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After many years of digital December Daily (and digital scrapbooking in general), I'm in the mood for getting my hands dirty with some actual paper, scissors and glue. This will be my 12th December Daily and I love that working on this project has now become another of my Christmas traditions along with the tree and the baking. (Here's a look through my previous December Daily albums) I'm thinking an old-school homemade 4x4 minibook - just a bunch of pages held together with binder rings and a chipboard cover. I'm not buying the physical kit (let's not get too crazy, whoah) but I'll take a more hybrid approach with the various digital releases as well as stuff I already have. Turns out, I still have quite a lot of physical scrapbooking things stashed away in my drawer - leftovers from a past Week In the Life kit, some chipboard and wood elements and loads of letter stickers. Today I printed out some of my digital journal cards and some previous Christmas photos to see what it might look like. I want to keep this year's project really simple - a photo and a journal card or patterned paper for each day with a very brief story or caption. We are breaking tradition this year - combining Christmas with some family friends and spending the day at their place, so this will be a great year to do something different and pared-down with my book too. I know I'll get frustrated halfway through with the printing, cutting, hole punching etc but it's only 25 days right? Once this year's December Daily Digitals are available, I'll do a video and post about turning digital items to physical items with Photoshop Elements. I know that's something a lot of people wonder about, particularly if they can't get the physical item they really wanted. Stay tuned! #DecemberDaily #MiniBooks #HybridScrapbooking

I've always added little stories from my childhood & younger days to my scrapbooks, but this year I really wanted to tackle that in a more organised way. I scrapbook my own story all the time so it's really the pre-scrapbooking days that are missing. I started playing around with ideas and think I've come up with a way that will work. The keys to completing a long-term project for me are (1) a simple and repeating design (2) an overall structure to organise my pages and thoughts. I really just want to pair a photo with a memory and move on to the next one. This project is all about the documenting and not about being creative or looking pretty - I might not even add in any scrapbooking products. I'm calling it Little Life Stories. I really want to focus on the stories so I'm going to keep it very minimal and pared-down following my usual photo on one side, story on the other formula. 8x10 spreads to become a Blurb book when complete. I don't need to be super-creative. I want to make it easy to open up and just add a story or two each week. I don't plan to do this in a set time-frame, it might take a year. Or two. It doesn't matter. As someone who needs structure, I'm planning to split the book into chronological sections that make sense for my life so I can have a place where each story will fit: Childhood Teens 20s 30s I won't have photos for many of my stories and a lot of the photos I do have won't be great quality (hello 1970s!). I was also lucky or unlucky (I think the former) to live my teens and twenties in a world without camera phones so I don't have photos to go along with a lot of the crazy stuff we got up to. I'll just make do, use what I have and add in memorabilia, google images and current photographs if they work for the story. I've started a notebook (real & on my phone) to jot stories down - once you start going down those memory rabbit holes... I'm also planning a good sit-down with my box of old photos. Jennifer Wilson at Simple Scrapper (HERE) is currently running a perfectly-time class called Before Your Story for her members, so I hope to get some great ideas from that. She suggests making a timeline and I've found that really helpful to just get a handle on what year things happened. I have also been listening to a lot of The Scrap Gals podcasts (HERE). I really enjoyed the episodes where Tiffany and Tracie looked back at their memories of school, Summer and television - sparked so many stories for me. I'm really looking forward to this. I think. #LittleLifeStories #Plans #Photobooks #DigitalScrapbooking

Hey folks, I have a video today showing how I made this layout with some tips and tricks for manipulating word art. Enjoy!

