This is a digital layout from a template - if you would like to know the designer's name of the template as well as the patterned paper, please email me.
I'm linking this up with the challenge at Ella Publishing where we are to show off a layout with one sentence journaling.
A digital page today.
BEST SHOT WEDNESDAY
I'm doing this Wednesday a little different than before. Just one 'BEST' shot hasn't been doing it for me. So I thought I might try most interesting shot. Or perhaps a few most interesting shots from the week. I'll try that for a while and see how it works for me. Let me know what you think? I love comments.
I'm off to bed now, but I'll be back in a few hours to add a little commentary to each of the following photos. ENJOY! EDITED at 1:00PM, Beijing Time, Feb 17: Commentary has been added.
There are public exercise parks all over Beijing. The kids are always drawn in and have to give them a go. I like this photo for the pop of colors (contrasting) against the grey wall in the background. I also like the composition (Nicholas' face is in the top right third of the photo). I also like the straightness of the lines. I think this would be a far less effectivec photo if I had been standing off to the side even a little which would make the lines less uniform.
I am not sure this is a fantastic photo in and of itself but I like what is going on in it. This is a strange practice here in Beijing. Workers (in this case a trash bike driver) collect snow and then dump it down man holes all over the city. This was happening just as we were passing through this street. Nicholas was quite interested and stopped in his tracks to watch. You can see the worker there on the left side.
We took a break for some hot cocoa. This photo almost works for me. I wish Reece (far right) was turned into the photo and had a more engaging expression on his face. What I do like is the separation between all of the people (not crazy about the face growing out of Braden's head). I like the 'white space' in the photo between Nicholas and Dad. The triangle of cup lids (circles) is appealing.
I think this photo is hilarious. You see this all over Beijing. Couples getting their wedding photos taken at famous sights all over the city. In this case, I was trying to figure out what the heck they had in the background. All I could see was a mishmash of cluttered restaurants and neon signs. But based on the photographers angle, he must have the trees and he is probably using a zoom lens so it is blurred any way. I think this is a strange place to take wedding photos, but not the stranges place I've seen!
Nicholas was dying to play on the snow covered ice so he ran out on his own. I like how the silhouette of my two kids are separated from the other crowds of people. I also like how I got the sun to show up as well as a little color in the sky. The way I did that was to close down the aperture as far as it would go (i.e., f/22). I was attempting to get the star shape effect, but I think what happened was, it let in less light, so shutter speed was slower and more color ended up on the card/film. It also gave me those nice silhouettes as it ended up a little underexposed since the camera couldn't quite get a correct exposure (compensate) due to the extreme f stop I chose. (These are all theories of mine. Nothing is based in fact! And probably aren't explained all that clearly!)
This is a favorite family story. I had a lot of help on this page from my two oldest boys. The journaling was dictated to me by my ten year old and my 12 year old had a lot to say about the design. I let him guide most of the decisions. Lots of fun when the kids want to help out.
Here is another quick page. This is definitely a skill I have developed over the past two years doing LOAD. I am loving it.
I also noticed I am doing a lot of layouts about places another thing I don't usually do. I'm thinking it is because we are living abroad and those places mean more to us now that we don't get there as often.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder!
I had fun making my own journaling block/spot and my own title thingy free-hand. I was going to do it on the computer but I got impatient and realized I could do it faster myself.
The prompt today was to do some free write about a particular photo, so that is where it came from. I like how it turned out. And it really is the story behind this photo which keeps coming up for my two youngest boys.
I wanted to scrapbook some more recent photos today so I decided to do a digi layout.
This time I had my oldest son pick out some photos he wanted me to include on a scrapbook page. He couldn't decide but when pressed finally chose the ones from Adventure Playground. When I pointed out that he didn't go with us this time, he said - I don't care, use them anyway!
I had my son pick out some pictures that he wanted me to scrapbook. He also suggested colors and papers. Fun to have some help and to find out what are his best memories.
I am never one to redo a layout, but I am going to redo this one! It is mainly due to the poor quality of the photos. I have a new printer and things just aren't going well. It isn't printing sharply and the colors are all off. Usually when I get a new printer everything is set from the beginning. Not so with this one. And all of our instructions are in Chinese. It is a Canon printer, so it will just take some time until I can get some instructions in English. They do not sell these printers in the US, but I saw they are sold in the UK so that is a plus. Wish me luck!
I'll repost once I get the photos reprinted and I add some journaling. For LOAD there is a deadline so I had to get something done to upload. All of my time was spent messing with the printer insead of designing my layout and journaling. Did I mention this is frustrating?
On the up side, I love the rabbit paper cut. I bought it at a temple fair we went to yesterday in celebration of the new year here in China. It is the Year of the Rabbit. I love paper cuts. They are often used to adorn windows during times of celebration. Now you can buy clings that have the image of a paper cut on them but they are clear plastic and simply cling to the window. From far away, they offer the same effect, but me, I like the real paper cuts. They are more delicate, but there's nothing like real paper. I'm sure many of you paper crafters out there will agree!
I used American Crafts products today. This is from a Valentine kit I bought too many of last year. So, had a little fun with all of those hearts. The only products that aren't AC are the cardstock (Bassill), the grid paper (Basic Grey) and the white pen (Sharpie, paint).
I made this mini album from a box of Valentine chocolates. I've been saving it since February of last year for just this purpose. (The 3-D stickers are Jollee's Boutique and the charm is from a key chain I bought here in Beijing.)
