I’m working on Aidan’s graduation boards.
(I’m sorry… just a minute… okay, yes… I can breathe again…)
Going through all of these old photos is making me just a titch more sentimental than usual (which means the level is ridiculously off the charts.)
The other day I was bringing groceries in, glanced two doors down into the backyard where Aidan spent her first three years at my neighbor’s day care.
That backyard hasn’t changed much. The big oak tree has a few less branches but the set up is exactly the same as it was 18 years ago when my baby girl first sat in a red swing on a blisteringly hot summer day. I instantly remembered a photo I’d taken of her and yep, it was time to make a page.
(click on the image to see a larger version)
The story was in my head. With some help from my scanner, my iPhone and my 4 x 6 photo printer, the photos were quickly in hand. I just needed a quick design and a few embellishments to get it down on paper.
I recycled the same design that I posted yesterday. One 6 x 4 photo with one smaller shot, a few embellishments and voila, a finished page that shares a slightly sentimental story.
On white cardstock, of course.
I like recycling designs. I don’t like reinventing every time I make a page. Aidan will not evaluate her albums years from now and think, “Weird… this page design looks JUST like that one. What was she thinking?”
Do you recycle your favorite designs?
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Johanna says
Actually, I’m doing so right now, albeit a bit different – working on a website design and creating design templates for the same kind of content. Recycling! Or – make it work (and look good), then use it again! 🙂
Cheri says
Yes, I often recycle design, photos, digi embellishments. I bet if you looked carefully you could find the same butterfly in many layouts! My most blatant so far was using one of your templates from the Clean & Simple class FIVE times already – once each for individual layouts of my DH and three daughters, then again for a layout about traits that DH and DD1 share. When it is great, no reason not to reuse it!
Donna says
This is the beauty of the digital Project Life for me. I am able to focus on the pictures and the story while the design layout takes care of itself.
{vicki} says
Yes, I do
If I like it why not do it again!
Ruth says
Always. I work on the theory that if it looks good the first time out, so it will the second, the third …
Marjorie says
I think I recycle colors combos more than designs, but thank you for the reminder. 🙂
Cathy, could you explain how you manage to have your pictures always perfectly lined up, please? I’m not kidding. I can’t cut straight to save my life.
Keianna says
I love both layouts. Central and supporting pic and honest journaling. Exactly what a page should be and she will appreciate each one of them.
cathy says
Yep. I hear you, Cheri.
cathy says
Yes, I agree. PL is all about repetition and it does remove the element of worrying about design.
cathy says
Well, I am a stand up scrapbooker. Did you know this? I cannot sit and scrapbook. I’ve never been able to. I need to be standing over my layout to see it all. Now, the photos here are trimmed with an exact knife and metal ruler. That too is something I do, and it goes back to my graphic design paste up days (Man, I am really that old?).
So that, too, is done standing up. Do you suppose I burn calories just by scrapbooking? ; )
cathy says
My favorite kind of pages. : )
Marjorie says
Haha, ok then, that confirms I’m hopeless!
I’ve tried everything; from stnding up to sitting down, tracing with a metal ruler, using a T-ruler, cutting with a trimmer, you name it. Nothing has ever looked cut straight, let alone lined up.
I lived 20 years with glasses for being long-sighed and now for being short-sighed (only 2% of the ppulation’s eyesight change that way. I’m’ unique like that.)
Let’s call it bad eye-hand coordination and move on. The stories matter most, right? Right. 🙂
Janie says
Thoroughly enjoy recycling your “52 Weeks” templates. It’s one of my two favorite template sets. And oh yeah, standing up is a must for hard-copy scrapping 🙂
Kropster says
Well, technically I don’t recycle MY designs — I recycle CATHY ZIELSKE’s designs!! I should write a book showing all the different ways I have scrap-lifted your pages. I have copied pages from your books, stuff you have taught in your classes and almost every page you have shared on your blog.
Hello, my name is Linda and I’m a CZ-holic!! I should start a 12 scrap program (of ha ha, I am cracking myself up).
Can’t wait to use this 2 photo design you’ve shared (twice) — I have just the topic for it.
Anna Aspnes says
Absolutely! You are lucky to have those memories of staying in one place. I quite envy that.
dawn says
I love this Cathy!! I was feeling pains that same day with you over a picture of my kids waiting for the bus. I got a flashback of where they were 7 years ago, all 3 of them little and sweet and no teen drama yet and Sam had such blonde hair then. It all came rushing back to me and then I saw them for who they are RIGHT NOW and how big they are and how FAST time went and I cried on/off all day. sigh.
Anyhow, to answer your question, YES!! I do recycle a design and especially since NSD happened. I have been scrapping crazy since that day and had 29 layouts a week later and am still going. I did recycle some of them and will continue to do.
Thank you for sharing your beautiful story and layout.
cathy says
ha! I like your style, Linda!
cathy says
Yep. I bet you do. Weve stayed in one place her entire life.
cathy says
Dawn, THAT is some productivity!
KMB says
I would love to see your graduation boards, as I am working on my son’s. Sadly, I don’t have a ton of photos, mostly awards and metals, which I will do on different boards.
cathy says
I will be sharing them soon! : )
Chloe Murray says
I do all the time, I just have certain designs which make it easier for me to get stories down quickly or whilst they’re fresh in my mind.