Hi from Caz! Today we have a guest on IACW.
When I came across this lady's work on UKScrappers I was totally blown away. This to me is what it's all about. Scrapping the story, not just the photos.
Hello from Alexa!
Thank-you for inviting me and I’m delighted and chuffed to be here! Me and scrapbooking? If you want to pigeonhole me, I guess I’ll be heading in the direction of clean and simple. Five years ago, with a daughter fast approaching adulthood and because I needed to stop feeling bad about the piles of photos spilling out of the boxes under the bed, I popped into a shop for a photo album and emerged with two scrapbooks, a magazine and clutch of card. I wanted my daughter to know the story of her life with us: not just the bits she remembered, but the other stories and memories we held in our heads and hearts. Journalling has always been my starting point – although it doesn’t have to be the main focus – with photos usually in a supporting role. Things I can’t do without? White cardstock, pens/pencils, a computer. Oh, and did I mention white cardstock? Things I love but am nervy of using? Patterned papers, embellishments, ribbons and lace - I so admire those that can and do! I usually do my journalling on the computer, and print the photos separately before sticking it all together. Although recently I've been foraging around in the digital world, I still like something to hold in my hand once I've finished. I'm currently doing albums for my son and daughter-in-law and my new grandson, as well as marking the events in my own life, and journalling and photos remain key. Mulling it over, I realise I use them in a number of different ways …
Story of a Day
Not having any background in art or craft, I’m constantly learning about design wherever I see it. This layout was inspired by the Quilting Arts TV webpage (http://www.quiltingartstv.com), adapted and expanded. It simply tells the story of a family event and why it is significant. I’m also happy to reuse a design if it has worked well before! (Journalling: “ How very strange to be here, all four generations of us: parents, brother, children and grandchild! Did I ever wonder when and how, or if, I would return? It was a frequent detour to the coast: wandering up to the waterfall, then scrambling back down the rock-strewn path. Beyond, Ben Bulben rising from the sea; at its foot, the grave of Yeats. The tattered copy of his poem ‘Stolen Child’, pinned to a post, is no more. But still the echoing lines whisper: “Come away oh human child to the waters and the wild, with a faery hand in hand, For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand”.)
‘As if’ journalling
A little fantasising never comes amiss! I sometimes enjoy pretending to be one of the people in the photo (especially if they’re too young to talk), and writing from their imagined perspective. I know it's on the far end of the 'my-goodness-there's-a lot-of-white-space-on-here' spectrum, but sometimes I just need to do a really quick layout without too much in the way of frills and furbellows. (Journalling: "Having problems, Mum? Hang on a minute - stop Googling. You know what Dad always says ... R.T.F.M! I think it stands for: Read The Flaming Manual! I’m sure I’ve seen it in here somewhere ...").
Sometimes, a random moment sends my thoughts spiralling and a shiver down my spine. This page records one of those (and my first adventure with an overlay and brush from Anne Aspnes’ ArtPlay Palette Mini Kit No. 06: http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/product_info.php/products_id/7787). Looking at my little grandson asleep, this is what went through my head ... (Journalling: “Where do you go to, my lovely, when you’re alone in your bed? That’s how the song goes, as I remember. I had forgotton how very deeply little people sleep: skin alabaster-pale and veined like marble, eyes fastened tight, utterly still, seemingly without breath. And are you dreamless too, my little grandson? Or drifting through clouds of half-remembered experience and misted memories from the hours before? Or perhaps the distant dreamy past beyond your birth ... You will never be able to tell me, even if you could catch hold of it, and I will never know. What a mystery we all are to one another - and to ourselves!")
When the photo isn’t great …
Have you got any like this: either pre-digital, faded, pink- or yellow-hued, or just a shot that’s ‘ordinary’? Here, I’ve made mine more of an embellishment, acting as a jumping-off point for the story. (Journalling: “It’s October ‘09, and you are just over one year old. When I opened your Dad’s email and saw this photo, I smiled - for a number of reasons, as you will see... 1 The laptop is very clearly no obstacle to you, and with a programmer for a Dad, keyboards and computers are as familiar to you as a tower of bricks and are just another plaything (much to Mum and Dad’s irritation at times). 2 I’m amused that your Dad is allowing you to crawl over a desk, which would normally be hallowed territory. Unless, of course, this is actually Mum’s (which is nowhere near as sacred as his!) , 3 I am also remembering that your Dad shared with me on a recent visit that he really wanted to buy an AppleMac, at which point I nearly fell off my chair. 4 Your Dad has been a diehard PC fan for years and consistently rubbished everything else. 5 Even my own daring purchase of an iMac in January (note that it took me ten years to work my way past the internalised censor he bequeathed me) was greeted with that familiar, sceptical, raised eyebrow. 6 Your Mum wanted him to wait until Christmas for one. 7 However - and isn’t this an interesting coincidence? - Dad’s laptop apparently ‘died’ (oops!) very suddenly and recently. 8 And so he’s had to order himself a MacPro right away. Right away! 9 So, I’m wondering, very tentatively of course and this is just a whisper in your ear: could your Dad have been allowing or even (perish the thought!) encouraging you to ‘age’ his laptop to the point of no return? Hmm. You’ll have to ask him! PS But don’t say you heard it from me. Because, as the car sticker I saw the other day so graphically puts it, your Dad is going to be chosing my nursing home ...”)
