Alrighty, so this is the beginning of me talking a bit about Stacy Julian... which is good b/c on her blog,
Altogether too Happy (also on sidebar to the right), this week she is discussing
Photo Freedom (her idea AND her book). So, I have been watching a scrapbook show called
Scrapbook Memories for awhile. Stacy Julian (SJ) has been featured on it and I started looking into her ideas a bit more b/c she really LOVES to share her memories. She has several boys and just adopted a little girl. She seemed to be really organized (always a plus in my book), and also presenting mini-scrapbooks and ideas in a great way. So, I started looking around her website,
Big Picture Scrapbooking. Then, I subscribed to the feed on her blog. I finally bought her PF book in April.
Photo Freedom is a completely different way of THINKING about scrapping. I think all of my friends scrap chronologically. That is the way I have always done it. I started scrapping in 2000 and started with Terry & I when we met (I really scrapped in jr. high and high school, but didn't realize it) until the present. I took forever to do a page, had lots of photos, etc. Then, all of a sudden (in 2003, ha!) I was pregnant. I wanted to scrap that and do the baby book. Well, when Emma was born in late 2006, Jake was exactly 6 WEEKS old in his scrapbook!! I always felt behind and hands tied.
I also did NOT have a good scrap space in our old house (my stuff stayed in tubs and I had to use the dining room table- put stuff out -- 1 hour, scrap - 1 to 2 hours, put stuff away-- 1/2 hour).
So, I got lucky in this house with a dedicated scrap space and actually am caught up now in Jake and Emma's books. But, NOT in ours (ours chronologically ended with the pregnancy). I did not want to scrap those same events again, but want to have layouts of the kids when little. However, the books I am doing for them are theirs to take away.
Enter, PF... so, throw OUT the idea of chrono scrapping. You organize your pics completely differently (I am NOT sure what I can and can't put on the blog, so don't want to get in trouble!). There are subcategories and pics are selected by who's in it, maybe the colors they are wearing, but NOT by date. You essentially organize your pics (NOT all of them, only the best and ones you want to scrap) and then when you see something that inspires you- that is what you scrapbook! Just put the layout in your album (any order!) and do the next one. It takes A LOT of time to get your pics organized, but it has been really worth it (and I am still in the process).
The best thing is that SJ encourages you to take what works for you from her idea and make it work for you. One way I make it work for me? She wants all the pics printed and put in photo albums or special drawers until ready for scrapping. I bought a dedicated hard drive for saving our pics (in case the computer crashes), but it's "roomy" enough that I can create my folders in that hard drive and copy and paste the photos I want.
The hardest thing? Definitely getting my mind around not chrono scrapping!! I'll admit, the kids' albums will still be done chronologically and event oriented (christmas, easter, class pic), but ours will be PF all the way!
Enjoy!
Kristin
At the craft day recently, I had one layout I swore to myself I would complete. Jake has long deserved what I call "focus" pages in our family album. Since I scrap in a Stacy Julian way, I have scrapbooks that are chronological and event-focused for the kids (helps to satisfy that Type A inside of me), but the artist in me? The one that sees all the hundreds of photos that don't "go" with a layout, but scream at me to tell a story?? THAT's the "BIG PICTURE" in my scrapbooking!
