JAN09VSBNK- Telling the Extraordinarily Ordinary Story

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:00 PM

Hello everyone!

I'm Erika Martin (otherwise known as Sunshine Mama here on SCS). I'm excited to be heading up this challenge for you today and also representing GinaK Designs, as well! (Which means an awesome prize from GinaK!)

My challenge is multi-facted. I'm including a sketch for you, along with a journaling challenge and a stamping challenge.

I've lately become enamored with stamping in my scrapbooks. It's amazing what you can do in your books with your stamps that you might have not thought about...since most of think of stamps as a card-making supply. You can create your own custom background, coordinating embellishments, use your alphabet stamps for your title and so on. And the best thing about using stamps on your scrapbook pages? You can use them over and over again! You never run out, you always have the right amount of letters when stamping a title and you can customize them however you wish!

So, Challenge 1 is to use some stamps on your layout in some way. Of course, some of my favorite stamps to use on my pages are GinaK Designs stamps. If you have some GinaK stamps and want to use them on your layout, that's highly encouraged. If you don't have any GinaK stamps yet, we still want you to play along!

Challenge 2 is to use the sketch I've provided here. You can turn the layout sideways, turn it 180 degrees, whatever! Get creative with it! I create on mostly 12 x 12 inch layouts, but this sketch is easily adaptable for any size layout.

Challenge 3 is one of my absolute favorite parts of scrapbooking. Journaling. Telling the story. I love teaching people this art form and watching them learn how to coax the stories from their photos.

The Challenge that I'm issuing forth is a sneak peek at the Journaling 101 Online course that I teach. (It just started this past Monday.)

TELLING THE EXTRAORDINARILY ORDINARY STORY

Whether you're working on your 20th scrapbook or your first, we all have something in common. We love photos and we're always taking them. I can almost 100% guarantee that ALL of us have pictures of a recent birthday party or holiday. Think back to the most recent photos you took of an annual event that your family holds. Is it a birthday party? A family reunion? A holiday?

These are photos you take every year. The same people, the same party, the same event or holiday. The people in the photos may be a year older than last, but tradition dictates that everyone takes part and your camera is just an extension of that tradition. You whip it out and capture snapshots of the people you love, the food, expressions and caught conversations. You do this every year.

If you've been putting these photos in scrapbooks, you've got pages of the same event over and over, just different years. I'll almost bet that your journaling just shows the names, the date and the title of the event.

I've seen event albums that are beautiful works of art, full of pictures from the Christmases or birthdays over the years. Each year is sectioned off by a date and then the pictures from that year follow. I can tell that people get older year by year, but the stories were missing. There was nothing to tell me what was different from year to year.

How many pictures do you have of your kids' birthday parties from over the years? How many holiday pictures? You know the ones I'm talking about. We all have them.

What was different about this year's event than last year's? Was there a new addition this year in the family that wasn't there last year when the same event happened? A new baby, a new daughter-in-law or son-in-law? Is this the first year that you spent this event without a loved one? If gifts were involved, did the receiver's hobbies change? Did you bring a special gift? Can you see where I'm going with this?

Take a fresh look at your photos from the most recent event that you take pictures of every year. Think back to the event. What made it different from the years before? What made it the same? The event may be the same, it may be tradition, it may seem extraordinarily ordinary, but the truth is, your photos of this event are holding stories. It's time to let them out and tell what made this event different/same from years past.

This challenge is to create a layout telling the story from a recent event. This event should be something that you attend on a regular basis. A birthday, holiday, etc. By working with the most recent event pictures, you'll be working with fresh memories. You can always go back and scrapbook pictures from earlier events later on. While the memories are still fresh from the most recent event, you'll be able to get the hang of journaling about this event and can work your way backwards with the same method later on.

Working with photos and stories that are most recent and familiar to you is one of the easiest ways to ease into this form of scrapbook journaling.

Gather your photos around you. Choose the ones you're going to be working with on your page and let's get started.

Look at your photos and think about the event. Take out your notebook and start jotting down the memories that you recall that these photos evoke.

Here's some ideas to get you started:

What event are the photos from?
What made this event different from the year (or years) before?
What made this event the same?
Are there traditions that happen every year and what are they?
What do these traditions mean to you?
Was there someone new in the family at this event this year?
Was a loved one missing from this event this year?

