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 ...

Creative streaking in May (15)

Hello and welcome! Gosh, doesn't Wednesday arrive quickly in these extended weekends?Just popping in with a quick glimpse of what's creatively piquing me this week ...

 

1 I was so taken with Julie's super review over at Notes on Paper, of Snail Mail, that a copy just had to wing its way here for my delight in June. Each page is a visual treat ... 2 Have fallen in love with cling film and acrylics; thinking they'd look good as a printable ... 3 This was Cate's fault, really (just teasing, Cate!) over at Life Behind the Purple Door, but I signed up and we're through the first half. Lots to say about this later this week ... 4 As a result of 3, and after much thought, I've been cutting up maps. Ouch. All will be revealed ... 5 What's not to like about a kraft notebook? Calling it a cahier adds a touch of French class, of course ... 6 Experimenting with ink and pencil and what doesn't show through paper on the other side. Not much, as it happens ... Oh, and there's been lots of photo organisation and editing for May's This Is Life 15 photobook, but I think you'll enjoy a peek at the results rather more than a glimpse of the process!

 And for those of you who have either known me and the family for a while, or are keen Fitbit (or other wearables users), can I just wave you in the direction of my DD's project this week and next called Wearables in the Workplace: what happens when wearables are used to track workers? You'll find the link here: Facebook.com/Wearablesatwork. I had to smile at her 5 second video for Day 2 :).

Hoping your week is sliding rather more warmly and brightly into a summery June than ours is up here: rain, wind and and 12C ( 53.6F). Streuth ... Now what's the French for that?

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?

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 :).

When simple isn't ...

... quite so simple, what's a scrapbooker to do?  I have been following all your thoughts and creative plans for this year with great interest and enjoyment ... My one-sie solution last year was for everything in the same place - digital pages mounted on card, mixed with paper scrapbooking and the odd bit of fabric fun, all in a spiral-bound album. Well, it didn't work out. I found I was wondering why I was sticking whole printed but digitally-designed pages onto high quality mixed media paper, and feeling intimidated by the same expanse of beautiful surface when it came to dropping colour onto it, or doodling. Longing to keep a record of my days, a handwritten diary just looked so boring that even I couldn't summon up the interest to turn a page. There were avidly-read books on journalling and drawing, and a descent into near-paralysis ...

And then there was Project Life. Everywhere. I umm-ed and ahh-ed, and ooh-ed with admiration at the lovely pages I saw - but, you know, I have not quite been able to feel my way into it. Finally, the penny has dropped: there are two of me in here,  and the simplest solution is to give them each something different. So, here are the 2014 plans for ...

The Would-Be Artsy One
She has a souped-up diary, with inspiration from The Documented Life Project on Art to the 5th. Over there, you'll see that a Moleskin is being used as a planner-cum-art-journal. Mine has a few adaptations ...

          The Documented Life Project                                                   Me

          a Moleskin, Week-to-View                                                        a cheaper two-days-per-page diary
          'tip-in' blank water-colour pages added to every spread          'tip-in' pages every couple of spreads
          curved with the additional pages: slim at the spine,                 lies flat, pages removed from hard
          fat at the outer edge                                                                 cover and rebound with a Bind-it-All
          acts as a daily planner as well as art-journal                           not a planner, more a record of my days
                                                                                                           and a reflective journal, including One
                                                                                                           Little Word etc.

I have prepared mine to last six months, and will see how it's going by June; it also needs to fit it into my bag! Should you be interested in The Documented Life Project, there is a useful short class, costing twelve dollars, which has several videos, instructions and ideas for decorating the Moleskin cover - but it is not essential. The 'tip-in' pages are fixed in place along the outside edges of the Moleskin/diary pages with washi tape, opening outwards, so you can make your planner as colourful or as subdued as you like. And so far, so good; my Would-Be Artsy feels it's quite manageable and ticks all the boxes, with plenty of room for additional expansion if needed. 

My Would-Be-Digital-Diva is, however, champing at the bit, so I am off to give her something clean and simple to be getting on with - and I''ll share that next time :).

Month in Numbers October 13

Up here, the colours are bleaching, fading to soft greys and browns, and the sunlight is on a dimmer switch in one direction only. So I'm a little muted this month, for Julie's glorious Month in Numbers, in my Day2Day book ...

Wishing you all a lovely weekend - we have a houseful of visitors, no lighting on the top floor, and a spa experience with two wonderful young women to enjoy :). See you Monday?

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?