A word in your ear
Sometimes my journalling talks to the person in the photo(s) directly: it may be about them, or me, or both. Sometimes, part of the intended audience is not visible: the journalling below is as much for my son and daughter-in-law as it is for my grandson. I love sequences of photos, little snippets of time, and especially of ordinary moments. I was really stuck for an embellishment here until my eye fell on a leathery-looking clothes label which I then stamped. Brads and the odd eyelet are my staples! (Journalling: “When I thought about the shape of your little life in the city, I think I was afraid that you would be deprived of something. That although enriched in many other ways, you would lose out on the mud-puddling, sand-sifting, twig-pulling and general grubbing around hand-in-hand with Mother Nature that your Dad got to do when he was growing up with us. But I need not have worried. Your love of turning objects over and over, exploring their weight and texture, and then saying ‘Ooo!’ when you are about to let them slip through your fingers, is being nourished by a Mum and Dad who value these things too. Happy playing!")
Moans, Gripes and Sundry Whinges
This category is a semi-therapeutic coping strategy for the frustrations, down-turns and bad luck that life wallops my way! The story’s the thing, and the photos and papers support. This is my first fully digital page (blue paper from http://www.scrapartist.com/shoppe/product.php?productid=3676); it's just a series of boxes, with photos and writing dropped into them. (Journalling: "I don’t think it can be my fault. I know you WANT it to be, as you sit there with that ever-so-slightly smug look on your otherwise charming face. But, and let’s be truthful about this, I was not the one who loaded navy-blue socks into the washing machine along with the brand new, white and beautifully embroidered sheets and pillow-cases. Trying to tell me that you THOUGHT that your great bargain socks made out of bamboo (no, I haven’t got that wrong) would be run-proof is no consolation. I should, apparently, have checked before I put the washing liquid in. Oh, and the Please Wash Separately instruction (already in the bin by then) should, I hear, have alerted me. Yes, I know you think that the sheets should now nicely match the freshly-decorated bedroom and new curtains, but hey, sunshine, I’ve got news for you - an uneven, pastel shade that originated in navy is NOT the same as a delicate duck-egg blue. Just buy some new ones? Well, mmm, yes, I know I told you I got them in the sale at John Lewis, but they weren’t exactly IN the sale, if you get my drift . . . Like some tea? 09/09")
Colour therapy (aka staying sane in winter)
Living in a semi-rural area, with very few hot and sunny days, many of the photos I take are a hundred-and-one variations on green, brown and grey. Occasionally, I am just desperate to grab a handful of colours and go wild. As I am currently taking the Dina Wakely ‘The Graffiti of my Life Class’, documenting this seemed too good an opportunity to miss. I also like sending myself up a little from time to time!
Over to you …?
One of the things I love about clean and simple graphic design is that it can be interpreted in so many ways. If you're looking for a sketch this week, how about the one above: "A fit of the blues" (Under 'Moans, etc.)? If you prefer the 8.5x11 size (which is the size this layout began), you could omit the border. Suitable for traditional scrapbooking, hybrid or digital, it has seven spaces for photos, journalling, and embellishments. You might like to use lots of patterned papers or only one, a big photo and several small ones, or spread your journalling across two or more small boxes. You might replace a square with something circular, or some brads/buttons; or you might like to use chipboard letters in your title, or stamp or doodle. All is possible! If you can, don't entirely fill the top left section - leave some 'white' space for it all to breathe. I hope you enjoy using it. Thank-you for reading along today, and it's been a pleasure to be asked to contribute. Happy Scrapping!
(I don't have a blog yet, but some more of my work is in the UKScrappers gallery.)
Is this lady awesome or what! Thanks so much Alexa for coming onto IACW to share your work.
Caz
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Blown away -what a fantastically inspirational article, Alexa. Journalling is my weak point, but I feel I might tackle it now, with the great ideas you have given us. Thanks.
E
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Posted by: Eleanor | November 15, 2009 at 08:47 AM
Stunning pages, Alexa. I always enjoy your journalling so much..thank you for sharing your thoughts and lovely work.
Posted by: Sian | November 15, 2009 at 12:10 PM
Wow what beautiful pages, thanks for sharing I love the white card stock look and the way you have so much journalling
Debbie x
Posted by: rainbow_poppy | November 15, 2009 at 12:14 PM
really great article! i love clean layouts too, and always seem to end up with one when I am digi-scrapping!
Posted by: kate | November 15, 2009 at 02:10 PM
Wonderful work Alexa. Not that we'd expect anything less. The first of many blog posts I hope :)
Posted by: Julie Kirk | November 15, 2009 at 06:49 PM
I love your layouts! They are so unique and have space for lots of journaling. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Tammy | November 16, 2009 at 01:41 AM