Yeah, Write

Welcome March!

Here is this month's installment in my Customizable Photo Planner. That Jeremy is a good looking kid. (Photos from January 2010.)

And the Write.Click.Scrapbook. gallery is up! Here is my contribution:

The topic was: "the page or project you've been meaning to make." And for the last few months, I've found myself feeling a bit sad whenever Keira outgrows something. She might be my only baby, after all. It's definitely a bittersweet feeling. But as she becomes more interactive and fun, I'm recognizing that the "sweet" is overtaking the "bitter." Whenever she grows out of one adorable phase, she grows into another equally adorable phase. And as she leaves one precious outfit behind, there are countless new favorites waiting for her to wear. When I had that realization, I had this layout on my "to-do" list for a while, and this prompt was just the push I needed to get it finished.

A Nieces & Nephews Baby Album

This layout is the latest addition to my ongoing nieces & nephews baby album. (Size: 8 x 8.) I take a picture of me with every new bundle of joy that joins the extended Jeff & Janet Hill family, and I add it to this highly templated album. The product line is an older Heidi Grace line that I fell in love with in 2007, I believe.

This may seem like a LOT of nieces and nephews, but that tends to happen when you have five siblings. My older brother, Matt, has four children; my younger brother Jon has two children; and my younger sister Michele has three children. I also have a brother and a sister who are in their early-to-mid 20s and are not married yet!

 

The title page says "Baby & Me: All the babies I've loved before," and it starts by showing pictures of me with each of my five siblings as babies. Half the fun of this album (besides seeing all the cute babies) is watching ME grow up through the pictures.

 

First, there was Haylee. I couldn't believe how much more love I felt for my first little niece than I had ever felt for another child before her. I was instantly hooked on this whole aunt thing. And the feeling came back with every new arrival, starting with Haylee's little sister, Breanna.

 

Jensyn and Thomas arrived just three months apart. (Of course, they were supposed to be six months apart, but Thomas joined the world really, really early.) My background pages are red for girls and blue for boys, and there's a little journaling card tucked behind each monogram that shares my experiences getting to know each of them. 

 

And now for a couple of boys in a row! The sheet of monogram die-cuts I used for this album includes only one of each letter, so I had to trace the "b" from Breanna's page to make a new "b" for Brock's page. I've instructed my family members not to repeat any more first initials in the future. (ha!)

 

Derek and Gillian are just four months apart, which is only possible because they're cousins rather than siblings. Derek is my older brother Matt's fourth and last child, while Gillian is my little sister's second child.

 

And this is the newest nephew to join the crew, baby Townes. Again, I had to trace a "t" from Thomas's page to make my own monogram. (Thank goodness I used removable adhesive!) Townes is the little brother of Gillian and Thomas, and he's definitely a keeper.

 

To make the ongoing-ness of this album super easy, I gathered all my extra supplies and slipped them into the remaining page protectors in this album. I cut lots of extra journaling cards and journaling pockets up front, so I wouldn't have to go back and remember sizes or dimensions on future pages. (Or if you don't like the hassle of coordinating supplies, you could always wait until everyone's done having babies and create digital photo books that you could print multiple copies of for each of your siblings!)

I have enough supplies and enough room in the album for 10 more babies. At this point, it's hard to imagine that there could be 10 more, but if just ONE of us follows in my parents' footsteps and produces a half-dozen offspring, it's entirely possible.

 

The End.

A Remembrance Album

There was one more story that didn't make it into the orignal Coping With Loss article (posted Friday), and it was this story that inspired me to create an album for a friend of mine after her father passed away.

Two years ago, a regular Simple Scrapbooks contributor named Amy had written in to tell us about a close friend of hers who had tragically lost her 2-year-old daughter to a sudden illness. Feeling so helpless in the face of her friend's terrible loss, Amy was doing everything she could to help. The grieving mother gave Amy an assignment, "Don't let me forget any of the memories. That's your job."

