scrapbook store closing

 

My favorite (and only) local scrapbook store is closing.

 

This is so sad to me. It has been a gathering place for the past several years where I have met many scrapbookers who have become dear friends. One Saturday a month from about 4pm-11pm I pull up a chair and get to work on my scrapbooks with Michael Jackson playing overhead. My friends and I would take a break and head out to a local restaurant for dinner. One time we even skipped out for an entire movie! Tuesday afternoons I used to pop in on a regular basis and get my photos into albums and journal our family memories. I was just putting Tuesday scrapbooking back into my calendar when I heard the news.

 

I'm not sure what we are going to do. I wish there was a "gathering place" nearby where women could get together and work on their projects together. Yes, we can meet in each other's houses but there is something more focused about being somewhere with sets of long tables and good lighting (and the laundry not buzzing at me or the 'should,' 'more importants' or 'to do's' distracting me).

 

I went to their close-out sale and picked up this awesome scrapbook paper storage unit:

 

 

For some reason my husband was not happy with this purchase. He didn't understand it. So I just set it up in my office and so far have left it empty until I figure out how I'm going to use it. I've noticed though that every time I walk by it I get a little pop of JOY!  It makes me happy. So in my mind it was a good buy. It also gives me many happy memories of my local scrapbook store. 

 

How about you? Have you noticed stores going out of business? Or are you fortunate enough to still have a local place to scrap?  Have you purchased any Scrapbook Furniture? How are you using it and how has it helped with your creativity or productivity? I would love to read your thoughts! (Post a comment below.)  

Laying out a Travel Album

 

First I jot down our itinerary



 

 

Next, get the Photos developed

 

 

 

Using plastic Page Guides, I stack photos/memorabilia by subject/date using the guides to keep each event/day separate. This is just a loose filing to start the process. (You can use anything to make your own 'guides' - pieces of cardboard, heavy colored cardstock, or even scrapbook pages that you will use later.)

 

 

 

 

Then I lay out empty Guides on my pool table (as many will fit). I transfer each day's "pile" onto these guides - just start tossing photos onto them, purging duplicate photos or photos that won't fit, using my itinerary as a reminder of chronology, and including Memorabilia where appropriate. This is also a great way to see if you can get your photos into some double-page spreads, or if just a single side is needed. You can shift Guides around as needed.

 

So this is what a Guide might look like during this process:

 

 

Kind of a 'rough draft' if you will.  But this is a brilliant way for you to get an overview of your entire album and it's especially important in my case where we took so many photos I'm not sure that we can get our trip into one album.

 

 

Soon you will have a series of these "laid out" Guides. After the first batch is done, I throw another layer of Guides on top of the first set and keep going.

 

And add another layer, and another....we took so many photos on our Washington D.C. and New York trip that I ended up with 5 layers of Guides!  Which ended up being exactly 97 sides (49 pages). 

 

Creative Memories recommends 40 pages max (80 sides)...I've seen 45 pages (90 sides) but that is really pushing it. So I either need to:

 

1. Purge some pages/photos/memorabilia

or

2. Split the Trip into 2 albums.

 

Oh, what to do? what to do?

 

For now, I stacked the Guides (starting with the last page which will end up on the bottom), then stacking each Guide on top until I end up with the first page on the very top. They are all neatly in a Power Sort Box (no longer available to purchase from Creative Memories I'm sorry to say but some Consultants still have them if you want me to search for you), waiting for me to decide if I'll do one album or two. 

 

Next step: transferring these 'layouts' onto actual real scrapbook pages with mounting tape and then adding photojournaling and embellishments.