Polaroids

Did you ever have a Polaroid camera? One that spat out pictures thick with emulsion that you watched develop right before your very eyes? I did, and I loved it. I actually still have it boxed up for posterity. I heard recently that although the iconic instamatic camera is long gone, Polaroid is coming out with the first ever digital instant camera called the PoGo which is due out in June of this year. Looks interesting.

Until I get to try it for myself, I'll content myself with this online version I stumbled across - THE POLADROID PROJECT. It's really fun and really easy- download the program onto your desktop and then click and drag a favorite photo "into" the camera. It makes a realistic noise, spits out the photo and you get to watch it develop. The result is a digital version of a polaroid, complete with a thick looking pic and the trademark white border. Cool!

So, I loaded this photo of the boys:



and ended up with this (It's a little hard to see on this white background)


Cool eh? Of course I had to continue playing with it so I Poladroid-ed two more pics and made a digi layout with the resulting jpgs.

"Oh Brother", Digital Layout by Noreen Smith. Storybook Creator Plus software and Best Buds digital kit. Journaling reads: "I grew up as an only child, but I always wished I had a sister or brother, so I am so happy that the two of you will grow up together. Sure, you'll have your fights, differences of opinions and squabbles. But you'll also always have each other to lean on, laugh with and love. You are precious gifts to daddy and I and to each other."

You can make up to 10 Poladroids with the program, then apparently you have to re-download the program to do more (I'm unsure why, but...). It was lots of fun and very different to work with photos this way! I did a digi layout because my workspace is still a mess, but it would be fun to print these out and actually write on them like I used to do with the real ones! Either way, it sure felt great to create again!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Does organizing count as creativity?

Remember a few posts ago when I said I have a tendancy to put too many things on my plate? Well, my plate now overfloweth!

Oy...since pledging to do the Creativity Project I have had the best of intentions but I have so much (physical) stuff in the way. I have had to step back in order to move, sort, purge, build and containerize a lot of my stuff before I can actually create anything. I read Wendy Smedley and Aby Garvey's book The Organized and Inspired Scrapbooker last year, and THOUGHT I got everything organized, but it turns out it wasn't the right system for me. So I re-read portions of the book and I think I am on to something now. Wendy, Aby and Stacy Julian all maintain you can only scrap in the way you are organized (which I thought was mostly in regards to photos and the Library of Memories system) and this really refers to the way all aspects of your scrapooking hobby are organized. I have realized a few things about myself and this hobby:

• I like everything to be neat and tidy and away behind closed doors, but easily visible once I open the door/drawer.
• I like things to be labelled.
• I like things to match or blend.
• I like drawers more than bins or boxes.
• I think and create based on color.
• I haven't been able to make connections with my photos because of the way they were previously organized.
• I like to have my tools etc. close at hand.
• I need to clear my scrap table at the end of each session...otherwise I don't know where I am at the next time I sit down.
• I need good light.
• I need a good chair.
• I want to have my layouts and albums more accessible to family and friends.
• I like to have my family around when I scrap rather than being alone.
• I don't like visual clutter.

So instead of creating I have been engaged in organizing. I hope that's creative enough for this week! I have seen a few scrap spaces and places that have inspired me:

Monica's "scrapcave" - I think she and I are the same person...I have the Ikea Kitchen ready to be mounted and the Making Memories tool caddy is always on my desk!

Robyn's studio - I can't believe she has got this all sorted out within a few days of moving! I LOVE the blackboard/cork board and want one just like it!

Leah's space - fresh and lovely, just like her!

Shannon's scrap room - a fun little video with great storage ideas.

Candice's small space - I love the black, white and red color scheme and here is where I first saw the idea of using the IKEA kitchen rails.

Paula's office and scrap room - great 6 part, detailed post with lots of photos.


I will have to take and post some photos of MY scrap space as soon as it is re-done (I think I have promised this before? Hmmm....have to do something about that!!!)

Anyway, I have made enormous progress with my photos - printed and digital - for LOM. I think I am close to being able to pull photos and put them into my category drawers...something I am so excited about because I think this will be a key to scrapping much more authentic and meaningful layouts. I still need to send a few hundred digital photos to be printed and then pop them into my storage albums, but I am getting there!

Here's hoping the creating will actually start soon!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Page Plan #1

Here we are - drum roll please! The first Page Plan for the blog!

This will be a regular feature on SMS...watch for new plans each week! (FYI...I have posted many Page Plans on my website in the past 8 months, so I will move them over to the blog bit by bit.)

For today, here is a great plan that uses four 3 x 3 square photos, as well as a wrap-around title and a journaling tag or spot.



I would love to see your version of this layout if you try it out. Send me a pic or a link!

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

New look

We are all still sick around here, so I spent a good portion of the day on the couch with my computer (or my kids!) on my lap. I have been thinking about doing a blog update, both in look and purpose, and today seemed like a golden opportunity to get started on it.

You may have visited my website - www.sharing-memories-scrapbooking.com - which I started earlier this year to provide a place to share tips and techniques about scrapbooking. As great as it has been, the platform that hosts it is a bit cumbersome and it takes me way longer to add pages to it than it does to update my blog. So I have been investigating some blog templates that will allow me to do what I envision for this blog - sketches, challenges, product sales, articles, tutorials and lots of tips and techniques. Hopefully this will work as planned...if not, you'll see another change in look and style down the road!

I feel like I have been involved in creating all day today. I love working on the computer to design and build and learn. So, day 2 of the Creativity Project actually was very productive!

More to come...

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen

Yuck. Yay!

