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I've been hanging with the Mouse, y'all.
I'd share pictures but I sort of left my camera on the Minneapolis light rail system on the way to the airport on day one. Oh no you dint. Oh yes, I did.
We're almost home. Many stories to follow. In March.
See ya real soon.
Because if you answered ‘YES!’ to this very question, then I’ve got a cute little project for you.
Presenting the "Month of Super Short Stories" Tag Book.
It all started on Friday, after going out to lunch with my sweet friend, Margie, which included a stop into the paper crafter’s sensory overload that IS Paper Source. While Margie pulled cuteness from all around the store, I focused in on one thing: these tags.
Now for those of you who are familiar with the fours walls of Paper Source, you know it’s nearly impossible NOT to spend a month’s worth of grocery money in less than 10 minutes, but I was exceptionally restrained. I simply focused on the tags and thought: “I bet you I can make me somethin’ with these here thingies.”
So here’s the thingie I’m making (with an emphasis on making as it’s not even remotely done). I’m getting everything prepped to do a tag book that will span one month’s time and be a cute little holding pen for random everyday story snippets and photos. I will begin collecting said data on March 1.
The idea of this project is NOT to jot down a story a day. Oh sure, if you’re REALLY motivated, go for it. But my hope is just to get you to record, oh…let’s shoot for, HALF of your days in a given month.
And what are you going to record? Whatever the heck you want to, but the challenge is this: just pick one thing from the day you're recording, and write down a little tiny story about it. The tags I designed for this mini-book only give you so much room to write, so the exercise is all about choosing your words carefully, and realizing you don’t need to write a thesis to adequately capture a moment/story/bit & piece of your daily life.
Maybe you will write about your wild success with laundry on a Tuesday. Or the way you had a massive, institutionalization-worthy meltdown on Saturday. Whatever goes, goes. Just find a way to write a mini-record of one thing from one chosen day.
Then, take a picture to put on the back of the tagger. It’s that easy. And guess what? The picture doesn’t have to have anything to do with the story, if you don’t feel the need. Why, you don’t even need a picture. Just use some cute patterned paper and the reverse side of the tag and be done.
The other part of this project is to use something Old and something New (you can leave out the borrowed and blue part, unless you are too cheap to buy your own scrapbooking tools AND you’re real fond of blue.)
For me, my New was the gorgeous new Sultry collection of papers from BasicGrey. My Old, was these way dusty Missing Link stamps in Colonial Style 5. I’m going to use those to stamp my dates on the taggers.
Beyond that, I pulled from my stash to complete the rest of the tag book cover.
I’ve already printed out 15 tag pages, and trimmed them so they are ready to go come March 1. What do you think? Are you in? Want to practice recording little stories in three to four sentences or less?
Here’s a quick shot of what I’m using, along with some more links.
Heidi Swapp Ghost Butterflys
Ink from Tim Holtz in Vintage Photo
Stamp from Cat's Life Press
Label stickers from Martha Stewart Crafts
mini glitter brads from KI Memories
paint, brush and sanding block from Making Memories
(tag design by yours truly!)
and… you'll need a jump/binder ring to hold it all together
I will say that you certainly don’t need to buy the Paper Source tags (believe me, I get no kickback from these tags, though I wish I did!) You can print out the tag templates, and just trace your own from chipboard. But I’m telling you, the ones from Paper Source are so thick and rich! And for you nutty super alter-er people, they'll hold up to around a pound of stuff and still be standing strong!
There is a tag template download below for March (the month I’m going to do, because it’s my favorite month, because it’s my birthday month), April and May. Beyond that, if people need other months, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. Just print them onto your choice of cardstock and trim.
Finally, don't get all hung up on the specific details of this. The idea is to wing it, people! I will be sharing some of my entries as we get into March. Cross my heart.
Note: This isn't meant to be a monthly thing, though you may just have so much fun, you'll become addicted. Like I used to be addicted to nicotine and am now addicted to Sprite and salt and vinegar potato chips!