I have some projects that have a narrow focus (like music, food or even Project Life) which makes it easy to know what types of stories to document, but my everyday 5x8 pages are a free-for-all. I love having new stories, old stories, silly stories, serious stories, long stories, short stories, all in there together. I like working that way and I like the end product - a big book of everything. One important thing to note - there will always be cross-over with my other projects and I have no problem if a story or photo finds its way into multiple scrapbooks - the more the merrier! 1. CURRENT LIFE PAGES As a starting point, I like to document the things that are happening right now - good and bad. I look through my current photos and make pages about things I've been interested enough to photograph - a beautiful day at the park, a delicious meal I cooked (even if that will also appear in my food journal), a girls' night out, a story about something the kids have done, a day-in-the-life page about a really good random Saturday. These are our everyday stories. 2. POP CULTURE PAGES I love having pages about film, TV, songs, books & podcasts in my book. These might also appear in my Project Life or favourite song project but sometimes they need their very own page or sometimes I just like something so much I want it to spend as much time with it as I can. 3. FEELINGS, THOUGHTS & 'ME' PAGES I use scrapbooking to sort through feelings and moods. I am a journaler not a talker, so writing things out comes natural to me. I often make a page about how I'm feeling or about where I am right now in terms of my headspace or where I want to be. I often pair these pages with a selfie. Sometimes these thoughts are deep, sometimes not so much :) 4. THINGS I JUST LOVE PAGES It might be a TV character, it might be reading a book in the sushine outside, it might be coffee in bed on a Sunday morning, it might be a new record for my collection, it might be going to bed early, it might be Lindt chocolate, it might be a book. 5. REMINISCING PAGES I like documenting old stories and photos in my book. Stories I find myself repeating to my kids or husband - those stories that often star with "When I was a kid..." 6. LOVE LETTER PAGES I like writing little love letters to my family or making pages for them just because. 7. 'STUFF THAT MAKES ME LAUGH' PAGES I love making a little page about something that takes me to my happy-place - a great joke by a comedian, something funny one of my kids said, a scene from a movie. 8. QUOTES PAGES Making a page is a great way to save a favourite quote or scene from a film. 9. 'LET THE PHOTO BE THE STAR' PAGES A full page photo with a few words or elements or nothing else. Done. 10. 'LET THE SCRAPBOOK SUPPLY BE THE STAR' PAGES Sometimes I love some word art, a journal card or cool paper so much, it doesn't need much else.

Today my Blurb Trade Book came in the post (always arrives so quickly - I only sent my order off five days ago). I ended up calling the book Life Stories Jan-Jun 2019 on the spine - I used some Ali Edwards word art with that phrase on a previous book and thought it fit for this. This is the 5x8 book of all my scrapbook layouts for the year so far. I'll do another one July to December - fitting the whole year into one book just wasn't going to happen. I'm so happy with the result. Trade Books are not as high quality as a photo book but I love this size and I knew what I was going to get. The pages are matt and the colours aren't super vivid but the paper is thick. The book cost me around $45 Australian all up with postage. I made each page in Photoshop Elements as a 5x8 then I set each page in Blurb as a full page photo. I've got a set up post (HERE). I made sure to leave a lot of white space in case of cut off and was careful with the edges but took my chances with some elements and it all came out fine. This book contains around 170 single pages of layouts, I've got a photo with one of my full 6x8 Ali Edwards albums which contains 100 layouts to compare. Looking forward to getting to work on my July pages! #Photobooks #5x8 #MyBook #LifeStories

