Amy Sorensen Reading Write Cluck Scrapbook

Hello to March! Did your month come in like a lion this morning? Or is spring peeking out already? Or do you live on the other side of our beautiful world where the sun is still shining as summer begins to wane. Lucky.

Our month gets started with a nod to Instagram. A scrapbooker's paradise of visual pleasure. This month we asked our team to create layouts that had something to do with Instagram. As always, they knocked it out of the park. We hope you enjoy their layouts and feel inspired to create one of your own. Please enjoy our newest gallery, InstaAwesome. As always, the layouts and the journaling are available if you click over into the photo album.

THE CHANUKAH GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
BY ALIZA

12 x 12 | materialspatterned paper (Studio Calico, Clique Kits) + stickers (Studio Calico) + cards and die cuts (Clique Kits)

A Note from Aliza
This layout is based on my most recent Instagram photo. I love the photo and, though it took place in February, it allows me to record this past year's Chanukah gift. It's a subscription, so it's like getting a gift each month of the year. I love the way this layout turned out, but all those letter stickers gave me a run for my money.

March Fun Fact
I have joined a dance performance workshop. I am so excited, and I have ordered a new pair of Jazz shoes. My current pair is from 1993.

INSTAALLISON
BY KATIE

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Dear Lizzy, Webster's Pages, Crate Paper) + embellishments (Chic Tags, Heidi Swapp, Amy Tangerine, Webster's Pages) + letter stickers (American Crafts) + sequins

A Note from Katie
Lately, I'm much more excited about my daughter's Instagram feed than I am about mine. I used 12 photos from her feed to create a collage of photos in the soon to be gone Picasa.

March Fun Fact
My daughter recently told us that she is "Emo" - and my husband and I both Googled what that was and took the "What Kind Of Emo Are You" and I got "Poser Emo" which means that I'm not actually Emo - but I am enjoying watching her transformations as she grows up.

DAY IN THE LIFE
BY DEE

12 x 12 | materials cardstock (American Crafts) label sticker (Ali Edwards Storykit) + button (Studio Calico) + stickers (Studio Calico) + ink (Stazon & Studio Calico) + pen (Project Life)

A Note from Dee
This layout had been waiting for me to make it for almost a year now. I knew I had the photos and I knew I wanted to do something with them, but what??? Until this theme came along and I new I wanted to make it into a layout with fun little squares.

March Fun Fact
The month march doesn't really stand out to me.. it's like I'm just waiting for the spring… I do like the early signs of spring arriving though… little flowers blooming… but then again some days there suddenly will be snow again

INSTAAWESOME
BY MARNIE

12 x 1 2 | materialspatterned paper (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (Hello Beautiful, KG Penmanship)

A Note from Marnie
I "stole" a few photos from my son's instagram account for this layout. I love that I can peek in on his world. Because he is awesome.

March Fun Fact
That little groundhog promised spring. I am hoping. It's been a long winter. And if it's delayed, there's a new Maisie Dobbs coming to keep me distracted!

THE KID'S ALL RIGHT
BY AMY

12 x 12 | materials black & white scraps from my black & white scrap box + fonts (Angelica (serif), Impact (sans serif), Manhattan Darling (script), Veneer Extra (dingbats))

A Note from Amy
I've been wanting to make a black & white layout for a little while, and this picture, which I posted on Instagram this fall, seemed like the right one. I added some yellow pops because it felt just a little too stark without it. I used some really old stuff on this layout! My favorite Instagram posts are the ones with a strong image and succinct message, so I kept my journaling short.

March Fun Fact
Helen Oyeyemi has a new short story collection coming out this month, What is Not Yours is Not Yours. I'm excited!

WINTER
BY LISA

8.5 x 11 | materials cardstock (Bazzill) + thickers (Studio Calico) + letter stickers (Websters pages)

A Note from Lisa
This layout was so difficult to photograph, so pardon the bluish light.

INSTAGRAM BIRTHDAY
BY JENNY LARSON

12 x 12 | materials patterned paper (Studio Calico, Jillibean Soup) + brads (Stampin' Up!) + thickers (American Crafts) + die cuts (American Crafts) + stickers (October Afternoon) + washi (unknown) + pen (Sharpie)

A Note from Jenny
Every time we go to the Mall of America, I post our trip on Instagram. I did that for my son's birthday this past month. Interesting to note: If you mention the mall in your post, they read them and comment on your photos!

March Fun Fact
I am impatient to garden!

We hope you have enjoyed our layouts! Until tomorrow...

