Is anyone else already making plans for next year? I think I'm suffering from a little bit of burn out from being behind for so long now that I'm beginning to mentally move on... sigh. On the plus side, I'm pretty excited about switching things up in the new year. I guess I'm not rushing this too much since, I do usually start planning for the next year a little early anyway. I typically do a trial run of my ideas when I do my road trip album that I give as a gift at Christmas. I need to get started on that soon! Am I alone in this craziness??
It's been on my mind, too. Mainly that I need to simplify. It really just shouldn't take 3-4 hours to do one spread. It would probably help if I didn't binge watch all the shows while I'm scrapping, but whatever, lol. . As far as what that simplifying is, I don't know. .. Taking less pictures sure would help, haha!
I'm feeling the need to simplify as well. Mainly, I feel the need to eliminate the background paper decision... picking a background paper has become my pet peeve. I dread it with every single spread. I used to love it, because my first year I used a template that included a background and I never changed it up. After two years of picking a new background each and every time, I'm ready for a break. I'm currently looking for a new template set that would help with not needing background papers. Too funny on the binge watching! I have to have the TV on while I scrap but I have to find something that I don't need to follow very closely or I never get anything done! Either I watch the show and get no scrapping done, or I scrap and have no clue what just happened on the show... sigh. Thankfully there is almost always a Law and Order SVU marathon on... I think I've seen almost every episode at least 3 or 4 times, so I no longer need to pay attention to them to know what's going on... LOL! I'm the opposite, I actually do better with more photos... it's not having enough photos that makes my antsy. I'm not good with filler, so those that require more filler tend to shut me down for a while.
Not sure what I'll be doing next year, it all depends if I'm doing postgraduate study or working. If I'm studying I'll probably do it but super simple. If I'm working probably not since I'll be at work/commuting 50+ hours a week
I agree that simple is the best. I have loved using Lynne Marie's Pocket Scrapping Templates this year and just leave the background white. I love the clean lines of it. Also, while I love making beautiful elaborate pages, I just do not have the time to devote hours to each week's spread. For the busy seasons, I like printing out my photos to simply slide in pocket protectors and either adding small ephemera digitally or buying small element packs to add just a bit of embellishment and journaling on a card to slip in next to them is helping me accomplish my memory keeping goals as well.
I am already thinking of next year as well. I bought a whole set of templates on sale last week in preparation. It's more of a journal book type thing that doesn't seem to require as many photos. I am honestly struggling to get photos each week. After trying to keep up with 5 kids all day I am finding that I am just to exhausted to stop for pictures most of the time.
EXACTLY! RE the show watching.. As for photos.. I'm in the rut of feeling like I HAVE to include EVERY SINGLE THING.. For example, today we did story time, doctor visit, soccer practice and the park. I know when I scrap this week I'm going to want to include ALL of that.. That's 4 photos for a single day.. Not realistic. I need to narrow down what my goal is with our family album for next year and keep focused on the photos and stories that help me attain that goal and just let the other stuff go.
I think I'm going to give a set of Lynne Marie's templates a try with my NYC album... I've been eyeing them for a while now. I really love making the elaborate pages as well... but they do drag me down when I start getting behind. Also, when I started doing the more elaborate pages vs. the simple ones I started with, I had no other projects going. But now that I've become so enamored with pocket scrapping (and it's rekindled my love for memory keeping in general), I have 4-5 other projects I would like to be working on as well. I have to figure out how to find balance in it all.
I have been thinking a little bit about next year too. I also have the need/ desire to take less photos but sometimes I can't help taking too many. This year I have been making odd number of pages certain weeks. Sometimes I don't need a full spread or two full spreads, as long as facing pages coordinate I'm ok. I also want to be more intentional about photos, like do I really want a picture of this again?!?! Things like that! I want to make less pages next year if possible but still tell the story of our weeks.
I'm so indecisive. 2015 has been a total fail for me and it has me discouraged looking ahead to next year. I need help in focusing on what my goal is so I can get excited about it.
