It’s a bit awkward answering so many questions about myself, but we had a good time, and we filled up the entire night with these questions! Feel free to watch the recording.

So many of you have been asking for tutorials on Photoshop, especially for digital techniques for photos, so today’s episode is one version of a technique I use all the time.

This one is for Premium Subscribers. You can learn more about the Premium Subscription by visiting the Membership Information Page.

Amy requested that we have a Q&A session during Paperclipping Live. I can go with that idea! I’ll also have a layout ready to prepare because there is likely to be some extra time.

So, if you have a question you’ve been curious to ask (or perhaps you did ask and I accidentally skipped over it) this is your chance. I would love it if you leave your questions in a comment on this post, but I’ll take questions during the show, too.

Thanks!

This Week’s Video Tutorial

The Premium Subscribers will have their tutorial later this evening. If you’ve been waiting for the next free one (I’m sorry, I know it’s been a while), we’ve already shot the video for it and it will be ready this coming weekend, hopefully Sunday evening.

This Week’s Topic

We’re finishing up the Vacation Stories series this week. Look for the next steps and layouts on Wednesday and Thursday.

Paperclipping Live

Well, I’m trying to finish up that Disney album. Somehow I thought I’d have about three hours to work on it today–so far it’s almost time to get the kids from school and I haven’t had a chance to touch my scrapbooking supplies.

Maybe I’ll take advantage of that little bit of time on Tuesday night. Or if you have any requests that don’t require much planning on my part (no time today or tomorrow), leave a comment and let me know what you want to see.

Either way, we’ll start at 6:30pm PST. If you want to join us tomorrow night but are unsure of the time zone difference, look for your city on this website and then compare it to my city, which is Phoenix.

Remember to register for Skype (it’s free) if you’d like to call in to the show.

Challenges

Thanks to Lesley (”Hungry Heffy”), we will start having monthly challenges based on the tutorials and blog articles. The first challenge will start at the beginning of September and will link back to Aug. topics.

Tracy Burtt, owner of The Treasure Box Club, sent me two of her recent kits and asked me to review them on Paperclipping.com. If you are a regular attendee of Paperclipping Live, then you’ve already seen me pull out and share all the items of the kits.

Here are the layouts I made with products from each of the kit. You can see them more detail by clicking here.

A Great Scrapbooking Kit Should Have Added Value Above Other Scrapbook Sources

What makes you decide to buy a kit when there are so many venues competing for your business? Added value.

Here are some examples of added value a kit could offer and how The Treasure Box Club Kit stacks up:

1. Unique items from outside of the scrapbooking industry. Gorgeous fabric. Vintage stuff. Foreign papers. Hand-made items.

The Treasure Box Club kits had some cool stuff, like game spinners from Tim Holtz and a great time-related transparency from Creative Imaginations. But there was nothing unusual in these kits. Everything was from within the scrapbooking industry, which may or may not be a big concern for many of us.

2. Financial savings. The items may be available in my local store, but if I can get it for less money by being in a club, then it might be worth it.

This is one of the biggest reasons to buy kits from The Treasure Box Club. The papers come in bulk from just one or two companies so you get a lot of stuff for a lower price than what most kits go for.

You’re also going to save money with this kit if you have Quickutz. The Treasure Box Club offers exclusive discounts on fonts and shapes each month that coordinate with the kits’ themes.

3. Unique combination of products. Sometimes a designer surprises me with their combination choices and I want to try that choice on myself. This is the highlight of many kit clubs.

I was really surprised to see that the patterned papers in the Treasure Box Club are all from just one or two companies–even from the same line. In the birthday-themed kit, there were five or so pieces of polka-dot papers. They were the exact same patterns, but in different colors. That part was disappointing for me. At least they were two-sided papers, though, so that helped with the variety.

I found out that it is because the kits use bulk packages from one or two lines that the kits are so much less expensive than others. It’s one of the rare kits that is priced at less than retail. So I guess there is some give-and-take. Which is more important to you? Variety of lines and patterns or the cost?

4. Scrapbooking support or inspiration. The support can be through challenges, an online community, or instruction.

The Treasure Club Kit offers samples and instructions for what you can do with your kit. In fact, with each kit, you will get 26 pages worth of directions on how to make either twenty 8×8 pages or three 2-page layouts. For this reason, and because the papers are from coordinated lines and are easy to match, I think this kit is perfect for scrapbookers who struggle to come up with their own designs.