Last year my youngest son wanted a lady bug cake and cupcakes for his birthday. So, when I found this box of chocolates around Valentine's Day, of course I bought it for him. I held onto the box knowing I could do something with it. It just took some time for me to realize the obvious - a birthday mini album!
Look how the wings on the lid flip out. I was trying to think about how I could alter this, but thought it might get messed up by the wings flipping open and closed.
The photos in this mini album didn't print out very well because I haven't figured out how to program my new printer. To see the original photos I put in this album, click on these links: http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/happy-5th-birthday.html
or http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog/2010/01/ladybugs.html.
I'll be back in an hour or so to announce the winner of my give-a-way from the OLW Blog Hop on February 1st.
Thanks for stopping by! Please come back again.
xxxx
This is the fastest layout I have every thrown together. Where there is a will there is a way! We also didn't have internet and it was Chinese New Year's Day here in Beijing so I was worried no place with internet would be open. Luckily a friend came to the rescue and right before my family was leaving to go have the traditional Jiaozi (pork dumplings like potstickers) for a late lunch. Phew! Just in time!
Here is my layout for Day 1 of LOAD (LayoutADay.com). We live in China and go home twice a year. There are several favorite places we make sure to visit every single time we are home. These are photos of most of the places and I've added a few more in the journaling.
Next time I am home, I'll have to make sure to get a photo inside Trader Joe's. If only they'd open one in Beijing, I'd be a happy girl!
*This is the rough draft I started last night. I had hoped to add some photos and spruce it up a bit, but we have a minor family emergency right now and I'm not sure I will be back in time to post, so I thought it was safest to post as is. I hope you enjoy!* UPDATE: All has turned out fine, but it is late night in my part of the world, so I am off to bed.
Welcome to my blog! I'm so glad you've stopped by. Today is all about preparing for the upcoming Layout A Day Challenge beginning on February 1st. If you are not familiar with Layout A Day, be sure to visit Layoutaday.com for more information. The basic jist of the challenge is to complete a scrapbook layout everyday for the entire month and then post it in the Flickr gallery by midnight for a chance to win some fun prizes.
I think this will be the sixth LOAD that I have signed up for. I completed my first three and didn't complete the last three but I still got a lot of scrapbooking done. Either way, it has been a worthwhile endeavor.
I must be honest and say that I don't really prepare for LOAD much at all. I typically clean off my desk, make sure I have enough adhesive and other basic supplies and then go for it! For me it is all about the commitment. I get mentally prepared. I decide that no matter what I will complete one page before I go to bed each day. I have an advantage because I live 15 hours ahead of the deadline time zone (PST). I start my page on the day it is due in my time zone and if I get really stuck and have time the next day, I can put the finishing touches on it the next day. I only do this rarely and save it for those days when I really need a good night's sleep.
This LOAD I am doing a little more preparation than usual. I am getting out my Book of Stories file that I started in the BigPictureClasses.com class by Karen Grunberg so that I have stories at the ready. I will pull out my Project Life (BeckyHiggins.com) album that only got half way done last year. I am selecting the remaing POTD (pictures of the day) and having them printed & delivered to my house. I'm going through my drawer of memorabilia from the year and pulling out items I want to include in my binder. I'm pulling out paper and product I want to use and placing them in a box under my desk so my supplies are at the ready.
I am doing this for this LOAD for a few reasons:
Less product to choose from
1) saves time
2) challenges my creativity
3) means less to clean up
4) calms my psyche
Ideally, I would pull out some kits I put together myself. But, I am not that organized. I love the idea but I have never gotten around to even try putting together my own kits.
Other ways I make sure I make the daily deadline:
I pull out photos the night before (or in the morning) and ruminate on them until I get a chance to sit down and scrap.
If I have a tight schedule, I will make a digital page using a simple template.
Remember the motto, DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT. I force myself to make decisions in a short period of time remembering that the most important thing is the words I have to say about the photo. The paper and the design will eventually look outdated and perhaps silly to future generations but the words paired with the photo(s) will always have meaning.
Thanks for stopping by. I hope something I've shared will help you in your preparation for LOAD.
I plan to post my layouts here once February begins. I can't promise to post daily, but I will post as often as I can.
Please head on over to snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com to see what wisdom is shared there. If you started here at my blog and want to start from the beginning, go to Lain's blog at Layoutaday.com.
Here is a complete list of blogs participating in todays blog hop!
Lain www.layoutaday.com
Danielle H. scrappindanielle.blogspot.com
Margie www.xnomads.typepad.com
S snapsandsnippets.blogspot.com
Lisa lisahausmann.blogspot.com
Laura www.mom2nick.typepad.com
Rosann brooklyngirlnextdoor.blogspot.com
Gayle lifeonlilypadlane.blogspot.com
Jennifer atthebluebarn.blogspot.com
Heather www.heathersdragonsden.blogspot.com
Tere terecontodomicorazon.blogspot.com
Niki thepaperpeddler.blogspot.com
Janet www.khashabfamilymusings.blogspot.com
Lee thelinarstudio.typepad.com/embracelife
Danielle T. dani-adayinthelifeofacoffeeaddict.blogspot.com
Junelle www.yes-and-amen.com
Julie www.juleshollis.com
Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to stop back on February 1st for the One Little Word Blog Hop starting right here!
My name is Margie [pronounced Mar-ghee]! For as long as I can remember, I've been making special occasions meaningful with art, creativity, and a dose of fun! From this, I created Nihao,Cupcake; a place for practical & unique ideas that will help you create and capture moments to remember forever.
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