But What if I Mess it Up?

Sometimes a blank 12x12 sheet of paper can be a scary prospect... trust me, I speak from experience here.  Sometimes when we really want to scrapbook the hardest thing to do is to just get started!  I know, I know!  Sometimes you look down at your paper and it looks back at you:

 

Sometimes you tell yourself that when you make that first cut into a shiny new piece of patterned paper and it ends up being a bad cut, this will happen:

I've been there.... I really have!  Even experienced scrapbookers sometimes get a little scrapper's block.  You feel like you've never had a good, original idea in your entire life.  You feel like you are going to make a big, HUGE mistake and that your entire family will be forced to look upon your failure for all eternity.  You feel like you will NEVER find another sheet of patterned paper as perfect as the one sheet you currently have in your possession, and nothing you can think of doing to it seems "worthy".

Scrapping anxiety can happen to anyone at any time.  Yikes!  Who knew?  It's supposed to be our fun time, right?  Supposed to be that safe hobby we can use to both honor our family and spend some quality time away from them at the same time!  Supposed to be the time when we feel like art goddesses!  Why should it be nerve racking?  Why, why, WHY?

The truth is that it's not... not really.  For some of us type A personalities a little anxiety-related perfectionism is to be expected.  For others, it may just be a little tension spreading from your daily life into your scrapbooking time.  In either case, there are things you can do to relieve your anxiety and get scrappin!

1.  Scrap with someone else.  Scrapping with other people is a great way to relieve getting-started anxiety.  If you're having a particularly good chat, you might not even think about the fact that you don't really have a plan.  Or perhaps your friends will have the perfect idea to get your page started.  Or, maybe you'll see something that your friend does that inspires you to try something new.  Two heads are usually better than one, as the old saying goes.  Unless those two heads are Nancy's and Michelle's... when their heads get together scary things happen!  Speaking of scrapping with friends, don't forget we're having a Craft Night on Saturday, April 27th from 6pm-12am.  Instant companionship provided, as well as a trained scrapbook professional if you really get stuck!  Come join us and get going on those pages!

2.  Cut something.  Anything.  OK, not "anything", Ms. Literal-Pants.  Nothing living, for starters.  I'm talking about a scrap, or a magazine page, or something that doesn't really matter.  Use your scissors or your paper trimmer and give yourself 5 minutes to cut it up.... little shapes, big shapes, doesn't matter.  The point is to get over that big blank page anxiety.  Maybe you'll cut a shape you'd like to use with your scrapping papers, or maybe because you're not thinking about what you're going to do, what you're going to do will just come to you.  You'll be surprised how a little distraction can work wonders.

3.  Give yourself a little break.  Maybe you are hanging on to stress from some other part of your day.  Maybe you're a little tired.  Whatever the case, do a little deep breathing, stretch your muscles, and take a short walk around.  If you're still unable to start, look for inspiration.  Go through a scrapbooking magazine, or take a look at some of samples... there are plenty of ideas out there to get you started.  Give yourself a time limit, thought... don't allow yourself to browse the evening away. Find something you like and just do it!  Once you get that first layout out of the way, you might be surprised to find that your next layouts come a little easier...

4. Organize for next time.  Those of us with type A personalities are sometimes in the wrong frame of mind to get started.  It might be best to sit this round out.  Grab a stack of pictures and start pulling papers and embellishments that match your photos together so you'll have little "kits" to get you started next time.  You might even find after you've put a few mini kits together that you get pulled to start on a page you hadn't planned on.  Go for it!  Despite what you're brain is telling you, there are no rules in scrapbooking.  You can scrapbook photos of Christmas before photos of Halloween... I have done it before and I can promise that lightning will not strike.  Well, if it does, it won't be because you scrapbooked out of order!

5. SMASH something.   The SMASH revolution has taken our store by storm... people who have been previously intimidated by that big 12x12 page are finding a perfect avenue for their creative side in SMASH book art!  They feel more free and creative because they don't feel like they have to follow so many "rules"... in fact, you really don't have to follow rules either way, but SMASHing can still be a little liberating.  Take a peek at the calendar... every month Amy hosts our SMASH club, giving great techniques and ideas to get you started.  Not familiar with SMASH?  Check out this little video... and don't worry, we carry all the supplies right here in the store!