Now, if you were to sit down with someone and show them your photos from this event, what would you tell them? Write your thoughts down into your notebook. Journal your thoughts as if you were writing a letter to this person. As if you were having a conversation. Imagine them sitting beside you and write out what you would tell them in your notebook using ideas the journaling prompts that you answered from above.

As you create your page and leave space for journaling, go back through your notebook and pull things from the journaling prompts, from the "conversation" script that you wrote and edit it into a conversation that fits into the journaling space on your page.

Remember, this assignment is like having a conversation with someone....telling them what's different/same about this event than other years. If you were sitting with someone and showing them your photos, there would most likely be an easy flowing conversation between the two of you. Treat your journaling in much the same way as you would that conversation.

Sometimes when scrapping yearly events, it's easy to have a lot of photos to work with. Don't be afraid to create more than one page for this event. If you have a long "conversation" type of story, you can easily spread it out over more than one page. It's totally up to you.

Here's my layout:

There is a two hour time limit on this challenge. Please have your layout uploaded no later than Feb. 8, 2009. A winner will be drawn at random and will win.....

A GinaK Designs set of your choice valued at $19.95 or less!!

Please upload your layouts to this gallery: JAN09VSBNK

I can't wait to see what you've all come up with!

arhawg · 01-31-2009, 12:03 PM

wow erika I need to read through this...I JUST finished the last challenge...
thanks for hostessing!

Scrapbookmonster · 01-31-2009, 12:03 PM

great challenge! sometimes journaling can be the hardest part of scrapbooking.

grammawamma · 01-31-2009, 12:04 PM

Love this challenge, Erika! I'll definitely be working on it soon! BTW, ARE YOU AN ENGLISH TEACHER IRL???!!!!!

1busymomof2 · 01-31-2009, 12:04 PM

what a great challenge! I still have a few others I need to get done, but I am definately going to do this one later on today!!

grammawamma · 01-31-2009, 12:05 PM

Still working on the acrylic challenge, but will be done real soon and thinking about this one. I'll have to read it much more carefully though! BTW, thanks for the mojo, Jeanie! I got it and am using it! Hope you had some left!!!

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grammawamma

Love this challenge, Erika! I'll definitely be working on it soon! BTW, ARE YOU AN ENGLISH TEACHER IRL???!!!!!

Haha! Nope, not an english teacher IRL. I never even went to college.

I just love to write and took a creative writing course in high school. I also LOVE to read.

ashjoy · 01-31-2009, 12:08 PM

OMGosh that is a great challenge! I am not one to ever journal alot but will give it a shot!

cla616 · 01-31-2009, 12:09 PM

great challenge and I know exactly what event I will be doing, you reminded me of something that happened this year. Christmas was just the 3 of us, huby me and dd, so it was odd to not have anyone here to share the magical event of christmas morning, which always seems more magical when you have a recent 2 year old. Have to wait for hubby to come back in, to watch dd (my poor littlle sickie) but hoping I can at least go through my pics of that day to showcase here and use.

Great sketch too by the way!

Mary_Pat419 · 01-31-2009, 12:10 PM

I know exactly what I want to do for this but I know it will take me the full week to do it. I did a page for DD1 last year I loved and have been wanting to do one for DD2. The journaling will be easy but will take me a few days to perfect for the page (there is also scanning of pictures that need to be done too). This is the perfect challenge for me to get that page down!

grammawamma · 01-31-2009, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cla616

great challenge and I know exactly what event I will be doing, you reminded me of something that happened this year. Christmas was just the 3 of us, huby me and dd, so it was odd to not have anyone here to share the magical event of christmas morning, which always seems more magical when you have a recent 2 year old. Have to wait for hubby to come back in, to watch dd (my poor littlle sickie) but hoping I can at least go through my pics of that day to showcase here and use.

Great sketch too by the way!

Awww! Is Maddie sick? Poor little gal! I'm thinking that even when dh gets home, she's still gonna want momma! Sending get well wishes to her.