Trimming tip: B sure to trim your tags to the inside of the black guideline, and double-check they match up size wise to your Paper Source tag cover, or the one you make from chipboard. You may have to do a little trimming here and there, but don’t sweat it. It should work. Then punch a hole on the tag, grab a jump/binder ring, and you’re ready to start telling stories.
My posting will be light this coming week, and so… I wanted to leave you with something fun, and mildly meaty.
Here’s to meaty little stories!
love, Cathy
Here are the templates for March, April or May. (and they're all in brown. Sorry people, that's the way they're going to have to be. Brown is so neutral, really.) There is a little box on each tag, and that is for the date. Good luck!
Download march.pdf
Download april.pdf
Download may.pdf
p.s. hopefully these files will work, and you guys will know exactly what to do. If not, post any burning questions here.
p.s.s. the template files will print on an 8.5 x 11 paper, but don't bleed to the edge, so they should be easy to print.
It's all science now, baby. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman, I now know about Random Integer Generators. You enter the total range of posts, and it generates a truly random winner. It's better than the lottery AND cutting up strips of paper!
The answer we were looking for was that Making Memories is giving their website a facelift. Check out the winners:
Winning a lovely selection of Garden Party products is poster number 342:
that would be: shellbell78 who wrote:
They announced that their website is getting a "fresh new look": a facelift. And I cant wait to see what it looks like. :)
And winning the slick new Desktop Carousel Organizer is poster number 879:
Candi Tardio who wrote:
hi cathy! mm is giving their website a facelift...plus they have a new product called the slice that they debuted at CHA!!!!
have a good one!
So ladies, congrats! Please email me at czdesign@comcast.net to confirm your emails etc, and to send me your mailing addresses so I can have your stuff sent out!
Thanks to everyone for posting today, and a special thanks to the rockin' folks at Making Memories.
Comments are now closed, and the drawing of the winners will commence shortly! Check back to see if you've won.
When Making Memories says, "Hey Cathy, want to give away some stuff on your blog?" I say, "Oh yeah, baby. Bring it!"
So today I have two giveaways. The first, is many selections from the new Garden Party collection that you see above. And the second is for the rocking new Carousel Organizer (minus the stash of tools you see here, ladies and gents).
But it's not quite as easy as just leaving your name. Oh no… You have to leave your name AND have the correct answer to the following question:
What did Making Memories recently announce on their blog during the past week?
(and no peekie at the comments posted throughout the day! Alright? Besides, you never know if someone's got it wrong, thereby jeopardizing YOUR chances of winning. bwahahahhaha!)
If you post the correct answer, you'll be entered into the drawing which will happen tonight at 9 p.m. Central Standard Time, and then Making Memories will send you your prize.
Sound good? Well okay then!
[Both stamps here from Cat's Life Press; paper from the uber cool, always well designed Cosmo Cricket]
So a few weeks back, when Ali posted about sorting our her scrapbooking, it got me pulling out my albums, just to spend a little time with all these pages I've made since 2001. I had similar reactions to things like: wow, THAT was a good story and what the hell was I thinking when i did THAT? (Specifically... a one page layout with a picture of Cole that didn't use such gems as "believe" or "cherish"…no, this one used "little imp" because I was trying to be clever.) Oh what the hell.... here it is and yes, I'm cringing for several reasons, which I will innumerate shortly:
1. This, for me, doesn't belong in a scrapbooking album. Period. It belongs in a photo album. It says absolutely NOTHING about Cole, who he is, his life, etc, etc. (Other than apparently, he was a "little imp." And that I had just purchased a set of PSX mini stamps. Seriously. It took me FOREVER to decide to commit to adding that brad-like thing. This page almost sent me into scrap therapy. It could have been SO much more… ahem.)
I found MANY such atrocities in my older albums. And it's not that I would go back and do it differently (wait, yes I would) but… it helps me to understand what I want to do as a scrapbooker. Today. In the here and now.
For example, a sweet and tall lady I was fortunate enough to spend some time with once, Susan Keuter, had a totally rad idea, she called Twelve on the 12th, (which you can read more about on her blog). I only did it once, but I clearly recall picking up the phone, calling Ali and saying: This is the ONLY layout I ever need to do, ever again. The same design. The same concept. This is IT!"