The first thing Amy did was to create a very simple album, with one spread for each family member to share just one favorite photo plus a few handwritten memories. The album was designed with papers and products that suited the little girl's tastes and personality perfectly. Amy's friend was immensely grateful for the gift, and she was grateful to Amy for telling her to take her time filling the album. She could add to it whenever she was ready, and Amy would be there to help.

This story came to my mind just after Thanksgiving last year, when a good friend's father died of a stroke while the family was up in the mountains cutting down their Christmas tree. Her father was an incredible man, and I felt deeply for my friend. I decided to follow Amy's example and create an album for my friend and her children to commemorate their father and grandfather.

I pulled a picture from the funeral program and slipped in the cover window of an 8 x 8 Pioneer photo album.

The funeral program itself went on page 2.

On pages 3-4 are two large pockets, where words shared at the funeral can be saved. The eulogy, the life sketch, remarks shared by a pastor or other religious leader, lyrics to songs that were sung or performed, or even a CD recording of the funeral.

The tan band of paper is attached to this page only with brads on the outside corners. The cream card you see is 6 inches wide and 8 inches tall, but I folded it in half (to 6 x 4) and slipped it over the tan paper. My friend can record a few memories on the front of this card, and continue with more memories on the inside of the card (I stamped additional lines inside for this purpose). Or she can add extra photos inside the card if she wishes. (The "K" is the first letter of my friend's first name.)

On the facing page, my friend can put one favorite 4 x 6 photo on display. I included a white card to show her exactly where to put it.

On her husband's page, I included a portrait-orientation white card to illustrate how to incorporate a vertical photo.

And there's a spread for each of my friend's three daughters.

 

 

In the back of the album, there are a few extra blank pages for anything else my friend would like to add: photos, additional memories, memorabilia, etc.

Products used: Pioneer photo album • patterned paper, accents (C-Thru Ruler Company) • lined stamp (BoBunny) • large monogram stamps, small alphabet stamps (Technique Tuesday) • brown ink (Close to My Heart)

Coping With Loss

After I finished writing that last post, I continued thinking about how scrapbooking equips us to deal with certain challenges better than we otherwise would. I was reminded of an article I wrote a couple of years ago—an article I consider to be the crowning achievement of my Simple Scrapbooks career. It's definitely the best piece of writing I churned out in my 5 years with the magazine, and I got permission to republish it here. The lessons and the layouts are still very relevant.

If you can't read these pages in your browser, just click each image for a slightly larger view.

 

 

 

 

 

There was a fifth story that we had to pull from the article at the last minute. Like all of these, it was a story that left an indelible imprint on me, and it ultimately inspired me to create an album for a friend of mine whose father passed away suddenly last November. I'll share that story, and the album, tomorrow.

(Article copyright Creative Crafts Group/New Track Media. Posted with publisher’s prior permission. Originally printed in Simple Scrapbooks magazine, September/October 2007. simplescrapbooksmag.com)

Three Views of the Back of My Head

Not only was this blog title incredibly intriguing, it also reminds me of something Trav's nephew Cameron said when he was about 12: "Don't worry guys, I know this place like the back of my head." (One of these days, I'll blog about all my favorite mangled cliches, and that one probably tops the list!)

Now, on to the matter at hand.

It's time for another measure-in! Megan Hoeppner, Wendy Smedley, and I all decided way back in January (when we all still worked for Simple Scrapbooks magazine) that we'd grow our hair out for Locks of Love or Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Ten months into our grow-out, we're still growing strong. In fact, I could easily donate TODAY if I wanted a Sinead O'Connor 'do, but I'm going to hold out a little bit longer, both so I'll look better after the big cut, and for the solidarity with my pals.

Angie in January

This is me on a rare semi-wavy day. I think it's about 6 inches from my back hairline.

Angie in March

That's my little buddy Shelby Gainer peeking over my shoulder. I'm at about 8 1/2 inches here, wouldn't you say?