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:14 PM

I'm so excited that the wheels are already turning for so many of you!!! It excites me that some of you already know what you want to scrap! I can't wait to see your pages!

grammawamma · 01-31-2009, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mary_Pat419

I know exactly what I want to do for this but I know it will take me the full week to do it. I did a page for DD1 last year I loved and have been wanting to do one for DD2. The journaling will be easy but will take me a few days to perfect for the page (there is also scanning of pictures that need to be done too). This is the perfect challenge for me to get that page down!

Can't wait to see it! You always do such good work! Better get back to my scrappin table.

arhawg · 01-31-2009, 12:15 PM

I think that this is a great idea for one of the pages I want to do...its the pictures that I will have issue with...

Scrapacat · 01-31-2009, 12:15 PM

Wow Erika! Welcome to my world. I've been accused of journaling too much with too much detail. But that never stopped me! They are MY books after all.

I would love to add a little nuance to your challenge, if you'll permit me. One thing I LOVE is looking at old letters. No matter how poor the penmanship, it just has such a special magical quality. USE YOUR HANDWRITING on at least a small bit of the journaling. It makes all the difference, like getting a real letter in the mail instead of just bills. That handwriting is significant and your heart rate speeds up just a bit!

Mary_Pat419 · 01-31-2009, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grammawamma

Can't wait to see it! You always do such good work! Better get back to my scrappin table.

Right back at ya!;) Thanks for the compliment (blushing)!

slprunning · 01-31-2009, 12:16 PM

I have a question, Erika (btw...great name!..that is my name, too).

Can we do a digital page...and maybe use a brush that looks like a stamp for the first requirement of the challenge?

Annie's Pantry · 01-31-2009, 12:17 PM

great Challenge!

Goegirl · 01-31-2009, 12:21 PM

Hi Erika! Great challenge - um, challenging! ;) Will have to wait till after rug rats are sleeping for this one I think, but I'm glad you brought it up. I'll do dd's birthday (only 5 and the layouts are already getting stale :rolleyes

Thanks for the inspiration.

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrapacat

Wow Erika! Welcome to my world. I've been accused of journaling too much with too much detail. But that never stopped me! They are MY books after all.

I would love to add a little nuance to your challenge, if you'll permit me. One thing I LOVE is looking at old letters. No matter how poor the penmanship, it just has such a special magical quality. USE YOUR HANDWRITING on at least a small bit of the journaling. It makes all the difference, like getting a real letter in the mail instead of just bills. That handwriting is significant and your heart rate speeds up just a bit!

I am a huge supporter of using some of your own handwriting in your albums. I try to intersperse my handwriting through many of my albums and pages.

I cherish the old letters that I have that were written to me by my late grandparents and that is one of the main reasons I add my handwriting to many of my pages.

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slprunning

I have a question, Erika (btw...great name!..that is my name, too).

Can we do a digital page...and maybe use a brush that looks like a stamp for the first requirement of the challenge?

Oh, sure, why not?

I'm a pretty easy going girl.

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slprunning

I have a question, Erika (btw...great name!..that is my name, too).

Can we do a digital page...and maybe use a brush that looks like a stamp for the first requirement of the challenge?

And WOW! We have the same spelling! You're one of a very small handful of people I've met that has the same spelling. We're hard to find....which makes us VERY valuable!

cla616 · 01-31-2009, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grammawamma

Awww! Is Maddie sick? Poor little gal! I'm thinking that even when dh gets home, she's still gonna want momma! Sending get well wishes to her.

Yes someday when I tell her to stop sharing cups with her little buddy she will understand

Luckily se's pretty easy, even when sick, at least she is mellow today.

Did you get your mojo back, getting any scrapping done??

Big hugs, thanks for the wishes!

Lmn · 01-31-2009, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineMama

I'm so excited that the wheels are already turning for so many of you!!! It excites me that some of you already know what you want to scrap! I can't wait to see your pages!

Actually....I just (as in 5 minutes ago) took the PHOTO I want to use for this page....you did say to use RECENT (LOL!). Your journaling tips gave me the idea and I have the journaling ALL Done....how's that for INSPIRATION Found ;) I'm SO excited!

taca410 · 01-31-2009, 12:25 PM

When I do an event album I usually use my first 12x12 page to tell the whole story of the event and place my pics in an order that corresponds with my story. Don't do much journling on the pages themselves. But I'm going to give it a try. My sisters and our DH's take a trip to visit our parents every fall. I think I'll use some pics from 2008's trip for this challenge. Thanks for the challenging challenge.

slprunning · 01-31-2009, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineMama

And WOW! We have the same spelling! You're one of a very small handful of people I've met that has the same spelling. We're hard to find....which makes us VERY valuable!

