words + photos : friday + weekend creative
The project this weekend is to create a layout using only words + photos. Maybe one other embellishment? That part is completely up to you.
What is a story you have been wanting to tell?
Remember this photo from earlier in the week?
That photo + words printed out on textured cardstock + a bit of ruler ribbon (and a smidge of ink) =
[ cardstock: Bazzill; font: Avenir; ruler ribbon: Papier Valise; ink: Stampin Up; date stamp: Staples ]
Here's a couple things that ran through my mind as I was putting this page together:
1. Use journaling as a chance to speak to your audience. In my case my audience is often Simon. I write as if I was talking with him, telling him the story. This is real language and more personal.
2. Remember that there are lots of different ways to get words onto a page: handwriting, type, stamping, letter stickers, typewriter, etc.
3. Don't forget a date. Man, this is such an easy thing to forget. I scanned this layout in before realizing it was missing the date. Depending on the story I am telling I may include that date I wrote the jouranling as well as the dates for the photos (in this case they were the same).
4. Maybe my next ten layouts will be as simple as this and maybe not. Bringing yourself back to these basics for a bit and then moving forward gives you perspective once again. So worth the effort.
Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments this week. It has been cool to delve deeper into the real heart of scrapbooking. Going through the process of gathering all the content has solidified my belief in the power of words + photos. They are what truly matter to me in the long run.
There is also something very powerful about the process of creativity. I was reminded this week that there are so many different ways to be creative.
Focusing energy on words + photos is a creative act. My creativity comes into play big time when I take photos (setting up the shot, following the emotion, capturing moments that otherwise go by in an instant) and when I sit down to write the story.
Again, thanks you for your interest and time this week!
[ The full words + photos series can be found here: monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday. ]
Ali - Thank you for putting so much time and thought into the words + photos this week. I have really enjoyed following it and thinking more about the basics of scrapbooking. Have a great weekend and thanks again!
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Ali - I check your blog daily, but have never commented before. This week's series Words + Photos has given me the confidence to start scrapbooking. I've always had the desire to do it, but it seemed like I didn't have the right knowledge. Thank you for letting me know it's alright to scrap without having all the latest embellishments, products, etc. I'm making a scrapbook for my younger sister whose expecting her first child. Now the process has gone from something I wasn't sure I was going to be able to do well enough to something I feel privileged to do!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! :)
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Ali - Thank you for taking the time to help us all get back to the heart of scrapbooking. I am continually inspired by your work and your journey. Thank you for bringing us along for the ride.
I appreciate the reminder of what is important when I capture our memories and create pages.
Blessings to you,
Krystal
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YOU rock Ali!!!
Thank you for this wonderful creative education. Loved that.
Have an awesome Mama's Day!
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Great series, indeed. I'd love to see today's layout on its own to read the journaling. Thank you.
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Thanks Ali - so much enjoyed this week and all the information.
Hope you have a creative & wonderful weekend.
Nicky
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Happy Mother's Day, Ali and mamas!
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Wow - what a great series, Ali! Like I said earlier, this is exactly what I've been looking for to give me the 'push' into scrapbooking (those photos were the thing scaring me, and then I thought, 'hey, they're just like patterned paper, only better...and usually less expensive!'). But I also needed a manifesto of sorts, something that described what I wanted my scrapbooking to be, how I wanted it to feel, and what I was doing it for. You've definitely provided the look over the years, and the words all fell into place this week. You are such an inspiration!
Thank you again, and have a wonderful Mother's Day!
~Michelle
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This week's blog was awesome! Thank you for your wonderful insights! My word for this year is "story" so I just loved this! Thank you!
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Ali, Can you put a link to this week's posts on the Categories section of your blog? I can see myself coming back to these posts as 'reference'.
I've always taken pictures with the thought of telling stories with them later. I've always had an intention to scrapbook and document all those pictures one way or another. But somehow along the way I just didn't know how to start. Three years ago I became friends with a couple of scrapbookers. However their patterened papers and embellishments intimidated me. I still put it off. Now if I had read your posts years ago, I probably would have started sooner.
You are really an inspiration and a talent. Keep the great posts coming.
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Thank you so much for this week it has been awesome. I was looking through some older photos a month or so again and saw so many stories that needed to be told. The photos may not have been prize winning shots but they were just so representative of my son at that age and I so need to tell the stories before I forget. I really think I am going to start a journal and get more of the things my DS says and does documented. I know we all say we don't want to forget but it is so easy to let the memories slip away.
Thanks so much for reminding us to keep it real and tell the stories and not just make pretty pages. We need to be reminded about this occasionally.
I also would love it if this series was added to your index as I know I am going to want to come back to this series over and over again.
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I've bookmarked all of these because I know I will come back to them again. Your insights into both the photography and the journaling are so inspiring. Have a wonderful Mother's Day!
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Ali-what a fun idea! Again I am reminded of why you inspire me...I also journal to my son. Also...I finally got that blog!! YEAH!!Shanie :)
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What a great idea!! I'm definitely going to do this this weekend. Have a fantastic Mother's Day!!
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thank you for this amazing tutorial. what a great gift to all of us from you, thank you so much for making memory preservation so simple and do-able!!
thank you for all of your hard work, i have enjoyed it and so appreciate it.
have a wonderful mother's day.
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I think it has all been said already, but thank you for a really thoughtful and inspiring week of posts!!! Thank you for sharing your talent and insights with others.
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Thank you so much for this week's special. Your books made me to the scrapbooker I am now and I'm thankful for this reminder!
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Thank you, Ali, for being so generous with your talent, your ideas, and your life. Not many people would take the time and effort to share as much as you do.
love,
Lisa
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Thank you for sharing this week with us. I really feel like scrapbooking is easy again something I should not complicate and I really appreciate that you would put your time into helping us learn to create our pages again the simple way. After all the reason most of us scrapbook is to show photos that mean so much to us and this should not be complicated at all.
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GREAT stuff you had for us this week. I felt like I had my own personal online class! Everything was so useful and insightful. I really enjoyed it...thanks ^-----^
-Karla
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Thank you, Ali, for taking us back to the heart of scrapbooking. It's so easy to get caught up in the "latest and greatest" products out there when all we really need is words+photos...truly. Thanks again!
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Hey Ali - speaking of WORDS this week, do you have a widget that helps you out with your cool quotes or do you just find them and post them each day? I want to have an inspiring quote on my blog and yours are always just oh-so-perfect...just wondering how you can possibly have time to find just the perfect quote, update your blog, make art, be a mom and wife, do all your other creative and non-creative pursuits and still be so SMILEY! :) You absolutely ROCK in my world! Thanks for the constant inspiration!
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This was such a great week! I just created a layout digitally (because I'm learning from jessica Sprague) and it was nice to be able to do it and not feel clueless. Words+Photos+one button with the date. Nice!!! Thanks so much for a great series, can't wait to meet you at CKU Houston!
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thank you ali!
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Happy Mother's Day Ali.
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