EVERYDAY
storyteller
33 PRACTICAL IDEAS FROM REAL WORLD SCRAPBOOKERS
Edited by Jennifer S. Wilson
The Magic of Everyday Everyday: encountered or used routinely or typically; ordinary. My passion is helping people turn stories into scrapbook pages and find ease in the start-to-finish journey. I love connecting memory keepers with processes and techniques that open the doors to deeper meaning and greater freedom in scrapbook projects. For me, this most often means getting back-to-basics and embracing simple, ordinary approaches that really work. Everyday Storyteller is a celebration of my philosophy of real-world scrapbooking. I reached out to members of our community to assist me in sharing a collection of the best practical ideas for paper, digital and hybrid scrapbookers alike. From framing a moment in your mind’s eye to expressing your heart on the page, this book offers tips and tricks you can use right now in your memory keeping. I want to help you see the magic of scrapbooking not only in your everyday life, but in the essential techniques that help get pages finished. And while there is plenty of visual inspiration in this book, my mission was to build a publication as truly useful to you as it is beautiful. I would first like to thank my husband for helping me find laughter in the everyday and my daughter for being my daily reminder that anything is possible. Bringing this book to fruition was truly a team effort. Without Lynnette and Neisha by my side, this book wouldn’t exist. The contributors deserve the most credit, however, for crafting incredible projects and breaking them down into bite-sized tips for you. I hope you will utilize these storytelling ideas to make your everyday extraordinary.
JENNIFER S. WILSON
Contents The Magic of Everyday............................... 03 JENNIFER S. WILSON
Why Storytelling Matters.................... 06 KATIE CLEMONS
Capturing Moments Celebrate Everyday Life with Your Scrapbooking........................................... 10 CRYSTAL LIVESAY
Finding Great Light for Photographing Great Memories..... 12 KATRINA KENNEDY
Celebrating Everyday Moments with Instant Photography.................. 14 JESSICA SPRAGUE
Capturing Memories, Not Portraits... 16 AMANDA PADGETT
Outside-the-Box Approaches for Regular Journaling................................ 18 ANGIE LUCAS
Journaling the Way You Think........ 20 BETSY SAMMARCO
Documenting Everyday Dialogue... 22 SARA GLEASON
Prepare for Scrapbooking Using an iPad and the Apple iPhoto App ...... 24 RENEE PEARSON
Telling Stories Looking Forward and Back to Create Meaningful Stories................. 28 KRISTIN RUTTEN
Four Tips for Prioritizing Creativity Every Day................................................... 30 CHERYL ASHCRAFT
Tips for Easy Guilt-Free Scrapbooking........................................... 32 TRACI REED
Enhance Your Memory Keeping with Social Media................................... 34 AMBER RIES
Taking Stories from Blog to Page... 36 CHRISTINE NEWMAN
Fast and Easy Journaling with Lists.............................................................. 38 ELLE PRICE
Journaling from the Heart................ 40 HEATHER PRINS
Use Little Memories to Celebrate Big Stories.................................................. 42 JENNIFER S. WILSON
Inexpensive Details for Heartfelt Stories......................................................... 44 BY CD MUCKOSKY 4 • EVERYDAY STORYTELLER
Creating Memories Defining Your Scrapbooking Style Recipe......................................................... 48 MELISSA STINSON
Easy Scrapbook Lettering with Alphabet Stamps.................................... 66 MICHELLE HERNANDEZ
Three Creative Ways to Use Stencils on Your Scrapbook Pages......................... 68
Designing Successful Page Layouts with a Sketchbook............... 50
AMY KINGSFORD
Improvisational Scrapbooking with Sketches........................................... 52
ASHLI OLIVER
TIFFANY TILLMAN
JENN SMITH-SLOANE
Wet Media: Three Easy Techniques for Layouts................................................... 70 Documenting Real Life with Souvenirs and Ephemera................
Two Simple Shortcuts for Photo Arrangement........................................... 54
AMY TAN
Create a Simple Vintage Collage In Three Steps ........................................ 56
ELISE CRIPE
Combine Your Go-To Foundations for Quick, Richly Layered Pages......... 58
LAUREN REID
PAULA GILARDE
NANCY NALLY
DEBBIE HODGE
Simple Techniques for Visual Complexity................................................ 60 ANNA ASPNES
Create Cohesive Layouts with Repetition.................................................. 62
Four Techniques for Building a Cohesive Mini Book.............................. 74 Tracking Your Scrapbook Supplies with Spreadsheets ................................ 76
EVERYDAY
storyteller Jennifer S. Wilson
CINDY LIEBEL
EDITOR
Using Digital Papers and Elements on Traditional Layouts......................... 64
Lynnette Penacho
ROBYN MEIEROTTO
72
DESIGNER
Neisha Sykes COPY EDITOR
COPYRIGHT © 2012 CREATE MORE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COVER PHOTO BY ROBYN MEIEROTTO.
