Questions & Answers : Part Two.

Continuing...

Okay, here we go... Most people achieve success by advancing through a series of stepping stones. What do you feel like your biggest "stone" was. :-) Posted by: Julia | June 9, 2005 08:42 AM

Hmmmm, Julia you are so good. Let's see...it was totally a series of stones for me. Hard to choose which one had the biggest impact. Finding, posting on, and meeting people through Two Peas was really where it all started. But, being asked to work with Creating Keepsakes has allowed me to connect face to face with people from all over, share my passions, and actually have this love become a job. I think that was probably the biggest "stone."

Ali, I was wondering how you start a LO? I would love to just sit watch as you start to create a LO and what your process is. That is always the hardest part for me...deciding what to use (oh the choices!) and how to use it to create exactly what I want to say. Also I was wondering about how long it takes for you to create a LO? I take forever usually and am trying to get over that "perfection" problem I have and just go with the flow! LOL. Posted by: Paige | June 9, 2005 09:23 AM
 
How do I start a layout? Breaking it down to the basics, I really do begin with the story I want to tell. In my book I talk about the whole concept of vision and communication. My vision is my story - it can be inspired by a photo, a conversation, or thoughts in my head. I get my cardstock. I get my photos and fix 'em up - enlarging, manipulating, printing (either at home on my Epson 1280 or from scrapbookpictures.com).

Even at this point I don't always know what my page is going to look like. Sometimes I see it in my head. Sometimes I am following a sketch that I came up with previously. Most of the time, I am playing. Going with the flow. Allowing the design to unfold while I am working on it...believing that however it comes out will be ok.

After photos I usually reach for some patterned paper. Not always, but often. And I cut it up. Love to use strips and pieces of the paper rather than a whole sheet. And I love to mix and match. I move things around on the page. Making sure that I leave room for my journaling (most of the time done last - sometimes done first).

My process is really pretty organic. We joked about this at the class in Bellingham. Being open to ideas that come as you are working on a page. Working with mistakes and imperfections. Covering things up. And not getting bound up in the thought that there is a perfect solution to any layout.

For me, a layout can come together very quickly or it can take days. Totally depends on how I am feeling, my attitude that day, how concrete are my ideas. I can finish a page in an hour or two. I am quick to make decisions, trusting my inner voice rathering than overthinking or agonizing over the "correctness." Some layouts I have sit around for awhile waiting for ideas to percolate.

One thing I always try to keep in mind is that, as long as I am alive, there will always be more material. More stories. More pages to create. More fun. I love that I will never be done.

My questions are how do you get out of a scrap rut? I'm in one now and just am not feeling creative or imaginative or knowing just what to do next (what pictures to choose, what paper to use, what size album...) Do you ever feel overwhelmed and if so, how do you get that feeling to go away? I have so many albums right now that I'm working on or need to start working on that I think feeling overwhelmed has led to putting me in my scrap rut! Posted by: Stephanie | June 9, 2005 09:23 AM

I absolutely feel overwhelmed. ABSOLUTELY. This is what drives me to clean and organize. That craving for a sense of order when I am feeling most out of control. I keep a list of my scrap priorities and try to complete one thing at a time (I have a tough time working on more than one project simultaneously) whenever possible. If I am in a rut, and I can afford a break, I take it whole-heartedly. Get away from scrapbooking and do something completely different so that when I come back I will be refreshed, be able to "see" things again.

Another thing I do when I am feeling overwhlemed in the middle of scrapping a page is just PICK something and call it good. That idea that it is "good enough." The perspective that years from now the family is so not going to care if I used the "perfect (there is NONE)" patterned paper - they will love the photos and the words and the thoughts that went into the creation.

I'm amazed at your ability to take pictures of these little things in life - instead of just the typical "events." Do you keep your camera with you at all times? Posted by: Leslie | June 9, 2005 09:42 AM

The camera is always out in our house. At the ready. Chris takes a lot of photos too. He has developed an appreciation for the same types of everyday shots that I love. I don't carry the camera with me in the car all the time (just too bulky) unless we are going somewhere special. Like today we are going to pick strawberries - I will take it with us. My parents are also awesome at taking shots of Simon when he is with them - and love the everyday stuff too. It is the most respresentative of our life.