YUCK...I am feeling so yucky today. This past last week I have been fighting a nasty bout of sinusitis. I thought it was getting a little better, but last night both Grayson and Sam were restless and awake needing my attention so I got about 3.5 hours sleep total. Needless to say I woke up with another wicked sinus headache, massive congestion and a sore throat. So I spent most of the day on the couch in PJ's and sweats, while Shane played Cars Bingo and Wii with Grayson. I grabbed a nap whenever I could and had lots of tea and honey. But of course I still had to cook, clean up the dishes and feed Sam. Mom's never get a chance to get properly sick, do we? Sigh...off to bed in a few minutes hoping for a better sleep tonight.

But there were bright spots in the day...YAY! The first day of March came in like a lamb...and I am so glad that Spring is on its way in just a few more weeks! We have had snow on the ground this winter since mid-November and we're sick of it.

My March card for Christmas Cards All Year Round was posted today along with the other cards by the design team. In honor of St. Patricks Day this month, the challenge was to do an almost all green card featuring some sort of leaf. Super cute, and always a thrill to see my work posted online.

Creative Memories launched their new line of scrappy goodness today...OMG the new baby line is so precious! And the new puzzle maker punch will be lots of fun. (You can see all the new products here.) And their new Project Centre has some great ideas in it too...inspiring!

My Creativity Project got off to a slow start today...the extent of my creativity was lying on the couch and reading a few scrapping blogs and the new Creating Keepsakes magazine. I also did some sketches for my website, but I'll have to finish one off and post it tomorrow. I wanted to get a layout done for my LOM assignement this week which is to scrap a least common layout...that is, scrapbook something you don't normally scrap about. I have some ideas but they will have to wait a day or two as well until I am fully up and around.

Hope to feel better tomorrow and do something fun.

Happy Scrapping,
Noreen

Let's Create!

OK...I know that sometimes I add too much to my plate, and Shane jokes that I am such a "joiner"! But when I found out about this project I knew that it was something I needed to do, because this project has the potential to create way more energy than it might take. Let me explain...

Lisa Day is a great scrapbooker, teacher and writer, and she has been published and on many design teams. She had been feeling scrapbooker's burnout and decided to combat it by starting to do something creative everyday. She shared this and has invited her blog readers and fellow scrappers to do the same. When I read this post I could relate on numerous levels.

• First of all I love scrapbooking, but many of the layouts I have been creating over the past few months have been based on requirements or challenges for design teams and publication submissions.
• Second, since I am taking Stacy J's LOM class at BPS, I am seeing lots of new directions for my scrapbooking. I am so looking forward to creating way more authentic and meaningful layouts.
• Third, it is a natural add-on to my Project 365. I am still taking a photo a day, so this will either provide new photo-opps, or I will be able to use the photos I take in some different ways.
• Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I am doing this for ME. When I taught high school art, I used to work alongside my students. For those five years I did something creative every day, whether it was drawing, painting, prepping and experimenting with materials or photographing student work. When I became a Vice-Principal I didn't have the opportunity to be creative within my daily work. And I was usually so tired at the end of the day that I didn't want to do anything else. Fast forward a few years to being a SAHM mom. I now have the time and opportunity to play and be creative with my four year old (as well as my eight month old who is now on a bit more of a manageable schedule and is not attached to my body every hour on the hour!) For example, yesterday we got out the paints for the first time in a long time, and I was reminded how much fun it is to let go and make a creative mess.
  
  
  

So when I saw Lisa's post it was serendipitous! I am SOOOO ready to be more creative again, and this was just the impetus I needed to make it a deliberate and intentional part of my every day life.

I don't know that I will be able to post about it everyday, but I will document as much as I can here on my blog. And make sure to check out the other scrappers who are taking on this project for March as well - there is a link to us all on the sidebar on Lisa's blog.

Ready - Set - Create!

Happy Scrapping,
Noreen

Off the Wagon

I have a confession to make...I fell off the wagon.

The Project 365 Wagon that is. Back in January I joined 1000's of scrappers who are trying to document the everyday extraordinary in their lives on a daily basis by taking at least one photo per day. I tried my best and was getting along very well, but then I missed three days this past week. Why? I don't know what it was - my camera wasn't easily accessible? I was too busy? Too tired? Perhaps...but I think it boils down to lack of motivation since I STILL haven't got my Project 365 kit from CK media. I think if I had it in my hot little hands I would be getting my weekly layouts done and having it at the forefront of my mind. But I don't, and it's not, and I am a little disappointed.

BUT...I will sally forth. I dug the camera out of my bag and made sure I got a couple of shots today. And for the days I missed I am going to use the portraits that were taken recently of each of the boys. I caught up on my journaling, so I am good to go again. And I am re-pledging to get back on the daily photo wagon!

I have also been busy with the Library of Memories class over at BPS. It has been a lot harder than I imagined. I have managed to sort through printed photos from 1984 to 2009 and am now in the process of getting the past five years worth into easily accessible storage albums.



The next step will be to triage them into category drawers which I think will be the key to making some connections and creating some meaningful layouts. That is upcoming in LOM...for now, we sort! (Digital photos are next!)

During this process I have also done some physical organizing around my scrap space...my new photo storage albums have a new home on the bottom of my reference shelves -



- and a new bookcase purchase from IKEA now holds all my Library of Memories scrapbook albums as well as bins full of my manufacturers page kits, my photo printer, Cricut, Cuttlebug and accessories.





I have some new cube storage pieces as well...a four drawer cube for my category drawers and a three drawer cube for enlargements and memorabilia. I think the system will work well. My scrap space still won't look like some cool designer room, but I love the fact that it is in the midst of our family's space where the boys can play, we can watch a movie, or just be in the space and enjoy it together.

Happy Scrapping!
Noreen