If you don’t like to copy someone else’s designs, then it is really a matter of whether you like the types of products they carry–they pick good stuff, in my opinion–and whether you’re more interested in savings, unique items or combinations, and online community challenges, as opposed to instruction.

Flexibility

If you think this kit is what you’re looking for, there is one other benefit that I really like. It has a flexible system. If you don’t like one of the kits, you can opt out and skip that month. And, you don’t have to commit to buying a certain amount of kits to get the discounted price. You can cancel any time, rather than commit to a three-month or six-month deal.

While this probably isn’t the idea kit club for myself, I’ll say again that I think it is a no-brainer for people who like their patterns strongly coordinated and who like help with designs. If you’re interested in seeing more, you can click here to go to their website.

Let’s take a little break from our series on Vacation Scrapbooks so that I can review the kit club, The Treasure Box Club. They sent me two of their kits to try. Right now I am just posting the layouts but I will be back in a while to post my review of the kit club.

Dramatic Birthday Boy Wishes

The first section of journaling reads: You can’t even blow out your candles without infusing some hilarity into it. This is why I love you.

The larger journaling block reads: You made it clear forever ago that you wanted no birthday parties and you like to keep your social circles separate. **Then your 35th birthday crept up.** One night at dinner you announced to the kids and I that you wanted us to throw you a “surprise” party. HUH? I questioned you over and over again. I thought you were joking. But we scheduled your party for after the day to give you a real surprise. Of course, Trinity revealed the surprise and then Blake told you your gift. So there were no surprises. Just lots of fun with family and friends and your humor.

Pencil Lines Sketch

I based the above layout on a sketch challenge from Pencil Lines, which is a really great place to see how people can use a sketch as a jumping off point, rather than as a crutch. If you’ve never been to that site, I recommend you check it out.

The Best Decision

Journaling reads: I couldn’t possibly have known you well enough in just two weeks to decide to marry you. In so many ways that decision was naive and immature. And yet, all the things I believed about you were right. You were exactly what I summed you up to be during those 2 weeks. You have goals. You make things happen. You’re real and you allow me to be real. You’re fun and funny–oh my gosh, so totally funny! You’re smart. You are peaceful and supportive. You pull out the very best in me. Marrying you was the best decision of my life.

I’m so glad I did it. I’m glad we rushed it. I love you so much, babe.

As we continue with the series, Stories From Our Vacation, I began a two-page spread for our Disney trip scrapbook. You’ll see me struggle with a desire to make the process simple, tell my story, while also capturing a feel and design that satisfies me.

I also share some of my homemade embellishments for the album and how I made them.

This week and next we are turning photos and memories of one of our trips into a visual memoir using my step-by-step process to keep it meaningful and prevent overwhelm. If you missed the first three steps, you’ll want to start there first:

Step 1
Steps 2 & 3

Step 4: Eliminate

This is where we get to the bare bones of the story. We are going to eliminate unnecessary photos.

*Which photos do you really need to tell each story?
*Which photos can tell a totally different story that is unrelated to the trip and can better express itself in a different album?

Moving A Story To A Different Location

I have a few piles of stories and photos from Disneyland that will make more sense as part of a different story, or album. For example, Israel took this series of photos of Blake and Trinity while waiting in line:

After Trinity’s had her hundredth picture taken, Blake can’t stand it anymore–he’s got to get in on it…If nothing else, he should give her some rabbit ears.

I love watching them play like this.

This story is more about Blake and Trinity and how they play and less about our time at Disneyland. I decided to pull this group of photos out of our Disney stack and make it a page for our This Is Us album–an album with stories about who we are–and how we are–as a family.

Eliminating Pictures Altogether

It’s easy to eliminate the blurry or bad shots. It’s harder when there are so many good ones. It’s a lot like the state of our children’s bedrooms and the amount of stuff they have. When there is too much stuff, they can’t keep it under control, and they can’t enjoy their things as much as they could if they weren’t surrounded by so much chaos.

One great photo can often have more impact than three similar ones unless the others contribute to the story in a meaningful way. Think of this as getting rid of the clutter so you can enjoy the best of it.

And remember, you’re not actually eliminating those extra photos from your life. You’re just eliminating them from this album. You can still view them on your computer or somewhere else.