I am always thinking in pictures too. On the lookout for little things I think would be cool to remember.

how many days till we get to hang out again...?
i love you man! Posted by: donna | June 9, 2005 09:54 AM

Not soon enough! Can't wait...

I would also like to see more of your creative space!! Posted by: Cathy | June 9, 2005 10:13 AM

Cool - hope you enjoyed those photos.

I have the same questions/remarks as Paige regarding your point of depature and process. For example, do you commit first to the number and size of pictures to include and then go from there? (I realize its probably not the same for each layout.) I would love to see an example of how you went about pulling a layout together -- step by step thought process. I spend so much time just getting started. Posted by: Christine | June 9, 2005 10:14 AM

I thought this was a really interesting question. Let's take a look at a recent layout from Two Peas and I will deconstruct my process:




1. This one began with the idea that I wanted to use this particular journaling and photo (from a past blog entry).
2. I had just gotten this cool new patterned paper (in this flower shape) from MOD in the mail and I thought it would work well with the "feeling" I was going for: being alive, vibrantly alive.
3. The patterned paper lead me to the orange cardstock. Here is a case where the cardstock came after the patterned paper.
4. I knew I wanted to include the cartwheel photo (as my focal photo), as well as a couple others (not yet determined at this point) so I had to figure out how I was going to combine one photo + at least two more while still using a big chunk of patterned paper and a long journaling piece.
5. My solution for the additional photos was to use a circle punch inside the sections of the curves of the patterned paper. I took my punch, stuck it in just a bit and punched. You can see that it is not even in each spot and that was fine with me.
6. Next I decided that I was going to lay the patterned paper off the edge of the cardstock. This would leave room for the journaling. I laid down the pp and trimmed off the edges and temporarilly adhered it so that I could make sure the smaller photos fit underneath.
7. The focal photo went in the center of the circle.
8. In addition to the supporting photos, I used the circles to hold accents that I randomly chose when I looked around my room. Not planned out, just looked around and plopped them down. I notice that a lot of what I choose depends on color - does it fit in with the scheme I have going? I knew I could pull colors from the patterned paper - that is pretty common. Often it is just something I like.
9. Added rub ons as a title around one of the curves. felt like I needed to have some additional element outside the boundary of the patterned paper.
10. For the journaling I decided to print it on transparency and just adhere it to the cardstock, overlapping some of the patterned paper. I manipulated it a bit on the computer but decided it was taking too long to try to get it to match up with the curves of the patterned paper so I just printed it out how it was and called it good. I ended up liking how it crossed over onto the patterned paper and one of the photos - brought it together more.
11. At this point I looked at the layout and felt like it needed some black to balance out the large journaling block. I found one of those Wordsworth phrase stickers that worked just right.

One of the things that concerns me about scrapbooking trends is whether or not five or ten years down the line my pages and projects will look horribly dated. Please don't think that I am saying that your stuff will look dated...part of why I like your work is that you have a fabulous, timeless sense of style, but I was wondering what you thought about this topic. Are you concerned about things looking out of date in the future? Or should I just think of the things that I create now as records of who I am at this moment in time? Or...? Posted by: Hilary | June 9, 2005 10:26 AM

You know what? My stuff will look dated - and I LOVE THAT! I am more concerned that I capture the stories I want to be told than whether the layouts will look dated. I actually like that when someone looks at my pages in the future part of the charm will be that they do look like they came from a certain point in my life. A certain style, etc. Just like you said, "a record of who I am at this moment in time." I so believe that.

I have thought about going back and redoing pages from when I first started scrapbooking. But I am not going to do it. They, as a collective group, are just as much a record of my passion and my own history as are the stories on the indivdual layouts.

Also would like to know on average how many photos do you usually take per week? Posted by: Michelle | June 9, 2005 10:30 AM

Sometimes none. Sometimes hundreds. Really depends on what is happening around here. Maybe on average about 20?