Welcome back! Yesterday I shared a layout I made about myself (oh hi! I'm Amy!) and encouraged you to make one about YOU.

Then I realized: you can't make layouts about yourself unless you have pictures of yourself.

(Well, I mean: yes, you can. You can always make layouts without photos. But, let's go with needing photos just for the sake of argument.)

Which brings me to something I feel pretty passionate about, and that is photographers getting in front of the camera. You know: letting someone take a picture of you.

And I know: this is really, really hard. Especially for those of us who are used to taking the pictures.

It's hard to ask someone to take your picture, because it makes you feel vulnerable.

It's hard to be the subject of a photo because you can't control it.

And it's hard to feel like you are enough to be in the picture.

But it matters. It matters so much that we get ourselves into our family's pictures.

I learned this—not just in theory, but deep down, bone-deep, soul-deep—when my dad died. I was given the task of putting together a slide show of photographs of him. I had a ton of pictures of my dad—with my kids, with my mom, my sisters, my nephews and nieces. Even my husband. Even the cat.But I had exactly one (one!) picture of me with my dad.

ONE.

And now he's gone and there's absolutely nothing I can do about it.

Except for making changes moving forward, which is what I've done. I thought about the reasons I feel uncomfortable with getting my picture taken and came up with some solutions. So I thought I'd share what I've learned with you.

1. You're going to have to ask someone. I hate asking my husband to take my picture. Not because he's a jerk about it (he's not!) but because I feel like I'm being vain. But, since he's the adult I'm around the most (and thus trust not to drop my camera!), he's the default. So I talked to him about the possibility of him every once in a while just offering, out of the blue, to take a photo of me. As he is also not a fan of having his picture taken (99% of my photos of him have his hand in front of his face), I thought this would be a big deal. He just said OK and now he'll sometimes just offer to take my picture. (He's also my Official Press Photographer—lol—when I run races. He's always at the finish line, elbowing people aside so he can get a picture or two of me. Which, you'd thinkwho wants a photo of themselves hot & sweaty after running for two hours? but really: you want a picture of yourself even then. Especially then!)

Moral of the story: communication helps! Talk to the people who might be willing to take a picture or two of you. Tell them if you feel uncomfortable about it, but also tell them why it's important to you. Give them some suggestions about good angles. Think about how the light might look and then move yourself if you need to. Most importantly, relax! Remember that person loves you!

2. Find more than one photographer . My daughter, who loves having her picture taken, also loves to get her hands on my camera. She's taken some awesome pictures of me when I wasn't even paying attention. My son, who hates having his picture taken more than just about anything (I think he'd rather have his eyelashes yanked out than pose for a picture), will always offer, every time I am taking family pictures, to take a picture of me instead. It's his way of getting out of having his picture taken…but it's OK because we both get a little relief from our discomforts!

Moral of the story: If someone asks to take your picture, say yes. If your best friend wants to take a selfie with you, take a selfie. If your mother gets out her camera, smile back! Also, if someone else takes a picture with your camera, it will be ok. Put the neck strap right over their head before handing it over, tell them to be careful, and then smile.

3. Make it a tradition. When I was trying to figure out how to get myself in more pictures, I realized that every once in a while, I've had someone take a picture of me with my child on his or her birthday. (I was there for the birth! So their birthdays are important to me not just because of their existence and their celebration, but because I loved the day they were born, and on their birthdays I remember it fondly.) This realization helped me create two traditions: Now, I have someone take a picture of me with the birthday kid on every single birthday. It's become another part of our birthday celebrations, as inherent to the party as cake and candles. The second tradition is that either on my birthday or on Mother's Day (my birthday is in April, so they're close), whichever works out best, I have someone take a picture of me with all of my kids. These have become some of my most cherished images.

Moral of the story: when you create some photo traditions, it feels less & less awkward to ask for the picture, because it's just what always happens. Do it long enough and you won't even have to ask anymore; they'll just know to do it.

4. Take advantage of group shots. It's infinitely easier to be in a picture if there's someone else in the frame with you. So when you do something—anything, really, where someone takes a picture, which these days is nearly every situation we can imagine—get in the group shot. Let someone else, a total stranger, take the picture so you don't have to. (I've asked people on the top of mountains, in the Coliseum at Rome, at races, on the beach, and of course at restaurants to take a group picture for me.) When you go on vacations, get in the shot in front of the museum or historical monument or beautiful mountain or stunning lake. Family party? Get in the picture. A hike, a family trip to the bowling alley, a day at Disneyland? Get in the group shot.

