Bits&Pieces

I'm featured on Tuesday Tutorials (wanna see the outtakes and get a freebie download?)

I'm providing the content today for Tuesday Tutorials over at Ali Edwards' blog today. If you want to learn how to create multi-photo grids in Photoshop Elements, by all means, go check it out.

Recording step-by-step videos takes time. I can't tell you how many times I stumble over my words and have to re-record. Oh, heck… don't take my word for it. Watch the clip below:

Tuesday Tutorial Outtakes from Cathy Zielske on Vimeo.

Also featured on Ali's blog is the resulting layout from the grid tutorial. I thought it'd be fun to provide a set of month and dates from my "Monthly Snaps" project for anyone who'd like to make one too. One month, 12 photos, one date, and a journaling card. (Totally inspired by my friend Susan's 12 of 12 approach, but instead of one day, you pick photos from one month.) Feel free to check out Ali's blog to see the layout and then download the files posted below.

The CZMonthlySnapsKit doc is a layered .psd file and you can just select a month graphic and drop it into another document. The journaling card is a pdf file with crop marks. Enjoy!

Here are the files:

Download CZMonthlySnapsKit

Download CZJblock

(PC users may have to right click on the links and choose "Save Target As")

Enjoy the downloads and the tutorial!

Here's a layout not yet hidden away in the Scrapbooking Vault

Last friday, I had an idea to make a page. The idea was this: I really, really love having my girl home this summer. Sure, she might not wake up until 11 a.m. or later, but I've really enjoyed having her home. I'm sure those of you with way more kids underfoot all summer long might think otherwise, but right here and right now? I'm digging the summer break thing with my girlie.

My kids have gone and still go (Coleman still goes, that is) to year round schools. This is Aidan's first official summer off… like a normal kid's summer. I took a bunch of cool shots of her the other day that I could have used on the layout. Like this one:

Or this one:

(Both tweaked using Totally Rad Actions: The Revenge, Bullet Tooth action, perfect for the hipness requirements of a 13-year-old girl.)

But I just wanted something less slick and less posed. And then I just wanted to write. So I made this:

 

supplies: patterned paper (BasicGrey) • arrow punch (Fiskars) • Archer and VT Portable Remington fonts

A simple story. A simple design. I love overlaying a story onto a photo. I also love designing something digitally, and adding just a few real life elements for the final page.

Just wanted to share on this fine Monday.

p.s. A report on our family outing to the Green Day concert coming later this week.

More from the scrapbooking vault

Side note about the Vault—It is not, as my friend Mark Spearman mused, at all like this, as he posted yesterday on my Facebook page:

"So where exactly is this "Scrapbooking Vault"? Is it an actual vault? Is it like, guarded by off-duty Costco security guys you've hired? Is there a sticker on it warning that it contains less than $100 and Dan does not know the combination? I picture you sitting in your vault at night on a tiny folding chair, fondling crushed velvet cardstock and scalloped craft scissors, a cigarette dangling from your lips with an ash THIS LONG. Sort of mumbling to yourself and getting jumpy and rattled by every random sound from the outside..."

No. It's simply an external hard drive with a whole heck of a lot of scans on it. Oh sure, you can see the layouts in REAL life, but honestly, what's the fun in that?

As I was trolling the vault yesterday for more past nuggets, I found this one and realized a great photo and a great story with specific details is all you really need for a meaningful, memorable page. The design is nothing to oogle. Just a simple page and a simple story (and some ink and some of that good old stuff from Making Memories and the days of yore.)

And Mark, here's a P.S. for you: your entertaining vision could never be accurate. You KNOW I don't smoke anymore.

From the scrapbooking vault

Watching the Michael Jackson memorial yesterday, and hearing the song "Smile," reminded me of a layout I did for a very old "Font 411" column in the now defunct Simple Scrapbooks, using those song lyrics on the page.