Angie in October

Well, it certainly looks longer. I'm not exactly sure why I opted for the illegible measuring tape this time.

There, you can see it now. I'm past 10 inches! And the length is just now starting to bug me (I've added at least 90 seconds to my blow-drying time!), but I think I can make it a little bit longer.

Why are we doing this?
Megan's sweet mom is battling breast cancer now.
Wendy's mom is a breast cancer survivor of many years.
My beautiful sister-in-law Becky is battling breast cancer as well, and she's kicking that cancer's ass. Go Becky!



Now, go check out how Megan and Wendy are doing, and cheer them on! (And come back here and let me know if I'm winning the hair race...hee hee.)

p.s. Don't forget to enter yesterday's contest!

 

Concert Highlights and MORE!

Today, I just gathered six random, unrelated things that I'd like to share with you. Hit it!

#1. Jim Gaffigan
Last Friday, we took Jeremy out for Greek food (his first authentic souvlaki) and then to the Jim Gaffigan show at Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah. This bit had me laughing my heinie off:

#2. The Killers
On Saturday, I went to The Killers with my little sis, and now I have a temporary big-girl crush on Brandon Flowers. Here was my favorite moment from the concert (please excuse all the off-key singers surrounding me, possibly even including me):

#3. Dog Food Concoctions
We've taken to feeding Ruby soft puppy food, often mixed with scrambled eggs or corn muffins (her absolute favorite!) with a fork. Hey, whatever princess wants, princess gets, since we don't have much time left with her. We even scrape the food off her chin and feed it to her, baby style.

#4. Sharing Machine
My friend  Tami Morrison sent me links to two funny grammar t-shirts. I may just have to invest in one or both of these:
Apostrophe's! Extra apostrophe's! Use 'em for plural's! One dollar!
I'm so adjective, I verb nouns!!!

#5. Layout A Day

It starts Thursday. A whole bunch of scrapbookers I know will be creating a layout every day in the month of October in exchange for prizes, daily challenges, inspiration, community, and more. You should try it! Even if you make every day your goal, but you only manage to create a layout every three days, you'll have created TEN layouts you wouldn't have made otherwise! This link explains how to sign up.

#6. Digi Days
Go read the Ella blog today and enjoy as I briefly ruminate about monkeys who can play video games WITH THEIR MINDS.

p.s. There's still time to enter yesterday's contest for the Simple Scrapbooks special issue, so go to it!

A Simple Giveaway For You

I have one extra copy of this Simple Scrapbooks special issue that I'm totally willing to give away to one of you! It's an oldie but a goodie. Like all things published by Simple Scrapbooks, it is truly classic and timeless.

Why didn't I just take a normal picture of the issue instead of this crazy light tunnel effect, you ask? Well, this is my lame digital tribute to the Digi Days event over at Ella Publishing this week!

For the record, I totally cheated on this effect. All I had to do was open the Photo Booth program on my Mac, pick a background, and click once once to take this photo with the built-in web camera. That's really it! But the thing about digital is that there are LOTS of tricks that are just this easy (and much more, shall we say, useful).

All week on The Daily Trumpet (aka Ella's blog), we'll be showing off several of our team members' first attempts at digital photo-editing, digital scrapbooking, or hybrid scrapbooking. You can join the fun (and maybe win something) by getting your feet a little bit wet and trying one teeny tiny digital trick or effect you've never tried before.

AND to win this Better Photos for Your Scrapbooks special issue (which will help you take better photos even BEFORE you start trying to mess with them digitally), you just have to do three super easy things. What, did you think there were no strings attached to my giveaway? Silly little reader...

Do this:

1. Click over to the Ella blog and read the post and just CONSIDER participating.
2. While you're there, click a button to answer our "How digi are you poll?"
3. Then come back here and leave a comment telling me if you're participating, plus a why or a why not.

See? Easy. And it's all honor system folks. Unless I call on my trusty powers of telepathy, how will I know if you really considered participating or just allowed your digital prejudices to get the better of you?

