LOAD 212 BLOG HOP!!

Welcome to my blog.  You are here because you have decided to join a fabulous group of ladies and participate in the LayOut A Day (LOAD) challenge beginning February 1st.  If you haven't joined yet, there is still time...just click on the icon at the right and you won't regret it.

So for those of you who are participating for the 1st time ever, you are probably searching to grab whatever tips you can to make it a successful month.  After all, it's LEAP YEAR, and that means the added stress (no....not really) of one extra layout next month.  That's 29 layouts in 29 days!! Can it be done--ABSOLUTELY.  Do you have to do it?  ABSOLUTELY NOT.  My best piece of advice is to try not to stress and do what you can.  The first LOAD I ever participated in, I completed.  However; I also drove myself mad with preparation, lack of sleep, a messy house, no dinner for the kiddos and stress, stress, stress.  It was all my doing...my perfectionism coming to a head, and not being able to keep all the balls in the air.  So, if you want to plan...cook some meals ahead (google: freezer meals), relax your idea of a perfectly clean house just this one month, think ahead about what pictures and stories you'd like to tell from the past...and remember the theme...past perfect (as in you can get past perfect for this month).  Yes, it's easier to say than do sometimes, but be flexible and the inspiration, feedback and amazing support from the great group you've joined will carry you through.  In fact, the first time around, I had page kits (PAGE KITS, I TELL YA!!) all ready at the go to scrap away the days.  Well, then the first email came from Lain and I went in a totally different direction.  I made layouts that I would HAVE NEVER thought to make...from a page about snack time around our house, to random facts about me.  I also made a very emotional page about a pregnancy loss that would have never been written had it not been for the gentle prod from Lain's emails.  It was cathartic, therapeutic, energizing, inspirational and got my juices flowing all over again...that was February 2010...exactly 2 years ago!

I haven't missed a LOAD yet.  Have I completed every one?  Heck, no! Have I made wonderful pages that I'm proud of...Oh, yeah! For this particular LOAD, I have decided to dig back to my college days (over 15 years ago) and tell some of the stories of how I got into my Graduate program, my friends, my first car (that I got because I was going away to college) and my graduation.  I'm also digging NOT SO FAR BACK, and telling some stories about the recent holidays and a recent snowfall we had here in NJ. I have also sat down a few nights this months and written out some journaling about those stories I remember.  I am BIG on journaling, so leaving it for the last minute just wouldn't do my pages  justice.  BUT...this is just me.  Decide what you want your focus to be and grab some pictures and supplies and meet me at LOAD in just 5 days!  You'll be happy you did.

Here are some pictures I'm hoping to use this month...well, maybe...and maybe not.  Guess I'll just go with the flow :-)

 Threw this one of my sister holding me as a baby to see if you were paying attention ;-)

 ...and the not so forgotten past (as in last week!)

 ...and back to the good 'ol college days...

I hope that you've relaxed a bit, had a laugh or two and have decided that you are in the right place.  If you'd like to read the next entry in the blog hop today, then head on over to LYDIA'S BLOG

and for the record...here is the entire list of participants, so be sure to stop by say hi!!

February 212 Layout A Day Blog Hop Participants

Margie                          http://xnomads.typepad.com

Kelli                                    www.scrapbookgirl71.blogspot.com

Jennifer                         http://atthebluebarn.blogspot.com/

Lisa                                    http://lisahausmann.blogspot.com/

Monica                        http://scrapinspired.com

Kimberly                        www.kimberlykalil.com 

Eileen                                    http://thinkinkpaperscissors.weebly.com/

Danielle                         http://acoffeeaddict.com

Pam                                    dailypamage.blogspot.com

Katrina                        http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com

Cate                                     www.lifebehindthepurpledoor.com

Gayle                                    http://www.lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com

Heather                        heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com

Gina                                    http://randomthoughtsmindlessmusings.blogspot.com 

Kristie                                    http://kristiesloan.com

Janet                                    http://khashabfamilymusings.blogspot.com

Lydia                                    http://lydiaink.wordpress.com

J is for...journaling!

In keeping with yesterday's theme, I thought I'd use today's letter to expand on how I go about writing the journaling for my layouts.  I've been told that journaling is my strong suit, and I'm glad that it is.  When I look back on layouts from years ago that I've done, I'm immediately drawn to the story. I often write in great detail about the event, location, emotions and activities portrayed by the pictures.  I love being able to capture these details that I would surely forget in a few weeks, months or years.  Even my girls love to read  about when they went somewhere, what they saw, how they reacted, what they felt.  They may not remember actually being there, but they have a chance to relive it by reading the scrapbook.  Writing comes easily for me because I enjoy it.  I often write in a stream of consciousness format.  This means I don't edit what I'm writing and that I might not even have full sentences...but I DO HAVE DETAILS.  I focus on what I would tell a good friend if I were sitting with here going over the pictures.  I write about how something smelled, or about how it felt to do whatever it was that I was doing.  I focus on the senses and on the emotion, and that comes across in my writing.

Of course, not every layout is a novel (although my friends would beg to differ), but I make sure to write about things that matter.  Well, that matter to me, anyway.  I enjoy writing about things that will make me smile when I look back on them in the future.  Things that maybe will tell the next generation a little something about my life here and now.  About how our family spent its days, about things that we cared about.  Sometimes, the "what, where & when" aren't as important as the how and why.  When I'm having a difficult time getting words down on paper, I sometimes take a different approach to writing.  I've used interviews, bullet style lists, captions and even blog entries (imagine THAT!) to fill in for my journaling when I can.  Here are a few examples of layouts I've done using alternate styles of journaling...capturing a little of the everyday that matters to us...and one layout that really could stand in for a novel :-)

use of a bulleted list:

screenshot of my inbox:

captions and small phrases that capture what we're up to:

questionnaire:

and for the mother-load of all journaling...

Hope you find your voice and become more comfortable every day getting your thoughts, feelings and life down on paper (or up on a blog)! Happy writing.

More WITL photos...

Well, it's officially over...all that picture taking and now to put the Week in the Life Album together. I've already started my title pages for each day and sent my picture files off to the photo lab. It's weird what we choose to capture in pictures during an assignment like this...who would ever take a photo of their morning breakfast? Can't wait to see the finished product and hope that it'll be done before the start of "LAYOUT A DAY" on May 1st!! Looking forward to that too, although I don't know how I'll get anything done now that Adam has recently had a crazy case of separation anxiety kick in...wouldn't it be great if it stopped as abruptly as it started??? Well, in the meantime, he are some photos of later in the week through yesterday. Have a great week!