Captions versus story

Ali Edward's had a great post today. She says that she has a mini album filled with pictures and embellishments. But what's missing is the words. She says:
More and more these days I don't want to make something unless I feel like it's meaningful. We each have our own definition of what's meaningful in our scrapbooks and paper crafting projects. I want the words I add to be of substance, to say something beyond "I love you." I'm finding myself waiting for the "right" words rather than just getting some simple words of love written down and adhered. The less I scrapbook, the more I feel this way.
Wow, I'm jiving with Ali's thoughts more and more. I don't like making pages with a random word "beautiful" or "cherish" what does that mean? I know that pictures speak a thousand words, but they don't tell the whole story. They don't tell the before or after. They don't tell what you are feeling. How this connects to something else in your life. I don't come close to journaling like Ali E or Cathy Z. I don't have the insightful, thought provoking, deep down kind of writing. But I do like to tell the story and share my thoughts and feelings. I believe that my girls will cherish these stories. I'm finding that I am putting less embellishments on the page to make room for all the words I want to add.

After completing the last 2 rounds of LOAD (layout a day challenge) I was struggling. I was running out of stories to tell (couldn't think of another one off the top of my head, each day). I had the time and the pictures to use. It was hard to come up with a big story each day to document. I know I don't have to scrapbook that way, but I just don't enjoy gluing a picture and sticking a bunch of pretty embellishments down. That is why I've started an 'art journal' (as mentioned in the previous post), this is my place to play. I should start journaling some stories in preparation for October's LOAD. I should also remember to start adding more hidden journaling.

I think that Ali's philosophy of tell your story is more the path I'm heading down. Not just writing captions. Captions can be a bit more than the obvious "having fun opening presents" but sometimes really don't tell much more than that.

I guess what I'm realizing is that I don't want to use up pictures just for the sake of getting them scrapbooked.

Anyway, here's a recent layout I did for the Sharing Memories Scrapbooking summer challenge.
I used a swinging/gated page protector. There are 2 outside pages that are each 6x12.
A fun ice cream store that we stop at on holidays ever year! In Okanagan Falls BC.
The inside is a 6x12 then 12x12 then 6x12 layouts for a total of 24". This was perfect because I had pictures of the outside of the building that when lined up were more than 12" long. The building is painted with fun bear scenes. These pictures are from various years (probably about the last 4) at Tickleberries also at the Windmill and Gelato in Osoyoos.
I left the back unfinished. I had 2 group shots from recent years and adhered them. As the next 4 shots come in over the years I will add them. *note to self* remember to take a group shot in August to add when you get home.

Style and story telling

What is your style? What is my style/ My style is a bit of everything. If you check out my Flickr gallery you'll see I done everything from clean and simple to paint to glitter. I love Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, Stacy Julian, May Flaum, style. They are all different and I love to incorporate them all. I enjoy Donna Downey's artistic style. I have come to realize though that I really like the story + photos philosophy. I have tons of 'stuff' but I'm starting to like less and less stuff on pages. I love all the cool techniques but don't like to take the time to do them on layouts. My solution is that I'm starting an art journal, inspired by Donna's inspiration Wednesday videos. This way I can have fun, play and get messy but not do it on my pages.

On an episode of Paperclipping Roundtable they were talking about how to incorporate vintage style onto your pages. Ali commented that her style is more documentation. She is the one who really has When she said the word documentation it really struck a cord with me. That's what I'm doing now, documenting my life. Telling our stories. Yes I do love to bling it up, but I don't spend alot of time on style anymore. First I focus on putting the photos and the story down on the page, then I add some embellishments.

I'm enjoying telling our everyday stories. For events I'm trying to focus on deeper stories and traditions. Versus the 'good time was had by all' kind of captions. I love Ali's Week in the Life series and Daily December. I did a 30 Days Hath September album in a Stacy J class almost 2 years ago. Looking back at it now it is so cool to see what was happening in our lives, the bits of memorabilia that are tucked into it. I've also used a tally sheet to keep track of things we do in May. Inspired by Stacy's Everyday May album, that I didn't keep up with. I made a tally sheet of how many loads of laundry I did, dishwasher, kilometers driven, jugs of milk bought. I have yet to do anything with these but I will document my tallies on a page.

Speaking of everyday story telling Cathy is re-running her Me: the Abridged Version (MeTAV for short) this was an amazing class!! I am taking it again because I wanted to do more entries but didn't do double pages. This time I'd like to do an all digital album and get it printed by Shutterfly, I think that would be cool. I bought Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life book which is what Cathy's class is based on. I loved the random blathering of things that were in this book. What a glimpse into this lady's life. Random things from today and her childhood, things she loved and things that bug her. An eclectic collection of snippets of life.

Anyway, don't know if the last two posts have made any sense, but they are just some random rambling thoughts I've had.