LOAD215 TIPS FOR THE WORKING GIRL...and we are all working girls!

Let me start by saying - working 5 days a week (not four...or three...or two) is new to me in the past 3 years.  I was blessed with more controllable time margins in my life when our sons were small. I KNOW that every mother is a working mother. The days are long and exhausting but the years are short and fly by fast.  Guess what? I didn't get to scrapbook as much as I wanted back then either! Still, working full time has changed my schedule and my previous "full time job" is now my "second shift" one. What am I thinking signing up for LOAD215?  Right?

I am here to encourage each one of you that thinks "I do NOT have time" to make a layout a day.  I am here to tell you it can be done!  I am scrappy proof.  Our fearless leader-"Lainfusious" has a very freeing style of scrapbooking.  Scrap what you want...when you want...and in the order that makes you happy.  Not every page has to be "perfect". How many times does a page never get made for fear of not getting it right? As Elsa would sing..."LET IT GO".  How many memories have I lost because I couldn't commit to getting it down on the page?  

For those who really love this art from the actual "artist's perspective" -we are sometimes crippled by getting it just right. Scrapbook pages are meant to be fun and meaningful... not stressful. I will be eternally grateful to Lain for freeing me from the "I will never be caught up" curse. Lain says I scrap what I want to scrap...and she is the boss of LOAD!   I wait for inspiration and tell the story on my heart.  Now, I get it down...and can always add (or remove) more later. Lain says we can even use the same picture twice...like these examples.  

For me...the JOURNALING is my FAVORITE part (they have tried to have me committed but no one will take me). I know many of you fear that part the most.  I'd like to invite you ask me ANY journaling questions here.  If you have ever dug through an old box of photos and wondered who, what, when, where and why...then we need to "chat". I'd love to help you. 

Have you ever had a story, but didn't have a picture of the moment?  Tell the story anyway. One of my favorite pages was a bit of a "Red Herring" story of my Dad "going to jail". 

Now that the story is down - my kids can even go back and try to find newspaper articles related (I have not done that, yet.)

What if I don't seem to connect with the prompt? That is OKAY! Remember...it is your scrapbook.  The prompts are meant to be fun.  They have uncovered stories I didn't know I had in me and I have found connections with some of the greatest gals on the planet. Girls (and guys are welcome, too) who love this medium of creating and this method of preserving the days of our lives.  

Now for my tips for the working girl:

1.  Have a sketch ready.   I don't always use them but having one gives me comfort if I am stuck.

2. Prompts go live at 12am EST in the US.  That is 11pm in my time zone. If I am awake - I watch and then ponder myself to sleep. If I have a quick idea...I get it started (or done) to minimize my time the next day.  

3. You are in charge of your layouts! If I have a deadline (like my son graduating in May 2015 and I need his books ready for viewing)...I scrap what I want and need to scrap... and then do my best to twist, mold and stretch that prompt to fit the page I made.  You would be surprised how often it works. Prompt matching is always optional - but I enjoy it so I make it my mission to make it fit.

4. Forgive yourself if you miss a day. I am an over-achieving, word wrangling, people pleasing, first born child.  I am driven to complete a layout a day... but in LOAD1013...life interrupted...and I just couldn't complete every day. Life happens...and death. Family comes first. Still- when I counted- I still managed 18 or 19/28 layouts.  Did I really fail LOAD?  Not meeting my personal goal is not the only measure of success.

5. Prep a story: Journal a story ahead of time...and use it when the prompt or the right mood strikes.

6. Try something new that increases your speed. Sketches, templates, "scrap-lifting" (totally encouraged...but do give a shout out to the "artist who inspired you" as it shows good manners and kindness), put "kits together" from your stash with photos and last but not least...KEEP IT SIMPLE. I am a huge fan of simple layouts where the photos and the stories are the stars.  I adore supplies - but like any great accessory- they should compliment and not be the "star"(just my opinion... you get to write your own rules).

7. Change mediums! What? Why not? Give Digi a try if you are a paper scrapper (simple apps are out there and great for a traveling scrapper).  Give paper a try if you are Digi scrapper and need to do a layout a day while traveling for work but your PSE is on the home computer. Take a "Smash" book and a handful of supplies and photos...it works. I always say LOAD drove me to Digital Scrapbooking and I haven't looked back.  I haven't given up my traditional supplies, either!   Here at ScrapHappy...we  all live in harmony. Traditional Scrappers.... Digi Divas... Project Lifers...we all share, play nice, encourage and inspire each other.  Some of us spell COLOR  differently...and we love the diversity. We use all the COLOURS in the box and make beautiful things together.

8. Don't let anything (or anyone) steal your joy! This is a special neighborhood in cyberspace.  Only encouraging words, please...and we do love "comments"!  If someone asks for a critique...that is different...after all...there are experts in our midst. Don't let one missed time deadline discourage you.  When you look at your "stack" at the end of the LOAD, your gratitude cup will overflow.

9. Include YOUR stories, too. Your loved ones want to know about you, too.  I really "met" Lain through "Your Story Matters". I had rows of albums and my heart and voice was on every page - but there was almost nothing about me (unless it was an anniversary) and I was rarely in the photos.  Stuck for a page idea? Tell YOUR story.  It does matter. 

10. Relax.  You are going to exhausted on 02/28/15 - but it is the best kind of tired. At the end...if you have only completed one page...you win!  You will, also, have 28 ideas to refer back to and more layouts than you will have time to view. 

One last thing... "The Stack" is our pile of finished pages or digi-images. It is a quick snapshot of all we accomplished during load. We post them on the last day. I hear there has been a resurgence in the popularity of look of "Pin-up" girls...you know the curvy ones from the 1940's? They were immortalized in war films...and "stacked" referred to certain physical female attributes. Scrappers come in all ages, shapes and sizes...but at the end...we are all "Stacked". (wink) Here is my stack from  LOAD214. I was working on Sr. Pictures and an album for my niece.There is a real mix of pages.

I am glad you are here.  Thanks for taking the time to visit me.  "Once Upon a Time" is going to be great! I can't wait to read your stories. 

Valerie 

(Valerie's Point of View on Flickr)