I love this sort of challenge to take an old picture and a newer one and to tell a common story. Here, the photos told the story: Photo #1: Me and my Dad in a canoe in 1975 and Photo #2: Me and my son in kayaks in 2011. The small watercraft and me are the constants - my dad passed away in 2003 and my son was born in 2002, so they actually met once but Mac was a baby so he doesn't remember. I am the connection. That's pretty awesome - not that my dad is no longer here, but that I can connect my son to him so that he knows his grandfather a bit.
I stepped out of my usual box on this layout too because I got the stamps out! Those two journaling blocks at the bottom are stamped images on cardstock and I journaled on them. I also loved the contrasting blue and orange colors, kind of nod to the comparison between then and now. Also, the retro flavor of an older Basic Grey 6x6 paper pad seemed to be just perfect - especially that top block with the diamond starbursts - reminded me of countertops from the 70s.
Fun challenge - National Scrapbooking Day is flying by so fast! How are you doing? What are you up to this National Scrapbooking Day?
How to Reconnect with Your Vacation Memories when you get home and scrapbook the trip weeks, months or years later:
1. Scrapbook During Your Vacation - This is easy, really!
2. Get Home, Get Back to Your Routine, and Feel Confident That You Can Scrapbook Your Vacation Anytime - When You Have Time. I went on an amazing vacation to Durango, Colorado and I did some scrapbooking on the road. I'm back now, I've actually been back for about 3 weeks, and I haven't done much work on my vacation scrapbook, until last night. This video shows how I am incorporating my vacation photos into Project Life, my homemade smash book, my "regular" 12x12 scrapbooks, and my vacation photo albums.
Please leave a comment with tips and tricks you use for vacation scrapbooking or a link to your vacation scrapbook! I'd love to see what you do.
If you would like to support this blog, check out these affiliate links:
Welcome. Welcome Scrapbookers to District 1 of Panem, Land of Luxury. District 1 is one of the wealthiest districts of Panem. Its primary industry is manufacturing luxury items for the Capitol. Some of them include diamonds and most likely other precious gems. It seems that names in this district are names of precious items, which may be a reflection on their "glamorous" nature and demeanor. Children in District 1 seem to take pride in competing in the Games, and are among the group of tributes that band together to pick off the weak, called the Careers. Katniss also notes how their costumes are always the best. (source wikia)
Psssst - Hey Scrapbookers: If this is your first time here, The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge Series is a way to use different aspects of the popular trilogy and upcoming movie The Hunger Games as a jumping off place or theme generator for scrapbooking layouts. Every day, we translate one of the Districts of Panem into the starting point for scrapbooking projects, the themes can be translated literally or very loosely. It is just a fun place to start because sometimes the "starting" place in scrapbooking is the hardest part, this is just a fun way to make starting a bit easier.
This layout was inspired by Shannon Tidwell's Memory Keeping Monday Scrapbooking Challenge on the Two Peas site; the challenge was to use a stamp. She used a mason jar stamp, repeated the image several times, and added glitter and journaling to each jar. I wanted to use a stamp that I could jouranl inside of and I remembered that I had a Jenni Bowlin stamp that I bought at my local store Whim-So-Doodle and I bought it at the full price of $4.00 and that I haven't used it yet - so this page seemed like the perfect opportunity to use this luxurious stamp.
Journaling: I don't value fancy cars or jewelry or fashion. I love free time and travel and adventure and good food. I don't particularly love shopping for clothes but I love that Allison has a passion for it. Lists: Stay home days. Walks on the beach. Time to scrapbook. Bedtime stories. Singing in the car. Craft Store. Bar Harbor. Boone, North Carolina. Durango, Colorado. Padanaram, Mass. London, England. Atlantis, Bahamas. Home. Sushi. Habenero Tabasco. Moose Tracks Ice Cream. Extra Wasabi. Dark Chocolate. Lobster. Skiing. Stand Up Kayaking. Bikram Yoga. Getting a Massage. Bubble Baths. Hammock.
Scrapbooking Challenge: Make a scrapbook layout or mini book about your luxury items and leave a comment with a link.
If you wish to support this blog, please click through to check out the following affiliate links:
Welcome Scrapbookers to District 2 of Panem: Land of Masonry and Peacekeepers in what would have been the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Hey. Psst. I got a comment recently from a scrapbooker who said she "couldn't figure out" what I was trying to do with The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge Series. So I guess I should explain a bit: I find that when I start with a theme for scrapbooking, I can translate the theme into all sorts of different scrapbooking pages and projects. The theme gives me a starting point. I recently discovered The Hunger Games and read through the triology in less than a week and I am highly anticipating the movie. Since the imaginary dystopian world includes many districts and themes and characters, I thought it would be fun to use The Hunger Games as a theme or a jumping off point for scrapbooking inspiration. You are welcome to join in and translate the themes as closely or as loosely as you wish. There is a Flickr Group for this challenge if you wish to play along - here is the link to The Hunger Games Flickr Group.
