Okay, so it took me a little longer than anticipated, but here's my process for an album. I do each step as a block, so /usually/ I do the entire book at each step, although if I'm feeling a lot of muse for something, I'll do more. STEP 1: Select Photos The first thing I do is go through the copious amount of photos I have (hopefully already organized) and pick out my favorites and put them in a separate folder on my flash drive so that they're readily accessible. STEP 2: Plan/Make Templates I use Mommyish Template Maker 2 (which is probably the best money I've ever spent on Scrapbooking Supplies). So I need to plan out my templates and then make them. In Powerpoint, I made a simple grid that mimics the format of a project life style page. That way I can draw lines and write in the photo number of each one that I want to use: Next, I build the template in Photoshop Elements. STEP 3: Edit Photos and Place in Template I edit the photos in RadLab (because I'm lazy and it was expensive) and place them into the slots designated on the plan. STEP 4: Add Journal Cards/Embellish Finally, I go through and add my journal cards and any embellishments. I personally tend to keep my embellishing to a minimum because of how photo-heavy my pages are. I love my photos and never want to take too much away from them. I resize my layout so that I have my border around it and save it! Ta da! A finished page. I would guess that each page takes me about 30-45 minutes to complete, but it's difficult to tell because I do it in phases. It also helps if I write out my journaling ahead of time so I know what size card I need to fit all the words on. It also helps keep it fresh in my mind. Hope this little look into my process helps.
@krscraps I like your process! I think culling the photos (step 1) is usually my hold up! So maybe that is why I stink at even starting them. Your idea to grab them and put them in a separate folder is great though. I like that tip - It's an actual action ... I tend to look at them all in LR and maybe star them and attempt to plan things in a notebook ... but still ... seeing them all together in the folder overwhelms me. So maybe making some kind of smart collection in LR or rethinking my organizing for the photos I want to use is what I need. Rather than seeing the overwhelming lot of them! I also love how you map them out and write the photo # on your template scratch pad too. That is brilliant. I want so badly to do my Ireland book before the memories of the summer trip start to fade ... as soon as my semester is done (in Dec). This is top on my to do list. Feel free to poke me TLP peeps - to see if I am being accountable for this!
Sorry that I haven't responded until now, but I was out of town. I scrap in yearbooks or special events. I never even thought about just printing when it reaches 100 pages! I try to limit all my books to 100 pages, even if it's a yearbook. I guess that's why I'm so particular about what I scrap about. I need to get to this point. Seriously. I'm the type of person who looks at a book and thinks, "if only I put this in here, or changed that." It's not a very efficient way to speed up the scrapping process! This needs to be my new motto! I never, ever thought of doing this! I'm slowly moving this direction. I do scrap faster doing pocket style, but then I stop to add ellies and such and end up spending just as much time on the page as a traditional one. It's not a big help! I'd love to see this! I need to get to this point. Seriously. I'm the type of person who looks at a book and thinks, "if only I put this in here, or changed that." It's not a very efficient way to speed up the scrapping process! This needs to be my new motto! I never, ever thought of doing this! I'm slowly moving this direction. I do scrap faster doing pocket style, but then I stop to add ellies and such and end up spending just as much time on the page as a traditional one. It's not a big help! Another Excel person. And I couldn't ever print without everything in there. Or maybe I should just loosen up my scrapping standards a bit. I'm still scrapping a 15 day trip to Scandinavia. So far I've almost completed the 4-day Iceland leg (53 pages) and the 6-day Sweden leg (87 pages). I've only scratched the surface of the 5-day Norway leg. Yes!! that is a great motivator! I'm hoping to get at least two albums done by then! Another excel user! I guess I've been missing out on something here. I just make a blank page for each thing to scrap in my album. I'll have to look more into that! I am really getting into pocket scrapping, as long as I don't spend too much time on it! I love embellishments way too much! I could never start one mid-year, either. I'd always keep wondering what I did that other part of the year! You made me laugh out loud!! I'm the same way. I scrap what I'm motivated to scrap, then just place them in order. But I just may have to take on your three-year rule. Otherwise I'll be here scrapping forever! Oh. My. Goodness! You are so organized! I'm going to need to spend some more time just looking over what you do. The big thing is that I don't scrap/organize in folders (I just upload directly to the album/project), so maybe this will help me out. But then I never know what type of a page/template I'll be using when I eventually get around to scrap it. Thanks for sharing this with us!
@jenn mccabe I came home from my July trip with 9244 photos. It was overwhelming. It's a day in itself really. I actually subdivide my original photo by major event in the day. That makes it a little easier. I wish I could use lightroom but that would mean upgrading to CC and I'm not ready for that. Haha. As for your Ireland book, I would journal ahead of time, even if it's just writing down ideas so they're still fresh. @QuiltyMom if you have any questions, feel free to message me! I need to stay organized and on top of things or it'll never get done. Haha
You can buy LightRoom stand-alone on CD or as a download -- but the link for it is "hidden" at Adobe's website, cause they want your CC dollars instead. Resist... It is like cable, once you stop paying them, the software stops working. Here is an Amazon link to the LR CD. I would watch for a Black Friday sale. That is when I got my version for less $$. Found the elusive Adobe link to LR without the CC plan. Same price as Amazon.
@krscraps Thanks for sharing your process, found it via the chat last night. I wish I were that organized. I don't do digital layouts by event, although I guess I did a bit of that when I was trying to put together vintage layouts (in a bound book) for my side of the family. I remember scribbling down notes reminding me to do WW2 layouts, Ellis Island layouts, wedding layouts, etc., etc. When we visited Poland last fall, I decided that there was no way I could create layouts for it all, so I went with a Blurb book that was 11x13", 100 pages full of photos. I did have to cull the photos quite a bit, lots of duplicates and lots of not so great photos. But I'm pleased to announce, with lots of help from TLP challenges that I've got 41 layouts done for Poland, and I wasn't even trying. I think all but 4 were specific to TLP. I had no idea I was that productive! I'm sure that more will turn up eventually, when a photo (or photos) speak to me for a challenge. I have this fear that if I call a project done and put them into a bound book, that I'll have another layout or more to add to it. That is exactly what happened with my vintage "stuff".
I used to be a hurry up and get it all done kind of scrapper. I still like to stay current with my year album, but lately, I've been a bit slow on my travel albums. But slow to me might still be fast to someone else. I'm still working on a weekend trip to Ohio from September. My problem is that I know I take too many pictures and I feel like I have to scrap at least all the good ones. I'm hoping to have this one completed before my Shutterfly coupon expires on 12/16.
So, I star my favorites with 3 stars. Any good supporting ones are 2 stars. Then I have a smart collection that only has the 3 star photos, with no label. (I use a purple label when I scrap the photo). So, when I'm scrapping I open that collection first. I browse, then I can tell LR to show me the photo in it's folder. I can quickly glance for the other starred photos, and go. The 3 star folder is still big, but it's not my whole collection. If I'm looking for something specific like a birthday, I can use the metadata to say 3 star and birthday. I do spend some time just playing in my photos, but I find I don't get 'lost' as much, because it's intentional time.
Jan, I'm like you - I always feel like I'm forgetting something and never really want to commit to being done! I have to tell myself that I can always reprint it if I absolutely needed to - it would be expensive lesson, but it can be done - or I can make a book that is called "forgotten pages". hahahahah
