The Undones: Removing a Roadblock

Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans.  John Lennon

I didn't make much progress this week with my Undone pile. (see above quote)

Partly because I'm recovering from a few busy weeks and partly because I've been playing more Wii than usual. What can I say, Gabriel is very persuasive.  He convinced me to play this morning when he said, "Mom, you and I are the best Wii team ever." How could I say no?

Anyway, I mentioned last week that the large scope of Ben's baby book and its "specialness" was a problem for me.  Fortunately, something clicked this morning and I decided to focus on the stories I want to tell and remember about Ben's first few days.  Stories like how he got his name and how Gabriel loved having snacks in my hospital room. Now, I feel inspired again. It's funny how shifting my focus from pictures to story made this book much more exciting to me.

I immediately went downstairs and got my supplies...



...and started scrapping on my kitchen counter (that's why there's so much light!).



I didn't get much done but now I'm happy with my plan. Here's what I have to share today.







It doesn't feel like a drudgery anymore. What a relief!

As I continue with this book, I'm going to think about the stories that are missing, make some notes and then get the photos.  I'm going to keep using the products I have but I'll probably add to the stash whenever I feel like it. I don't care if it's all matchy-matchy, I'll make it work.

One last thing, digging into my "Undones" has shown me the value of regularly looking at unfinished projects.  The simple act of looking at the projects that are days, weeks, months or even years old has been inspiring and has pushed me to create things I'm really proud of. I hope I'm showing that to you and inspiring you to look at your own pile of Undones with fresh eyes and renewed inspiration.


Thanks for stopping by.

zove

Cathie

the Undones: Ben's Baby Book

note: on Thursdays I blog about projects that aren't quite done.  Maybe they needed some journaling, or photos or both.  I call them "the Undones" and I have a box full of good intentions. In this series, I pick a project, finish it and share the results. I'd love it if you would play along and share a link to your newly finished project in the comments.
 
A project that has been weighing on my mind lately has been Ben's baby book.  It seems wrong that I have his first birthday scrapped but not his very first days.

So, what's the problem? Well, there are actually 2 problems.

1. It's too special. You know, that fear of messing it all up because it's important. It's silly, I know, but I think it's a very common obstacle for scrapbookers.

2. It's a big-ish project that is going to take me many hours to finish. These kind of projects are easy to put off as I don't have a large block time for scrapping.  

The solution for both of these problems is to just get started. So that's what I did at The Paperie's most recent crop night.  I had all my supplies and pictures in a plastic box so I brought them and got started.

Here's what I have so far...

























I'm really surprised how much work I did in a few hours. I think it's a good start but obviously there is a lot more I want to do.  There's not a lot of embellishing and there's very little journaling.

I'm using the We R Memory Keepers 5.5 x 7.5 album, the Twig collection from My Little Yellow Bicycle and the 8x8 Lickety Slippers variety pack.  I used them for my Week In the Life album and I loved how that turned out so I figure these products will work again.

I'll keep working on it and post my progress on Thursdays until I get it finished.

Thanks for stopping by!

zove

Cathie

3 tips to get that layout done!

hey, hey!

It's Thursday and that means the weekend is in sight - yays! And it's a long weekend too - double yays!

But  I digress.  Today is about getting those pages and projects done and I have a couple of tips that might help with the most common roadblocks.

Problem 1: "There's something missing but I don't know what!"
Solution: Take a picture of your layout, upload it to your computer and have a look.  Sometimes just looking through my camera view finder is enough for me to see that something isn't right.  The smaller image size makes it easy to examine your whole page for balance and flow.

When I took a picture of this page, I could see right away that I needed more circles and I had to fix that title. Now I'm much happier with this page.






Problem 2: "I don't know what to journal."
Solution: Imagine what you would say to some one if you showed them the page without any journaling. This always helps me figure out my story. You don't need to write a lot - even one sentence can be just what a page needs to finish it off. Then make the time to write it down.

That's what I have to do with this page...



Problem 3: "I don't have enough room for my journaling."
Solution: Make your journaling a design element right from the start.  It's that easy. You can even write it out before you get started to see how much space you need. Just leave space for your story and you will write it down.  Most people can't leave a blank space on their page.

That's the problem with this page.  I have a story I want to tell but I don't know where to put it. If I had made the journaling a part of the design I wouldn't have this problem.  So, I'll either hide the journaling or pull the page apart and try again.



I hope these tips help you finish some your own "undone" projects. If you have any questions or any tips of your own to share, please leave a comment.

Wishing you some crafty time this weekend.

zove

Cathie

note: on Thursdays I blog about projects that aren't quite done.  Maybe they needed some journaling, or photos or both.  I call them "the Undones" and I have a box full of good intentions. In this series, I pick a project, finish it and share the results. I'd love it if you would play along and share a link to your newly finished project in the comments.

the Undones: Birthday Book (part 1)

Welcome back!

Last week, I started this series about unfinished projects that I call "the Undones".  We all have projects that we start with great intentions but never finish for one reason or another.  In my case, I have a box in my space full of good intentions.  Things I want to do but not "right now".  Maybe I'm bored of the project because it's taking too long to finish, I don't have the right supplies, I lost direction or maybe real life gets in the way. Whatever. When the box is totally full, I go through it and try to decide what to do with the projects. 

This week, I tried to finish the Amy Tangerine Day Book I was working on to celebrate Ben's first birthday.  On the actual day, I used Ali Edwards' Day in the Life approach to document what the day was like. I made notes during the day and used Post-It notes for things I wanted to add later. You can see a blue note reminding me to heat emboss a print of Ben's hand.  I can't find my white embossing powder and need to buy more.  Ben's handprint is going to be a little bigger now than it was a month ago but it's better than nothing, right?

By bedtime, the book was mostly done but still undone.  My goal was to have it finished to share today but alas I'm still not done. I'll show you some of what I have and then finish it up and share the rest next week.


































I think this is more than enough photos for one blog post.

So, as you can see it's nothing fancy.  Lots of journaling and photos and some emphemera - just the way I like it!

You're probably wondering what's "undone".  Well, the cover isn't done, and the back page isn't done and I have to emboss his hand print. I have ideas for what I want to do - I just have to do it.

Thanks for stopping by!

zove

Cathie