Another year in the life is on the books—literally! This month, I timed myself. I started working on my march pages at 7:37 a.m. on Sunday morning and completed them at 8:49 a.m. I’m sorry people, but that is some truly productive use of time.
I started out with 410 photos. Many of my photos are related to this blog or to classes I’m presently working on, so that number is a bit inflated in terms of usable images. I take a lot of photos of the same thing when I’m working on shooting scrapbook pages. But I went through and selected my 26 photos to use and am really happy with the representation of one of my traditionally favorite months of the year. Shall we?
I treat each month’s first page like a title page, looking for a smattering of images that will work well together. I like the mix of black and white and color, people and objects or scenes. Half of these shots are from my iPhone; half from my digital SLR. I like to include some of my scrapbook-y stuff in my album, too. I mean, it takes up a goodly chunk of my time, so why not? It’s rather meta, don’t you think?
One thing I’m learning as a partial empty nester (one kid here, one at college), is that if your offspring likes to take pictures, you’re in luck! Aidan has a lovely iPhone 7 and sent me some really fun shots from her spring break trip to D.C. Yes, while some kids were somewhere tropical getting hammered, my daughter was literally freaking out just sitting on the steps of the Supreme Court. She also presented at a political science conference in New Hampshire and the paper she co-authored is going to be published. Look at that little go-getter go!
I so admire my son’s willingness to change his hair color, DIY style. My inner punk swoons every time I see that hair. I’m also really proud of the year he’s having in general. School is going well, music is going well. That kid definitely marches to the beat of his own drum (no pun intended) and I’m feeling so lucky that he’s only a junior. Also, I had to document the new addition to my craft world.
The month was not without it’s downs as well. My heart was so touched by the passing of Amy Krouse Rosenthal. She inspires me to want to make the most of each day. Also, Dan was not renewed for a 2nd year due to the fact that there are not enough 4th grade students to fill three fifth grade classes. The upside is that his principal loves him and this is most definitely not performance related. The downside, of course, is that he hits the drawing board for the 2017-2018 school year. Any good thoughts are appreciated. This changing careers in your 50s? Not for the weak of heart. But man, do I respect him for taking stock of his life and pursuing his passion.
And that, friends, is another month in the life. This project… I just feel it’s the right fit for me and my life. Having completed three digital-to-print 12 x 12 albums now (2014, 2015 and 2016), I am so happy with the choice to have gone this route for saving the bigger picture of my family’s lives.
You can see all of 2017 so far here.
And you can join in and learn my method!
Registration for Scrapbook Your Year is open year round! You can jump in and learn my method for organizing and executing a year-long album project using four pages and roughly 30 photos (or less) per month. Click on the image above for more information or to register today!
calajinar says
Awesome pages….hoping Dan gets an opportunity that is even better than this one. I am sure he would be a great asset to any school.
Lori says
I love your method and seriously want to get to that place where I am completing an entire month in such a timely way. I ordered my 2016 book and I have a question about keeping the type consistent. What size is the font of your journaling in the big blocks as well on the 3×4 cards? I purchased access to your class – do you address this in your class? Does it have something to do with styles? Your work is so great and so consistent. Congrats to Aiden! And good luck to Dan.
Cathy Zielske says
Hey Lori, I do keep the font sizes nearly identical on the cards and the big journal block. They are set up that way in the template. The templates feature a font called Open Sans at about 9 point size.
Now, if you decide to change the font you are using, you’ll need to test print to see how it works at that size, because of a thing called X height. X heights are different from font to font and make some type look much smaller at certain sizes and some bigger! I changed my font size to 8.5 in my album because I use a font with a bigger X height, and needed to go down a half point.
I keep my cards at almost the same size. They are a tiny bit smaller (8.3 points). Clear as mud?
All that matters is that you keep it the same font and the same size, or as close to it as you can!
Lori says
Thanks Cathy! I’m working on it today so I’ll play around. I used open sans but larger.
heidig says
Nice pages – hoping Dan finds a new classroom to call home in September.
Cathy Zielske says
Yes, we are remaining positive and hopeful.
Katie Jones (UK) says
I love these pages. Having a participant who helps you with the picture taking, especially when they are apart from you if brilliant! I am trying to “educate” my hubby to do this when he is elsewhere – especially when he is doing stuff with the kids – but so far it is a very hit-and-miss process 😉
So sorry to hear that Dan will not be renewed for this year – it sounded like he was doing an amazing job. Hopefully he will still get some exciting opportunities come up for him and it will all work out for the best. Sending hugs across the pond! xxx
Cathy Zielske says
Thanks, Katie!
Maureen says
There IS a home for Dan! I’m hoping the Universe lets him in on where, soon. xoxox
Kathy says
Loved seeing your pages Cathy I bought your templates last year and have a few months of 2016 done but life got in the way so I’m working on 2017 and hopefully I can complete March 2017 and March 2016 at the same time then at the end of the year I can print 2 years. I love the white space around the edges. In 2013 I printed my year book using Becky Higgins original template but however now I’m going for the more cleaner look. I did a double take on the mirror shot to try and work out who the blonde was until I read your post about the hair dye. All the best for Dan and a job for the next school year. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane
Jennie says
The same thing happened to me after my first year of teaching, and still happens to all the newbies year in and year out just based on numbers and the last person hired. Some lucky school will snatch Dan up for sure, once his principal shares how great he is.
Sara says
Would Dan ever consider writing a blog post about his first year of teaching? What was hard, what he learned, what he would do different, what he wished they would have told him in grad school?
I am currently in grad school through St. Scholastica in St. Paul getting my teaching degree and would love to hear his insight.
Cathy Zielske says
You are not the first person to request this. 🙂 And he may consider doing it this summer. I will say it has been the hardest professional year of his life. He probably can’t do it until school is out, but I will ask him.
Kirsten says
I am sorry to hear about Dan – after working so hard this year, this is more than disappointing. It is unfortunate that there is not much protecting teachers from this, especially in the first year. I am surprised there aren’t any retirements or any other shifts in personnel that would allow him to work at a different grade level in the same district. I am sending good thoughts for finding another great school and principal for him soon. Having this first year under his belt will help him in many ways.
Cathy Zielske says
Thanks for the good thoughts. It has been a year, to say the least!
Cherry says
Catghy, may I know what font is that you used for the month? Thank you in advance 🙂
Cathy Zielske says
Yes, it’s called Gotham, and I outline it in Photoshop. It’s part of the class templates (well, the style is, but the titles have all been turned into graphics, as you cannot resell a font!)