AE : Inspirations

IT ALL COUNTS : Yesterday I was listening to the new Paperclipping Roundtable podcast and enjoyed hearing Stacy Julian talk about where she's at with scrapbooking right now. One of my favorite things she said is this, "it all counts." Meaning paper, digital, hybrid, photobooks, sharing images in online albums, etc - it all counts as a way to share, present, deal with, & preserve your memories. Totally worth listening to if you have a chance.

AE_Jan12

365 : I've been playing around a bit with a 365 project. Right now mine is a combination of words, photos, and stuff collected each day. I am using Becky Higgins Project Life kit as the base (I love those page protectors) and filling in with content as I go. I am trying to be really low-key with this project. I want it to be a place to collect bits of our life throughout the year. No stress. No high expectations. I also love that it can hold a combination of things vs. just being a purely photo project. Date on this photo was created using my Outline Days, Months, Years & Numbers Value Pack from Designer Digitals. I hope to show some images of my album in the coming weeks.

iPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY : Did you know that there are a bunch of apps out for the camera on your iphone? This post on Shutter Sisters by Stephanie Roberts details a few of them. I think it would be cool to add some of these photos into my 365 album.

THE GOOD GRIEF BLOG : This is a really inspirational blog, started by Amanda Probst, about scrapbooking loved ones who have passed on. Read the How It Works page here.

MY ONE LITTLE WORD : My word, story, is inspiring me. It's motivating me and moving me forward. One of the biggest things I am working on right now is connecting an old storyline of mine (being an athlete) with my current storyline.

HOW TO CREATE A PAPERLESS KITCHEN : Loved this article at Simple Mom.
We've been leaning towards paper-free in our kitchen with paper towels
being the last hold-out. I think reading this article may have pushed
me over the edge for this to be our last package of paper towels. I
actually love our cloth napkins (picked up at various places) and nice
plain white dishcloths/washcloths from Costco. We keep a small wire
basket in the kitchen for the dirty towels, wash-cloths and napkins -
when it's full they all get washed all together. Keeping it simple.

AE_StitchedLine
NEXT WEEK : I am working on a series of posts about getting started with digital scrapbooking and my personal process for creating digital layouts for next week (initially I was going to do a post this week but the Q&A started getting longer and longer and I'd like to add in a few other ideas as well). I've got a list of topics going - feel free to leave a question in the comments today. I will try my best to work answers into the posts next week. 

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93 thoughts

  1. JennG says…
    01/13/2010

    I was hoping for you to blog today =) Thanks for the pod cast idea! Also... I miss Three Things.
    Jenn

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  2. Signe says…
    01/13/2010

    Hi Ali,
    I´m already looking forward to learning more in regards to digital scrapbooking - really wanna do more hybrid this coming year.
    So my question is this: I would love to learn the how to from purchasing for example one of your digital overlays to actually getting it open and ready to work with in Photoshop (I use CS).
    It´s the proces from downloading it, extracting it, saving it the right place (if there is a such) and using it on top of photos, that I´m not quite sure of.
    Thanks so much for the opportunity to learn and be inspired all year around :-)

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  3. Deb J says…
    01/13/2010

    The Simple Mom link and the idea of getting rid of paper towels is great. Love the picture of Anna.

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  4. Alida Post says…
    01/13/2010

    Once again inspiring! I'm also looking forward to your digital post, as I'm currently going digital for financial reasons. I am quite frustrated that I still, after reading quite a bit about it, am not able to clip things into a template. Maybe I'm not opening it correctly, I don't know. Every-one makes it look very simple.

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  5. Emma Tandy says…
    01/13/2010

    I get really bogged down with editing my pictures I after a really simple photo editing program which gives me time to scrapbook can you recommend one, I'm really looking forward to this post and the opportunity to learn the things I struggle with then give up!!

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  6. Jeni says…
    01/13/2010

    You're awesome. Thank you.