I would like to hear your "story"...what you did professionally before you were "Ali Edwards, Scrapbook Diva"...why and when you started scrapbooking...how you fell into your style...how you went about getting published in magazines...the process you took to get from unknown scrapbooker to celebrity status...Posted by: Kelley | June 9, 2005 10:41 AM

Let's see. I first graduated from college in 1997 with a degree in Amercian Studies (US history, political science, and literature). I had been dating Chris for a couple years and knew that I was interested in going where he was going. We headed here to Eugene, he went to work for his Dad and I, not really knowing at all what I was going to "be," got a job at a cell phone retailer. YEP. It was horrible. I was sick all the time because I hated what I was doing. I am so NOT a sales person. It just does not fit with my attitude and personality. I decided I was not ready to go to law school (that had been the plan) or become a teacher (the other plan) but that I had to find another job.

In some ways I think I was just waiting to get married and then waiting to have babies. Our plan was that I would stay at home. I felt like I was spinning my wheels until all that came to life. It sucked. Not a great time for me. I got a different job at a Health/Social Club. I actually really liked this job. More freedom. Got to meet lots of people in town. Liked the people I worked with. Got introduced to coffee. Got married. Things were better during this time. But I still wanted to do something different with myself.

I actually applied to architecture school. I thought that would be a good, professional creative route. But I had no experience, even artistic anything and I needed a portfolio for the admission packet to get into a program for people with unrelated undergrad degrees. I put something totally SILLY together and did not get in. All in all, it was meant to be.

Working at the health club I had the chance to do some stuff on the computer. Make signs. Work with the advertising people and the promotions/events people. I wanted to do what they did. I just kinda worked my way in and decided to go back to school for graphic design. There is a community college here with a great program. The first day I showed up for class I was in heaven. Finally in the right place for me.

It was a two year program. I kept working at the health club and got to eventually create my own graphics department where I did all the signage, ads, menus, posters, etc. It was great experience. I also had an internship with a local design firm. Now that was awesome as well. Really wanted to work for them.

And then, right as I was graduating from this program I got pregnant. Happily. I knew that I would not be taking a job at a new firm. I statyed at the health club in my new position as Design Coordinator until the day Simon was born.

For the next 11 months I was mama.

Then, in November 2002 I started looking for something to hold all the photos and "stuff" I had collected since Simon was born. Nothing fit my style. So I decided to do my own. I had been frequenting a website called organizedhome.com and saw a link to a scrapbooking site: two peas in a bucket. Darling name. Amazing site. I went to Michaels and bought cardstock and some patterned papers and some letter stickers and went to town. All my early pages, it is all there, can still be found on Two Peas: mama2simon.

From there I posted everything I created. I became obsessed. I went a little looney. But I was in love. I was making friends. And things grew from there. I started submitting. I was contacted by a company called Two Busy Moms that was interested in having me design products for them. That collaboration resulted in a line of products called inspire2. It was a great experience for me and one that taught me that my real passion lies not in product design, but in creating pages from a variety of manufacturers.

I entered Creating Keepsake's Hall of Fame contest and ended up being one of the 25 winners in 2003. My first published page was in Becky Higgins' Sketch Column in  July 2003. She called me at my house and I was SO excited. Dying would be the right word. That was before I was called for Hall of Fame - that was insane. I was so so so excited. Crazy times.

From there I continued to submit - I submitted everything. I posted on Two Peas. I got to work on a circle journal with the Hall of Fame winners - that ended up in a book called Full Circle which is still one of my favorites. I went to CKU-Vancouver and had a blast as a student. Then, one day, Tracy White (Editor of Creating Keepsakes) called out of the blue and wanted to know if I was interested in joining their team as a Contributing Editor and writing a book and teaching at CKU's, etc. Mind you, I had met Tracy once before and did not know that she really even had an idea who I was...

I pretty much said, "sure." I am really so very lucky and thankful. You just never know the direction in which your life will go - things are so different for me than I ever imagined.

More to come...