Memory Keeping - Title page 2016

It's currently April, but I thought that I would share my Project Life progress.  I use the term "Project Life" loosely.  As I've shared before, I do both Project Life and scrapbook layouts, so I use "Project Life" to mean both, unless I'm specifically talking about a scrapbook layout.

Like many others, I started off my 2016 album with a title page, the opener of the album.  Generally, the title page of a Project Life/Scrapbook album consists of the year and pictures of the family members.  When I was looking for ideas for the title page, I found a few that inspired me

Pam Baldwin - http://pambaldwin.ca

This 9x12 title page by Pam Baldwin beautifully opens her album.  The idea of adding family photos in the shape of tags is genius! The tags alternate with neutral project life cards that are lightly embellished.  A picture of the back of the title page

I love that the back has more pictures of the family AND goals for the new year.  The scribble by her daughter is adorable!  Here is the tutorial on how to create this page on the Citrus Twist Kits blog.

Ali Edwards - http://aliedwards.com/

Ali Edwards is another creative who inspires me.  She inspires everyone.  She literally has a fan club. She's a great designer and takes amazing pictures. While these traits are inspiring in of themselves, I think the reason why she's such a giant in the memory keeping world is that she is incredibly honest and transparent in her journaling and she's able to draw this out of us.  This elevates our own albums to a different level.  

Journaling is difficult for most, including myself.  It's easy to jot down some quick, on the surface details about a photo.  It's something else to journal the experience.  When we create our albums and record our memories, our intention is to eventually pass these pieces of work down to our family and around to our friends.  Knowing that, a writer's block goes up when we try to write about what we saw and felt.  The lessons we learned and the reality of the struggles get caught within us.  These experiences are too scary and too precious to write about.  However, these are the exact reasons why we must write about them.  Our goal is to pass these memories on.  Not just the visual aspects of the memories, then they would be incomplete.  The whole memories.  Through the albums, our loved ones learn about the documenter: us.  As the person behind the camera, we get to experience an event in a different way.  It's never easy to be vulnerable.  Ali Edwards teaches us to be so by example.

Her 12x12 title page is very simple.  She has the year, photos of her family, and that giant "E" for her last name.  It's clean and lightly embellished.  Yet, it still makes an impact.

The problem I faced is that I don't have my own family.  Sure I have my parents and my sister, but at 26 years old, the family dynamic is not as cohesive compared to the dynamic of a "newer" family.  I'm not married, nor am I a mom.  So, when I was trying to figure this part out in late December/early January, I remembered Kelly Purkey's 2015 title page

Kelly Purkey is another inspiring figure in the PL/scrapbooking world.  Her 2015 album in the 6x12 size was simple, clean, and most of all, doable.  That's why there are many people doing the 6x12 this year.  Even though I didn't jump on that train, I will be documenting my 2015 Scotland trip in the 6x12 size.  I guess I sorta did jump on that train.

What I love about this title page is that it's so cute and creative.  Plus, white on white is a classic look.  What really gets me about this layout is that she conveys that this album is about HER.  SHE is the subject of the album.  SHE chooses what is included.  SHE determines how the memories are told.  I chose to scraplift (the scrapper's socially acceptable synonym for "copy") this one because of its simplicity and adaptability.  I adapted this layout to be about Andy and me.  Also, I adore the photostrips!

Here is how mine turned out

I have a 9x12 transparency divider from A Beautiful Mess that says "our ADVENTURE Book."  These are thick, sturdy, and most of all FUN!  This album really is about my life with Andy (the fiancé) and every days with him has been an adventure.  

Here is just the title page, without the transparency on top.  I took some of my favorite 2015 pictures to jumpstart my 2016 memories.  This page was a lot of fun to put together, and as you can see, I didn't copy Kelly Purkey's to the tee.  I made my own adjustments based off the supplies that I had at the time.  

There's a glare on the left side of the page because I am still a noob at taking pictures of my own work.  I'm also still a noob at using photoshop to edit my pictures.  I don't know how to combine different editing functions to get my pictures to look bright and pretty.  Hopefully as I keep up this blog and taking pictures of my album, I'll learn and improve.  Bear with me here!

Supplies Used:

Album - A Beautiful Mess

Transparency Dividers - A Beautiful Mess

Black Puffy Alphabet Stickers - Freckled Fawn (Currently Sold Out)

"You Got This" Banner - Studio Calico (Tin Man Embellishment Kit)