District 2 of Panem is the place where Peacekeepers are trained, and where the weapons are manufactured, but originally specialized only in mining and stone cutting. Publicly it's presented as the nation's stone quarries, just like District 13 was known for graphite mining. District 2 children are raised with a warrior mind-set and most of the Peacekeepers are from District 2. This district was the only one not on the side of the first rebellion, and after the attempt failed, were rewarded by better treatment from the Capitol, and better living conditions for their citizens. District 2 is in the Rocky Mountains, near the Capitol itself. The district is made up of many small villages, each based around a mine. Although the district is allied with the Capitol, due to their preferential treatment, the quarry workers suffer as much as any other district, not being excluded from the annual Hunger Games that take place. (source Wikia).
Since I just returned from beautiful and amazing Durango, Colorado and that is the location of District 2, I'll be taking my inspiration from the location of this district in Panem.
I made a photo collage in Picasa and typed in this journaling: "Now I Know What John Denver Meant when he sang Rocky Mountain High. I found myself singing the lyrics "coming home to a place {s}he's never seen before." I was so moved by the beauty of these mountains and the solitude I found in the snowy trails. I had visions of uprooting our family and transplanting us in Durango, Colorado. I fell completely in love with this place. Charlie was not as convinced, he liked the vacation and made a lot progress in his ski lessons, but made it clear that he's a Florida Boy. I do still hold out hopes for a vacation rental property."
I printed the photo collage on an 8.5 x 11 sheet and trimmed it just a bit and backed it with patterned paper. No embellishments. Just words and photos and a bit of background. I did add a zig zag stitch for a little visual interest. Simple. And Done.
P.S. I know there's a misspelling in my scrapbook page and the print quality is not the most awesome; but I'm still calling it done!
If you wish to support this blog, check out these affiliate links for The Hunger Games books and related products:
I was only on vacation in Colorado for 6 days but it feels like its going to take that long to re-acclimate to my life. I'm not really sure why, its that MOM-entum thing I talked about on the blog yesterday. Here are 12 Things I've been up to since I've been home.
1. I checked in at work and everything seems under control, I did a bunch of paperwork. This morning I got the news that one of the laws that relates to my practice has changed dramatically so there will definately be changes in the coming year.
2. Allison talked me into going to the school's Chuck E Cheese night, Allison was amazing skeet bowler (is that what it is called?). It was noisy and hectic but they really wanted to go. We got a chance to talk to the principal who said he's been personally working with Mac in a small group, Mac never mentioned this, for the essay section of the FCAT which happened a couple weeks ago and the essay assignment was to write an essay about riding a camel. We don't get the results until the end of the year.
3. I did the stepper twice and burned about 800 calories each time but I'm feeling a bit heavy. I did bikram yoga this morning and I feel like I'm way out of shape and practice, its been a week or so since I've been to yoga, I need to get back in there several times a week. Even though I skied all day everyday of my vacation, I really need to focus on exercising.
4. Allison insisted that I go on a field trip to "play in the dirt" which turned out to be a trip to Myakka River State Park and we saw several very large alligators, lots of water birds including white pelicans, and wild turkeys in the woods. We walked on a very high wooden bridge and climbed a tower to get a canopy view of the forrest. The guide had one leg, she joked that it was because an alligator bit it off during a school field trip but then explained that she had cancer and they took her leg to save her life. She had a really cool artificial leg and the top part of it had sea turtles painted onto it and she shared that she has the same doctor as Winter the Dolphin from A Dolphin's Tale. I got to talk to her husband for a bit and he told me about their trip to a cancer hospital and the day he got off on the wrong floor, pediatrics, and that we should all just think of that anytime we think we're having a bad day. Wow. Crystal Clear Perspective There. I am doing the Relay for Life Cancer Walk coming up in a couple weeks. We've known several people in a short amount of time who have been diagnosed with cancer. I've got to get up to speed with my part in the relay including the fund raising part.
5. After the field trip, Allison and I went to the Ellenton Outlet Mall which is a bunch of outlet stores, we don't get there very often. I don't particularly love shopping but my girl Ally does. She was in heaven in the pre-teen store Justice. I was still sticker shocked at the prices in Justice, even in the outlet mall. She got some very fashionable outfits. We also did some shopping for me, I bought a few work dresses and a few weekend outfits at Tommy Hilfiger and Ann Taylor, I think Allison was a bit unimpressed with the boring nature of my choices - she picked out and had me try on some "fashionable" things but none of them seem to work on me.