6.  Accept that every page will not be an astonishingly good, fantabulous work of art, the likes of which no other scrapbooker has ever seen.   Because they won't.  Sometimes you'll come up with something amazing, and sometimes you just won't.  You know what, though?  Your down-the road relatives are going to be interested in the pictures and the stories, as they should be.  They'll appreciate the work you did because you did it... that's another part of the story of the page.  Don't get hung up on perfection because, trust me, perfectionism only gets you so far, and it's usually a lot less far than non-perfectionists!  To that end, if you're in a jam give yourself a one hour time limit.  You'll be amazed at what you can come up with when there's a deadline!  Just stop thinking so much and DO.... you'll be happier for it!  You know what might happen if you're rushing to get your page done in an hour?  You might make a mistake.  What, you say?  A MISTAKE?  Surely this awesome article on combating stress did not just admit that if you follow it's advice you might just make a mistake.  Why, that would be awful!  Horrible!  Unforgivable, even!  Or would it?  Some things in history are famous simply because mistakes have been made.... consider:

Take comfort in the knowledge that, whatever your mistake, it will probably not be as big, as permanent, or as public as these mistakes!  But even if it is, mistakes are interesting.  Mistakes have character.  Mistakes can be another part of the story.... OR, mistakes can be incredible learning opportunities.  Half of the techniques I've learned or come up with have been some kind of effort to cover a mistake.... so give yourself a break!  Don't let the possibility of a mistake keep you from ever starting!

7. If you STILL can't get going, here are a few motivational quotes... pick your favorite and tape it up in your scrapping space!

 

So, let go!  Leave your worries behind and get scrappy!  I give you permission to get started, make glorious mistakes, and end up with fun and memorable pages.  You can thank me later :)

More About Colors...

A few weeks back I did a little post on picking paper to match your photos, and I thought I'd do a little more today.  This is one of the most common questions we get... how to match paper to photos.

Of course, the easiest route is by theme, which is so easy to do in a scrapbook store!  Got photos from Alaska?  We've got some Alaska paper.  Got birthday party photos?  We've got several lines of birthday paper.

But maybe you don't want to focus on the theme... the next best way to showcase your photos is to focus on colors.  Take a look at the following random photos that I downloaded from the internet:

OK, well, when I look at these pictures, I see a few different color elements, so I might start looking for some browns:

 

A yellow... not to bright, kind of a soft gold:

 A little orange:

 A blue/green... this is a little different in each picture, but this should work:

 An olive green:

 And a nice neutral:

Look at that... we created a color palette :)  Now from there you can pick the colors you think should be the dominant colors, which ones you can use for matting so that your pictures will pop, which ones you want to use for accents...

You can also start looking for matching patterned papers... look how these patterns reinforce those same colors:

I love that chevron pattern at the top - the first picture of the room would look so cool with that pattern!

Incidentally, in case you haven't noticed, I kind of worked backwards here... I found pictures that matched the colors already put together in a color line.  That was just for ease of blogging.... it works easily well going the other way :)

If you DO like these colors and patterns, you're going to love the We R Memory Keepers new Happy Campers line... all these beautiful colors, plus some really cool themed embellishments for outdoors and camping!

Check out these adorable samples created by the We R Memory Keeper's design team:

 

Cute, right?  We've got the single sheets, collection packs, and 6x6 pads here waiting for you!

How Do I Get Started? (Part Two)

A week or so ago I posted an article on how to start the process of scrapbooking (if you need a refresher, you can find it here).  I wanted to write a little about this because it's one of the most frequently asked questions we get here in the store, especially from newbies who walk around the store and quickly become over whelmed with the incredible variety of product available.  So, these are my best tips... (Oooh, aaaahhh.... you know you want 'em!)

Last time we talked about preserving old photos and organizing new photos to get them ready for scrapbooking.  This time I wanted to talk a little about choosing paper and embellishments and organizing them for easy retrieval and use.  Here's the good news: for the most part, manufacturers do this for you!  Product lines are developed to go together, and the embellishments are made to match, so if you see something you really like you can get most of what you need in one spot.  Then all you really need to do is pick out cardstock to match.  The good news there is we are perfectly happy to help you choose some colors if you're not sure what you need - that's what we're here for! 

We do our best to help you in the store by displaying new product lines together and grouping themes - here's what I mean:

In addition to the product lines, we often display other embellishments and tools that compliment the lines... so, it's easy to find things in the store that go together.  If that still seems overwhelming, we also offer product kits - everything you need comes in the package!   Here are a few samples of those:

So you can see that we offer a lot of easy shopping options - that's half the job.  Now you have to decide how to store them until you're ready to use them. 