Moral of the story: If you take all of the pictures of an event or experience, there isn't any visual proof that you were actually there, too. Your memories and stories matter just as much as everyone else's.

5. Realize that you are worth it. Even though I had my big ah-ha moment after my dad died, and I promised myself to get into more pictures, it didn't really hit home until a year later, when my mother-in-law also died. (Sheesh! Could I be any more depressing? I learned a lot from those deaths, though, so forgive me!) I had realized that I didn't have any pictures of her and my husband, and I'd gone so far as to make her promise that sometime in the fall, once she was feeling better from the surgery she needed, she'd let me take some pictures of the two of them. She wanted to wait until she'd had her hair done and she felt pretty again. But then, unexpectedly, she passed away. And I was devastated, of course, but it hit me even harder when I remembered that I'd never done that photo shoot. (And even later, when I realized that I have exactly ZERO photos of her and me together, I felt even worse.)

I understand her wanting to look her best. But now that she's gone, it wouldn't matter. If I had a photo of her with my husband, and she still looked a little bit pale from her surgery, and her hair wasn't perfect? I would still cherish it.

So here's where I'm going to get a little bit harsh with you.

Right now: look at yourself in a mirror. See that face? That body? That is you. That is what people love and are grateful to have in their lives. So even if you look in the mirror and think "holy ^>=~ *&$*@!~`+=, I'm wrinkled! I'm fat! I need to get my hair colored, when did I get that mole, is that an age spot on my cheekbone? Why do my eyebrows grow back in faster than a 5 o'clock shadow?" (or however your particular complaint(s) about yourself manifest, that's just my own personal inner dialogue), guess what? The people in your life love you anyway. Strike that—they don't love you despite your faults. They love you for you, warts and all. (Or age spots. Or moles.) They likely don't even see the faults that you see, because they love you, the whole package.

They love you for you.

And here's something else. I'm in my forties now, so I can tell you this is true: It's all downhill from here. You will never be less wrinkled than you are right now. You might be skinnier—but you might not! You're going to age; it happens to the best of us. Think about it: I bet when you were ten (or twenty! Or thirty!) years younger, you still had those same negative thoughts about yourself. But when you look back on that twenty-something version of yourself, wouldn't you like to have it back? That taut skin, that flat belly, those eyebrows that weren't kamikaze regrowth demons? In another decade, when you look back on the self you are right now, there will be things you'd like to have back.

So celebrate who you are right this very minute. Even with the ______________ (insert whatever you don't love, double chin, appeared-overnight zit, shadows under your eyes). You are beautiful, someone loves you, you are worth being in the picture.

Moral of the story: just do it. Put some make up on, and your favorite necklace. Definitely your favorite lipstick. And then get in a picture or two.

And you know what that is, don't you? It's a challenge! No, not even a challenge. It's an assignment. Sometime this week, get yourself into a picture. Before March comes. You could even come back here and let us know how it goes. And just so you know I'm not joking, here's a collage of some photos of myself.

(Including the one picture I have with my dad.) (These are all pictures that I both am grateful to have and cringe over. I could point out the flaws...but I'm still glad to have them.) Come on: if I can put a photo of myself in a swimsuit out on the Internets, you can take a picture of yourself. Not even in a swimsuit—wear a sweater if you want! or a parka! Just get in a picture.

And after that? Make a layout! About yourself, because it's important and fun and a great way to use some supplies. Your stories matter.Your images matter. Even if you detest having your photo taken.

But that's just me. How doyou feel about getting your picture taken? Let me know!

Hey there! Amy here, and I want to share a conversation I had that I'm still thinking about.

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my daughter Haley (who's away at college) about printing pictures. Every once in a while, she'll share a batch with me on Dropbox, and I'll get them printed for her, and then she'll hang them on the wall in her apartment.

"That must freak you out," she joked with me. "Just pictures on a wall, not scrapbooked."

Then she stopped teasing for a second and said "but it would be weird for me to scrapbook pictures about myself anyway" and I said "no it wouldn't! I scrapbook about myself all the time."

But really…I don't!

After our conversation I thumbed through the enormous pile of layouts I have that need to be added to albums and I realized that maybe 2% of them are layouts about me. Which translates into one or two a year.

The funny thing is, I do believe that we scrapbookers should make layouts about ourselves. I just feel a little bit…weird about it, sometimes (to borrow my daughter's word). Which is silly, because these things are true:

• my stories are just as important as my kids'
• no one else can tell my stories
• someone in the future will want to know my stories
• scrapbooking stories about yourself is just as fun as stories about your kids

So this week we're going to be sharing some layouts we've made about ourselves!

