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.

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.

You’ve come back from vacation and you’re thrilled at the pictures you got from your exciting adventure. You can’t wait to scrapbook them, but when you pull out those photos, a haze of confusion and overwhelm takes over. What should be a pleasurable visit with your memories is becoming a dreaded “obligation.”

Do you feel this way? I’m working on an album right now for our Disney vacation and I have a method for assembling this type of project that coincides with my philosophy of scrapbookers as story-tellers and scrapbooks as visual memoirs. It will also simplify the process and keep your mind clear.

Over the next week and a half I’ll share my step-by-step process with you, using my Disney vacation as the example. If you have a stack of photos and memories from a vacation that you need to scrap, I hope you’ll pull them out and follow along with each step. You can even give us a report of your progress by leaving a comment.

Step 1: Begin with 2 Fundamental Questions In Mind

1. What are the stories I want to remember from my vacation?
The funny things someone said * The thoughts and feelings you had at various times * The way a relationship developed * The things you did you did, saw, or experienced.

2. What is the overall story or underlying theme that encapsulates all of the smaller individual stories?
This is a deeper question that requires some thought. Each vacation has its own meaning. If you take some time to identify this early in the process, you’ll be able to create a complete and cohesive story out of the many pages, pictures, and smaller stories.

You don’t have to answer all of these questions now before moving onto step number two. Having the questions on your mind while you proceed to the next step is just fine. Have a pencil and some note cards next to you on the table so you can jot down each thought, story, or theme idea as they come. Having each story on its own note card will allow you to place them with their coinciding photos.

The Theme Of My Disney Vacation

While I’ve been working on the next steps, I’ve been thinking about the word, “present,” in all of its senses, for my Disney album. Here is what I mean:

1. One of our days at Disneyland was a present from my parents. The other day and the rest of the trip was Izzy’s and my own Christmas present to our kids.

2. It was an awesome experience to be present with my parents and the two siblings closest to me in age, at a place that holds so many childhood memories with them. I had such pleasurable moments, enjoying my sister and brother as if we were kids again.

3. Together we relived some wonderful times from our past, while mixing them with the present. It is such a joy to give to my children the happy experiences that my parents gave to me.

How Will Step One Benefit you?

1. Sometimes having a theme will provide you some visual images, icons, embellishment ideas, or colors. The story of Disney as a part of my childhood that I am gifting to my children gave me the idea to capitalize on a classic Disney icon that identifies Disney from any time period: the Mickey Mouse ears silhouette. I decided to use that icon as the major embellishment throughout my album, rather than buy new Disney products.

I may also use some clock and time images, and perhaps classic gift images.

2. Sometimes having a theme will provide you with title ideas. Titles of different pages in my album could be…

A present to us.
A present to you.
Present And In The Moment.
Present Again With You.

Step number one isn’t a step you can easily do when you’re cropping with friends. For most every project, I like to take some quiet time to dig deep and relive moments–to gain from those times all over again. I do it best with a pencil in my hand so I can solidify my thoughts and give them some life. My notes tend to be organic and unstructured, just like my thoughts.

Prepare For The Next Step

Tomorrow we’ll cover the next couple of steps, having to do with sorting the photos. You’ll want to print up your photos if you’re following along and you haven’t done so already.

Don’t worry about whether you’ll want enlargements unless you already know which ones you’ll enlarge and in what size. I printed all my photos to 4×6, knowing that I will later want to enlarge some of them. Since I don’t know which ones I want larger yet, it’s easier to just print them all up front so I have something physical to work with in my hands while I plan the structure and size of my album.

Your assignments:

1. Get some note cards, a pencil, and write down the following questions:

*What are the stories I want to remember from my vacation?
*What is the overall story or underlying theme that encapsulates all of the smaller individual stories?

2. Print up all of the photos you might put in your vacation scrapbook. Don’t worry about sizes or whether you have an album or not. That’ll come later.

I’m looking forward to following these steps with you.

* * *

This is part one of a series, Stories From Our Vacations.

Would you like to save money by making your own embellishments? Today’s episode for Premium Subscribers should give you some ideas.

