnest: “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”

• It nourishes creativity. When days are full, a small page does not seem so very daunting. Even just making a quick pocket or flap from a bag of marshamallows keeps creativity flowing.

• It lets you try things out without lots of fuss. A quick dab of a new ink on a letter stamp to begin a paragraph; a five-minute play with a stencil and a bit of paint and you have a pretty flap to add; a technique you've read about on a blog and are not sure where to use - well, there'll be somewhere in your diary for it, and it'll be there to refer to for the future.

• It acts as preparation for other forms of scrapbooking, or digital photobooks. Stories and bits of realia are already safely stashed away and even if you never do anything more with them, you have captured and documented life as it happened, through your own eyes.

As you can probably sense, I have become an enthusiast. This diary-with-a-difference, in the midst of busyness, fractured days and unpredictability, is proving a lifeline - in more ways than one!

Hoping there's been something to grab your attention or to interest you today, and that you have a lovely weekend wherever you are ...

Travelling hopefully ...

... as we made our way there, and then back to life here and to blogland. Lovely to see you! Although our visit to the family was only a two-nighter, work and home seem to have generated a surprisingly large backlog of things-to-catch-up on, so my page is a simple one today ...

And I was thinking that we might have Simply A Moment in a few days time on Saturday 23rd? (The Linky will be open for a fortnight so there will be plenty of time to join in, if you would like.) Looking forward to popping in to see you between now and then :).

Outside and inside ...

The Outside
I've been measuring books. I know - not quite in the same class as the killer first ten words of Rinda's wonderful post. But if you're going to produce a photobook, getting the right size for your purpose matters. Abi and Amy's beautiful volumes are 12"x12" inches and I can really feel the pull of those glorious large photo pages. On a practical note, I think that size is going to be a bit large and heavy for me: if I live long enough to reach LOL (Little Old Lady) status, I'll be a little sad if I don't have the strength to manoeuvre my books off the shelf and onto my lap. So I've been a-weighing and a-measuring ... 

 ... and balancing the sizes from Snapfish and Blurb, along with Amy's comment that the Blurb books don't lie flat, the fact that some of Snapfish's can, plus the possible benefits of using the Blurb plug-in for In Design, along with the portrait/landscape dilemma, the desire to have more room for story perhaps than photo ... too many choices to balance! I'm finally settling for an 8"x10" Blurb book (about the size of The Repurposed Library above); a double-page spread has more of a square look than would be the case in landscape and might be easier to design.

The Inside
This has also needed some weighing up. Though I really like the concept of Project Life, such a lot of my enjoyment in digital scrapbooking comes from playing with design - the same structure for each page is not going to keep my interest. On the other hand, experience tells me that designing every page from scratch will almost certainly result in zero production! So - my solution is to divide the year into four blocks of three months, roughly corresponding to the seasons, with a different theme for each section of my Day2Day 2014 book. Since I love magazine design, I might as well design myself one! In January-March, I'm taking a dotted line and a semi-circle for a walk and seeing how they develop; here's how the template possibilities are looking so far ...


Many of the photos will be details and close-ups, I think, rather than large panoramic or scenic views - life here is relatively stable and uneventful! And it will be perfectly possible to have an entire page or spread of just photos if warranted. I'm also hoping to include some of the lovely memes which are around, as regular features.

My Clean and Simple side is nicely satisfied with this. My Artsy one, meanwhile, is bouncing on and off the furniture chanting "Boring, boring ..!" Please excuse me while I try and get her under control - back soon :).

On a mag jag ...

Magazines? They're my downfall. Home, garden, lifestyle, cookery, sport, cars, yachts, steam trains - whatever is sitting around in the library, the dentists' or the doctors', you'll find my head buried in them. I have been known to miss hearing my name called. Not because I'm reading, you understand; indeed, most of the content passes me by. It's the design that makes my heart skip a beat: flick, flick, stop, stare, grab my notebook and pen, sketch, flick, flick ... This header, In August's The Simple Things, just jumped out at me ...

I mean, how cool is this? Perfect for adding a jazzy touch to an otherwise bread-and-butter page - the sort with lots of photos, and an occasion which just needs recording but without having the red carpet rolled out for it. I couldn't wait to get going in Photoshop and Illustrator, though I am feeling a tad guilty for not being able to acknowledge the designer by name. (Should it be you, and you happen to be reading along, please do email!). Having toyed with converting the shape to an oval so as not to totally scraplift, I realised that the triangular edges of the diamond worked so well with the shapes in my photos that I just went with it, and altered the vertical lines instead ...

So thank-you, talented designer, very much indeed. Now printed onto a single sheet and Herma-swiped, the page has been popped into my Day2Day album. Done. A sigh of short-lived satisfaction, for already I can feel the itch and twitch, the need to feel those glossy magazine pages between my fingers, the hunger for another fix ...  When's the next appointment in my diary? :)

Oh, hold on a minute, just before you go! Just a quick reminder that it's going to be the 15th this Thursday and time for another Simply A Moment: a chance to pause for sixty seconds, look around and within, notice and record. Should you be new to Simply A Moment, or just like a refresh, the original inspiration is here, and the PDF of ideas can be downloaded with a click or two:

Download Simply A Moment PDF

Hoping you will feel you can join us! And see you then?