A couple more You Rock layouts!

Here are a couple of the layouts I worked on last night while scrapbooking with my friends. I have more details about the layouts on my Close To My Heart Art page.













This layout was created using the artwork on the back of the You Rock My Stickease...did you know there were pictures on the back of the Stickease?! Check it out, because this LO was fast, easy, and oh so cute!

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A Library of Memories Week 1

I'm feeling pretty good about the fact that I'm only a few days behind in my Library of Memories class; I finished week 1 yesterday! My assignment was to complete a personal page assessment and draw some conclusions based on my current pages. What I found most striking during this exercise is the fact that I really don't have that many albums/layouts considering (1) how long I've been scrapbooking and (2) how many supplies I have! I've always known that I'm a slow scrapbooker, but this is ridiculous! Don't get me wrong, I'm not putting pressure on myself to complete X amount of layouts each month or year, but I do realize that I need to step it up if I'm going to tell the stories that I want to tell before I forget them all!

During the Sticky Note Exercise, I also realized that 44% of my current layouts are travel related. I have entire albums devoted to trips to NYC, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Disneyland. I have theme albums that do contain a few layouts about the people I love, but the rest of the layouts focus on the places I've been. Now, this wouldn't be a problem if I had more layouts that are all about us. I'm counting the cats in my "All About Us" category, so 14% of the layouts are about us. If I take the cats out, then only 6% are about me and/or Neal. That is pathetic! I want to record our stories and the funny things that happen in our lives. It can't all be about the places we have been...especially since most of those trips didn't include Neal!

Finally, I discovered that I do a good job of journaling the "what" and "where" of my pages, and I usually name the "who" and "when". My area of weakness is the "why"! Why are these moments in time so important to me? Why am I taking the time to document this memory? What was I feeling and why does it matter? Wow! These exercises really got me thinking. So, our final assignment was to create a "Least Common Layout" and mine was an "Us--Why" page.



As I am incredibly far behind in my Design Your Life class, I decided to use an asymmetry sketch from week 2. It made me feel good to complete two assignments at once. I've already scrapbooked our hike, so my focus for this layout was why I'm so thankful that Neal joined me in becoming more fit and how days such as these strengthen our relationship. This layout is simple with a clean design, but it says a lot in a few short words. I will complete more layouts like this in the future!

As I finished the Personal Page Assessment, I created a few goals for myself: include journaling from the heart, always answer the "why," and showcase my relationship with Neal more often. On a product level, I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many stamps and embellishments, so I will include some type of embellishment on EVERY LO and will include stamping as often as possible. For this LO, I added a simple bookplate (Z1277) and stamped the sentiment from Soul Mates (D1254). I'm so excited about where this process is going to take me in developing my creativity!

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Finished Photo Freedom & Started LOM!

I finally finished Photo Freedom this morning and started the Library of Memories class tonight! My first step is to complete a personal assessment. The first question asks about my scrapbooking strengths. I honestly had a hard time with this because I'm such a scraplifter! I think my greatest strength is my photography and then finding a layout to scraplift that will fit my needs. I'm growing in my journaling skills as I become more confident in telling stories that matter instead of simply recording events. The next question had me focus on my weaknesses. Again, I bring up scraplifting because I rarely design my own pages, but I don't know if this is a bad thing. I may not be the most creative or publishing-worthy individual, but I'm able to take other people's great ideas and make them my own. I love my pages and the stories I tell; plus, I didn't spend hours coming up with original ideas, so it leaves me more time to scrapbook! I love the CTMH How-To books for this very reason; they save me time and make me look creative when I'm not! It makes me happy, so I guess that's all that matters. Perhaps I should put as a weakness that I'm the world's sloooooooowest scrapbooker...LOL!

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