At the end of last year, I took a hard look at my scrapbooking and where I wanted to go with this hobby (HERE) and my two main take-aways were: 1. I'm am happiest when scrapping digitally. I go back to paper and glue sometimes for fun but always end up frustrated, thinking "I could do this quicker and better in Photoshop". 2. I am done with printing loose pages at home and filling album after album. They take up a lot of space (even 6x8), are cumbersome to flip through and every time I settle on an album design or colour, it is discontinued or hard to find again. I loved the Blurb photobooks and trade books I had printed over the years and felt like that was the way forward for me. THIS YEAR'S PROJECTS For 2019, I have been making digital pages for a number of different books that will be printed at completion. Here's the current list - I've also linked to the blog posts for each project if you want to learn more: 1. Project Life 2019 - 10x8 Photobook 2. My Year In Food - 10x8 Photobook 3. My Book 2019 (I need a better name for this one, but it's all of my regular scrapbook layouts and other bits and pieces made as 5x8 pages) - 5x8 Trade Book 4. 100 Days of Lovely - 6x6 Chatbook 5. 100 Songs that Changed My Life - 6x6 Chatbook 4. Week In The Life 2019 - 5x8 Trade Book (Already Printed) PHOTOBOOKS V PRINTING AT HOME I have missed printing at home and building up my binders as I go. It can feel very ethereal having all of these pages living on my hard drive until the project is done or ready to print. Sharing my digital pages on Instagram as I make them has helped. I am feeling good about the decision though and know I will be happy to hold all of these books when the time comes. TEMPLATES & PAGE FORMULAS All of my current projects (except for my regular layouts) use a basic blue-print or template which makes it a lot easier to keep up with. These all have an end as well - some are for a year, some are #100. I can pick one of these projects and get working even if I'm not necessarily feeling super creative. Having multiple projects like this going at once means I have a lot of choice about what I can work on and I never sit at my desk waiting for inspiration. For my 100 Songs Project, I just type in a few lines on the existing template (by Cathy Zielske) add a photo and that's another one or two for the book. When I'm working on My Year In Food, I just add in any recent food photos, change the date and add a few notes. I always have my regular pages for when I'm feeling creative and just want to do something different. MY REGULAR SCRAPBOOK PAGES This year I've changed from making 6x8 pages to 5x8, just because that's one of the Trade Book sizes at Blurb. I don't follow any pattern and get to use all of my digital products (or not) and tell the stories that speak to me right now. Things I'm thinking about, things that we are doing, things I'm worried about or things I'm loving. I always make a few pages for this book each month with my Ali Edwards' Story Kits and I make at least two layouts a month as part of the Kellie Stamps digital team. I've averaged out about 20-30 5x8 pages per month so far, some are single and some are double spreads. It sounds like a lot, but while some are more arty and use a lot of product, some are very simple with only a photo or a big title and a line or two of text and that's it. I realised a few months ago that making 20+ pages a month meant I would have a HUGE book at the end of the year, so I've decided to split it into two for 2019. That means that this weekend I get to put the finishing touches on January-June 2019 and get it sent off for printing - I'm excited to get something to hold in my hands. WORK FLOW I work in the city part-time so Thursday-Sunday is my crafty time (in between real life). Depending on what we have planned, I can usually count on at least two or three days where I can spend a few hours at my desk/happy place. Four days is even better :) I've been running a week or two behind on Project Life lately so on Thursday's I always try to work on that. It doesn't take me too long to put a week's spread together - some photos, a few filler cards, a couple of little stories, some TV or movie posters in between. I've got a good rhythm going. I look at Project Life and My Year In Food as my scrapbooking 'chores'. Not necessarily in a bad way, but they are the projects that need some work every week to keep them manageable and on track. I try not to let a week go by where nothing happens with these. I have definitely been that person who had to catch up on six months of Project Life before so I'm trying to avoid that this year. I'm also giving consistent attention to my two #100day projects, but they are so simple and fun and I don't have a deadline for them - they are done when I hit 100 pages so if that's next month, great, if it's next year, no problem (doing these consistently for 100 days as the project intended is just not possible for me). These are not timely or chronological projects, just two books I will treasure. If I have a free half hour on a Saturday, I can easily sit down with coffee, some music and make one or two of my little 6x6 music pages. I don't need to look through photos or agonise over design or embellishments, I can just get it done and tick another one off. I am a lot more free with my regular layouts. I get a consistent amount of pages done each month, but it's not through any kind of plan or system, it just happens that way. I am dividing my book by month and I'm not bothered if I have a month with a lot of pages then a month with less. I include stories/events from that month as well as old stories and just general observations that are not chronological at all, so it's really just a collection of what I made that month rather than documenting our month. I think I only broke my book up by month so I could have some kind of order when saving my layouts and getting them into Blurb. I don't have certain recurring topics or themes that I want to cover every month, it's all quite random. I don't worry if one kid has more pages about them than the other (one is a tween and she ruins every photo I try and take of her anyway). I don't care if my left side layout doesn't match my right side. I don't care if I have five pages about avocado toast by the end of the book. I don't care if one whole page is just a cool journaling card from a kit. When the end of the month comes, I'm done and move on to the next one. My 5x8 pages sometimes come together very quickly, other times I might have an idea that just does not work no matter how much time I spend on it. These are my creative pages and I really love the design aspect as well as the journaling the most. Sometimes I make three or four at one sitting, other times I'm just happy to work on my other stuff. OTHER PLANS I've recently been looking over at my collection of old 12x12 and 8.5x11 albums and thinking about converting the digital pages to books too. I can see how the pages in my old scrapbooks are sagging as they sit on the shelf. I started scrapbooking in 2008 and went mostly digital in 2010, so more than half of my pages are digital, just printed out through Persnickety Prints and placed in page protectors. The rest are my older paper layouts. I've started popping some of my old digital layouts into 12x12 and 8.5x11 Blurb books, starting with one each for the kids. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to re-do the paper layouts in digital format (it's always an option, even scanned or photographed) but it would definitely cut down the number of American Crafts albums sitting on my shelves. Reducing my album collection would make me happy and I think the family will be more inclined to look through the books. Plus it will give me more space in my Kallax for more vinyl records :) ONWARDS I'm happy with where I'm at so far this year. I really love the new projects I've started that focus on food and music - projects that weren't even on the radar at the beginning of the year. I like how I was able to participate in Week In the Life in a simplified way. I like that I've identified how I want to scrapbook and what is important to me. I like that I'm totally fine with doing it my way even if it's not quite like what everyone else is doing. I like that there are so many options for photobooks in terms of size, shape and type of book. I like that moving to photobooks hasn't really changed anything for me, I just need to create my pages in a size that is available. I like that I have a sustainable way forward where I can make my pages and not have to worry about trends and products being in stock or discontinued.