In keeping with that "weird" idea, I went with a slightly…non-traditional photo of myself. My 18-year-old son took it of me while he was goofing around with my camera. But I really kind of love it. It captures something I feel about myself but can't put into words yet.

I paired it with some of my current favorite song lyrics, the ones that help me feel just a little bit more courageous and understood by the universe. (Plus, you know: every so often I like to have a bit of fun with a font or two.) The design concept is one I use a lot, which is just surrounding a photo with a whole bunch of words. Actually, I'm not sure it even qualifies as a "design concept" at all. (I'm so much better at words than design!) But it's an approach to a layout that I've used almost my whole time I've been a scrapbooker. It makes me happy and it makes me feel like I've put a little bit of myself down on the layout. Which is a good match for a page that's about myself!

Also: "gluing" vellum down with paint. That's totally a technique, right? It's one of my favorites! It's a little messy...but I like the splotchy sort of mess it makes. Plus, there's just something about gold and vellum that makes my scrapper's heart happy.

When was the last time you made a layout about yourself? You should share! Post a link in the comments and I will come and admire.

Happy scrapping!

Good morning! Welcome back to WCS, and our last day of looking forward. This is Amy, and I'm looking forward to a cold but sunshiny day.

On Tuesday, I wrote about Neil Gaiman's wishes for the New Year, and how I always meant to use one as a long title for a layout, but I hadn't yet.

So then I thought, self, why not just make that layout right now? Since it's a January thing to do, I went ahead and did it! Here's the layout:

I decided to go with a bright color scheme both to brighten up the black-and-white photo I'd printed and because it matches the wrapping paper on the gift (even though you can't tell!). The fonts I used are Art Brewery, Courier, and Marista, with Evelyth Icons for the banners and Veneer Extras for the ampersands (that ampersand is one of my favorite dingbats ever). I kept the embellishment very simple, just a few rectangles of patterned paper, because the title is so colorful and active.

My son Jake's birthday is December 30, so when he gets a year older, he also literally starts a new year. I've never written about that, but this year—when he turned 18—seemed like a good one. His upcoming year will bring him so many changes, so my deepest hope is that he will hold on to who he is when everything else is different. When I finished writing the journaling, I thought I don't know if I've actually said any of this to him. So I went and found him—he was at his computer studying for a psychology test—gave him a hug, and told him what I was feeling. He likely thought I was a little bit crazy, but on the other hand, after 18 years hopefully he's used to his mom gushing!

I think this quote would work well not just for a New Year's birthday, but for a birthday at any time, since birthdays tend to make us look forward.

Happy scrapping!

Being the mom of two teenagers, one emerging adult, and one tween, I find that I do a lot of looking forward. I have to, because that is the direction my children's gaze is turned. So much in their future is tantalizing: graduation and college and careers, church service and adventures and (eventually!) marriage. So much of their future is the focus of my worries: how do I help them make the right choices, survive their mistakes, find the path that's right for them? When do I guide them and when do I let them walk forward on their own.

So I'm pretty much in love with our topic this week!

I decided I had to make a layout about my 16-year-old son's experiences on New Year's Eve. Or maybe it's more about my experiences with my son on New Year's Eve. I have a tradition of asking whoever's still awake at midnight what their hopes and dreams are for the upcoming year, but when I asked him, he didn't want to play. (He was despondent over his plans falling through.) So I guessed his wishes, and then he started to laugh, because I was exactly right!

It's hard to see it when you're 16 and something feels like a disaster, just how wide with possibilities the world is. In my journaling I wrote about the bigger things I hope this year will bring him. The journaling was inspired by Neil Gaiman's writing; many New Year's Eves he writes a wish and shares it with his readers. (You can read some of them here.) (I've been meaning to use one as a long title for a layout, but I haven't done it yet!) Alas, I can't write like Neil Gaiman (who is one of my favorite writers) but his thoughts helped me shape mine.

My tradition of asking about upcoming hopes is one I undertook intentionally. I wanted to give my kids (and me, really, because I always share mine with them, too) a space for thinking about what is really in their hearts. There is a difference between hoping a thing can happen and making it happen, and I believe that verbalizing the hope is a way to build a bridge toward acting on the hope. But I realized this December 31 (or maybe it was in the wee hours of January 1) that I've rarely written down their hopes. I'm so glad I thought to this year!

