Sunday, May 15, 2011

Discussion Day #4 - How do you decide?


The Graduation was held under cloudy but dry conditions - thanks to everyone who sent positive vibes to help keep the rain away!  It did rain eventually but long after the ceremony - we even got the cars packed up before the rain started.  Here is a photo I was able to catch as the class walked in - I'll share more photos as I make some scrapbook pages to commemorate the day.  


This Discussion Day is posting on Sunday instead of Saturday - between the travels and the Blogger technical problems things are a little mixed up but it's best to just be flexible instead of worrying about a strict schedule.  So here is what I have been thinking about...

I am curious to know how you decide which projects to work on?  If you are a scrapbooker, do you work on an event/trip/holiday or do you stick to a strict chronological order in your books?  Do you think there is a "right" way to organize an album?  I have helped people who decided to make an album years after the photos were taken and sometimes there is a benefit to being "behind" on your pages.  If you have years and years of photos to work with you can make page layouts showing a span of time within a certain theme.  For instance, you can do a composite of the Halloween costumes through the years, first days of school or hanging the stockings at Christmas.

Do you start with an idea for a layout and look for photos to suit or do you start with the photos and then decided which papers, embellishments and titles to use?  Do you always work in the same format (12 x 12, 8 1/2 x 11, 8 x 8) or do you decide based on the amount and type of photos you have.  If you have lots and lots of photos do you try to fit them all in or do you edit down to the very best few to capture the event? Have you started to move toward digital scrapping or are you a paper only scrapper.

If you don't scrapbook but make cards or other projects, how do you decide what to make?  Do you create for the sake of creating and add generic sentiments (Thanks, Happy Birthday, With Sympathy, etc.) that you know you can use at sometime or do you create each card as needed for a specific event or occasion?

When you make a more elaborate project like an explosion box or a mini-album is there usually a purpose - are you making it as a gift or are you just creating to try out different techniques and ideas?  If you don't give away the things you make - what do you do with them?  Are they displayed or tucked away in drawers and boxes?

If you'd like to share a little about your process and how you decide what to make, just leave a comment on this post.  I'll link it up at the bottom of each post for the next week so you can easily come back another day to add your thoughts.  We drive home tomorrow and I have several projects to share with you once things get back to "normal" - whatever that is!

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34 comments:

  1. Congratualtions! I know how special a child's graduation day is. I usually try to scrap whatever event is happening presently. I started scrapping late so older photos take me lots of time. We're currently at my mom's 80th birthday celebration and you can bet I'll get that scrapped ASAP. My daughter's wedding will wait because that will take more time. I make cards as I need them or if I need a quick creative fix. When I don't have time to scrap, a card can do the trick easily! Thanks for asking -

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  2. I'm so happy the graduation went well and the weather held. I know it is a pain when those things get moved inside, short on tickets and all that.

    As for how I choose, I think this is evolving. I only do paper scrapbooking and projects. If I started doing digital I would have trouble keeping any focus at all. Also, it would mean an investment I just can't make right now (both time and money). So, everything is paper.

    I now scrap in different formats, shape albums, 8 x 8 and 12 x 12. I've never done 8 1/2 x 11 and I'm reluctant to start using a new format. I choose which based on the number of photos I think I have and the amount of time. I have done a couple of albums where I chose a theme "Brother X through the years" then found all the pictures I liked to fit different categories (Christmas, Birthday, Vacation, Professional Photographs, with pets, with friends, etc). I've also done chronological. I'm still working on my son's first two or three albums. One is "Firsts" which will not be done for many years (I'm thinking first apartment, first college, etc). Right now it is first step, first tooth, first day of school, etc.

    Sometimes I decide I want to do a certain project (try out a technique, use a specific cut file, etc) and then I think about who might be "due" for a gift. That allows me to identify the colors and then I can choose the pictures, if appropriate.

    Often times for cards and smaller projects I decide what to do based on a challenge. I have a number of challenges I like to do. I have piles and piles of Christmas cards because of my participation with Bah! Humbug! Christmas Challenge. I have a lot of kraft based cards from the Kraft Journal challenges. There are a few others that I like to do and that tends to drive the card. Then, they are either generic or completely blank so they can be used at a later date. Most of them get used eventually.