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  7. Kate says…
    01/13/2010

    Cutey baby!
    I would love to know how to do masks and wrinkly pages. Oh, and how to make an .abr file. Please! Thank you!

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  8. hannahk says…
    01/13/2010

    Hi Ali,
    I went straight in with digital when I started scrapbooking ~ a complete contrast to my art and design sketchbooks. There are so many great digi files to use and this is my problem:
    1) how do you organise all the files so its easy to find related colours/ designs / motifs?
    2) what tips do you have for selecting and putting digital elements together in a layout ~ right now I have a print out of the summary image for paper packs and kits to refer to make selection easier but this duplicates my online library...
    Looking forward to reading next week's posts.

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  9. Margie says…
    01/13/2010

    The thing I dislike most about digi scrapping is organizing supplies. I have Adobe Bridge (with PSE) and I must not know how to use it because I still think it takes forever to choose papers and coordinating items. And how do you manage kits vs. papers. So that you can still find papers but if you need coordinating items, those things stay together. For now I've been copying items into different files (i.e., a paper file, a kit file, a word art file, an embellishments file, etc.) but I still think it takes a lot of time. Is this inherent in digi scrapping or is there an easier way?
    I'm primarily a paper/hybrid scrapper but I've made a fair amount of digi too.
    Thanks!

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  10. Brooke says…
    01/13/2010

    Owh your blog is such a good read! I have refused to buy paper towels for a while now. I never used to use them until my mother-in-law stayed with us for 2 months. She uses them for everything, so I started to see their potential. The amount of times they appeared on my grocery list was ridiculous so I've given them the flick. Now I'm using tea towels to dry vegies, thin face washers to clean up after my baby and machine washable clothes for everything else. I love the idea of a basket in your kitchen for the dirty linen. Mine gets dumped on top of the washing machine!
    Looking forward to your posts on starting digital scrapbooking. I have lots of questions but will reserve them for afterwards, as I know you will probably cover my queries.

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  11. Denise Laborde says…
    01/13/2010

    Thank you for all the links.
    On going paperless:
    I went paperless over a year ago. My husband wasn't totally on board - he always stocks one or two rolls of paper towel in our pantry for party/get-together mishaps.
    Paper towel was the hardest part for me too. I invested in a few packs of square, flat, super-absorbent sponges to replace the paper towels. They work very well and can be tossed in the washer along with napkins and dishtowels.
    For cloth napkins: I am still (!) on the look out for different colored napkin rings. My mother-in-law has animal themed rings. When we are at her house for long periods of time, each person chooses their animal and that is how we keep track of our napkins! I love the idea (we use our napkin for more than one sitting.)
    Good luck! It's a change that feels right.

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  12. Rachel says…
    01/13/2010

    I can't wait for next week's posts on digi scrapping! I got PSE for Christmas, and while I've played around with it, I'd love to hear what you do!
    Also, we got lots of cloth napkins for Christmas, and I love not using paper napkins anymore. It's such and easy way to reduce trash.

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  13. Amanda Susan says…
    01/13/2010

    I'm sure you'll adress this, but I need a good way to organize all my digital supplies.

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  14. Pascale says…
    01/13/2010

    Love your picture today ... it reminds me of this lovely Italian movie "Stanno tutti bene"!

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  15. Paper only on occasion says…
    01/13/2010

    My parents began their family during the Great Depression. Being "green" and "reuse, repurpose, recycle" was a part of how I (and most everyone else of the time) was raised. When our nation got back on its feet, these approaches were not particulary revered, and left behind by many. Glad to see it back in fashion. Mom, age 95, still cuts off the front portion of her greeting cards and uses the blank flip side to write out her shopping lists...then she recycles them.
    I say use the money you save by not buying paper towels to buy some thing you really need...or want ;)

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  16. lisa says…
    01/14/2010

    We also gave up paper napkins and have a HUGE stack of cloth. I used to iron them each time and then my husband saw and told me I was crazy :-)
    I LOVE the idea of the basket for dirty dish towels - that's a problem here and i would also love to give up paper towels, tho I admit we hardly use them. Then the dirty dishtowels wind up on the floor by the stairs and it takes one mess to another mess, so this is a great idea that i think I can take and make work.
    Thanks for the continued inspiration that encompasses more than just scrapbook, tho I LOVE that as well!