How do you document your looking-forward thoughts and goals?

Happy scrapping!

Sometimes I get a strange look when I tell people this, but I'm sticking by it:Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love it because it's really, at its heart, about simplicity and love. There aren't any gifts to buy or worry about. There are no expectations. It's just about hanging out with your family, eating really good food. As I love to cook and I love my family, well: I love Thanksgiving!

Plus, it's a holiday that's rich in traditions. When I am cooking, I feel like I am using the wisdom of many of the women who came before me—my grandmothers, my aunts, my mother-in-law, and my mom. I use the same recipes every year, some that came from friends, some that were discovered when my grandma was a young mom, some passed to me by my husband's family.  (Plus, OK, a couple from Pinterest!) I like to cook in solitude, while my kids do some serious Thanksgiving hanging out (accompanied by more food, cheeseball and crackers, homemade cookies, something delicious to drink) but I'm never alone because each thing I make connects me to someone.

But it's not just the food that is full of memories. If you're an American celebrating Thanksgiving today (or you're reading this on your cell phone on Friday morning while you're out shopping!), here's a list of journaling prompts (and a few layouts illustrating them) to help you record your Thanksgiving traditions.

 1.The dishes. Paper or china? Glass or plastic? Is there any history connected to the dishes you use? (Don't forget the serving bowls and platters!)

2.The activities. Are you a board-game-playing family? Cards? Or is it all football, all the time? What do you do between the meal and dessert? Do you go out shopping or wait until Friday?

3.The food. How do you cook your turkey? Where did that recipe for sweet potatoes come from? Who helps you cook? How long did your prep take? What is each family member's favorite dish? What other stories can you tell about your food?

4.The little details. What small details will you always remember? What little things happened that set this Thanksgiving apart from all the others? What did you laugh about or discuss? What political or social events influenced your conversations? Or, what sensory details are strongly embedded in your memories? Scents are a huge part of Thanksgiving, and taste of course, but what does itsound like?

In this layout, I made some text embellishments to record some of the small moments of the day, and then used the journaling space to tell a larger story:

5.The family and friends. Who came this year? How has your family changed since last year? What qualities in each person are you grateful for? Who didn't come that you missed? How are the family dynamics at a big gathering?

6.The interaction.​ What funny things happened? What good memories were shared or conversations had? How did cousins get along (or not)? What sweet, surprising, or memorable interactions did you notice?

 (This little moment between my mother-in-law and my son is so precious to me, even if it's not a very good picture.)

7.The changes. How have your Thanksgiving traditions changed over the years? What has been lost and what has been added? How are your kids' Thanksgivings different than those of your childhood?

8.The setting. Whose house did you eat at? If you ate at yours, what preparations did you do to get your house ready? At someone else's, what do you love about that place? How does the location influence your Thanksgiving experience?

The journaling in this layout is about my mother-in-law's house:

9.The desserts. (As much as Thanksgiving is about turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and rolls, it's equally involved with dessert, yes?) What is each person's favorite dessert? What dessertmust be present or it wouldn't feel like Thanksgiving? Who makes the desserts? (Or did you buy them all at Costco?) Whipped cream or ice cream? Cake or pie?

10.The feels.​ Gratitude, of course, goes hand in hand with Thanksgiving. So it's an important emotion. But it's not the only one. What other emotions do you experience at Thanksgiving? Are you emotions straightforward or complicated, and why? Were you surprised by anything you felt this year?

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. May your turkey be moist, your mashed potatoes buttery, and your pie crust flaky!

Last night I hosted a family dinner to celebrate my son's 16^th birthday. Partway through the meal, I turned to my mom and said "wait a second! How can it possibly already be the last week of November? Where did autumn go?"

No really—where'd it go?

Autumn is my favorite season. The leaves, the light, the feeling of things coming to fruition somehow. And while yes, it is the last week of November (and thus, really, the last week of fall, because once December gets here, it feels like winter, don't you think, even when the weather might not cooperate), there are still a few days left to celebrate. So this week, I hope you'll get out and do one more fall-ish thing. Scuff through some leaves! Rake them into a pile and then jump into it with your kids! (Seriously…this is so therapeutic!) Go for a walk or a drive in the mountains.

Oh, and scrapbook!