This is back when all I wanted was completely unnatural moody photos of my girlie. I'm not sure the small tag graphic was the best of ideas, either... the whole "let's crop a face and disconnect it from the person" approach. But what the heck. The year was 2004, and I was a young, wild, scrappin' rogue.

I think the torn paper should be enough to convince you of that.

Those were the days.

All about me, er, you… I mean, me, you? Me? You? Yes. Me. And you.

(Page above is the title page from one of my many Library of Memories albums.)

As I've been working on the content for Me: the Abridged Version (launching to the online world in September), one of the things I had to do for the class was make a 28-page album that was, in essence, all about me.

Now maybe it's because I haven't been scrapbooking a ton about me lately, but the album itself came together in a snap. It felt inspired, as if my scrapbook mojo had been missing out on telling my own story. And I realized it had.

I remember when I first started making pages about myself… it seems like only 2002 when I made this layout below:

(click on layout to see larger)

It seems like 2002 because duh, it WAS 2002. Back in the day at Two Peas, when people started posting their all about me pages. I couldn't get enough!

(I also couldn't get enough of this series of photos, evidently. But I'll be damned if I don't recognize a cute shot of myself when I see it.)

I couldn't get enough of the All About Me page because I relished the chance to tell a story about me, just as I'd done for years and years on the pages of my old journals.

I loved the way I could take those words, pair them with a photo, package them up into a tight, cohesive design and say, "Voila. Here's my story."

From what I'd tell my much younger self with the benefit of hindsight, to documenting the ever-changing styles of a girl who placed far too much of her self-esteem on hair, scrapbooking gave me the much needed outlet not just to feel crafty, but to provide a forum for a voice that needed to be heard.

I have as many pages about me as I do about anything else in my collection. Is it selfish? Or narcissistic? Or worse, a waste of time?

I would argue to say on some level, it's selfish to NOT tell your part of the story; to not let a little light shine on how you fit into the grand scheme of this life you so carefully and lovingly document.

The best part is that it doesn't have to be a huge undertaking. It's really not that hard at all.

Sometimes, it's about small stories of success.

And sometimes, stories of decidedly less success.

Sometimes, it's just simple and random stories from the everyday.

 

Or a very specific story of the one particular thing that makes you tick.

 

In the end, these stories have the opportunity to be about you. Well, I mean me…and you. These stories can capture a slice of this human existence that no matter which way you look at it, it's wholly and uniquely your own.

What's the last thing you scrapbooked about you? If you can't quite easily recall, maybe it's time to give yourself a chance to work a bit more closely with the material.

---------------------------------------------------------------

A warm welcome to my newest advertiser, Threading Lightly, who makes some seriously cool scrapbook paper inspired camera straps!

There's no turning back now! (Well, actually, there could be…I'd just have to pull everything off the shelf and go back to the way it was)

I really need to lay off such dramatic statements…

But what I meant to say by There's no turning back now, is that I recently reorganized my patterned paper collection. (Does that sound on the same par as saying, "Oh, I can't go out tonight. I'm going to stay in and wash my hair?") Well be that as it may, THIS is exciting stuff, people. Here's my shelf (also lovingly referred to as my "rack"):

(And yes, feel free to say it. You know you want to... nice rack!)

For a long time now, I've wondered how my productivity, or rather, my inspiration to become productive, would change if I organized my patterned paper by color, rather than how I've always done it, which is by manufacturer.

So a few weeks ago, I pulled everything out and started sorting into piles. I wasn't emotional. I wasn't sentimental. I didn't get hung up on, "But these florals have ALL colors in them!" I just made a gut decision based on each sheet and when things got confusing I asked myself, "What color cardstock would I pair this with?" and that answered my "What color group should this go into?" question.

It took me the whole morning to sort and purge, and when I was done, (which I'm not completely done yet) I had one nice column of paper in a ROYGBIV + brown, grey and black order.

The color group that turned out to be the largest? Pink. I think that's a given considering how girly I am. Or that's the story I'm going with.