6. Allison and I also came up with a plan to reorganize her Barbie play area. I am right now trying to muster up my gumption to attack that project. I'm not sure I'm up to it, we'll see.
7. On my Scrapbooking Agenda:
* Do the posts for District 2, District 1, The Capitol, and District 13 for my The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge.
* Catch up on the last 2 weeks of Project Life.
* Get some 12x12 layouts done for the BPC Twelve class I am taking.
* Catch up on One Little Word and Move More Eat Well BPC classes.
* Make a photobook of our three ski trips this year, it has been awesome to take three trips in three months. I'll be grounded for a while which will give me time to get back to my routine.
8. I would also like to do something with all of my Pinterest Boards. Specifically, I have a "word up" board with sayings I like and I would like to use those in some way. Also I have a "homemade" board with ways to alter t-shirts and easy sewing projects and I'd like to do a closet overhaul and make some projects with my old clothes.
9. I need to tend to the garden we planted a few weeks ago, the marigolds were completely eaten by something but the basil and mint are doing well and we have several sprouts.
10. I'd like to get on my kayak this weekend.
11. I did a major grocery shop and cooked curry chicken and we've been eating leftovers for days, it is delicious.
12. I am re-committing to my goal of losing 50 pounds. I was doing really well and then too many people gave me compliments and I got lazy and somehow I'm back to only about 10 pounds down from my original weight - which means that I've put on 20 pounds since my lowest weight at 30 pounds down. I'm a little frustrated since it seems like I have worked really hard for the past two years and that losing weight and keeping it off is a 24/7 hard work constant kind of thing and that I really love to eat and not worry about what I'm eating. I'm totally fine with a very rigourous exercise routine, but I'm a little less excited about getting super strict with my diet again, but I'm even less excited about how my thighs look right now. So I'm back on my weight loss goal routine and I'm hoping to make some significant progress by my birthday which is coming up on June 6. I don't think I'll attain my goal by that time but I would like to get there somewhere over the summer and maintain it until Christmas and beyond.
We returned from a week long vacation yesterday. I had an amazing trip and fell in love with Durango, Colorado, it was my first time to the western part of the U.S. and I'm definitely planning to return as soon as possible. I took 1023 photos and made 20-30 short videos to remember my thoughts and feelings while on the trip. I brought along a composition book and a homemade smash book and did lots of journaling on the plane and in spare bits of time during the vacation. Chances are, if you saw me on the slopes, in the ladies room, or at Dante's for lunch, I was recording a video on my iphone or digital camera or taking photos of myself to record the trip. During the trip and on the way home, I was fully immersed in this brand new world to me, one of breathtaking views of the Rocky Mountains, ski slopes that were my wildest dreams come true, fun times with my husband and friends, and an overwhelming desire to move to Colorado, or at least look into buying an investment property out there. I seriously fell in love.
Now that I'm home, however, scrapbooking the trip is not my top priority. Top on my agenda list is reconnecting with the kids, doing mountains of laundry, getting the house and my scrapbooking room computer back to the state they were in before I left, catching up with a no doubt mountain of paperwork at the office, reconnecting with the people I work with, getting back to my exercise and weight loss routine, and on and on and on. There's lots to do after a vacation and typically the scrapbooking of the vacation falls to the bottom of that list. This is ok since I have my thoughts and photos captured and it will all be waiting for me when I'm ready to scrapbook the trip or at least make a photo book or two. I'm so happy that I took the time while I was feeling all the wonderful feelings on vacation to record them, I know these thoughts are stored safely in my composition book and on my video shorts so that I can access the full experience of the vacation when I go to scrapbook it, whenever that might be.
(P.S. I am unable to upload photos right now but will add some later.)
Here are 5 links to other scrapbooking sites and blogs on the subject of vacation scrapbooking:
I am on vacation and I am Scrapbooking the trip while I'm traveling. I have a few videos explaining how I'm using my iPhone and digital camera to record some of my memories. I am also using a composition book to write down things I want to remember.
Have you ever scrapbooked while on vacation? What worked / didn't work for you?
P.S. I'm also blogging via my iPhone! Technology is awesome!
As a scrapbooker, I take a lot of photos. Most of the time I use a Canon point and shoot that I keep in my purse. When I want to share something right away, especially like when I am on vacation, I use my iphone. I live tweaking my iPhone photos in instagram and having those photos feed instantly to my Facebook & Twitter accounts.
Yesterday I went skiing while my husband stayed in town and he and our friends followed along with my instagram photos.