Because yeah, I love fall. But I also love fall scrapbooking supplies. (All that rusty orange…swoon!) This week, we'll be sharing different prompts and ideas for scrapbooking your autumn traditions. These are easy to overlook, especially in the face of the upcoming tradition-rich December. But stop and think: what things do you do every fall? I made a list to get myself started:

1. Wear orange on the first day of fall.
2. Go for at least one run in the canyon when the leaves are at their best.
3. Ditto one long, lovely, so-in-awe-of-these-trees hike.
4. Take the kids to the pumpkin patch we've visited every year since 1998.
5. Run the elementary school's 5k fundraiser with the kids.
6. Bake pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies.
7. Bake pumpkin + chocolate chip cookies. (Only click on that link of you are willing to bake—and then eat way too many of—possibly the best dang pumpkin cookies ever. Don't say I didn't warn you!) Bake pumpkin bread. Or pumpkin muffins. Or little heart-shaped pumpkin-spice hand pies. Or, let's face it, bake anything with pumpkin.
8. Celebrate the first really cold day by making soup.
9. Attend my mom's first-Sunday-in-October family dinner. Bring apple crisp.
10. Do a photo shoot with whatever kids will cooperate.

This year, I fit in nearly every fall tradition except for the sugar cookies. I didn't bake them because the day I traditionally spend elbow-deep in cake flour, powdered sugar, and butter—October 30—I instead spent in the hospital with my husband, who had a pretty major surgery. And there's nothing like waiting for your spouse to survive heart surgery to put things in perspective. I spent a lot of time thinking about our life together, what makes me happy, what I'd like to change, how we could be better together. But mostly how grateful I am that he's my husband.

Cue another autumn tradition: expressions of gratitude. There's just something about fall that makes us feel grateful, and I think it's more than Thanksgiving. I think the coming coldness of the winter reminds us of the luxuriousness of the warmth we still have left, which in turn reminds us of all of the other blessings in our lives. And we want to express that! Some years, I do this on Facebook—write a daily post about what I'm grateful for. Other years, I've done it on my blog—write 10 or 12 entries in November about my gratitudes. This year, what with all the meds and the suture care and the extra doctor appointments, I just managed to make a layout:

The photo for this one came from #10 on my list. My daughter was home visiting from college, and she talked my son Jake (who is notoriously annoyed by photo shoots) to cooperate for a few pictures. He'll be off to college next fall, and when I looked at these pictures I kept thinking about how grateful I am to have my life as it is right now. Having a kid leave home teaches you a lot of things. I've learned that I can survive the absence and that seeing them succeed is a great panacea for missing them. I've also learned that right now is fleeting—you don't always know when it will change. So in my journaling, I wrote down the little details that make my right now with Jake so unique, because I am so grateful to have it.

I hope you'll come back tomorrow to see what other autumn traditions we're scrapping. Until then, a question: What can you still do to celebrate fall?

Hello to November. And a new gallery. One of our favorite days of the month. This month, we just have one question for you.

Get ready? you might want to grab a snack. Or you will want to shortly after you start reading. Enjoy!

I'M VEGAN!
BYEWA WESOŁOWSKA

12 x 12 | materials  base paper (Sweet Pie by Studio Tekturek) + patterned papers (Peach Christmas) + One Way Ticket (Blanket Stories by Studio Tekturek)+ labels (Studio Tekturek) +Oh chipboard (Studio Tekturek)

A Note from Ewa
I've been vegan for few year and it's amazing. I'm feeling great, I don't hurt anybody and I'm full of energy.

November Fun Fact
We're having an amazing Indian summer in Poland now and I love it!!

SHABBAT IN BARNWELL, S.C.
BY ALIZA DEUTSCH

12 x 12 |materials cardstock (Bazzill Basics Paper) + patterned paper (Kaisercraft) + buttons (unknown) + thickers (American Crafts) + labels (Kaitlin Sheaffer) + stickers (Evalicious) + fonts (Mathlete)

A Note from Aliza
Traveling while keeping kosher and observing the Sabbath requires a little bit of extra planning. So, it was exciting and a little exotic for us to spend a Sabbath in a state park in North Carolina, rather than in a city with food and a synagogue close by. I had wanted to record this aspect of our summer road trip for a while (well, since the summer), but kept pushing it off. I love when the gallery theme pushes me to get stories told.

November Fun Fact
My baby just sent in his college applications!

THE BEST PEOPLE
BY LISA BORBÉLY

8.5 x 11 |materials flair (Studio Calico) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + labels (Studio Calico)

A Note from Lisa
I could do a whole album with food related layouts. That´s what you get when you live with a professional chef!

November Fun Fact
I met my fiancé almost 3 years ago, but I always say I met him 20 kilos ago!