My main motivation for doing this was because I'm working on a new class for Big Picture Scrapbooking, and it's called "Me: The Abridged Version," (more info coming soon) and it asks you to pull paper from your stash, based on coordinated colors, not necessarily from a single manufacturer. I wanted all my colors grouped together to ease my paper selection process and I'll be damned if the inspiration for my album project's color scheme didn't hit me right square in between the eyes!

(And then it changed five minutes later to a completely different color scheme, but still…)

Nothing like seeing your stuff in a whole new light.

[edited to add]

There was a dude who made the rack, and now he doesn't make the racks anymore. I'm sorry to say that! Although there was one blog reader who I hooked him up with at least a few years back and he made her a rack. But sadly, no more racks from the man who gave me such a nice rack. And by "gave" i mean, did it for $650 bucks.

The last issue arrived in my mailbox

As the very last issue of Simple Scrapbooks arrived in my mailbox yesterday, I sighed, and opened it up, and lovingly paged through the, well, pages…

I got to my last About Design column (and coincidentally, we had just overhauled how About Design was going to look, content wise, right before the magazine plug was pulled) and I realized this: I was good, man. I was a contender!

Just wanted again to thank our Simple readers, and to pledge that I'm going to find new and cool ways to bring design education to any scrapbooker who wants it. Whether it's installments of Design Do-Overs (which you totally gave awesome feedback!) to classes over at Big Picture, to whatever else might be something that makes you tell a great story and make it look good.

My wheels are a turnin'.

And speaking of wheels, let us ride into the weekend with a man who really sang about wheels well AND rocked the head-to-toe white look.

Fantasy Baseball vs. Scrapbooking: the argument for which one is REAL waste of time

Fantasy baseball draft widow.

If these four simple words mean something to you, then you can relate to what I'm about to write about. Or maybe just two words will suffice:

Fantasy baseball.

First let me say this: I love sports. From curling to steeplechase, if a sport has a good story behind it, I'll be the first to cheer for the winners and sympathize with the losers. Truly. I'm a sucker for sports. Want to see me bust out the ugly cry? Ask me to tell you how "Miracle" ends. Or "Brian's Song." The nerve that sports hit runs deep through the American psyche, and I would never, ever poo-poo this intense connection some of us have to all things competitive

But fantasy baseball and fantasy football and fantasy [insert your sport of choice here]? Maybe that's where it all goes just a bit too far.

As my adorable husband spent a full 8 hours last Saturday (and countless prior hours hunched over before a glowing laptop in preparation leading up to the so-called draft day) I thought: "Who am I to criticize how one chooses to hobby?" I mean, you could easily point to scrapbooking and make a similar case, that case being: well, that too, is a colossal waste of time.

I beg to differ, and offer these points in support of my argument.

1. Scrapbooking provides the opportunity to preserve and share the stories of a lifetime, encouraging its participants to use their unique and singular voices to record and document that which makes up who they are and what matters most. It encourages self expression and artistic exploration, often creating a deep and fulfilling sense of doing something of both a highly intrinsic and external value to the hobbyist. It saves bits of life, one page at a time, to share not only with future generations, but to remind us in the present day how blessed and lucky we are to be in this journey of life.

Fantasy baseball is technically not real.

Thank you.

-----------------------------------------------------

Welcome to my newest advertiser, Memory Works, who are presenting the Scrapbook Retreat. Look for a really fun giveaway from them later this week.

The Closing of One Door (and it's been a really great door, too)

Even though the final issue of Simple Scrapbooks Magazine won't drop until sometime in mid-April, my final day with this mag that I've come to appreciate on so many levels—creatively, professionally, financially—is here. And I thought I'd take some space to wax poetic, or at least say thank you to the amazing group of people that I've been honored to work with over the past 6 years.

Sigh. Six years. Not sure if I ever told the story, but see there was this new magazine, and I was a new scrapbooker, and when I saw this magazine, I thought: "Hey, my pages are simple. Wonder if they'd want any of them." So I sent a few in.