I'm a product line girl - I like to buy and store things by who makes them or by their theme.  So, in my room I have some drawers of paper devoted to themes (ie: holidays, pets, beach, vintage) and I have some drawers devoted to some of my favorite companies that maybe aren't as easy to categorize (Graphic 45, Authentique, Bo Bunny).  This works for me because I've been scrapbooking for a long time (18 years... translation: I have a LOT of supplies!) and I've been in the business of scrapbooking for many years (I think I taught my first class in 2004...), so I know the product lines and that method makes sense for me.  If you're new to scrapbooking, stick to themes or colors... most unthemed papers have some predominant color that you can use to keep things separate and organized.   Buy matching cardstock at the same time you buy your patterned papers so you're ready to mat, and store it with your patterned papers.  In a way, you're creating your own kit, which is a great way to work. 

So, you have your pictures organized and your papers organized - that way, when you want to scrapbook Christmas 2012, you grab those printed pictures, select papers from you Christmas stash and you're almost there... now you just need to figure out how to store your embellishments.  I store flat embellishments, like stickers or chipboard pieces, right with the product line; it's the smaller ones you need to store separately.  You don't want little boxes of embellishments bulking up your paper stash.  

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a LOT of embellishments.  A lot.  Seriously.  I keep all mine separated by color, so I have a box for dark green, a box for light green, a box for pink... you get the idea.  This works great for me, because whether I'm at home or if I'm headed out to scrapbook, I can grab the boxes I need; ie: if I'm scrapbooking Christmas layouts and I know I need red, green, and white embellishments than I just grab those boxes and go.  If you're just starting you probably don't need one box for color; lol - you probably never will.  I've started my own 12-step program for embellishment hoarding - but that's a whole other story.  I think the best way to store embellishments is in a Cropper Hopper embellishment box like this:

All those little compartments are removeable, so you can rearrange the inside however you'd like; see the labeled containers inside?  Those are embellishment boxes that fit perfectly inside the inner compartments:

Use the labels to identify your colors, and store like colors close together.  That way it's easy to see all your available options quickly and efficiently.  Take out just those little boxes that you need and you're ready to go! 

If you follow these simple tips you should be able to store your supplies succinctly and find them when you need them.  In future articles I'll start talking about layout and design, so make sure you keep following this series by following the "scrapbooking basics" label on the side.  Happy scrapping!

How Do I Get Started? (Part One)

One of the most frequent questions in the store is how to get started in scrapbooking.  Unfortunately, many beginners come in to the store a week before they'd like to be finished with their project to ask this question, which makes for a long and frustrating week for them.  By the end of the week they're convinced they don't like scrapbooking, but the truth is that with just a little bit of preplanning to process is really enjoyable and satisfying.  I thought I'd put together some tips on how to break down the process of preparing to scrapbook so that it's not so intimidating.  This week we're going to talk about getting your pictures together. 

Choosing your pictures

The best place to start is with your pictures.  Why are you going to scrapbook?  Is it a special project, or are you beginning the journey of scrapbooking your family history?  Either way, you have to start with the pictures.

If you have older pictures in albums or boxes, you need to first make sure that however they are being stored is photo safe.  Older albums were typically made from papers containing harmful chemicals, acid and lignin, that cause photo fading and damage.  Older adhesives can actually change photo colors until the subjects are unrecognizable.  If the paper in your album looks cracked, faded, and discolored that's a great indication that it's unsafe for your photos:

You need to remove all the photos from those kinds of albums as quickly as possible.  You can protect photos and newspaper articles with PYM II spray:

 

 

 

Here's a quick video on the benefits of PYM II spray and how to use it:

If your photos are in an order that makes sense to you, you can put the pictures in acid-free envelopes so that they stay grouped the same way.  If they are in the albums in a disorganized way, this would be a good time to try to organize them.  Put them in photo safe storage boxes and begin to separate them into groupings that make sense to you.  We offer two great options to help you organize your photos:

Now, if all your pictures are on your computer you need to get them printed.  The thing to remember is this - you don't have to print EVERY picture.  Most layouts incorporate between four and eight photos, so as you're looking at your pictures think about how many pages you're going to make.  Do you want six pages devoted to one topic?  If not, you need to pare down your pictures.  Pick the ones that are the best - the ones that really tell the story.  There are techniques to add lots of pictures to a layout, but those you need only if you really can't get rid of any the pictures.  Most of the time, though, especially with digital cameras we find that there are a multitude of pictures that look very similar and have the same people or subject in them.  So start there - start thinking about the topics you will scrapbook, how many layouts will be devoted to each topic, and how many pictures will be on each layout. 