FIRST HARVEST
BY JENNY LARSON

12 x 12 |materials patterned paper (October Afternoon, Fancy Pants Designs) + brads (Stampin' Up!) + letter stickers (Prima, Pebbles) + stickers (October Afternoon) + pen (Copic)

A Note from Jenny
Ever since we bought our house, I've been a gardener of flowers. This year I really became a gardener of vegetables. I wanted to document my success, so I created this page about the greatest bounty I harvested and the ones that were weaker.

November Fun Fact
I planted watermelon last summer, but the biggest one grew to 2 inches—a little too small to harvest!

HOME COOKING
BY TRACIE CLAIBORNE

8.5 x 11 |materials cardstock (Bazzill) + patterned paper (Echo Park) + die cuts (October Afternoon, Crate Paper) + wood veneer (Studio Calico) + fonts (Grand Hotel, Segoe)

A Note from Tracie
This layout is one I've had every intention of making for a long while. It's a tribute to my Mom and her cooking. I used the floral because it seemed homey and the die cuts from October Afternoon just happened to have the very same blue. Score! This is kind of an "all about me" page even though it's about my Mom so I'll put it in my about me album.

November Fun Fact
I am my absolute happiest October through December. I love autumn and the holiday season and every day I wear a big grin for no reason at all other than the little happies in my life like pumpkins, candles burning, hot cider, colorful leaves whirling in the wind as I drive and the anticipation of Christmas. There are so many wonderful reasons to live!

SUMMER MEALS
BY AMY SORENSEN

12 x 12 |materials patterned paper (Echo Park) + big alphabet stickers (Simple Stories) + little alphabet stickers (American Crafts) + embellishment stickers (Echo Park) + date tags (Elle's Studio) + Ashbury Light font

A Note from Amy
I know this is probably strange, but I always have to remind myself to scrapbook the photos I take on my phone. There are so many good images that tell a certain type of story—everyday kinds of memories, little moments, unusual places—on my phone, but forget to use them! So this layout was a conscious effort to look through my phone for stories. I might never have documented these sweet (yet common) moments otherwise.

November Fun Fact
This November marks my grandparents' 80th wedding anniversary.I wish they were still here!

FOODTRUCKIN'
BY DEE ROSE

12 x 12 |materials cardstock (American Crafts) + patterned paper (Studio Calico, I Lowe Scrap) + wood veneer camera (Studio Calico) + thickers (Twine+Ink) + stamps (Studio Calico) + ink (Studio Calico) + pen (Sharpie)

A Note from Dee
I love how this layout came together pretty quickly with all the little picture squares I printed with my Canon Selphy. I knew I wanted a bold black and white background but I also wanted to add a lot of color since the pictures contain a lot of color as well.. Most of the embellishments are stamped and I love the convenience of this, because you can stamp it just in the color you need.

November Fun Fact
Oh how I love fall! In this time of year I enjoy the fact that it gets dark pretty early and make our home all cozy by lighting the candles. In this time of year I especially love comfort foods such as risotto, chili and stews. And not to forget: lots of speculoos!!

ON THE MENU
BY MARNIE FLORES

12 x 12 |materials paper (Cosmo Cricket) + fonts (Hello Beautiful, Letter Gothic)

A Note from Marnie
On Friday's post, Amy was talking about forgetting to scrapbook the photos on her phone. I have the same trouble.But when it was time for food photos, that is the place to go. I actually didn't get these photos from my phone, though, but from my sons. He is an awesome chef and takes pictures of his masterpieces. Which was perfect for me. (Twice. The first time I got to eat it. The second I got to scrapbook it!)

November Fun Fact
And birthday season begins! My mom, brother, sister, babydoll, uncle, two besties, and me! Bring on the cake!

BABY FOODIE
BY MARNIE FLORES

12 x 12 |materials paper (Crystal Wilkerson) + fonts (CK Jot, Los Spiro)

A Note from Marnie
I know that these photos are not really in season, but I couldn't resist. That middle photo is pure Lavender. I am thinking that similar journaling needs to make an appearance on a layout for each of the other two kids, too!

November Fun Fact
This month we are taking family photos. Outfits curated. Hair appointment booked. And photographer scheduled. Now, just need to find a day without wind and rain!

KEY LIME YUMMY PIE
BY MARNIE FLORES

12 x 12 |materials journaling cards (Heidi Swapp, Elizabeth Kartchner) + fonts (CK Fresh Regular, Hello Beautiful, CK Journaling)

A Note from Marnie
This little beauty was made by made baby. I loved baking as a child and love that my girls love it, too. Doesn't this look too good to eat?