About a month later I received this slightly manic phone call from a woman named Stacy Julian, who said, "Hi, I'm Stacy Julian from Simple Scrapbooks magazine and I don't know who you are and I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I want to work with you."

Famous last words.

It started with a few layouts here and there, and a magazine cover that ended up looking a lot like this:

I worked on that layout for HOURS. I know. Hard to tell. Still... landmark moment for me. And ushered in my heavy usage of the Carpenter font. Oh, those were the days.

Eventually, they let me do a column called, "Font 411." It made sense. I knew type. I knew scrapbooking. Le voila! One of my early columns looked more or less like this:

 

Then they let me write some features. Then I convinced them that if they really truly needed some freelance graphic design help, I really DID know how to do that sort of thing. Then they believed me. Then they hired me as a contract designer. Then on the side I wrote a book. Then another book. Then I designed books for Donna. And Stacy. And then did more columns, which we later changed to "About Type" and then later to "About Design". And then I was working so many hours they said, "We're going to hire you full time, with healthcare benefits." And I said, "Cool."

Many of us work. We have jobs that we get up and go to. Every day. Once in a while, you connect with a job that not only pays you every two weeks, but if you're lucky, it fills you up creatively and personally. I'm no dummy. I know these jobs are few and far between, especially speaking as a graphic designer who has worked for a trade association of debt collection agencies (1991-1997); or a chain of Texas grocery stores (1988-1989).

I got to work with and design for something that I loved, and still do: memory saving and story telling. How cool is that?

So this is my little thank you to the people who have made this a pretty singular experience. People like Stacy and Lin, Don, Mark and John. Wendy, Angie and Jennafer, Tracy and Dana, Carolyn, Rachel and Lynda, and Megan and Jen, and Jenny and Elisha. And people like Marin, who is my design soul mate and really made my job possible in more ways than one. And Tom. And Brian, Symoni and Claudia. And the prepress guys. And the printers. And all of our Simple contributors. And Paula, Emily and all the women in the events team. And the Retail team. And the IT team. And Mike in the mailroom. And anyone else that I'm forgetting, but that I will very likely remember as soon as I hit post.

And, to our readers. Thank you.

So what's next? (beyond having more time to spend blogging, and on Facebook or Twitter?)

That's a very good question, and one that I will be delving into next week! I will tell you that I've been working on two new online classes for BigPictureScrapbooking that I'm pretty dang psyched about (and the first one revolves all around the aforementioned Facebook and Twitter, and I think some of my fellow online junkies will dig it!). I'm also going to find some new ways to talk about the things that I love most: telling good stories and making them look good in the process.

And one last thing for those of you who follow your feed, or your bookmark, or your accidental internet stumbles, and find yourself here: thank you for reading. It matters to me that you have an interest in anything I write here. And if that makes me a slighly insecure person for saying so, I say, "And this would come as a surprise to you because...?"

So long Simple.

Your Friend Always, Cathy

One thing that I finally realized (and some Simple layouts from the days of yore)

On March 1st, I'm going to have a little more creative time on my hands. Time to actually make stuff that involves all the things I love: design, writing and photography. In other words, time to focus on scrapbooking. What a novel idea!

Over the years at Simple, I think I've slowly let my true, unadulterated passion for the hobby slide a little. Now before you think that sounds all negative, all I mean is that when you work with the subject matter 40-50 hours a week, it tends to lose it's initial shine. Just that whole, "I cannot WAIT to sit down and tell this story" feeling.

 

But the thing is, at the core of this hobby is stuff that just makes me happy; stuff that makes me feel really creative. And smart. Who isn't going to like something that does that?

I guess that although I will miss what I have known to be a constant, I'm really looking forward to having time to breathe, creatively, and in the next few weeks, I'll be sharing some of what that translates to with you guys. Some of it's pretty cool. I promise.

Stay tuned.