Hahaha...you can say that again!

awjmgmom · 01-31-2009, 12:28 PM

This one looks like fun, will have to print it out for later

ashjoy · 01-31-2009, 12:29 PM

I am actually going to do my dd's school picture. She has accomplished so much this year. She is a juniour and completed 2 college courses already, has her first job....those sort of things.

arhawg · 01-31-2009, 12:30 PM

I am working on the journaling...writing it out on a scrap paper first..

sapphire1968 · 01-31-2009, 12:32 PM

OK, all I can say is THANK YOU! I so want to work on my journaling and so far this year, I'm doing pretty good thanks to the Project 365 I'm doing. But I'm still scrapping 08 pictures and trying to be more of a story teller not jsut with photos so this is chalenges is coming at just the right time! Not sure I can do it right now as the rugrats are really driving me crazy and pulling me away but this is one I will do the minute I have the time. I know the photos and already have them printed too.
Can't wait to see everyone's pages!

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lmn

Actually....I just (as in 5 minutes ago) took the PHOTO I want to use for this page....you did say to use RECENT (LOL!). Your journaling tips gave me the idea and I have the journaling ALL Done....how's that for INSPIRATION Found ;) I'm SO excited!

Haha! Like my dad always used to say in our bakery, "the only thing fresher is the baker."

awjmgmom · 01-31-2009, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineMama

Haha! Like my dad always used to say in our bakery, "the only thing fresher is the baker."

Now that's funny! rofl

Lmn · 01-31-2009, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lmn

Actually....I just (as in 5 minutes ago) took the PHOTO I want to use for this page....you did say to use RECENT (LOL!). Your journaling tips gave me the idea and I have the journaling ALL Done....how's that for INSPIRATION Found ;) I'm SO excited!

AAccckkkk Girls, I'm having a "Mom Moment" over this page. Ever had one of those where the picts or story make you tear up. ~Sigh...some of you will understand. I have teenagers now, my babies are growing up. My DS just left to go to a Gymnastic Event that I've been taking him to for 11 years...He doesn't need me to go this year, he can drive himself and he's now one of the Judges instead of competing. Oh my! The SAME but DIFFERENT..... whew, ok....wow....

Lmn · 01-31-2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunshineMama

Haha! Like my dad always used to say in our bakery, "the only thing fresher is the baker."

laugh....

arhawg · 01-31-2009, 12:40 PM

okay I have the journaling written out on the paper...I think I need a break from sitting in this chair...my back is bothering me...so I am going to go sit/lay down for a bit...

shastess · 01-31-2009, 12:43 PM

Very cool challenge Erika!!!

Hee hee I am thrilled cause I actually LIKE journaling! I am a HUGE Cathy Z fan and met her/took her class at CKC and to me the reason I scrapbook IS to tell the story!

shastess · 01-31-2009, 12:43 PM

Oh and I am back from my outing! Scored at Old Navy and TJ Maxx!

Scrapacat · 01-31-2009, 12:48 PM

hmmm... I think I'll take a different approach. We've lived in this house for 3 years. Two events happen every year. We run in a local 10K, and for the first 2 years, the route was the same. Last year it changed. If I have any pictures or supporting ephemera, I'll do that one.

If not, each year, DH has worked on a garden. This house really didn't have much when we bought it. Each year, he's made it a little bigger, added more soil, etc. This year, he has a 4 level grow-out shelving unit to help him get his seedlings ready earlier.

Sharing this partly so I won't forget, and partly because some of you may be like me - not a whole lot of repeat events.

SunshineMama · 01-31-2009, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arhawg

okay I have the journaling written out on the paper...I think I need a break from sitting in this chair...my back is bothering me...so I am going to go sit/lay down for a bit...

Wow! You're quick!

Lmn · 01-31-2009, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shastess

Oh and I am back from my outing! Scored at Old Navy and TJ Maxx!

gotta love a good deal! ;)

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