November Fun Fact
This year my birthday is not on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. It's going to be a good birthday!

Thank you for stopping by! Please join us tomorrow. Lisa and her team will be here showing us how to mix patterned paper!!

Welcome back to the last day of our scraplifting-yourself discussion! Amy here again, with one more scraplifting idea.

One thing I've noticed as the week's gone on is how the result of scraplifting yourself is that the inspired-by layout really ends up feeling like it was made by you. I mean—take Marnie's layouts. They each feel like a Marnie layout, the clean lines and even borders and crisp details are true to her style. And yet, the inspired-by layout feels just as fresh as the original.

You just can't go wrong with scraplifting from your own work!

Sometimes I approach layouts with the idea of a "concept." Concepts are a way for me to structure most of the parts of a layout, from which pictures I use to the journaling to the title and even, sometimes, the embellishments. For example, in my mind a "highlights" layout is built on a concept. I could make a highlights layout about an entire vacation, a holiday, a trip to the zoo, a random Saturday. ___________ things I love about __________ is also a concept. As is a layout built around "the essential stuff" (what's essential at the beach? at breakfast? an afternoon at the library?)

Concepts help me to see a way to shape ideas that are sometimes nebulous.

Right when the new fall supplies started coming out (I was really excited to use that leaf paper!) I made this layout about what's the best things that happen when my daughter (who's away at college now) comes home for a visit.

"The best" felt like a concept to me, and, a few weeks later when I was putting away layouts, I read through it again and it made me remember something. On holidays, I always try to sit with each of my kids before they go to bed and ask them what the best part of the holiday was for them. I don't think I've ever scrapbooked that little tradition, so I decided to on this layout:

I used photos that illustrate why that Halloween was the best (awesome costume, extra friends when we were trick-or-treating, and time with family) and wrote about it in my journaling. And of course put the word "best" in the title.  (Totally unrelated aside: I am in love with puffy stickers! They are…wait for it…the best!)

Using a concept helps me to make layouts that feel more specific and detail-oriented to me. And scraplifting my concepts helps things come together even faster.

Do tell: is the idea of scrapbook concepts something that fits into your workflow?

Happy Halloween tomorrow!

Hey there! Amy Sorensen here, starting off a new week at Write. Click. Scrapbook.

I remember exactly when I had a scrapbooking revelation that changed my process. It was way back in the dinosaur days of scrapbooking (you know…when the stegosaurus and the t-Rex were paper pieced from The Paper Patch patterned paper), and I made a layout that I instantly fell in love with. It had three 4x6 photos lined up in a straight horizontal row, with journaling underneath the photos and a title and some embellishments above them.

Hardly an unusual design now, but then it felt fresh and entirely flexible. I finished it and thought I almost wish I hadn't used up that idea on these photos, and then that's when I had my ah-ha moment: I could use the same design, invented by me, more than once!

And thus I started scraplifting myself. (Even though I don't think we'd invented the word "scraplifting" yet.) I think I've probably made 287 different interpretations of that original idea.

Ever since that experience, I've found that while I can find inspiration everywhere, it's also fairly useful to be inspired by my own creations. This is because it feels more "me" if I came up with it. Plus, why reinvent the wheel? When you find something that works and then use it again, it helps your layouts come together so much faster.

So! To celebrate the creative spark that can be found in scraplifting yourself, we're focusing on that this week. I hope you'll join us over the next few days as we explore different ways to use your past layouts to make something new.

One of the awesome thing about scraplifting (yourself or anyone, really!) is that it's so flexible. You can take an entire design and reuse it, or just a part; you can be inspired by a title or a design element or even a story. Plus, you can take any idea, based on any topic, and use it for a different topic. Here's what I mean. I made this layout for a Saturday Sketch post last April:

One thing I love about this layout is that wide, short photo at the bottom (with the Easter baskets). It was the start of my current obsession, in fact, with wide, short pics. When I was looking through last year's Halloween photos a few days ago (because when is it more fun to scrapbook Halloween pics than in October?), I came upon a picture that seemed perfect for the same treatment. So I scraplifted my Easter photo-processing idea and used it on this Halloween layout:

They're not identical layouts, but they are very much influenced by each other.

Do tell! Do you ever scraplift yourself?

Amy Sorensen Reading Write Cluck Scrapbook

Source: https://www.writeclickscrapbook.com/write_click_scrapbook/amy-sorensen/page/2/

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