I had what I consider to be a life changing day yesterday. I fell in love with Durango, Colorado. I know that someday I will live here, maybe retirement, maybe as a second home , I'm not sure. I was sure of my intense feelings. I knew I had to record them. Instead of journaling my experience for later Scrapbooking, I shot some videos with my iPhone and uploaded them to You Tube. So when my husband came to pick me up after skiing, he was already fully aware that his sometime impulsive and strong willed wife had made an emotional decision about our future. Whether he is on board is still undecided - he's not quite as impulsive as I am, at least he knows what I was feeling when I was feeling it. As a scrapbooker, if I scrapbook that bug moment and decision in the future, I will be able to watch the videos and tap into my intense emotions that I felt at the time and create a page that captures the raw intensity of my feelings yesterday.
I am excited about using video more on my Scrapbooking to connect me back to the time and place and feelings; and to immediately share with my friends and family.
This Scrapbooking Video is about my old school magnetic scrapbook wedding scrapbook and my modern scrapbook albums and photo books. It is in response to Noell Hymann's Paperclipping Roundtable #103 "Too Precious to Scrapbook" and the connection between what kind of scrapbooker you are in relation to how you planned your wedding.
Welcome to Day 3 of The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge on Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking, today we are visiting District 11:
The Hunger Games: Today we are visiting Rue's District 11 Agriculture. Rue reminded Katniss Everdeen of her little sister, they relaxed together in the woods and Katniss sang to Rue as she tragically died. We are going to use this part of the story as a jumping off point for themes for possible scrapbooking layouts or projects; think of them as story prompts. Our themes for today are agriculture; siblings; relaxing in the great outdoors; and music. Here are some (previously created) pages I made in each of these theme categories:
1. DISTRICT 11 AGRICULTURE: Themes could include growing a garden, layouts about flowers or trees, tree climbing, nature, etc.
2. KATNISS & RUE: The SIBLING CONNECTION: Katniss Everdeen was the older sister and wanted to protect her little sister Primrose from having to participate in The Hunger Games; Katniss volunteers to take her place as tribute and once in the games, finds a connection to Rue from District 11 since she reminds Katniss of her little sister. Pages in this theme could include actual siblings or friends who seem like siblings:
Here's another page that I made about my sister and on the backside in the page protector I keep letters from her and her son:
3. REST AND RELAXATION IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS: I picked some camping layouts and a layout about relaxing in our backyard hammock with a Story People quote that I love:
4. MUSIC: This is the title page for my Music Section of my Library of Memories Scrapbooking Albums and several of the filler pages.
P.S. Check out Taylor Swift's song from The Hunger Games and Ben Fold's song Rockin the Suburbs - I highly recommend both.
Want to play along?
1. Please leave a comment with a link to your layout.
Welcome to Day #2 of The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge Series!
Part 1 of The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge Day 2:
(Psst - Hey Scrapbookers: The videos overlap a bit so you can fast forward a bit through the second one. Improv and scrapbooking and making videos about these concepts are not perfect - and that is OK! I'm not letting technical difficulties keep me from having a bit of fun.)
Part 2 of the video:
SCRAPBOOKING IMPROV TIP: TAKING IT THE WRONG WAY: Think of a word and use it in the wrong way. For example, if some one is talking about dinner reservations you could misinterpret them to mean the kind of reservations or hesitation you might have about bungee jumping. This improvisational comedy technique is known as "taking it the wrong way" and it is a fun exercise to try especially with your kids.
The improv principle of "taking it the wrong way" was the inspiration for today's Hunger Games Challenge. The improv principle of listening and reacting to what your scene partners are saying and the principle of staying in the present moment were also at play when I created this page, as was the improv principle that you don't keep your own ideas "too precious" you go with the flow of the group:
For example: I had a "precious" idea. This morning, I thought I'd start each day with one of the Districts starting with #12 descending down to #1. Each District in The Hunger Games had an industry and I thought I could take inspiration from those industries like fishing, textiles, war, lumber etc. The main character, Katniss Everdeen's home district is #12 and the industry is coal since, in this dystopian post apocalyptic world, it is located in what was once Appalachia in North America. I was sort of deciding about whether to start in at District #1 and work out to #12 or vice versa so I asked my family at breakfast "Should I scrapbook about Lumber or Coal? " just to see if they had any thoughts. {Here's where I went "improv" and discarded my "precious idea" and listened to what my "scene partners" were saying and I reacted to that instead.} To my surprise, they did. They each had different thoughts - my son thought I was talking about Lego's Ninjago named Cole and he brought out the minifig to show me; my daugther thought I was talking about our friend's daughter Nicole; and Charlie, playing along I think, suggested I might be talking about his cousin, Penni Cole. Then I suggested that maybe I was talking about the kind of coal that Santa brings when children are naughty. Here is the collage with text I made in Picasa demonstrating this morning's conversation:
STEP 1: Think of a word you can "take the wrong way" and use it in a layout. You can use a word in its incorrect form. Yesterday I talked about high school English Class with Mrs. Rideout and she did this exercise with us, we had vocabulary words each week and we'd have to write definition appropriate sentences for all of them except one; we'd each have to take a word and use it incorrectly in a sentence. I remember a couple of the sentences quite specificially:
"Hey! Stop that! European all over my shoe."