(click on it to see it bigger)
My point is simply that looking over my pages really does tell me a story, but not always the one I'm looking to read. Because that's what I want from MY pages. To give me something meaty. But don't confuse 'meaty' with deep and meaningful. Meaty=detail. That's it. I want the goods, baby. The dirt. The 411.
The first layout above is one I made in the past six months, just for me, with lots of great old shots of me and Dan. I love this page. It's not deep. It's not complex from a design standpoint. But it's meaningful. Because it evokes a sense of time. Time with this man that I love and have spent half of my life with. It makes me feel older. And grateful. And really friggin' lucky.
That's what I want from my pages. I want the "hits" to keep coming. The pages that give me exactly what it is that I'm looking for.
And yeah, it's absolutely okay to look through your body of work and scratch your head to help you know what you probably DON'T want to do again...
KWIM?
Exactly.
When I started scrapbooking, I never set out to create a comprehensive and chronological record of my life, and of those with whom I share the overall family experience. I didn’t know there were codes of conduct as far as the hobby went—generally accepted paradigms, if you will—to the ways and means of working with Hermafix and patterned papers.
All I knew was that I had some photos that I thought were righteously good and kicked general ass, I had good words to go with ‘em, and mad computer skillz to make those words look any way I chose. That’s how it all started for me.
It’s a bit like a new relationship, when you first start scrapbooking. Those trips to the scrapbook store, and the feel of adhesives, and punches, and cardstock. When you first get the bug and it begins replicating, the effect is nothing short of giddy intoxication. I found it hard to believe I could have THAT much fun putting pictures on pieces of paper.
Add to that the emergence of internet communities, and ways to instantly find a collective of individuals that shared your passion, and BOOM! You are hooked, line and sinker.
Eventually you settle in and enter the relationship phase of your hobbyist experience. The novelty and some of the magic inevitably fades with time. But following that sweet crush, if you and the hobby are meant to be, you hopefully settle into a deep and loving relationship that endures the test of trends and time.
Sometimes I feel nostalgic where scrapbooking is concerned. As if I’ve really earned that right—to wax philosophic ‘bout ‘dem good ol’ days. I mean come on… I’ve only been scrapbooking since 2001. That hardly qualifies me as an old timer. Yet I really do remember the giddiness of finally figuring out that I could do a hobby and still maintain my personal sense of design integrity and overall coolness factor. The novelty of it all can still be recalled, and the freshness of it rings so sweetly in my memory. And when you reach the point where you see trends come and pass, and even come back for a second round, well… that’s when all of a sudden you do realize you’ve been around the block more than one time.
I’m really not trying to write a chapter for my next Harlequin romance novel here, with all these unimaginative metaphors and what not… but last night, I followed my old process—the way I did it back in the day: find a photo and products that makes me happy, and make a simple page. Knowing it was just for Cole’s album and not destined to end up trying to make a design point on the pages of Simple made it easier to just do what felt right and enjoy the process. And knowing that when it was done, it had a place to go. And, having that split second where you look at it and ask yourself: “Is it stupid? or good?” and then (deciding it was good enough)… putting it away and being done.
Sigh. Maybe I’m kidding myself. Maybe I really AM an old scrapbooking codger at this point in my hobby life. Going on and on about, “In my day…we used to use Twistel in creative ways and WE LIKED IT!” Whatever the case, here’s to you and whatever got you started on the old Memory Documentation Highway.
p.s. And speaking of your Memory Documentation Highway, be sure to check back here friday. I've got some cool scrapbooking goodness and love to giveaway from Making Memories.
Edited to add the materials for the layout:
•Love, Elsie, Jack + Abby frame here, and the soft Home embellishment, is also Love, Elsie. Both sheets of patterned paper are from KI Memories and here.
• rubons by Hambly (can't find a link online for some reason!)
• stamp is by Autumn Leaves and Katie Pertiet you can find here.
