Challenge accepted

I love doing challenges.  I love to be stretched by things that are new and I love stretching myself by trying new things.  In the Seasonal Expressions May - August 2019 catalog, there is a Memory Protector Combo Pack  Z4092 on page 61.  It is part of the Story by Stacy  products with the new How-to book StoryTeller.  When I first  looked at the combination of memory protectors: 6 x  6, Pocket Plus Design 1, Pocket Plus design 4, 8 1/2 x 11 and a 12 x 12 , I wondered how they would be used.

I received by How-To StoryTeller book and started looking at all the ways and all the sizes you can tell stories.  I have always loved to journal and have pushed people I work with to do the same.  I realized as I was doing scrapbooking for my children that not only I didn't remember all the names of the kids from their class pictures but they didn't remember either.  When I looked back at my pictures in photo albums I didn't remember many details either.  My mother was our "family historian" and she kept saying you need to write on the back of the photos and write down somewhere who, what, where, why and how. 

My Grandmother won all these blue ribbons at the State fair for her flower arrangements, her baking,  her crocheting and her knitting.  After she died we found boxes of ribbons but nothing was written on them so we don't know what they were for.  Try as hard as I could, our daughter has boxes of ribbons from horse shows with very little written on any of them.  The story is really important and details matter.  As I have made my albums,  I have tried to put journaling in by at least putting dates and people but have grown to using  Close To My Heart Flip Flaps  (pg 151) because you can have a photo on the top and journaling under so that if people just want to glance at the photos they can and if they really are interested in the details they can merely look under a flap.

I had from the last catalog Feels Like Home paper packet, complements, watercolor flowers, and some cardstock.  I love to design pages and cards.  I started out with looking at the Extended storytelling and how the memory protector combo pack was used and started to design.  I continued to design the pages by using Make it from your heart Vol 3 ( Pattern 25, pattern 27 and Project 3 from Bring Back My Pack Zoe).  I had to add some cardstock and when I was done there were still compliments and embellishments left.  I based my last 2 page layout on pattern 15 and used Memory Protectors Design 1 and 4. 

If you look at previous posts, you can see that I am making what you might call "albums" which would take up 1/2 a D-ring Legacy Album.  This "set" will go with the previous one.  I am getting the albums made so that when I go through photos and memorabilia I can put them in an album.  If I need more room, I can use flip flaps and different sizes of memory protectors. 

Maybe you have lots of photos or things you want to save.  Think of the possibilities of using ALL the different sizes of memory protectors that Close To My Heart makes in one album!  Think of telling your stories or doing extended stories so that you can remember and others can share in your story telling.   If  I need to tell more of the story, I can use flip flaps or take on of the designated photo spots.

6 x 6 page

8 1/2 x 11 page

Pocket Plus Memory Protectors Design 1 and 4

 I then used the 6 x 12 flip flaps on 2 pages.  The "tops" are the same as underneath.  The page design split originally at 6 inches so it was a natural for using the 6 x 12 flip flaps.

 The page as it looks is on the left hand side and the Flip Flap opened is on the right.  It is easiest to have a Flip Flap stuck so that when you open a page, gravity works to keep it on the page.  The top on is the right had side and the one below is on the left hand side.

Since I still had paper left and some cardstock that matched, I did 2 more 12 x 12 pages and then did the design 1 and 4 Pocket Plus Memory Protectors.

I think that I am gravitating to the 1/2 page Pocket Plus Memory Protectors. I still have lots to learn about not using all the photos on one page or most of the photos that I take or have for one time period.  These protectors allow more photos to be kept in the same section without cluttering up the pages.  

For me, there were several to challenges that I was accepting to work on:

1. Try using the Memory Protector Combo Pack 

2. Try using less photos on pages - hence using the How-to book Make it From Your Heart Volume 3 and probably using Love of Color and Make if From Your Heart Vols 1 -2.  

3. Use as much of a packet as I can.  I have so many plastic bags of paper scraps which could have made several more pages but I just did the workshop as it was and didn't try using them up.  I sometimes make cards from them but the paper has been separated from a project and instructions or already been used in a album.

4. Be creative and try new things.

I hope this will give you ideas of what you might do.  Challenge yourself and see what great things can come from a good challenge.  

Year Album start using Prickly Pear Paper

I thought it might be fun to have a “page a month” for the year 2017.  To do this I needed some special things that Close to My Heart has to offer.  I know I use my camera a lot.  I found out that I had to have special layouts for special occasions like birthday parties and first time First grade concerts on stage.  

In our Annual Catalog on pages 12 and 13 you will find these tools.

1. There are Memory Protectors Pocket Plus pages.   This is half pages with 4x6 and 3x4 photos both landscape and portrait.  This allows you to get a few more photos without having to do more pages.

2. There are Memory Protectors Flip Flaps.    These come in 2x2, 3x3, 3x4, 4x4, 4x6, 5x7 and 6x12 sizes.  I used the 4x4, 4x6 and 6x12.  This allows you to add in multiples of 2 for photos on the page.  It is really something how many extra photos you can add!  The other advantage of the Flip Flaps is that you can put the journaling underneath so that someone who just wants to see the photos isn’t bogged down with your journaling stories and yet there are there to help you remember that day. 

3. Memory Protector pages are great quality.  The 6x12 size Flip Flap goes the whole length of the page protector.  It is hefty enough so that the 12x12 doesn’t bend under the weight.   The 6x12 Flip Flap really adds a page to that page.  It gives you more photo layout room.

4. There are also pocket pages which I haven’t used yet but may put at the end of the year album.  There are various designs of 3x4 and 4x6 sizes on the page.  You can do journaling or use the pocket cards that come with the paper packets in the Seasonal Expression catalog.  

I am only to April with this book.  I used the Prickly Pear Paper Packet and the Prickly Pear Coordination Cardstock.  I will probably need 2 more paper sets to finish the year out but I will be able to have the whole year in one album and still have lots and lots of photos.  I don’t know if I will keep with this paper set or move to another one.  Keep watch at the site to find out. 

You can email me for the directions and I can help you put this wonderful album together.  revskell@gmail.com

Front page

Left and right Layout 1 - Notice the side 6x12 Flip flaps extending the page.

Layout 2 - You will notice every other page is just 2 pages.  It is easier to have the 6x12 Flip Flap on one page rather than both sizes of the page protector.  The page protector will hold it but it becomes confusing as to which page it belongs to.

 

                 

Left and right Layout 3

Layout 4

Left and Right Layout 5 - In this case I closed the Flip Flap on the right to show you that the page size is really the 12x12 of the album.  When you use the Flip Flaps, you need to have them "flap" so that when you open the page they hang down.  Close to my Heart has new 4x6 Flip Flaps that can be on the side or on the top so that it easier to turn the pages.  

Layout 6

Left and right Layout 7.  The thing about Flip Flaps is that you need to have the page protectors ready and if you put the smaller ones on the pages, you need to know that the page protectors are in the right order when you start.  You really can't take them off once they are on the page.  

Back page - You can either have a 2 page layout here and keep going with the Flip Flaps or have a one page layout and start the next part with Flip Flaps.  I am enjoying doing this album.  Join me in creating this!