    This is a great thing to think about. Are you finding that you have a number of creations that you just don't know what to do with?

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  3. Congrats on your sons graduation. Glad the weather held off.

    I scrap in lots of different ways - lately I have been a "current scrapper" meaning I am scraping pics of the last week or so. I do sometimes go back in time but my photography skills and camera are so much better that it is hard to use less than perfect pics.

    As far as card and other things I tend to try new techniques and just use them for birthdays or thank yous. I am working on a special wedding card that I need in two weeks.

    I think the best part of being a scrapper is I can do it anyway in any order with any technique and size. No rules for me!

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  4. Congratulations on The Graduation and also that the weather held out for you all. Great photos.

    I started out as a card maker which has evolved to making cards for family and friends mostly. I have a couple of classes that I teach each month. I make cards for a table that our church rents at an indoor flea market to help draise money for a handicap lift that we just had put in and I make cards for the troops. i love mixed media.

    I have joined a mini album club and I receive a kit once a month. I just made an mini album for friends that returned from an across the country trip that took them 4 months.

    So I find my creative time to be for several things and I try not to hoard stuff. Hee Hee!! Also I like a challenge now and then.

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  5. oh i'm so happy your son's grad day was nice outside. the hat did fit on his hair lol love ur discussions and been waiting so here is my thought and opinion:
    I def IS NOT a chronological scrapper!! I am way behind and I scrap what I feel at that moment. THOUGH.. I did take to a retreat my then lil guy and tried to get caught up. I do try and put the time frame in order... BUT occasionally I mess up! I do get my pics first THEN paper (I love patterned paper) and then so on & on.. I do have some containers right now (cm is the best) that I put pics, paper, ideas written and put them in a folder so when the "mood" or 'time" comes - I go to that. I am getting 'smarter" about not having to scrapbook EVERY picture.. and getting creative in putting them without feeling overwhelmed! I have started thinking about digital scrapbooks - just to get caught up... opinions?? thoughts?? would love to hear them

    LOVE your discussion questions.. THANKS :) Doris
    parkernana5@cox.net

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  6. I am a scrapbooker and also love to make cards. I started late to scrapbooking so I chose a starting point and am working to get "caught up". I also want to make a hertitage album to go with my genealogy research. I usually start with the pictures to tell me how to layout a page and what colors to use. All my albums are 12 x 12 -- some are double page layouts and some are single page layouts. I have so much to get caught up on, I wish I could scrap all day, everyday. Thanks for showing us many creative ideas! I need all the help I can get!

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  7. congratulations on the graduation. i don't chronilogically scrap anything, in fact, there really isn't much order in my craftroom. i may be in the middle of one project and need to make somemthing, and not get back to my first before even starting another. so i may have 3 things going at once. good thing my mind (sort of) knows whats going on. usually i give away, or sell. if i haven't sold it, then it gets gifted.

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  8. I do not scrap chronologically. I have pics from years ago that are still sitting in boxes waiting to be scrapped. I usually grab some photos and then decide what papers will go with them. I collect paper, so I usually have what I need.
    I mostly work in 12x12, but also use 8x8 occasionally. I usually do double-page layouts.
    I also make projects for special occasions. For cards, I make specific ones for each person that I give them to. I love trying new ideas that I see on blogs.
    Hope all of you have a wonderful Sunday.

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  9. I want to be a scrapper but i really have been spending my time making cards and altered items. I make cards one month in advance for all my family members/co-workers who are celebrating in that month. I like to make them personable. I also like to make card sets with areas where sentiments can be added later - these i usually give away as gifts though. My ideal dream is to take a month off of work so i can start scrapping once again. I only have 20 years to get caught up on!!