• stickers are from Heidi Swapp, the alphablock stickers that I can't seem to find a link to, but man, I love these sticker.
• and the green foam letter is the daquiri foam stamps from American Crafts, here.
Okay, maybe you didn't ask, but Trude did…yesterday, in the comments. She asked about my lighting set up for the Lincoln/Amish shot of Dan. And here's the thing: i have no lighting set-ups anymore. None. I shoot in terrible light. I get terrible results, and then I rely on my few sets of Photoshop actions to save the day.
Case in point: The Original Shot (heretofore referred to as the SOOC, because it makes me sound like I know what I'm talking about.)
I know. Ewwww! So there he is, sitting in my kitchen, under incandescent light, and I think I shot this at 1600 ISO, 4.5 aperature, using my partially broken 28-105mm Nikkor lens that barely can focus. Grainy. Flat. Blah. This is what MOST of my photos taken indoors tend to look like these days. (Although, when it's the kids in the shot…less facial hair.)
I did a few things to this shot. First, hit it with Auto Levels in Photoshop. Now I KNOW this is a really sucky way to fix things, but… I knew I was going to run some Actions that would quite possibly save the day. The Actions I ran on the shot are from Kubota Image Tools (I'm fairly certain I have the Artistic Tools Volume 2 pacakage). I used the Modern Antique action to make it look older, and then a Starburst Vignette action, to darken the area around him, and make him stand out more. {and i just realized I ran a Sharpening action, too, and tweaked the levels just a bit.} The end result? Lincoln in the Amish Country.
My goal this year is to become better at both taking photos and post-processing photos. To hell with realism, that's my motto. One thing I'm looking into is possibly purchasing a new lens for my camera (I am still using a Nikon D200) or… possibly changing cameras altogether.
However, I've been recently very inspired by The Pioneer Woman's blog, seeing that she too, is a Nikon user, and makes beautiful photographic magic. If she and other Nikon users can do it, why not me?
Now I have to go! Dan needs help churning the butter.
I'm thinking it's a bit plain, if you get my drift. Needless to say, as of 8 a.m. this morning, it's officially gone. It was a bit hard to look at him last night. Let's just say I'm not super into hooking up with dead presidents.
But not only were his creative shavings in honor of President's Day (go Presidents, go Presidents, it's your birthday) but the fact that he has removed the man-growth from his face signals one vital fact: my sweet friends' twin babies are home from the hospital! Let's hear it for Jack and Stella!
(Yes, I made the sign which I printed out on my rocking HP Photosmart printer, but opted NOT to also give them the Liam Finn CD. At least not before I give the babies my special "Steve Perry Loves You" Mix. I mean, you know, first things first!)
But the purpose of this post is far more critical, and here it is:
[edited: tickets have sold! } I HAVE TWO FOO FIGHTERS TICKETS I CANNOT USE! So as much as it breaks my heart to ask this…do you want to have my Date with Dave?
When: Feb.27 7:30 p.m.
Where: Target Center, Mpls.
Seats: Section 133 (lower seating level, above floor) Row Z (no, i didn't plan that) Seats 17 & 18.
Price: I paid $45 each for the tickets. Will gladly sell them for $30 each. (and that means you don't have to pay the horrible Ticketmaster taxes, because I already did. Go YOU!)
If you are local and are interested, email me at czdesign@comcast.net. There's plenty of time to mail them out to you via UPS and you know, you pay me etc.
And last but not least… Cole's new phase: Mount Everest. He sets up a fairly elaborate base camp in our family room. The comforter, in case you're wondering, is the Western Cwm. Thank God for imaginary crampons. That's all I'm sayin'.
Happy President's Day to all.
One more thing before the weekend. At CHA, we launched a very modest little Cafe Press site with a few Simple-themed logos. My personal favorite is this phrase, because I am a big fan of any word that incorporates "moron."
Just some fun Simple gear, a few little logos designed by yours truly. And no, I will not pocket a dime from these, it is only for the love of Simple. (That, and my editor in chief asked if I could add it to my list of things to do. Hey JM! You rock!)
More logos are coming... check back often!
bff!
cathy