"The figure skater finished her routine and looked at the judges and whispered to herself hopefully: Benign! Benign!"
It is a fun and silly exercise that is easily applied to scrapbooking. Seriously, try it.
STEP 2: Find Photos that Support Your Wrong Way Word. I think that you are most likely not going to have a photo displaying a word used in the wrong context - although if you do - then kudos to you - use that. More likely, you'll have to get a bit creative with your photo interpretation of how you are using a word incorrectly. This is the time to play, think out side of the box of what you originally took the photo about and use it in a different way. So improv. So fun.
I used all the different definitions of the word coal and found a head shot of each member of my family and created a grid photo collage and then wrote each family member's definition over the photo. Otherwise, all these photos would never had ended up on the same page. To add some consistency, I converted most of the photo collage to black and white but kept a pop of color on a photo of my family at Appalachian Ski Mountain - the original thought behind the word of the day: Coal.
STEP 3: Put your Page Together and Try to Use Embellishments that Support Your Theme. I used a map from our trip to Appalachian Ski Mountain. I also used a bit of patterned paper with a picture of a bird since that refers to the Mockingjays in The Hunger Games books.
STEP 4: SHARE! Post a comment with a link to your page, I would love to see it and hear about how you used a word incorrectly! There is a flickr group called "The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenges" so you can post your layout there if you don't have a blog. Can't wait to see what you make!
If you wish to support this blog and learn more about scrapbooking and improvisational comedy and how they can work together and/or catch up on The Hunger Games, then check out these affiliate links:
Welcome Scrapbookers to The Hunger Games Kiss and Tell Scrapbooking Challenge #1: Main Characters. Let the Games Begin!
Over the past week, I've been fully immersed into the dystopian world of Katniss Everdeen and The Hunger Games. I couldn't help but notice that there were so many similarities between the main character, Katniss Everdeen, and myself. Our nuclear family units growing up were identical, even the personalities of the family members, like our late fathers were hunters, our mothers worked in healthcare, and our little sisters had a fondness for stray cats. The similarities didn't stop there, we went from a small town to the big city all by ourselves, we are claustrophobic, and we both love scrapbooking. Yes, scrapbooking. Apparently there is a little hope in dystopian District 12 in the form of some post traumatic scrapbooking and gratitude journaling. I had to create something that showed the commonalities I noticed while I was engrossed in this trilogy. Then I started thinking of all sorts of scrapbooking themes and ideas related to The Hunger Games and I thought it might be fun to host some scrapbooking challenges. I don't have any prizes to offer but I do think you will have a lot of fun playing along with me. {Pssst. If you know of any scrapbooking companies that might like to sponsor some prize give-aways on my blog for this series, please leave a comment and send them my way.} With or without prizes, I can't wait to get started.
Let me explain my dystopian-scrapbooking concept, first watch The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge #1 Video:
Want to play along? Here's how:
Step 1. CHOOSE A FICTIONAL CHARACTER AND COMPARE WITH A REAL LIFE PERSON. I chose myself and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. You could choose yourself or another person you love and pair them up with a fictional character,it doesn't have to be from The Hunger Games. For example, if I were to do this for members of my family, I might compare my son Mac with the No, David books by David Shannon; I might compare my daughter Allison with the ever creative and social Olivia; and I might compare my husband Charlie to (hmmmmm) I'm not sure, maybe Jimmy Buffet or Alec Baldwin or I'm not sure; I know those aren't fictional characters - but I think celebrity personalities could count. If you are having a hard time figuring out who to choose, probably start with yourself - you know yourself best and think back to a character from a book, movie, or tv show, or even celebritiy personality, with whom you really identified with or felt a connection to, or even someone you aspire to be like.
STEP 2. CHOOSE COMPARISON PHOTOS: I found some photos of The Hunger Games' main character, Katniss Everdeen, on the internet and some photos of myself at about her age from the 80s. I picked one full body shot with weapons and one head shot with a more serious face for each of us. I scanned in my old photos. Then I created a photo collage in Picasa. I would have put Katniss all on the left and me all on the right except that I wanted our faces to be facing in and I don't think Picasa has the mirror flip feature so I mixed them up, I actually think it is a bit more interesting this way. If you are playing along, find some photos of yourself or the real life person you are using for this comparison challenge and then do a google search for the fictional character you are comparing with your real life person.