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  10. I have struggled with this over the years. I always make a chronological album, and some special event albums. I have recently started to do some theme albums. We are hockey fans so I have a book of games we go to and articles about the team. I had a hard time leaving those pages out of my chrono album. I also started to do a Christmas album that spans 10 years. I was tired of my chrono album having 4-10 pages of Christmas every year. So now I do 1 page with highlights and put the rest in my Christmas only album. I am looking forward to hearing what others do.
    amy

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  11. I don't scrapbook except for a Heritage album for my mother for Mother's Day a few years ago. I liked it so much I made myself one just like it. Other than that I'm all about making cards. Most of my cards are any-occasion. Often with no sentiment on the front. I leave them blank inside and write in what I want as I use them. The exception is birthday cards for my grand-kids. Those are all made just for each child and personalized.

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  12. Yea, he's out of college! No more long trips to visit him and no more big dollars going out. Congratulations to all of you. I watch numerous blogs a day and that is where I get most of my inspiration. I make cards for special occations and love to personalize them. Your site gives me so many great ideas.

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  13. Great Day for your family. I am glad the rain held off. I will think about the discussion question and come back later and comment. Your blog has alot of followers and I was wondering do you ever answer any of the comments or e-mails that are sent to you? I know that you cannot answer them all. Your son's hair looked great the hat went right over it. Have a great Sunday......

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  14. When I first started scrapbooking, I started chronologically. I was making great progress and then personal life issues got in the way. I haven't gone back to finish those albums yet, but some day I will.

    Currently, I am very random. I generally make cards for specific events or to try out new techniques or paper. Or if the mood hits me to scrapbook, I'll work on my wedding album. Recently, I spent a lot of time designing a mini-album for my step-daughters' dance club. There is no rhyme or reason to my methods now. I should really get much more organized!

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  15. How to decide?? Well I do lots of types of projects. For cards and altered projects I usually do a project for a purpose. Like yesterday we had 3 friends with birthdays, so I made two sets of Scrapbook pages for the boys and a word book for the girl. Actually made them for the parents to remember the day. Cards I do the same things. I make for a purpose. Thank you, Miss you, etc.. I then make 6 or so extra to keep on hand or give away or sell.

    For my own scrapbooks, I usually do 12x12 for mental ease. I have 10 years of photos to scrapbook, so I just pull out an envelope of pics and go.. I try not to think too much just go with the flow. I would never get anything done if I didn't just do it. I use the paper and embellishments I have at the house. I do buy paper and stuff on sale, and try new things.

    WHat do I do with it all?? Gifts go to people, but albums go on the coffee table, until I get the next done then it goes on the book shelf. THe kids like to pull them out and look at them. :O)

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  16. Congrats to your son and family..glad it stayed dry for the event. I find myself doing scrapbooks mostly for my "grands". I'm currently working on a dance album that starts when she started dancing .. which was a soon as she started walking! The album is 12x12 and double page layouts -- it's also a little out of control on how big it is, so I'm stopping at age 7 and will start a new one. I love making mini albums for special occasions and with those I always try to put in too many pictures with creative drop downs and pockets. My bad habit is too many pics in an album. I have to get better about choosing a few that tell the story best. I am a "paperaholic", so I usually start by gathering the pictures. It was just recently when I learned to gather the papers and some embelishments for each set of pictures. It has really helped me to stay focused. I try to do cards for special family events, but sometimes just get crazy with life and don't have a chance. Cheryl G

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  17. There's no way all of that discussion can fit in one of these little posts!! But I have so many scrapbooks I'm working on right now. One for each of my 5 grandchildren that chronicles the big and small moments in their young lives. When one gets too big, I give it to the mom and start another one. I have one for my son's AF career that I JUST started. I have a Disney one I am just finishing up. I also have two mini albums I am working on or just starting. It's overwhelming! I work on whatever I need to or want to at any given moment. I usually stick to chronological but once in a while I just feel like doing a certain theme at the time.

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  18. Pt 2! I usually decide to choose pictures before I do anything else. I am most likely going to put quite a few pictures in any LO I do. Sometimes I print a collage of them so I will have small ones to work with. I just cut them apart. Sometimes I get "stuck" and it takes me far too long to decide on things and then I quit and do something else. I have many LO's that I am really unhappy with after the fact! I always do 12 x 12 scrapbooks and almost always they are meant to be given to someone else. I take paictures of every page and save them in a scrapbook folder.