Here are two example comments you could leave:

"I am going to participate because Renee Pearson is a rockstar, and I'm a digi girl (or guy) through and through."

"I'm going to pass because the very thought of the word 'pixel' makes me  hyperventilate. But I'd love that Simple special issue!"

Happy Digi Days to all, and to all a good afternoon!

p.s. The photo on that special issue cover? It was taken by Rebecca Cooper, author of 40 Top Tips for Better Photos, which is our best-selling eBook so far. Just so you know.

Write.Click.Scrapbook.

If you missed my photo and quote featured on the Write.Click.Scrapbook. site on Sunday, check it out. My little Jeremy (who's not so little anymore) has always been one to notice the mini miracles all around him every day. Isn't this a sweet photo? The caption read: "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle." ~Albert Einstein

And Francine Clouden (a 2009 almost Simple Gal handpicked by Wendy and I because we love her style) has done a wonderful job hosting this week! Check out her work here. I love her Playtime 1975 layout:

The "inspiration collective" is going strong, and it's been fun to see what each new simple scrapbooker comes up with each week. So much talent and so much meaning all in one place! Are you popping in regularly?

Lunch with the Ladies

It was so fun to go to lunch today with a whole crew of Write.Click.Scrapbookers! (Note: if you haven't visited this week, Ann Costen is hosting and doing a fabulous job, and there's a great giveaway happening today. So pop on over.)

Aly Dosdall from Alabama was in town for a family reunion, and she decided to see how many of the Utah crew would be available to get together for lunch. Quite a turnout! I used to spend 8 hours a day with four of the people pictured; I've known another one for years through her layouts, articles, and office drop-offs; I met another one for the first time in January; and there were three first-time meetings for me! I was pleased to finally shake hands with (well, HUG, since we're scrapbookers) Autumn Baldwin, little James Baldwin, and baby Elise Jolley, who's just one month new.

We all hooked up at Thanksgiving Point for soup, salad, and great conversation. You may have heard of this magical place called Thanksgiving Point, because it seems to be the only place anyone in Utah ever meets for lunch. Am I right? Not only does it boast a beautiful, relaxing atmosphere and top-notch food, it also seems to be the most convenient central meeting place every time we try to get together, no matter who's involved and how far they're travelling from. I'm convinced that if you take all known matter into account, Thanksgiving Point would turn out to be the midpoint of the entire universe. Plus the desserts are to die for. I'm still mad at them for discontinuing the Kit Kat Bar last year.

Top photo (clockwise from left): Carolyn and Elise Jolley, Autumn and James Baldwin, Karen Glenn, Aly Dosdall, Rachel and Shelby Gainer, Angie Lucas, Elisha Snow, and Jen Wozab.

5 Years, 5 Lessons, 5 Confessions, 5 AMAZING Prizes, and More!

I had big plans this week to document my five years with Simple in a photo-album scrapbook and share it with you today. But I couldn't quite bring myself to get started on the project. Instead, I spent the week browsing through photos, reminiscing, making lists, and writing looooooong blot posts. All of this, if you think about it, is a vital part of the scrapbooking process too. When I've collected my thoughts enough to make the album, I'll make the album. In the meantime, it feels great to let go of the pressure to meet an arbitrary deadline (today) and submit to the natural flow of the creative process. So, to close out a fun and eventful week, I'll share a few more things that occured to me over the last few days as I thought and pondered and planned. (Scroll down for contest!)

 
Important Lessons I Learned About Myself
1. I can manage people, but I'd rather chew off my own arm. Managing is hard work.
2. I overanalyze everything, which makes me good at my job but annoying as hell at other times.
3. I enjoy the rush of stepping outside of my comfort zone, but only after the fact.
4. My personality type is ENFJ, so I prefer big-picture thinking first and details second. (But not everyone is like this, and that's okay!)
5. My gift lies in substantive editing rather than copy editing. I've learned that it's good and right to rely on other team members for things they're naturally better at.