EVERYDAY STORYTELLER • 5
Edited by Jennifer S. Wilson
We Are Storytellers
“ Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” - L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl
Life goes by so very fast. In the blink of an eye we’re older, our babies are bigger and the world is much different than it was. We are storytellers because we know that our photos and words will outlive our own memories, serving as tangible reminders of life truly lived. This book, along with its predecessor, Everyday Storyteller, is designed to share practical ideas that help make scrapbooking a rich and joyful part of your everyday life. You’ll learn ways to tell more meaningful stories through your photos, words and scrapbook pages — in ways that fit into your real life. Through 33 inspiring articles from storytellers from around the world, you’ll see scrapbooking from many points of view, some that look a lot like your own as well as those that are very different. You’ll learn new approaches to documenting the stories that matter most to you so you’ll always remember. My entire Everyday Storyteller team requires heartfelt thanks, including 64 brilliant, inspiring contributors to both books, as well as the two women who have made these books come to life: Lynnette Penacho and Neisha Sykes. Also, my assistant Jean Manis deserves special recognition for keeping everything else afloat while I focused on this project. Above all, I am deeply grateful for the story I am living every day as a wife and mom.
JENNIFER S. WILSON
Telling Stories
Contents We Are Storytellers................................. 03 JENNIFER S. WILSON
Discovering Your Best Stories.... 26 WENDY SMEDLEY
Choosing Which Stories To Tell.................................................... 28 KAREN GRUNBERG
Capturing Moments Quick Tips for Recording Your Own History....................................... 08 KERRI BRADFORD
Freshen Up Your Photographic Point of View...................................... 10 AMY MALLORY
Crop Your Photos for Maximum Impact............................. 12 CATHERINE DAVIS
Connecting Stories Across Time to Find More Meaning....... 30 AMANDA JONES
Use Photos on Hand to Tell the Rest of the Story....................... 32 JENNIFER S. WILSON
Telling Layered Stories.................. 34 AMY SORENSEN
Capturing and Sharing Life’s Unique Moments............................. 36 LEAH FARQUHARSON
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Memories: Don’t Crop Them Out 14
Telling Your Funny Stories........... 38
KAMI LEONARD
JOSCELYNE CUTCHENS
Capture Emotion in Your Photos................................................... 16 ELISHA SNOW
Create More Meaningful Art Journaling with Instagram.......... 18 TANGIE BAXTER
Documenting Not-So-Perfect Moments.............................................. 40 AMY MARTIN
Scrapbook Meaningful Moments with a Planner.............. 42 CRYSTAL WILKERSON
Good Eats: Documenting Culinary Memories.......................... 20
Capture Their Voices: Get Others to Do the Journaling for You................................................... 44
KELLY PURKEY
LAIN EHMANN
Save Time with Photoshop Actions.................................................. 22
Simple Tools for Boosting Productivity......................................... 46
LINDA SATTGAST
DONNA JANNUZZI
4 • EVERYDAY STORYTELLER
Creating Memories Telling Stories in Style with Simple Templates............................. 50 KARLA DUDLEY
How to Adapt Templates for Your Specific Needs................. 52 CINDY SCHNEIDER
Scraplift Your Layouts for Easy Page Design...................... 54 LAURA VEGAS
Use Large Photos for Instant Impact................................... 56 MANDY KOEPPEN
Unconventional Twists on Designing with Grids...................... 58 LISA DICKINSON
Merging Pocket Style and Traditional Scrapbooking............. 72 JENNI HUFFORD
Mini Albums: Another Approach to Memory Keepsakes 74 CELINE NAVARRO
Practical Ways to Overcome Creative Block.................................... 76 ALLISON WAKEN
Creating Design Unity with Journaling........................................... 60 JILL SPROTT
Bring Stories to Life with Embellishments................................ 62 KRISTA SAHLIN
Stitch Up Your Memories............. 64 LEXI BRIDGES
Organizing To Save Time............. 66 PATTY DEBOWSKI
Creative Ways to Add a Toddler’s Touch to Your Pages... 68 RIIKKA KOVASIN
Scrapbook Faster the Project Life Way................................................ 70
Jennifer S. Wilson EDITOR
Lynnette Penacho DESIGNER
Neisha Sykes COPY EDITOR COPYRIGHT © 2013 CREATE MORE MEDIA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. COVER PHOTO BY CATHERINE DAVIS.
ANN-MARIE MORRIS
EVERYDAY STORYTELLER • 5