Notes on the Journey

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Layout a Day

My stack of layouts from LOAD by PattiP88

My stack of layouts from LOAD, a photo by PattiP88 on Flickr.

Trish and I have just completed The Mother LOAD over at Big Picture Classes. This is my stack of paper layouts I did this month. There are also a handful of digital layouts that aren't printed yet.

I really dreaded doing this class, because I've always thought of myself as a slow paper scrapper, and I'm mostly digital, but Trish twisted my arm to join her. Trish and I decided to do mostly paper layouts in order to get some of the photos in our category drawers into albums. I assumed it would be really tough to keep up with this class.

And truth be told, I mostly got caught up on the weekends. But I have learned that I can do a handful of nice layouts in one lazy Saturday morning. Who knew? For me one of the keys is to get organized. First by pulling a stack of photos, enough for a lot of layouts, and putting them into a project folder. Having my embellishments, inks, paints and scraps in drawers by color is also immensely helpful. Liking simple pages also helps. Keeping my focus on the story and then the photos helps keep the layouts simple and therefore fairly quick to make.

In addition to getting lots of layouts done, I've used up lots of bits and pieces of paper and embellishments (hello scraps!) that I've had laying around in my scrap room unused for a long time.

In fact, it's been such a positive experience, I plan on keeping up the tradition of doing 4-5 paper layouts every weekend I can. Maybe I'll finally get my children's childhood photos out of the drawers and into albums. It's about time, since they're all adults!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Another project!

I decided rather on the spur of the moment to attend a workshop in Dallas in early November. Part of the incentive, in addition to the workshop itself, is that I can visit my daughter-in-law and grandbaby who live a short flight away. So Monday I made the decision and bought the tickets. Which then lead to another project.

I've been waiting for a trip so I had an excuse to purchase Ali Edwards' Scrapbook On the Road class. It's a travel album partially prepared ahead of time to take along on your trip, and add journaling and ephemera as you go and after you get home.

I just started working on it tonight. So far, it looks like it's going to be fun to make and fun to use. Ali's projects are always creative and inspiring. I'm using mostly materials I already have on hand, though I am going to have to order a few things I want to include. I've decided to go with a neutral color scheme so that any ephemera I pick up on the trip with pop rather than compete. Since the main impetus for the trip is the music workshop I'll be attending, I'm using some of the music-themed papers I have in my stash, to create pages for journaling and whatever else I want to use them for.

It's been many years since I've been in Texas - I'm really looking forward to good barbecue!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

TextFX and other classes

Somehow this post got lost in my drafts folder and never got published:

I just wrapped up participating in TextFX at Renee Pearson, and I have to say it was a very good class. Tiffany is a great teacher, and I learned lot watching the videos and doing the projects. My titles will never be the same again!

One of the great things about classes at reneepearson.com is that students have forever access. So if you have a chance to take this class when it's offered again, I highly recommend it.

Next up on my schedule from reneepearson.com:

Check them out

Simply Sunday

P365 Day 24, a photo by PattiP88 on Flickr.

This lovely rose passed so quickly from full bloom to this. I've taken a photo of this rose from it's budding stage. They pass all too quickly.

I'm linking up with Rebecca Cooper's Simple Things Sunday just for fun.

There are always some really lovely photographs linked there. Check them out.

And, here's another link, this time to a lovely story from a fellow Simply Music teacher. I love the generosity and kindness shown by many people in this story:
Khamis and Alam
My plan for the day:

teach for a few hours
work on my LOAD project to catch up
celebrate how much I've gotten done with LOAD this month
enjoy our lovely garden in the evening light

Have a lovely, simple Sunday!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Finding Photo Flow

I had the opportunity to participate in the inaugural class:

The next session opens up for registration next week at Finding Photo Flow. If the site isn't up when you visit, check back later - there's some site construction going on this week.

I encourage you to take the class. Even though I've been working on my digital photo flow for years, really, I found the class very helpful and I learned new things. Kayla has spent so much time and effort researching and preparing the class materials, and I know it will be even better now that the class has had it's first "on the road" experience.

Kayla uses Lightroom. But don't worry if you don't. She includes really good information on a lot of other programs. Warning: you might decide that your current program doesn't do what you need it to. I use iPhoto, and it works well for me, but there are a few things you need to know about how it handles metadata and how to get the information embedded in your files.

If you think you don't need metadata or a good back up plan, visit the Library of Congress and check out their videos about preservation of digital media. I think most people are really unaware of just how fragile digital media storage is.

But back to Finding Photo Flow. Kayla is a great teacher, very quick to answer questions, and is very much present on the forums, so there is lots of interaction and assistance.

Sign up and find your flow!

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