A great example of this concept is pictures of the zoo.  What happens when we go to the zoo?  We tend to take 900 photos, at least one of every animal there (and usually more than one!).  Some of the pictures have the people that were there, but most of the pictures are of animals that you don't even remember the names of.  First you have to decide, how important was this trip to the zoo?  Do you want to devote nine pages of your album to it, or will one or two layouts suffice?

Next, pick out the best pictures - the ones that are really clear and interesting.  Some pictures might look good enlarged - you can start making a list so when they are printed you'll remember what you want.  What do you really want to remember about your trip to the zoo - the way the anteater looked in it's enclosure or the expression on your child's face when they saw an elephant for the first time?  Which pictures best represent your happy memories?  Pick out the important pictures, and give yourself permission to let some of the others go.  Look at this layout from Sea World:

Admittedly, the pictures of the sea lions performing their tricks are fun - but clearly for me the star of the show, and of my layout, is my son's reaction.  My little guy has difficulty paying attention to things a lot of the time, but the sea lions really excited him and held his attention,so that was the story for me.  Even though I had about 50 pictures of the sea lion show (yes, really!), I chose to highlight the picture of my son - that's what I wanted to remember.  As you start printing and organizing your photos you can start thinking about possible layouts and, most importantly, what's your story???

Sometimes as I'm organizing my photos a page title will pop into my head, or I'll remember something really important about that day.  I make little notes on photo safe paper and include my notes right with the stack of photos it goes with - that way, when I want to gather supplies to start a layout, I already have my ideas right with the pictures.  Then all I have to do is decide on my papers and embellishments and I'm ready to go!

We'll talk a little more about this next time, for now just start by thinking about your pictures, organizing them so they are easy for you to access, and some method of including notes or important reminders with the photos.  If you can do that, you're already half way done with your layout, and you didn't even know it!

To Mat or Not to Mat? That is the Question...

So, do you or don't you?  Mat your pictures, that is....  It's an age old question.  OK, maybe not an age old question... but it's been something we've been talking about in the store lately, and I thought it was a great topic to bring up as part of our beginning scrapbooking series.  Let's start with the basics.

What is a photo mat?  A photo mat is an additional layer of paper that is made to go behind a photo, separating the photo from the background.  My photo mats are generally about 1/4" bigger than my photo, so if your picture is 4"x6", than your photo mat is 4.25"x6.25".  That way when you adhere the picture you get a very eye pleasing 1/8" border.  Here's a great example from one of our Quickutz classes:

Notice how that crisp, even white border around the photo creates a distinctive break between the photo and the background?  Of course, there are lots of option for photo mats - they can be thinner or thicker and sometimes they're even shaped or large blocks of paper.  They can be made from cardstock or patterned paper.  Really, there's a lot of creative options.   This is an older layout I did that illustrates a few different matting options:

Notice on the left page I did one large black mat that included multiple small photos; then I elevated one picture with a red mat so that it would stand out more than the others. This was great because I had a lot of small photos taken from far away that I couldn't enlarge easily, and it also allowed me to include a lot of shots in one layout.  On the right page, one group of pictures takes up an entire side of the layout, so I separated it from the background paper with a half mat in the center.  The I elevated another photo with red matting again.

Mats serve a lot of useful purposes: they can add much needed pops of color, they can help the photo "pop" from the background, they can help train the eye to the focal point of the layout, and they add dimension to your layout.  Additionally, if you are using product on your layout you can make sure your photo will remain undamaged by separating it from the page with a mat. 

Still, I notice in a lot of magazines that photos remain unmatted.  Sometimes it really aggravates me - I am a consummate matter.  I almost always mat, so when I see published layouts without mats my left brain thinks, "My - that layout is unfinished!"  Then my right brain pops up and reminds my left page to take a chill pill - photos don't HAVE to be matted.  Or do they?  That has been the debate in the store lately - Michelle is a matter, like I am.  Nancy, who doesn't particularly like to cut mats, can live without them.  So who's right?  What's the answer?

Well, truth be told, it's really just a matter (hee hee - pun intended!) of personal preference.  Take a look at these two nearly identical layouts I did for my children - one with mats, and one without:

In the top layout, the background paper is patterned and the pink matting gives the pictures a nice lift and distinction from the pattern; in the bottom layout, the unmatted pictures give the layout almost a textural, magazine feel.  I like both layouts; they both have different feels but they still communicate effectively.

So, what do you think?  Do you have a matting preference?  Leave us a comment - we'd love to hear what you think!