I love this project, started by Ali Edwards (HERE). I've made about five WITL albums over the years and treasure them. I don't participate every year - happy to leave a year or two between them - but I love what I have. I was going to sit this one out (I made a cute 3x8 album last year) - to be honest, I just wasn't in the photo-taking mood. But with all the excitement around this project I started to get some serious FOMO and tried to think of a way I could make it work this year. I settled on documenting just three stories per day - morning, noon and night - with three photos. I took some morning photos when I got to work Monday and started a note in Simplenote just to jot down some thoughts and document what was happening three times a day. I work in the city Monday to Wednesday so I had to wait until Thursday to actually work on my pages. I had some ideas for a very simple, minimal design to get the words + photos together. I always find it easier to design pages once I have actual photos and words to slot in. Once I have my first day done, the rest is easy. I am a fan of repetition and having a system. For each day, I have a daily title page, a morning, afternoon and evening story (with a full page photo to go with each) and a final 'Currents' page. I'm not using any products, just concentrating on words and photos. I'm making my pages digitally in Photoshop Elements and will print as another 5x8 Trade Book with Blurb at the end of the week. Glad I jumped in. Here is a little video showing how I set my page template up. Thanks! #WeekInTheLife #DigitalTips #DigitalScrapbooking

I have always preferred typed journaling over my handwriting but sometimes it's nice to include it in a layout. As a digital scrapbooker for many years, my handwriting is missing from my projects but lately I've been playing with the Procreate App (HERE) with my daughter's iPad and Apple Pencil to get some handwriting back into my digital layouts. I've made two videos about the process - one is using the Procreate App and getting your file to your computer for scrapbooking, the other is how to get the words onto your layout. As I mention in the video, I am no Procreate expert - I am doing the bare minimum with it for now. My daughter loves it for drawing and people are creating incredible art, brush lettering, calligraphy and so many awesome things. There are online tutorials and classes if you want to go further - I hope to some day. My aim was to get my standard, everyday handwriting onto some of my pages. Here's a 5x8 spread: And this is my Kellie Stamps project using the new Currently digital set (HERE) and some handwriting - process video for this layout is below. Video #1: How to do handwriting on Procreate and get it to your computer for scrapbooking (apologies, my videos cut off abruptly at the end for some reason but cover all the steps): Video #2: How to get your Procreate words onto a layout: #Video

I have a #100dayproject going right now - 100 Days of Lovely (HERE) - but after I had started that, I had an idea to document 100 of my favourite songs or song memories. Music is a big part of my life. That would be perfect for next year, I thought. But I couldn't wait so I started it anyway. I've had this Cathy Zielske digital template (HERE) for years and thought it would be perfect for this. A space for a photo, a space for the song title, artist and a little note. I don't feel the need to do any in-depth journaling - just a quick note for each one. I have made about 16 cards and it didn't take long at all. I'm just choosing songs that are in my favourites playlist - no particular order. I'm making 6x6 digital pages, the same as my #100dayproject, and will print as a book at the end. I had to shorten the photo spot on the template to get it to a square but otherwise kept it the same (switching out the orange on the monogram). This is one of those projects I will be grateful to have in the future.

Today I've got a video of some real-time digital scrapbooking using digital journal cards in layouts (rather than pocket projects). The first page uses a 3x4 journal card from Paislee Press' Autumn Vibes Journal Card set available at The Lily Pad (HERE). The other two projects use 3x8 journal cards from Geralyn at In A Creative Bubble -the Remember set (HERE) and the Delightful set (HERE). Her full 3x8 collection can be found (HERE). I am so happy that digital designers are making 3x8 templates and cards - they are perfect for Travelers Notebooks, 6x8 pages and my own 5x8 project. These are some more of my favourites from Liz at Paislee Press (HERE) (HERE) and (HERE) and some of Ali Edwards' (HERE) and (HERE). And here is the video, thanks! #DigitalTips #TravelersNotebooks #DigitalScrapbooking #MyBook #Video

