Scrapbook Your Year launched last week. If you haven’t heard about it—and if you follow me at all that would seem next to impossible seeing how I have PIMPED THE LIVING HELL out of it—you’ll know it’s my new course all about how to document your year by the month in 30 photos—more or less—at a time.
I want to start sharing my 2016 pages with you, because a) this is primarily a blog about scrapbooking, and b) it gives me something to post about that is scrapbook-related. (See how that works?) Plus, I hope to show you how I’ve truly taken the crap out of a year long memory keeping project.
That said, I’m also going to be tackling older years for which I have digital photos but no albums. I will totally share the progress on those albums as well, though I am going to try and finish some and share the actual, printed results. For now, here are my pages for February, which I made in about an hour and a half from choosing photos to saving the final JPEG files.
Number of photos taken in February: 401
Number of photos used for these pages: 25
Yes. I did manage to work in a shot of my teenaged boy. Victory is mine!
There is a wall in Minneapolis on the side of the I Like You store. Best place for photos ever. If you’re ever in town…just sayin’.
Hello. My name is Cathy Z. and I have a problem with lime-flavored LaCroix.
And that’s it. One month. Super simple. Easy design. Done. If you missed my January pages, click here: January 2016 pages
I’ll be sharing my months in the coming weeks here on the blog, as well as some of the back years I plan on doing, starting with 2011. This system of getting organized makes it so easy to go back and knock out pages for years when this type of project wasn’t even on my radar.
JOIN ME AND SAVE 10% THROUGH AUGUST 15th: Scrapbook Your Year is on sale for 10% off as an introductory price. Register today, save money and get started scrapbooking your year with me! We’ve got students already signed up and sharing in our class Facebook group. I’d love to have you in class!
Cathy L. says
Ok….I have to ask – how do you take so many photos in a month (401)? I used to take a lot also, but I had “friends” that made fun of me for taking photos of everything and I became self-conscious about it and haven’t gotten over it. And I also feel like my everyday existence is just too boring to find that many photo ops. Anyway, do you just snap pics of everything along the way?
Cathy Zielske says
Now this may sound funny, but… I used to take more than that! But here’s part of the reason: I take multiple photos of things for my blog. For example, in the first month, there were also 19 photos of a scrapbook page I was sharing, and 15 of another, and 13 of another! So my work adds photos to the count. I think that more than anything makes it bigger. I also snap a lot with my phone… way more than I use my other camera, and that adds up, too.
I started working on a 2011 album, however, and in January of that year, I only took 136 photos; February, 186, for starters. So it really depends on what I’m working on for my blog or courses (many more photos added from class stuff) and sports. If there is an ultimate tournament, all bets are off because I shoot way too much!
But the reality is: my daily life actually doesn’t provide a lot to shoot. I work in an office in my home. I don’t see a lot of people. I don’t go a lot of places, other than the grocery store and Costco. I’ve gotten into the habit of finding ways to see my day.
Also, I hate when friends make fun of people, so I’m sorry yours did that to you. Poop on them for not getting it… the fun of documenting stuff.
heidig says
Hey Cathy – Is that circle on your first page (Hello February) available as a digital stamp? How about the month and “A February Recap”. I need those.
Connie says
Cathy, I scrapbook in 8.5×11. Would this class work for me?
Maggie Reimer says
Cathy, this class has been such a lifesaver for me. I can’t even explain it. I have a little girl and a terrible memory and capturing photos of our lives is both wonderful and completely overwhelms me when it comes time to scrap. So I just haven’t done much of it.
I finished up my January pages last night. I ended up with quite a few more — 8 total — but I culled from about 1,750 photos, so I am so freaking happy and proud of myself. I can do this! Thank you for showing me how.
Maryanne says
After my son was born (in 2013) I signed up for an app called tinybeans which has encouraged me to take daily photos of my son and what we’ve been up to each day. The problem now is lack of time to organize all of these photos coming from 3 different sources (phones and cameras) and make some photo books. The task has seemed daunting and so I have avoided it….as the images continue to pile up.
I am loving the idea of one month = ~1 1/2 hours of work. I’ve signed up my friend!!
Cheryl says
Me too, Connie. Cathy, waiting to see how you respond……
Cathy Zielske says
Hey Heidi, it’s part of the class package only at this time! 🙂
Cathy Zielske says
Hey Connie and Cheryl,
The course does not have 8.5 x 11 templates, which might seem strange as I am primarily an 8.5 x 11 scrapbooker. Two reasons:
1. This system of four pages and 30 photos or less only works as designed in 12 x 12.
2. I don’t have personal experience with great 8.5 x 11 book printing. I’ve used 8 x 10 and that is not a size I want to use again.
But that said, the core of this class is about organization and execution and can you let go of the need to save it all.
IF you are a skilled digital gal and can easily use the digital files I provide in class (JPEGs of all the cards) and can adapt them to your own templates, you would get a lot of out it, but… I can’t tell you that you can cover the same amount of territory in four pages.
I also have 8.5 x 11 templates called Minimal Basics that have a similar design in terms of a wide margin, but it’s not an exact match to the class templates. So… does that make it clear as mud?
Here is a link to those templates: http://www.designerdigitals.com/digital-scrapbooking/supplies/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=Cathy+Zielske+Minimal+Basic+8.
Hope this clarifies it. Also, I have a money back guarantee on my workshops. If you signed up and felt it wasn’t worth your money, we’d work that out. I want people to be happy with the instruction, so… it might not be the best fit for an 8.5 x 11 gal unless you can modify templates. 🙂
Cathy Zielske says
Let me know how it goes, Maryanne. If you import to your photo organizer, your photos should have dates in their metadata! Then you can organize away!
Cathy Zielske says
See I think that’s great! I mean, 8 pages from 1750 photos? Give yourself a HOLLA! 🙂
Lori says
I LOVE your class. Last year I went completely digital and followed your advice to print through Adorama. It is such an awesome book. So I just ordered your class on Sunday, put a creative day on my work calendar for tomorrow and I am going to get going wrapping up the first of the year. Your simple system is genius. Yes, genius. Thank you, Cathy?
Cathy Zielske says
So great to hear, Lori! And yes, isn’t Adorama great?