Your Assignment

If you’ve kept up with us so far, you should have stacks of photos and note cards with a brief description of each story. Your assignment today is to go through each stack and decide which photos you can eliminate by asking yourself the two bolded questions above.

This will make you better able to begin assembling the album, which we will start doing very soon!

The How To Make A Vacation Scrapbook series continues this week.

This isn’t just about making the scrapbook. It’s about capturing the tone of your trip and telling a good story.

So, how are you doing with the first three steps? Is anyone ready for Step 4? I hope so because I should be posting it later today.

If you need to catch up, here are the links to the series so far:

Step 1
Step 2 & 3

Video Tutorial

We’re sorry to announce that there will be no video tutorial this week. If you have the Premium Subscription and you haven’t been through all of the archives yet, this might be a good time to catch up on an older episode. We’ll be back with the next episode this coming weekend.

Paperclipping Live

Tuesday night at 6:30pm PST, you will get a sneak peak into the Disney album I’ve got in progress, as well as a sneak peek into some of the last steps. I’ll design a two-page spread from our Disney vacation, sharing how the first few steps contributed to better story-telling on my page.

If you want to join us tomorrow night but are unsure of the time zone difference, look for your city on this website and then compare it to my city, which is Phoenix.

Remember to register for Skype (it’s free) if you’d like to call in to the show.

Scrapbooking Kit Club Review: The Treasure Box Club

Tracy, the owner of The Treasure Box Club, sent me two kits and asked me to review them. I shared the contents of the kits a few weeks ago during Paperclipping Live. Later this week we’ll take a break from our vacation focus so I can share what I made with the kit contents and give my review.

This week and next we are turning photos and memories of one of our trips into a visual memoir using my step-by-step process to keep it meaningful and prevent overwhelm. If you missed Step 1, be sure to go back and read that first.

Step 2: Get Your Photos Out Onto The Table

This step is not about organizing. It is about connecting and catching the vision.
Take this time to go through each photo so you can put yourself back into the vacation frame of mind. What did it feel like to be there?

Your photos are probably already in the chronological order of the trip and grouped by smaller events and activities. As you do go through the photos to lay them on your table, proceed with these steps:

1. Keep groups of photos together in loose piles so you can still see at least a part of each photo.

2. Lay piles close together so that you have a choice of seeing them in their various groupings or seeing them as a part of a whole.

Doing it this way allows you to keep the artistic, story-connecting part of your brain working, as opposed to the linear, organizing part. By seeing all the pictures together, you will be able to identify stories that go beyond the events.

For example, seeing pictures of my sister with her family and different points in the trip led me to the idea of telling the story of being at Disneyland with my big sister and little brother again. Had I kept my photos in a linear and organized manner, I might never have thought of that angle, which is part of the most important aspect of this trip for me.

Step 3: Organize the stories with their supporting photos and separate them into piles.

1. While looking at your photos scattered all over the table, identify the stories that pop into your head and begin writing the dominant idea of each story onto a note card. My note cards say things like, “Family & Faces–who we were with,” “Enjoying the scenery–just as enjoyable as the rides,” “Mom & Me,” “Splash Mountain-The big people and tiny little Sidney.”

Make sure you jot down a note for all the stories that come to mind, even if you have no photos to support them.

2. Match stories to photos. Sometimes this means pulling photos out of their event grouping to use it for a different subject.

At this point, we are only partially turning ourselves over to the organizational parts of our brains. There is no need to put these into a fixed order yet. You can still leave the piles in a haphazard manner on the table, allowing your mind to stay within it’s artistic play area of the brain. Or if you need to put them away, you can stack them in any order with your story note cards in between each stack of supporting photos.

What Is The Story?

You’ve now written down the individual stories. You’ve connected with your memories and made connections between photos you might have separated before. Is there an overall story or theme that is starting to creep out?

If there are any words or ideas running through your mind, begin writing them down. You can brainstorm or make a word map. However you do it, have a place to collect these thoughts so you don’t lose them. If you’re able to solidify a theme at this point, that is great! If you’re still trying to work it out, that’s okay, too. The next step might help you out…

Stay tuned for Step 4 as we proceed to turn our memories into memoirs.

* * *

Your assignment for today is to complete the two bolded instructions under each of the steps above.