First week of LOAD215 complete!

One down, three to go. I must admit, I've gotten very little sleep, but I'm still functioning so that's good! I'm pretty happy with what I've done so far. Some are more inspired than others, some will need a little tweaking when this is all over, some have made it JUST under the wire timewise; but I'm seven for seven and on a roll. Here are my Week 1 layouts:

Now on to Week 2...thanks for looking!

LOAD215 Blog Hop! Some advice for newbies...

Welcome! So glad you've hopped over here! This is LOAD #10 for me, and I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't done much scrapbooking since November, so I'm ready for a jumpstart, and LOAD is a great tool for that.

As "seasoned" LOADsters, some of my colleagues and I have been asked to share a bit of advice for newbies. What do I wish I'd known before I started?

Well my first bit of advice is, take it one day at a time. On day 1 (and before), don't worry about having to do 28 layouts; just concern yourself with doing ONE layout today. Relax and take one day at a time. Planning ahead is not bad per se, but it can be overwhelming.  I prefer to just take each day's prompt and use it for that day's layout.

Secondly, don't feel that you need to prepare ahead of time. If you prefer to prepare, you can look through your photos, get photos printed, and think of things about which you'd like to scrapbook. But don't feel that you must do this. I tried to prepare a bit before my first LOAD, but found that I really didn't do much with those photos and ideas. I preferred to follow the prompts, since they triggered stories that I wouldn't otherwise think to tell.

I really enjoy the prompts, which leads me to my next bit of advice: TRY to follow the daily prompts. I have found the prompts to be very inspiring, and they often remind me of things I haven't thought of in years. My childhood was a long time ago! but I've been amazed at the things I've remembered again that happened when I was very young all because of a LOAD prompt.

Also remember that prompts can be taken in any direction you choose. I tend to look at the prompt right away in the morning (or just after midnight if I'm still awake) and then think about it throughout the day and write down any thoughts or ideas I have. I let my thoughts take me in lots of different directions when I create my layout. If you're like me, sometimes my layout will have an obvious connection to the prompt, but sometimes there is a chain of thought that leads a long way from the original. Either way it's okay - don't stress over it - you're telling your stories the way that you want to.

Of course this also leads me to #5: If the prompt for a particular day really doesn't resonate with you, then ignore it and scrapbook whatever you'd like. There are no LOAD police saying that you have to stay on-prompt.

A couple more quickies:
If you miss a day, oh well...it's not the end of the world, and don't let it derail you. Do today's layout and move on. If you want to go back and fill in later, you can; if you don't want to, that's okay, too. Whether you end up with one layout or 28 (or more!), it's more than you started with! My first LOAD actually took me three months to finally finish, and my second never did get totally done (which is fine!).

Remember that every layout does not have to be a masterpiece, and simple can often be just as good as can complicated. Get it done today. If it really bothers you, you can always go back later and add more or tweak it a little. I'll often go through all of my layouts at the end of the month and make little changes here and there; but often the things that bothered me at the time end up really not being that big of a deal! I have very few layouts from my LOADs that I really don't like (I'm talking one or two out of a couple hundred!).

Okay, I've been long-winded enough. Hopefully my fellow LOAD bloggers will fill in things I missed, and I'm sure they'll have a lot of ideas I've never thought of. (I'm planning to take a tour through, also, to see what new tips and tricks I can pick up!)

But I'll leave you with one last bit: Have fun! We all have enough stress in our lives; this doesn't need to be another. Challenge yourself, but then do what you can and enjoy the process.

Oh, and P.S. Join in the community at Flickr and participate when you can. There's a ton of inspiration and support from our wonderful community, and it's nice to get a pat on the back, too!

For great advice from other experienced LOADsters, check out this blog post by Lain Ehmann, where you'll get ideas from our fearless leader and links to the other blogs.

Catching up (results from LOAD1014) and looking ahead...

I did it! I completed LOAD 1014. And then forgot to blog about it :P So as I look ahead to another LOAD in February, I thought I'd first look back and catch up...
October was busy, with half of my time in Ohio and half in Minnesota! I started out well trying to get layouts done earlier in the day, but as life got busy I found myself again starting layouts at 10:00 at night. I do tend to work better at night, though, so I guess that's not all bad. But I didn't get much sleep! And 12-hour travel days tend to make it tough, too. At least once I was in the central time zone I only had until 2:00 a.m. to finish, so I wasn't up quite as late. I did finish on time, though, and I'm happy about that. Here is the result:

I love seeing all of the layouts together like this, and the big stack is quite satisfying. Overall it was one of my favorite LOADs, the Scrap Happy ladies that led it did an incredible job, and the "family" support was so appreciated.

The other awesome online community that I'm a part of is at Get It Scrapped. I haven't had as much time lately to spend over there, but it's a great resource for education, information, support, friendship, and just plain hanging out. Another great bunch of ladies, and SO much talent! I'm so honored to be a part of the Creative Team there. I've had layouts in several blog posts over the past few months. Check out these articles:

Ideas for Scrapbook Page Storytelling with a Curated Natural History Style

Ideas for Editing Your Poor-Quality Photos with Apps, Actions and Techniques

Scrapbook Page Design Embellishing with a Visual Triangle and Visual Hierarchy

Start Your Next Scrapbook Page Here | Page Prompts No. 1

Ideas for Making Christmas Pages with Your Holiday Scrapbooking Stash

Start Your Next Scrapbook Page Here | Page Prompts No. 2

Make Multi-Photo Scrapbook Pages With Silhouette Photo-Mat Cut Files

Also check out the other articles on the blog. There is so much great information there. Then head on over to the Forum and Gallery. Stop in, say hi, ask a question. It's a very welcoming community!