Step 3: COMPARE AND CONTRAST: This part of the process sort of reminds me of high school English class when we had to write an essay comparing and contrasting something, anything, my senior English teacher Mrs. Rideout was always giving us these types of assignments. I remember creating a yearbook where we used characters from the stories we'd read and fit them into senior superlatives like "most likely to succeed" and "most popular" etc. I created a table in word perfect listing the similarities between the main character of The Hunger Games and myself, it really was funny to see our common threads. If you have a computer available, create a table to compare your real life and your fictional character; if you don't have a computer handy, just hand draw a table and handwrite in the blanks; in the alternative, you could go the high school "compare and contrast" essay route,but trust me, making a table with bullet points is much quicker and easier {and you are less likely to get all those red marks on the page when some persnicketly grammar policeman sees it} .
STEP 4: CHOOSE SCRAPBOOKING PRODUCTS TO SUPPORT YOUR THEME. Once I had my table and photos printed, I knew I wanted to create a 8.5x11 page rather than a 12x12 page. Because my table and photos were 7x7.75, I knew I didn't have a lot of space for embellishments or even the title. I wanted the photos and the table to shine and for the rest to support my theme. I looked through my black patterened paper and found some patterns that I otherwise thought were ugly but seemed to work for these theme. Then I went about finding letters to create a title with, the main focus there was that I needed smaller letters. I couldn't find my white or black smaller letters, so I used bright blue and green mostly because they fit, but also because they were a bit discordant with the rest of the layout, which in this case supports the theme, and I used alternating colors mainly because that's all I had left, but I think that the use of two colors also supports my comparison of two people. I didn't want to use a big flower or arrow or butterfly or other typical scrapbooking embellishment, so instead I chose to "jazz up" my page with some machine stitching. That game me the idea for the title: "Common Threads" so I stitched over my title letters as well and along the bottom of the photos with the zig zag stitch under the head shot photos. Not every scrapbooking paper, embellishment, or letters have to have a meaning, but it is sort of awesome when they can support your theme visually. Don't over-think this process, use what you have. Often times, the real meaning of the embellishments or design of the page that I have used doesn't really hit me until after I have made the page; That's OK, because I really believe that at some gut level, my subconscious was making connections that my thinking brain hadn't caught up with yet. Just go with it. Don't fret over the embellishment part of the page, if you've already done the thinking about the story of the comparison, the rest of the page is going to come together easily. Remember, this part is supposed to be the fun part, so have fun!
STEP 5: SHARE YOUR WORK! I would love to see what you create with this challenge, please leave a comment with a link to your page. I have set up a Flickr Group called The Hunger Games Scrapbooking Challenge. Please feel free to join and upload your project and/or leave a link in the comments to your blog or online gallery.
If you wish to support this blog, then please click on one of the following links for cool scrapbooking and The Hunger Games related products at Amazon:
Ok, I am sufficiently inspired, I'm going to go work on my own Project Life and should have a post up soon.
Ok, I was going to stop there but I had to share this before I go:
I did call a "family meeting with homework" right here in my scrapbooking room and instructed each of my family members to pick a journaling card and write whatever they want about themselves, what they are doing right now, or their past week. I told them they could write whatever they wanted and could even draw a picture if they wished. They were all happy to oblige which was a bit surprising because I sometimes get eye rolls with some forced scrapbooking family involvement; but writing on the Project Life Journaling Cards was a short enough task and I gave them the choice of writing whatever they wanted and I think they all thought that was pretty cool. Here's what they came up with:
The journaling cards are:
1. Everyday Life by Husband Charlie: "My wife is on a computer in one room. My son in another and my daughter is on her laptop in yet another room. Meanwhile, I am reading an old fashioned paper newspaper."
2. The authentically distressed tag from my minivan being in the shop for repairs.
3. Here is the Story by my daughter Allison: She opted to go for my "you can draw something" suggestion and the rose is a nod to the herb, vegetable, and flower garden we've been planting all weekend.
4. Memories by my son Mac: "I am playing digital Pokemon on the Pokemon website and I want to play now Mom." He added a smiley face so as not to be too snarky and to better his chances of getting back to his game.
I'll have my full Week 8 of Project Life up soon. Meantime, if you wish to support this blog and stock up on Project Life supplies, here are some links:
P.S. If you are on the fence about any of the Project Life products, scoop them up while they last, they sell out fast at Amazon; it looks like the Cobalt Edition of the Project Life Core Kit is the only one still available right now.
Holey Moley. I did not want to like dystopia novels. I first heard the word "dystopia" from scrapbooker Wendy Smedley, from Simple Scrapbooks, Ella Publishing and Big Picture Scrapbooking, say that she was reading dystopia novels along with her teenaged boys and that the novels were about post apocalytic worlds. I remember thinking I was glad my kids weren't old enough to like something so seemingly horrible. I am not a fan of horror movies or stories since they tend to stay with me and I end up dreaming about them and I just prefer funny to creepy.
