I'm working on my 2013 album and in my heart I'm a chronological/event scrapper. I also love doing challenges and CT stuff so sometimes I get stuck with layouts I'm not sure how to use. I want to use them because I don't want to feel like the hours scrapping were a "waste". This is what I have. Same event ... playing with her promotion cake. I'm leaning towards the layout on the left and right. But I like the photo in color too. And eyes are delightfully mischievous in the middle too. It might be hard to see. I will print 12x12. I already have a bunch of layouts from the ceremony the bottom one will go after all this madness. It's the next day. And the first one (promotion party) was the week before. Gaah! This is stressing me out more than it needs to!! I just want to finish 2013. I'm getting so far behind.
and not to mention the crushing mom guilt that the scrapbooks are pretty much all about my daughter. She loves looking through them and taking pictures. Plus my son refuses to get his picture taken and doesn't want to be part of them. I want to scrap right now, but I'm getting stressed. I think I may just have to get up and clean my house or work in the yard.
Because I've scrapped all over the place, I've found a few things I've scrapped tons of pages for. When it's the same photo, my idea is just to put it in a different album! Maybe make it a picture to hang on your wall, or as a gift for a different family member. I strongly feel no scrap time is time wasted. pick the one for the album, and move the "leftover" to another album or project. Hope that helps...
ITA with @klee73010 : No scrap time is "wasted" and you could use the other LO(s) in another album. Also remember that a LO doesn't have to be printed in order to be special: You can put pages together and have an online album or burn to a DVD, or just store them in a folder on your computer. I have some pages like that: they aren't my most fave pages so they didn't make the cut for an album, but they're still nice pages (and events) so they're in albums on my EHDs. (I should probably burn a few DVDs and send them to my parents and ILs, to give them a little insight into our daily lives.) FWIW, I like the left and right ones, too a bit more than the middle one (though they're all great). What about printing those 2 and putting the middle in a "2013 digital album"? And what about taking pics of your son without him looking at the camera, or take pics of what he did versus a pic of him next/holding on to what he did? That's what I had to do with my own 4yo for awhile simply cuz he wouldn't stop moving long enough for me to get a good shot of him!
I feel like I should just scrap (alt. def: junk) them all and make new layouts using the photos I want. But then I just made double work for myself. Instead of puttering around making pretty layouts for a coupon code, I should just focus on what my goal is. I'm just frustrated and grumpy about this. I think I should just step away for awhile. But then, stepping away just means I get further "behind" and I stop wanted to take photos of today because then that means I have more to scrap. grrr....
I love the idea of giving layouts to family members ... unfortunately, family members who would have liked photos of the kids, have all passed away. Bummer, huh.
I love ALL those layouts. (Plus what a gorgeous, happy smile she has) I can also relate, as I am a chronological scrapper first and foremost and have 'yearly' album for my youngest (but not my oldest anymore - who is 22 but lives with us - who does not want to be photographed much and does not allow posting of photos!). I do LOTS of 'random', 'having fun creating' type layouts too. Sometimes they work in a chronological album, other times I already have a page for that event or they don't fit. So my solution is to save those pages into a folder called 'random layouts'. Once I have a lot of layouts in there (and a 50% printing coupon comes up LOL) I get a photobook printed. I suspect that in years to come they will be some of the most prized photobooks
Oh boy. I am familiar with these guilt-ridden feelings! Fortunately, this past month I scrapped a ton ~ 71 layouts ~ and I feel SOOOOOO good. No, I'm not a chronological scrapper, so I didn't complete anything, but I made progress on a whole lot. LOL I am feeling very inspired and wanting to scrap more and more. Maybe instead of taking a step back, you should try to push yourself forward through it? I didn't think it would work for me (I was trying the challenge because I FAILED at MOC in January) and something clicked this time. I worked through some mental roadblocks (one of them being guilt). Now, I don't know how long this will last . . . but I'm riding the wave! LOL Sending ((HUGS)) and I can't believe you are BEHIND. You are the most organized scrapper and you actually PRINT! You are ahead!