New Things I Tried Because of Simple
1. Blogging.
2. Being interviewed on a radio show.
3. Demonstrating projects on camera.
4. Non-chronological scrapbooking.
5. Dansko shoes. (The only  choice for tradeshow walking!)



True Confessions
1. Once and only once, Wendy and I jointly created a layout and published it under a pseudonym, Andrea "Andie" Ludley. (A rough mix of our two names.) I could tell you why, but I'd have to kill you.
2. Every year, we brainstormed crazy ways to mess with you guys in an April Fools' issue, but we never followed through on any of them.
3. When playing with glitter at a tradeshow make-and-take, demonstrated by an ever-so-slightly effeminate man, I said the following: "Look at all this glitter! Gosh, I sure don't want to walk around looking like a fairy all day!" Awkward silence. Another connotation dawned on me, so I  stammered, "Oh! I mean an actual fairy, you know, like with wings? Like Tinker Bell?... Gotta go!" Should have just let it go, man.
4. Once, while representing Simple at a crop, I said to a woman of indeterminate age, "Wow, look at those great heritage photos!" Her response, "Those are my grade school pictures." Oops.
5. All of our professional photographs have been lightly edited to remove pimples, wrinkles, dark circles, and unsightly alien parasites. Thanks Conrad the Photoshop Guy!

Memorable Layouts We Chose Not to Publish
1. Toddler sitting on toilet.
2. Before and after plastic surgery layouts.
3. Naked man riding bicycle.
4. Nursing mother about to feed baby, with one breast fully exposed.
5. Couple French-kissing (tongues visible).
You know, do whatever you want in your own albums, but there are some things we just can't publish. We even met a scrapbooker-for-hire in Hollywood who claims she's scrapbooked boudoir photos for an unnamed celebrity.

Favorite Tradeshow Memories
1. The time we won an Oscar, just before nearly being rounded up on a very suspicious-looking bus while trying to get to the Pantages Theater to see Wicked in Hollywood.


2. The crowning of the Funnest Scrapbooker Ever (for 2007), the lovely miss Tamara Morrison, in a hotel room in Anaheim. Befitting the event, it was a series of hilarious events, from a misspelled cake to a botched "surprise" announcement.

3. The fun of being followed around by Cameraman Eric while Lain and I made fools of ourselves in booth after booth for the short-lived Clique TV! Actually, we did pretty well; the resulting videos were not at all painful to watch, which was a huge surprise.


4. Seeing Cirque du Soleil "Love" while in Las Vegas for one of at least a dozen tradeshows that we attended in sin city. The show was utterly fantastic, yet one of us still managed to fall asleep. Can you guess who?


5. Dinner at Marie Callendar's in Anaheim to celebrate the magazine's fifth anniversary. It wasn't the food that was memorable but the fact that we had all of these Simple personalities in one place at one time. Unprecedented. If we could have harnessed the energy in the room, we could power Anaheim for a month! I even dropped into the splits at one point just to impress everyone.



Lucky Winners!
How would you like to be one of five blog readers who will either win an Epson Artisan 700 Photo All-in-One Printer (two up for grabs) or a Making Memories Desktop Carousel (three up for grabs)? These are hefty prizes, folks.


 
Here's what you do. Leave a comment on this blog, Cathy Zielske's blog, and Wendy Smedley's blog today. Comments will close at 10 p.m. MST on Saturday, May 1, at which time I'll pool all the comments from all three blogs and pick the five winners. Remember, you increase your chances of winning  by commenting once on each blog. Let's hear it!

p.s. Don't forget to visit Stacy Julian's blog today for more fun memories and, quite possibly, another cool giveaway.)

p.s.s. Yesterday's random winner for a copy of Scrapbook Play with Photos was none other than commenter #69, Jackie, who wrote about the triplets named Olive, Kelly, and Forest Greene. Click the Email Me link beneath my picture to send me your address!