I did 2013 and 2014 chronologically by week and really enjoyed and kept up with it. 2015 has been a weird crazy year, and I've given up on doing PL this year though I have been using pocket pages to get stories done. I was feeling so stressed abt being 'behind' on PL and then realized how dumb that was. As if I can't go on living if I don't have PL pages because I said I would do them back in January! This year off, though, has been great for helping me realize what I love abt PL and I will go back to doing weekly chronological pages in 2016. I have missed capturing the little things that my kids do and say that don't need an entire scrapbook page (and that I can't remember days and weeks down the road if/when I try to go back and scrap that week), and I am going to go back to taking notes and keeping up as a way to capture that part of our lives again.
I'm not a PL person, really, but I think in 2016 I want to spend some energy tracking the funny things my kids say.... maybe some videos. I scrap (or at least plan to scrap ) all the other stories. And I really loved the blog post about planners taking place of PL for 2016. I'm new in the planner craze. Maybe I can keep planner and this small piece of our life up to date. (My kids are 2 and 3 right now.... they say super funny things sometimes! !)
I think I've simplified my approach to this just about as much as any person can simplify. put some pics on a page, fill in the blanks, save, move on. I will most likely continue w/ PL for 2016. To be honest, it has replaced my 'regular' scrapping, and I really don't mind. not every story or photo or photo set requires an entire page to itself. and the clean and simple approach to PL makes my photos stand out and tell their stories much better than my overly elaborate scrapbook pages do. with life being as crazy as it is for us, my only hope of effectively scrapping much of anything is to do it pocket-style.
Ugh... I'm all over the board. One minute I say I want to simplify... another I'm drooling over really elaborate PL pages. It's just that I feel the need to "refresh" a bit. If I don't change something up for next year it's going to just blend into the previous years. I need to just pick out a new template set and start my trip album, so I can play with some of my ideas and see how they work out before making definite plans for 2016. My trip album is my trial run for the next year of PL. Part of this year's plans was to make as many pages as necessary. The extra pages have really gotten me down this summer with all of our travel and activities. I felt like I was completely buried under a mountain of pages, but, on the other hand, since this is the only scrapping I do, most of these photos would never see the light of day if I didn't do the extras. So I think I'll keep doing the extra pages, but try to be more proactive with getting them scrapped during busy times.
Too funny! My mom was looking through my albums a couple of months ago and remarked "wow, you go to the orthodontist a lot". Apparently orthodontist trips are an example of when I should be asking myself your question!
I always have good intentions for PL, and then I quit a few weeks in because my life is boring. XD I even used to do 'events' in PL style and this year I haven't done much worthy of event pages (either that or I've just been lazy). Trying to look at every year as a fresh start is helpful, but I don't like my PL style and don't know how to make it flow.
I am so in love with PL, but like many of you have said, I feel the need to simplify. I used to do the different background papers, but now am sticking to white. LOL. I think that I always get myself into trouble doing my pocket scrapping for CT stuff, and I'm trying to fit things in when I should be just doing it more organically. Like the other day, I started my pages with one template, and then ended up almost finishing and then moving it over to a different template and having to make major modifications. It is taking me waaaaaay too long to get a spread done these days, and my pages are all over the place as far as style. I need to stick to a simpler way of doing things. And I don't take enough pictures these days either. Then I struggle to fill pages and need to get back to not stressing about that and/or taking more pictures. I think I did the best when I did a photo-a-day projects and then could fit in things that I wanted to, and ignore others. But we have certain routines and it does get redundant if I'm not focusing on finding the different stories each week.
hee hee, this made me laugh!! I totally relate. My PL or pocket style scrapping has pretty much taken over my memory keeping ways as well.
This year, I use LM's template too. But for next year, I would like to change the format. I print at home my project life so I want to find templates in pocket style but with a portrait format.
You can add me to the "simplify" group. In 2013 and 2014, I only did one page per week and it worked well for me then. This year I switched over to 2 page spreads and have really loved them, but I think for 2016 I'd like to work on my need to "add all the things" I have really liked my pages this year, but they also seem a little all over the place as far as design and style, so I'd like to work on that some as well. I do other pocket pages several times a month, so I'm thinking that those can be the ones that I go a little over the top with adding things, and keep PL simpler.