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  19. Oh my goodness I read your blog everyday and you are in Wisconsin. I am 30 from Madison.Were are you? Have you ever attended the Madison Mingle? It is so much fun.
    Congratulations to your son. I can see why your are so proud. The Dean's list is an honor for sure.

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  20. Thanks for giving us the opportunity to share our thoughts on these different topics and get to know you and each other better.

    I have a variety of methods. I scrap vacations and events digitally with the pictures first, at least the order, then design the pages and embellish them.

    Other times I scrap around a photo that I really like that shows who someone is. I am planning a spread of my Grandson who loves to climb trees and we have many photos of him climbing trees. I also did an album of my grandchildren from birth through the oldest's first 10 years. It was only 10 or 12 pages, but I wanted something to send to their other grandparents to help them get to know their greandchildren.

    Other times I will see an embelishment or paper that reminds me of someone or an event and I will find a photo to use with those items.

    That is what I love about scrapbooking, I can create in any order I want with whatever inspiration I happen to have and it still turns out great and records my family's history.

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  21. Congrats Mom! I really believe that moms definitely deserve a part of the credit for their children's accomplishments. : )

    I make cards as they are needed. I never seem to get ahead to have some on hand.

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  22. So many questions to ponder. I like to work with 12x12, simply because I take tons of photos. I started scrapbooking over 15 years ago, I already had 5 grandchildren at the time so I had alot of years to cover and make up. My first step was organizing the photos by years and then by months(holidays and vacations, etc.) adding post-it notes as I remembered things about the pictures. I started from the begining, at first I used every photo I had and slowly began only using the the best ( after all how many photos of Niagra Falls can your viewers stand). Now adays I find I am only a few months behind. I just finished Christmas 2010 and getting ready to do January 2011 and a few in betweens and then Easter.
    I teach Scrapbooking and the most important thing that I teach is that there is no wrong way to do a book or pages. I instruct them that I am only giving them guidelines, not rules. Lately I have been doing other paper crafts, boxes, mini books, and altered books, right now just for fun.

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  23. Congrats on the graduation. My grandson graduates from high school next week. His prom was Friday and I was so excited.
    I am in the process of making family scrapbooks, so I usually scrap chronologically. I have a book for each generation (me, my daughters, and my grandchildren). I am usually working on 3 books at once and the same pics in each but a different layout. I do cards as the urge hits me.

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  24. Hi Diane,
    I am a paper scrapper, and I am way behind. I like to take a group of photos whether it is an occasion, event, or in the case of my grandchildren were I like to show time frames in cronilogical order. I set up my supplies based on the photos. Colors that highlight the event and make the photos more pleasing to the eye. I prefer 12 X 12 scrapbooks because I like to use larger pictures. I love to scrap family albums with lots of old family photos with lot's of history. I try to make several of the same ones to share with other members of the family. When I was working, I always took lot's of pictures thru the years of special events (retirement parties potlucks, dinners, birthdays and promotions and when someone retired, I put together a scrapbook album with these pictures so they had some memories to take with them. I also included pages of any old photos that their spouses could secretly get to me. It made it a great suprise and was fun for the rest of us to share in their early lives.

    I am not a fan of digital scrapbooking because I personally like dimension.

    I also am a cardmaker. I make cards as I need them.

    Marcie

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  25. Congrats on your son's graduation...and glad you were able to enjoy the weather.
    First, I love making cards in order to explore techniques and I make them when inspired (by a new technique or challenge) and I try to personalize them for my family and friends. I have given/mailed almost all the cards that I have made.
    To date, I have only made 12x12 scrapbooks (but I really want to make a mini paper bag album). Since my daughter was born (a year ago), I keep all my photos in photo albums so that they can be easily viewed. I only scrap when I am inspired and I begin with the photos and then gather my paper and embellishments. I try to tell one story at a time and not view scrapbooking as something that has to be done. Creating is my happy time (and usually only done when the baby is asleep and I'm not too tired) so I just enjoy the process.
    Thanks for the great discussion questions.