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  17. Chris Wenzel says…
    01/14/2010

    We went to washcloths when we had our first 5 years ago...oh my gosh, so easy, and and much better at cleaning!!! I go through 1 roll of paper towels every 2 months or so...to clean those REALLY odd things like bugs (yuck!) or wine (really stains white washcloths BAD). When they get dingy (about 1 time every 3 months) I soak them in a bin with bleach and Oxy in super hot water...and they come out gleeming white. Do not use softener with them, as it reduces absorbency.

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  18. Katrina Kennedy says…
    01/14/2010

    We've had a paperless kitchen for almost 5 years. I LOVE it and feel so much better about it. I, too, have the basket that when filled up gets washed. My year old doesn't even know what a paper towel is!

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  19. Sarah Karlsen says…
    01/14/2010

    Please please help...I get so frustrated with the computer language and when my computer doesn't do what I want it to. I love the user friendliness of Picasa but wanted to do more so I purchased Photoshop Elements. I have played with it a bit and signed up for a Jessica Sprague class (a recommendation of yours) but keep hitting brick walls...please make it user friendly for people like me who wish to do more but don't have the computer knowledge to do what we want.

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  20. {vicki} says…
    01/14/2010

    Any help you can give on going digital would be a great help to me. I have downloaded a few free digital templates, stamps, kits, etc----BUT have NO IDEA what to do with them once they are download.
    THANKS!

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  21. Natalee says…
    01/14/2010

    Hey Ali. Anna is so cute and getting so big!
    The question I have for you is about photo printing for hybrid layouts. I don't have a photo printer...I get all my photos from a developer but I love the ease and convenience of printing from home and that you can do enlargements and different sizes...as I rarely scrapbook with 4x6 photos anymore. Is it more expensive to print from home? I would think it would cost a fortune by the time you buy photo paper and ink. Are the photos as good of quality? Yours always look fabulous!
    I am also curious how you organize your digital supplies! My biggest struggle with digital is that I can't look through my stuff and "see" it all together and match papers and supplies. It takes me forever. Thanks Ali!

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. Mooser says…
    01/14/2010

    I would love to hear what you have to say about digital scrapbooking. I love the look of it but HAVE NO IDEA where to even start. What programs do you use? how do you put the png files on a photo. any sites that I could go to to learn the basics?

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  23. Heather Knapp says…
    01/14/2010

    We have been paperless in the kitch for over a year now ( it was my 2009 resolution) Although, I have to use a paper towel for cleaning my black cook top ( everything else streaks it), I keep the roll in my laundry room cabinet so it is an effort to go and get it. My kids now know to grab a towel instead of a paper towel. I also recycle my newspaper and use that to clean windows and other odd things. Good luck and you will be very happy when you do it!

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  24. Molly Irwin says…
    01/14/2010

    I'm getting off to a rather slow start on my blog this year, but in terms of my overall LIFE ... I've been feeling very directed and under the influence of my OLW too. Have you to thank for that. ORDER is influencing every aspect of life for me right now. the house is shaping up, I'm mentally planning more ... in every way the concept is present.
    I too love my paperless kitchen, which happened gradually over time. we were out of paper towels forever, and then I simply never replaced them. I keep a stash of clean rags under my kitchen sink, and it works really well.
    Have a great day, Ali.

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  25. Stephanie H says…
    01/14/2010

    I would love to know how your organize your digi supplies so that you know what you have and use things more than just a couple of times.
    I finally got my paper scrap stuff organized so I can see what I have and use it but now I am running into the same issue with digi. Constantly buying new stuff and then not using it for more than one project because I don't have a good system for keeping it all organized

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