Then, a few weeks ago, we took the whole family to see the inspirational and happy movie Big Miracle with Drew Barrymore. Apparently there was a re-release of Star Wars which is why we saw all those storm troopers at the movies. Before the big show we sat through the previews. The trailer for The Hunger Games crawled up inside my head and didn't leave. It looked horrible. I had no interest in seeing it. I even commented to Charlie how I wished they wouldn't show such awful things before family movies about whales. But. I couldn't stop thinking about it! I even went to You Tube to watch the trailer a few more times just to figure out what was hooking me in.
That's a page from my Project Life Album, of course I'll have to put the thumbnails of The Hunger Games in for this week!
And then, one day another lawyer at my office had a copy of The Hunger Games or Catching Fire in the lunch room and as soon as I saw it I said "Oh! Its that movie! That horrible movie!" Kelly is also a fan of happy and funny tending on the side of dorky - for example, we are both big fans of Sue Heck from The Middle; but Kelly quickly knew exactly what I was talking about and said "I didn't want to like it either! But is so good!" She convinced me that I needed to read it and brought in The Hunger Games the next day; I think that was this past Tuesday and I read it in one sitting from 4 pm - 10 pm. She then brought in the next two and I finished Catching Fire in about 6 hours too and I'm half way through the last one now, Mockingjay. I haven't made a scrapbook page all week because I've been in full dystopia mode all week.
If you'd like to support this blog (which is normally about scrapbooking) and check out the page turning dystopia novels, click on one of the links below:
Probably to counterbalance all the death and destruction of dystopia and District 12 and The Hunger Games, my daughter and I planted a flower garden and planted a bunch of vegetable seeds yesterday so here are some pictures of our garden:
The dystopia novels aren't all that horrible as I originally thought; they are a bit hopeful and do make you think and somehow I couldn't not read them. I'll be in the line for the movie when it comes out next month.
I took an intro to Improvisational Comedy class last summer with Toby Martini and while taking the six week class, I had a spark of creativity that went beyond the class, learning the principles of improvisational comedy didn't necessarily make me funny, but it gave me a new way to think about my creative process and applying these principles to my process of scrapbooking has been a revolution for me. I am more prolific than ever, in October I made 40 layouts in 7 days and last month I made 60 layouts. Making a million scrapbook layouts is not the goal. Being more present and authentic in my creative process and product is. Telling better stories is the goal. Spending less time on stuff that doesn't matter is the goal. Spending more time on what makes my heart and soul sing is the goal. I'm there and I want to share.
In Improvisational Comedy, one of the first principles you learn is to be present. To listen to what your scene partner is saying and to respond to that, not to be thinking about what you are going to say next, but to be listening and then just opening your mouth and saying whatever pops into your head. Improv Business Consultant Marcia McGilley of Limelight Presentations says "I've also been a stage actor in plays, infomercials and 'improv' comedy shows. Improv is short for 'improvisational.' That's a fancy word which means thinking on your feet. No scripts or lines to memorize, you just say whatever pops into your head in a given situation. Improv was great training for real-life situations in business and consulting. I know how valuable it is as one of your communication skills."
This principle of being present, listening and saying whatever pops into your head can be applied to the process of scrapbooking. Think of what that little voice in your head is saying or what is on your mind or heart right now. What has you worried or excited or experiencing any heightened emotion right now. Listen. It is there. Scrapbook about that. Don't pre-plan it. Don't write it down in a list of things to scrapbook later. Just scrapbook it right now with what you have available to you right now. Even if that means it won't be as awesome as you think it would be / could be with better photos, better embellishments, or better more thought out writing. Chuck all that planning out the window. Remember the Nike ads? Just do it. Right Now. You have 15 minutes to spill your guts on the page. Don't edit. Be real. Say it (write it down) before you think much about it. Don't worry about grammar. Don't worry about anything that you think it should be, just go with what it is, what is in you that wants to get out. Listen. Listen and then Go!