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  26. Conrats on your son's graduation! I am only a paper scrapper. I am not sure about the whole digital thing but maybe someday I will give it a try. I make 12x12 pages. I have done the occasional smaller album for a special occasion. I don't scrap in chronilogical order but I do put them in my album in date order. I do much more card making and paper projects for the little ones class party's. I am kind of all over the place with my scrapping and papercrafting.

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  27. How great your son is graduated... and you didn't get rained on.

    I'm a paper scrapper who works on pictures of 'now' events and those of past times...alternating between those albums...So you see I'm not scrapping in chronological order but my albums are that way.

    I have no desire to do digital as really dislike sitting in front of a computer and love to play with paper.

    Occasionaly, to keep from getting stagnant or bored, I do a mini album as a gift, a few cards, other type projects (like pop open boxes), take a class at a lss and create something to decorate the house with.

    Bye for now.

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  28. Glad the rain held out for the graduation ceremony! Oh my, how do I scrap. Well first off, I am way behind on my albums but mostly because I only started scrapbooking about 2 yrs ago! Yep, I still learning all this paper crafting stuff and loving every minute of it! I mostly just look through my pics and make my decision from there. As far as cards, I mostly try to use sketches!

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  29. I started scrapbooking 15 years ago to make an album of a church mission project. I use only 8 1/2 by 11 format, all placed in sleeves which limits large embellishments, and that is fine with me. I always think of the story I want to tell when taking the pictures so I use most of them, cropping to fit pages.

    I'm a "lots of pictures" kind of scrapper so I lay out my "story" whether it be an event or holiday and begin from there with paper, etc. After I plan it out, I do all my journaling or explanations on the computer.

    I've only had my cricut 9 months and began doing some serious cardmaking when I got it so I put some of the scrapping on hold.
    I have done cards two ways. I sometimes see what I need for the month and make those cards. Other times I'll just make a bunch of Birthday, Get Well, Sympathy or Anniverary cards. However I do it, I enjoy the process and the creativity.

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  30. When I starting scrapping a few years ago, I decided to do family albums by year. My albums are 12x12 (I put lots of pictures on my pages). I scrap chronologically and tend to use a lot of sketches to give me inspiration for my LO's. I buy paper stacks and do a lot of mixing and matching with my papers. I will sometimes do a special album of a trip we took, like a Disney album or Hawaii. I do make cards and other projects, but scrapping is what I do primarily.

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  31. I am about to start on a project (really, I AM going to get this done!) that I have been procrastinating on for over a year. I have a TON of pictures and memorabilia from when I lived and worked overseas. At least all that stuff is finally gathered in one place, and now I have to decide how each picture will be scrapped. I am planning on working chronologically, as I also kept a journal, so that will jog my memory about where each picture was taken, and what the story is behind it.

    Typically, when I scrapbook, I don't work in any particular order. I usually try to design a page around a photo, but occasionally if I come across a great idea to CASE, I'll hunt for a picture or pictures to go with the design.

    Wendy T.

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  32. I promised early on to do a scrapbook for each of my grandchildren from birth to their third birthday. My main goal is to show their growth....it's fun following their crawling, walking, first foods, riding toys, building, climbing etc. I do cover some major events (birthday, Christmas, Easter) but since they all live out of state, I can't control what pictures are taken. It's been fun and the kids love their books. I have three that are finished, one currently coming together and one due in July. In between, I work on my husband's and mine...an ongoing project.

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  33. I scrap whatever I'm feeling at the moment. I have several layouts ready to work on at any given time....but I pick and chose on how I'm feeling about it at the time.

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  34. Congrats to your son!!!

    I am a 12x12 paper scrapper. I LOVE paper!!! My DH us in the military. I started scrapbooking 5 yrs ago when our 1st grandchild was born and 3 months later my DH left for Iraq. We vacation overseas, Egypt, Germany, Italy, Prague, Spain and this year will be China. So I scrap our vacations and for the grandkids. We live on the east coast and they are on the west coast. So I scrap as I get pictures of them. I don't scrap chronologically but they go into the albums that way.

    I will make an occasional card for them. But I have recently fallen in love with mini albums. I want to learn more about them and use my paper stash to make them for gifts in the family.

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