My elevator-pitch definition of scrapbooking would simply be: Telling a story with photos and words on a piece of paper. When I picture a standard scrapbook page, it's: //one or more photographs //a title //some journaling //some decorative embellishments like stamps or stickers But there are so many ways to make pages & projects outside of these parameters and sometimes breaking the 'rules' can help you get out of a scrapbooking rut. Trying something different always energises me. My mantra: you don't have to do it like everyone else. 1. SCRAPBOOKING WITHOUT PHOTOS No matter the story, I can usually find, or take, a photo to go along with it - even if it's from an event where I didn't take photos or from an older story. Sometimes though, it's nice to forgo the photos and just stick with the story. When I'm looking at a scrapbook album as a whole, it's nice to have some photo-free pages to break up the constant stream of images. Photo free pages also work well when you have a lot to say. When making a layout without photos, the words are usually the focus. Embellishments are also great additions - the perfect excuse to use a whole sheet of that beautiful patterned paper. 2. SCRAPBOOKING A FULL PHOTO Just print a full size photo and write or stick things on top. Photos with a lot of empty space are perfect for some journaling. 3. SCRAPBOOKING WITHOUT PRODUCTS I am a fan of making super simple pages. You don't need to have the latest Summer themed kit to make a page about your Summer. You don't need products to be able to tell a story. 4. CHANGING UP SIZES There are so many different sizes to scrapbook - 12x12, 8.5x11, 6x8, pocket pages, travelers' notebooks, mini books, mini albums. Changing sizes always re-energises me - I was a huge fan of 6x8 (HERE) and this year I am trying 5x8 so I can print as a book. Just because you are working on a particular size doesn't mean that you have to scrapbook that size forever or that you can't make pages in different sizes. Make a mini book now and then. It's fun. 5. SAYING GOODBYE TO PROJECTS It's OK to stop a project in the middle if it's no longer bringing you joy. We've all started something with good intentions and gusto only to find that it's no longer working for us and has becomes a chore. Put it aside for another time, call it good and be happy with only half a year, or bin the whole thing and move on to the next thing that excites you. 6. GOING DIGITAL Digital scrapbooking is real scrapbooking. You don't need a lot of space or supplies beyond a computer or device, some digital products (or not) and an app or software that lets you play around with photos and words. Some of my digital pages take literally minutes to make. It's perfect for scrapbooking on the go or traveling and your digital pages can sit right along side your paper ones. 7. SCRAPBOOKING YOUR OWN STORY I like scrapbooking about my kids, but I love scrapbooking about myself. These are the pages that speak to me and bring me the greatest joy. These are the pages I'm uniquely qualified to tell. I make my fair share of 'obligation pages' (first day of school, merit awards, birthdays, holidays). They have a place in my scrapbooks and in our family story but they are not always my favourite pages. I would much rather make a page about the things that really excite me (my record player! Game of Thrones is coming back! I cooked an awesome dinner!) or that get me thinking (is this all there is? what does this season of life feel like for me? what habits do I really want to cultivate?). These pages are fun, give meaning to my life and help me sort out my feelings. Which leads me to... 8. SCRAPBOOKING AS THERAPY Dig deep. Real deep. What's bothering you? Where do you see yourself heading? What are you grateful for? How are you going to solve that problem? Who do you want to be? Some of my favourite pages involve me diving into an issue and coming out the other side. Get sad, get angry, get messy but get real.

I'm excited to take part in the 100 Day Project (HERE) this year, which starts today. I've only ever participated once before when I got most of the way through Kristin's 100 Days of All About Me project (now called All About Me: The 100 Question Challenge - you can sign up for free HERE) I started my project months after the actual 100 Days Project and just worked on it over the year rather than a set amount of days. I still have about 20-30 questions left and hope to finish it up this year (I've signed up again as a reminder). I used two small, 4x4 We R Memory Keepers albums (luckily I had two of these as I didn't even realise when I started that I would not fit 100 questions in one album) and just printed the journaling off on cardstock, cut and hole-punched and put straight into the album, sticking my photos to the back. I've been thinking about the project this week and decided to just document 100 Lovely Things. I understand that I'm essentially making a gratitude project, but the word 'gratitude' always seems a bit formal and austere to me when I really just want to document my old converse or a great drum solo in a song. Gratitude for a donut seems a bit over the top. So 'Lovely Things' it is. I love the small, square size for a project like this but I don't have any albums and can't really be bothered with the printing, cutting and hole punching anyway. So I'm sticking to my new year's plan to make more photo books and will be making my project digitally in PSE and printing as a book when I'm done. I've set my pages up as 6x6 (I know Chatbooks does that size) and am sticking to the formula of photo on the left, words on the right. I added some coloured circles to my journal page but overall it's simple enough that I think I can get it done. My journaling will be very basic - no pressure to go deep with my words. I know I won't be able to make a page a day - I will just make a couple at a time and I am fine if it takes me longer than 100 days. I have a rough list of things I brainstormed the other day that I can draw from and my personal instagram gives me a good idea of my Lovely Things. I plan to raid my own photo stash for this and take new photos if needed. A lot of the things I will document are not time/date specific and I love an excuse to use old photos that don't have a home yet. Looking forward to having a cute little book of my favourite things when I am done. #100lovelythings