Here is an example of what I mean by Listening to What Your Heart is Telling You, Being Present, and Being Improv about how you respond to that in a scrapbooking kind of way: (Hey - ppssst - blog reader - You can skip over this part or skim it - as I am a bit "improv" in my description - in other words, I am long winded - I'll highlight some important stuff). Today is Valentine's Day, I intended to make a scrapbook page about Valentine's Day or at least the theme of love. I started the page yesterday in anticipation of today being Valentine's Day - check yesterday's posts for the videos in which I made that and other projects. But, this morning when I woke up, I was thinking about Saturday Night Live and about the Grammy's Music Award Show, about Whitney Houston's death and about how Paul McCartney did the last number at the Grammy's; about how music and certain songs can instantly take us to a time and place and bring back memories; and about how the show Saturday Night Live also does that for me. When I see or think about an SNL sketch, I am also reminded of the time in my life when I first saw it. For example, the Coneheads and Gilda Radner bring me back to the 70s when I used to spend Saturday Nights at my Grandma's house watching the Barbara Mandrell Show, Love Boat and Fantasy Island, and then if I was still awake and Grandma would let us, we'd watch some Saturday Night Live, I don't remember it too specifically, but I knew it was cool. In the 80s I can remember my friends in AP Calculus Class (my most hated class), imitating Dana Carvey as the Church Lady - "Now isn't THAT special?" In college I used to spend the weekends with friends who were married with very young kids and we loved Kevin Nealon "I'll Pump (clap) You Up" and Mike Meyers in Wayne's World - I'm pretty sure Dana Carvey was in both of those sketches too (without googling it I think I'm getting his name right). When I first met my husband and we were dating, we'd often watch SNL after dates and that one night in August 1997 or 1998(?) when we turned to NBC at approximately 11:43 (so we knew SNL had started and we were on the right channel) and we were horrified that they were trying to do a sketch about Princess Diana being in a car accident and then slowly realizing it wasn't SNL, it was real. And now, my kids and I love Andy Samberg and his SNL shorts like Lazer Cats and Space Olympics. The show has been a constant in my life. It is like an old friend who knew me way back when. I am reminded of the different people I watched the show with depending on the sketch and when it aired. There are Deep Thoughts, like the ones Jack Handy used to do (miss those): 1. How powerful it was when Paul Simon sang The Boxer with the FDNY behind him right after 9/11 - I still get a little teary just thinking about how deep the emotion was at that moment; 2. How tender Chris Farley was when he did the awkward interview of Paul McCartney and he asked about whether it was true when McCartney sang "The love you take is equal to the love you make" and how Paul McCartney closed last weekend's Grammy Awards with that line and how the Beatles and Rolling Stones and U2 and Madonna have been musical constants and all have been on SNL (well at least members of the Beatles have been on the show). Music and this long running show of Saturday Night Live have been a constant in my life as I was born in the 70s and that show started in 1975 when my parents got divorced and that show has been the backdrop to my Saturday nights for as long as I can remember. If I never scrapbooked about something as random as seemingly random as Saturday Night Live, my story would be incomplete; but more importantly, if today, when I took time to scrapbook, if I didn't scrapbook about Saturday Night Live because it was on my heart and mind, whatever else I did would have been forced and not as real, it would not make an impression on me; whereas if I scrapbook what I am passionate about right now, chances are in 20 years when I look back at that page, I'll be taken back to today and that page will be a better memory trigger for me of time and place, like when you hear an old song, than if I hadn't been present and listened and then scrapbooked using these improv principles. Improv will make the memories more authentic and real. There will be more of me in what I create. I think this goes beyond scrapbooking; improvisational comedy principles can be applied to any creative process.
Here are 3.5 videos that you can find on YouTube about the process of applying improvisational comedy principles to scrapbooking and my actual process:
1. Watch as I use improvisational comedy principles in my scrapbooking creative process:
I use the principles of improvisational comedy for my video making too - I just press record and talk, there is no preparation and I say what is on my heart and mind, I am in the present moment, not thinking about the next thing I'm going to say - this is improv - it isn't always funny or interesting - but it is real and the more real you are, the better it is in an improv way.
1.5 Here's my improv fix for the 20 minute video that wouldn't upload to YouTube - This is The Middle (which is also a great show by the way) - I tried to get it to a point where there isn't too much overlap - but it is not perfect - it is improv! And just ask Seth Godin about how he feels about shipping when it is not completely perfect - I'm pretty sure he'd say ship it. So here's the fix:
2. Here is part 2: (Darn it! There is a gap between #1 and #2 so I'm going to upload a 1.5 to bridge the gap).
3. SNL Mini Book Cover & Applying the Improv Concept of Using What You Have and Getting It Done Now:
If you are interested in learning more about applying the concepts from improvisational comedy to scrapbooking or to any other part of your creative process, please leave a comment and/or email me. I am working on some projects that will expand on this concept and I need some guinea pigs.
Meantime, if you wish to support my blog through the Amazon Affiliate Program, you can check out these books and Paul McCartney's new album, Kisses on the Bottom (which sounds like an improv concept of "taking it the wrong way") that dropped today:
Sing it Paul: "And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make. "
I think you you can substitute the word love for memory keeping or the creative process; in other words, what you get out of your scrapbooking or memory keeping hobby is what you put in to it - so put good stuff in OK?
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