simple

Is everyone as busy as I am in these wonderful summer months? I love that summer is full of so many wonderful events and family gatherings. I take more photos in summer than the rest of the year combined. The problem? I am so busy enjoying the outdoors and have so little time to scrap! This summer, I am giving myself a "break" and finding ways to get more done when I actually find time to sit down at my scrapbook table.

One of my favorite scrapbookers is Ali Edwards. My work ends up looking nothing like hers but I take every article, every blog post and find some way of incorporating her ideas into my work. A few months ago she wrote an article in CK telling us to stop putting so much pressure on ourselves to come up with new page layouts each and every time. Sure, it's important to some to always play, design and explore but why not take it easy some days too? If you have a particular layout that worked for you in the past why not bring it back using different photos and paper?

I tried ths approach and she was right! The page didn't look like a copy of the previous page because when I actually put my "touches" on it, it looked much different.

Another great idea that Ali has helped make popular is using divided page protectors in your scrapbook albums. (See CK March 2008) Many of us can get bogged down with the number of photos we feel the need to scrapbook. I love the idea of making a main page that showcases the best photo of the moment and journaling to explain the moment. Using photo sleeves to hold the rest of the photos allows you to put all those supporting images in the page that follows.

I was able to make this page about my son's Kindergarten graduation using this idea. The photos of that day weren't the greatest and I wasn't exactly excited to scrapbook them even though I loved what the images were sharing. Sliding them into the page protectors freed up my time and a lot of guilt. June 2nd photos done. Now off to finish the rest of the month...