Last year I blogged about my favorite scrapbook layouts created in 2009. It was a great creative exercise to do and I decided it should be an annual event. It’s just as valuable as my photography year-in-review and I love taking the opportunity to think about how my style has evolved over the past year.
I’m somewhat amazed that I created 229 layouts in 2010. I beat last year’s record of 204 pages which is pretty cool since I had very limited use of one of my hands for about half the year. So excuse me while I pat myself on the back for a minute. lol! Ok, I’m done now. I actually did create the bulk of the 229 layouts in the latter half of the year, but I’m proud that I scrapped every since month. In my lowest month, I only made 3 pages. In my most productive month I actually did 65 layouts!
It’s sort of difficult to pick out 10 favorite pages from a batch that big. I actually like all of them because they are my memories and photos of people and things that I love. I have to say that I tried to look at my layouts as an outsider (as much as I possibly can do that) and think about them in relation to design and style. I look at a TON of layouts all the time because of my role at The Daily Digi and that is one of my favorite things to do. I love to see what scrappers are creating and it is a huge source of inspiration to me.
So with all that preamble out of the way, here are my favorite layouts scrapped in 2010: (all images link back to the original blog post where the layout was shared)
1. My Dad in 1964
This layout is pretty simple, but it is one of my favorites for sure. I scrapped this page to go with an article I wrote for The Daily Digi called “My Parents Were Awesome” and it really represents a paradigm shift for me in my approach to scrapping heritage photos. As a result of taking Ali Edwards Yesterday Today class at Big Picture Classes and finding the My Parents Were Awesome blog, I gained a new appreciation for photos from the past. I actually discussed this quite a bit in the Paperclipping Digi Show podcast (#30 The Stories From Our Lives) where I was a guest along with Ali Edwards herself and Pamela Donnis, Steph, and Izzy. This layout means a lot to me because it captures a bit of who my Dad was in 1964. Awesome!
2. My Paradise
Ok, some may accuse me of “cheating” here since this is a stock photo, but I don’t see it that way at all. Mykonos was one of the most amazing places I have ever seen in my life, yet I have very few photos from my trip there and certainly no pictures that begin to capture it’s beauty. By using a stock photo and adding my own story, I feel like I finally documented a very meaningful experience in my life. And I just love those awesome brackets and the title work. I can’t take credit for either of them because they were designed by Peppermint Granberg of One Little Bird Designs. I used them on a page though so I’ll take credit for that.
3. Way to Sew!
I love how this layout turned out and I’m especially fond of it because it was one of the first times I ever used an action to scrap a layout. Wendyzine’s actions are so cool! I picked the ingredients and then hit a few buttons and presto! the page was done! I need to remember to use more actions. I created this layout for an article I wrote for The Daily Digi about “Thin Slicing” (one of my favorite ideas) and it was later featured on the Log Your Memory blog as well.
4. The Ghost Ship
I would say that my love for older photos and memories really grew in 2010. This is a page I created to go along with an article I wrote for The Daily Digi about Heritage Scrapbooking. I think this photo of my Grandpa is really neat and I’m so happy I took the time to document a story that was a big part of his history!
5. Depoe Bay, Oregon
It’s a simple layout, but one of my favorites. I love this photo and it needed to be big for me to feel like I was doing it justice. This helped me to realize that I really love layouts with BIG photos on them! Oh, and I also love the Oregon coast!
6. A new chapter in our life begins…
Again with the heritage photos, but this picture is just so amazing! I gave this photo to several talented digital scrapbookers around the community to see what they could create with it for the Play it Again! challenge at The Daily Digi. I just loved what all of them did with it. I also ended up loving my own simple layout and it is one of my favorite pages I made last year.
7. Alaskan Cruise
I branched out from my square page comfort zone and created an 8.5x11 size binder of pages for a travel journal. This was a very different project than the type I usually tackle and I’m so glad that I did it. I used the templates and prompts that Kim Lund provided as part of her Come Away with Me project on The Daily Digi. I had fun doing all the pages using website photos and travel information journaling. This page is probably my favorite one from the binder so I used it as my cover. The journal was a BIG hit with everyone in our family and a great way to preserve the memories of our cruise.
8. Monday Morning
One of the most rewarding scrapbook projects I did in 2010 was a Week in the Life (inspired by Ali Edwards). I documented an entire week of my life in May and then I actually COMPLETED an entire album of pages that captured that week. I’m so glad I did the documenting and the scrapping for this, now we have a real time capsule of what life was really like for our family. I wrote about the whole process on The Daily Digi. I love all the pages for this project, but I chose this one as my favorite because it really captured very basic and ordinary scenes from my life at that time.
9. My roundup album
I’m not sure I could pick a favorite page from my Roundup Album because they all represent the project as a whole. I was so happy to get my roundups into scrapbooked form for us to keep and cherish. I’m going to keep doing this and I also plan to go back and create pages for the past years of roundups I have done. I wrote about my Roundup Album on The Daily Digi.
10. The Best Job in the World
This layout was actually featured in the Salt Lake Tribune, but that isn’t why it’s one of my favorites. It is actually the first layout I have ever made about my job as a Mom. I’m happy I made this page for me, and it is something that I definitely am glad to share with my kids. I want them to know how much my “job” means to me!
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So what have I learned about myself as a scrapper from the pages I made last year? I believe in journaling (always have). I love layouts that tell a story. I love album projects like a week in the life, and my roundup. I like BIG pictures and clean lines. I appreciate the past, love the present, and look forward to the future. I don’t know that I would understand any of that if it wasn’t for this little passion of mine called scrapbooking. So happy to be a scrapper!
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