THIS is exactly me right now. I am contemplating taking breaks from my CTs because I'm appalled at the lack of progress I've made on my albums. On the other hand... I've scrapped over 300 layouts in a year... 215 of them were printed. But album progress is non existent. But I've definitely found it harder to stay focused on the challenges knowing my albums are lacking. And another month went by where I forgot to use the challenge coupon anyway, so why spin my wheels in that? Argh! I totally feel you you this one.
I like Lynn's suggestion of having an extra folder. I do that with some of my pages that don't really fit in any of my albums. I actually just printed a whole bunch of extra pages out and slipped them in an extra album. It's fun to look through the randomness.
I have a "Singles" folder. I will print that out as chronologically as I can. It will be slip in, so I can adjust down the line. I am an album scrapper, but don't stress about albums. I will get them done, eventually. I have changed - evolved - as a scrapper in the last 5 years. I started as an album maker only, then wanted to learn more from the software, hence tutorial writer. Now, I love the whole creative process. If I force something too much, it doesn't work. I need to feel creative. I'm sorry it's stressing you. I think you should find out what makes you happy, and follow that. frustration is hard. Change it up, figure out what your true goals are, and then work within those parameters! Hugs! and more Hugs!
Thanks all for "talking me off the ledge". Wanna come over and help me??? I bought a ton of frames ... Alas, another project!!!! Thank you. It is sad. My grandparents and aunts were such a part of my life growing up. My heart hurts for my kids not having that. My mom passed away when they were 5 and 7. My son is 19 now, freshman at college and the same way. It's such a pain!! That's a great idea with the book. I finally have a faster computer so it's not as painful preparing psd for printing. Guilt and self judgement are so hard. It's not like there are scrapbook police. The pressure is totally self inflicted. I did push through today. Well, I did walk away in disgust from the computer several times, but I edited the layouts and finished the page. I'm nearing the 1/2 point of 2013. I have tons of random layouts done, but I'm trying to fill in the gaps. And I'm trying to be mindful of volume. No one is going to want to look through 300 pages from 2013. Thanks! I try to make my CT layouts work for the family album, but then I feel like they aren't "good enough". Again ... more rules!!! I have a little 8x8 album of randomness. It is quite nice. I have a lot of "looking back" layouts from when I was younger or "feeling" pages about the kids that don't fit into the yearly book. It gets overwhelming when the "extras" is bigger than the regulars. I guess it's all about balance, right? Thanks!! I hate feeling stressed about something I love so much!! Thanks! Me too. I really do LOVE *almost* all the pages I make. It's hard to make choices about what to use. Okay, here's the final page and I'm moving on. If you hate it, **shhhh.*** LOL. I know it's weird to have the 2 photos next to each other that are the same. But I like her face in full color and I love the layout on the left. I'm going to blame Renne (just kidding), but if she didn't make such awesomely awesome kits, I wouldn't have to choose. Good thing there are no scrapbook cops. I'm happy with it and that's all that matters!! Thanks for listening to me freak out today!!!
@enjoyyourpix Kimberly, I don't think it's weird at all to have the same photo twice, especially with your photo treatment and different cropping! Love your final decision!
There are some great suggestions here. I'll add a suggestion here even though I see you have found a solution for this particular dilemma. It's fabulous, and you are happy with it. Win Win! I am a chronological scrapper, sort of. I use the term lightly because I am actually all over the place in terms of projects in progress vs completed projects. Keeping things organized in folders helps me stay on top of what is completed and what is not. One thing that I am trying to embrace is more of a "smashbook" approach. Our memory recollection doesn't happen in chronological order so it stands to reason that a scrapbook could be in any order and still have the same affect. Don't get me wrong, I still work on and print our yearly "chronological" books, but I have also set aside some of the random pages that I have created throughout the years for a project that is less structured. This has allowed me to relax and enjoy creating no matter what date the photo was taken.
Thanks again everyone. I just ordered 39 page prints from Persnickety. I'm going to get those in the album and take a look at how everything looks printed out. It will help me check to make sure my current course is still good or if I need to tweak as I move forward!