If you want to learn more about the premium membership so you can have access to all of the videos, click here.

No matter how good we are at using our scraps, if we do a lot of layouts, we’ll still end up with too many of them. Periodic purging is a good thing. One way to purge is to collect a pile to share with our children or grandchildren.

For The Artistically Inclined Child

My plan last week was to find some coloring book pages and teach my kids how to do mosaic art, using a coloring book drawing as the template. Since I was running low on time, I gave Trinity a bag of scraps and said, “You can have these. Why don’t you go do some art with them?”

No direction whatsoever.

Trinity came back a while later with the lovely picture above. How creative is that? I had no idea she’d make something so wonderful. This give-and-let-go method is perfect for artistic children who can get creative with almost anything. If your child is not so inclined, you may need to offer a little more guidance, like my mosaic idea.

For The Child Who Needs Direction

For the mosaic, have the child tear the scraps into small pieces. You may want to do it with him or her if that task seems tedious. Draw or choose a lined picture, and then fill in the empty spaces with the torn patterned pieces. Provide the child with some glue and a paint brush for adhering.

For Those With No Kids

You can still share your scraps with children, even if there aren’t any shorties in your own life. Offer your scraps to an elementary or preschool teacher. My son’s preschool artwork last year was often made with scraps of paper.

Yesterday I commented on all those wonderful forgotten patterns we find while looking through our scraps. Aren’t there also other patterns in there that turn you off? Negative vibes during creative time are not a good thing.

If you find yourself cringing at certain scraps in your stash, turn them over to a little person who may have something really cool to do with them. If your pile is so big that it’s hard to look through, share the abundance with your child or grandchild and watch their imagination go to work.

Do you feel overwhelmed by an ever-growing amount of patterned paper scraps? It comes down to the way you look at them–whether you see those scraps as your partners or your enemies.

I love my scraps. I even love them more than my stash of brand new untouched patterned paper. It’s true! If you’d like to rekindle the romance between yourself and your discarded patterns, read on for a few tips.

1. Make the Scraps Your First Priority

Except when it’s important to use patterned paper as a 12×12 background, go to your patterned paper stash before looking at your full-sized sheets. Every time I dig through my scraps they surprise me with all their wonderful patterned potential–so many designs I forget about.

You’ll avoid unnecessary growth in scraps by using what’s already there, rather than add to the pile every time you make a layout.

2. Set Your Scraps Up For Easy Access

I used to separate my scraps in hanging file folders by color or holiday. That was back when I hated those scraps. It was a pain to put them away and it was a pain to pick them out. Then I read that Ali Edwards mixes her patterns together. Trying her method forever changed my relationship with those fun leftover pieces.

I now keep my larger scraps in a wooden serving tray and my tiny or narrow pieces in a long rectangular block candle holder. Both sit on my table, right next to me, within reach and eye-sight. I used to keep my cutting tool there, but I found it much more useful to have my scraps in reach instead.

3. Ignite New Enthusiasm With Unusual Mixing

It really is fun to dig through a pile of scraps. It’s like running into old friends. Seeing them next to other patterns you’ve never matched together will give you a new way of looking at them. You’ll discover combinations you would never have paired on purpose.

Just seeing my patterns mixed this way makes me want to make layouts. My pile of scraps is one of my actual sources for ideas and scrapbooking motivation.

4. Have Some Simple Go-To Templates

The layout at the top of this post is from one of my go-to templates. With this template I support a single photo with a group of square patterns from my scraps, and then I bridge them with a ribbon or line of some kind. Last, I add a title, a trio of embellishments (in this case, three word strips) and journal around the edge of the page. Easy but attractive.

Look through your favorite layouts and identify the ones that use smaller pieces of patterned paper. These can be templates for future layouts that you can go to again and again.

If you’ve seen your scraps as your enemy instead of your partners, try these tips. Not only will you save money and reduce waste and stress, you’ll also find a new muse full of unending inspiration.

Since so many of you like to watch the recorded videos of Paperclipping Live, I decided to embed them right into the Paperclipping blog so you don’t have to go hunting for them.

Here is last night’s show, where we used a previous scrapbook page that was great for using scraps as a template for a new one.