Noodle Soup

Scrapbooking modern media

I was a guest on Paperclipping Roundtable today, discussing how to use modern media like Facebook, Twitter, and text messages in memory-keeping. It was a great topic!

Here are a few of my pages related to the discussion:

On this page of highlights from my first year on Twitter, I chose updates that were significant to the time period for me. The screen captures serve as my images, so I didn't feel the need to add any photos. After revisiting this page in preparation for the show, I really want to make another one with more current tweets!

To find your archived Tweets, go to twitter.com, click on the settings wheel, click "settings" and then scroll down and choose the option to have your archive emailed to you. It's simple to do, and fun to revisit old tweets.

This page was created by mining Facebook status updates for funny things Taite said over a period of about 6 months.

 

This is another one where the journaling was pulled directly from a Facebook update. I paired it with an unrelated photo of Taite reading.

 

An example of using text message screen shots on a page. I just print 'em out like regular photos.

 

It's fun to document how technology has changed (not to mention scrapbooking styles -- welcome to my border punch-a-palooza phase!)...

 

...and it's also a good idea to document things you love before they change.

I really like to include nods to pop culture in my scrapbooks, like this page that pokes fun at my compulsion to Instagram everything.

 

How do you include modern media and pop culture in your memory keeping?

They're baaaack: scrapbooking trends making a reappearance

When it comes to trends, what goes around comes around. Here are a few products I spotted at the CHA summer trade show that hail from scrapbooking days of the not-too-distant past.

I remember when slide mounts were all the rage in the early 2000s. Crate Paper debuted a fun new angle on this old favorite as part of The Pier collection. With the popularity of square Instagram photos and nostalgic photo app frames, it would be no surprise to see this trend make a comeback.

 

The early millennium was also punctuated with all sorts of punctuation products. Could puncutation be poised to make a bold statement again?

 

Pebbles pulled an early 21st century trend out of their pocket with the introduction of these updated library pockets and cards. I hope this trend is renewed...I wouldn't mind checking out more products like this at the next trade show.

 

A decade ago, cork products were all the rage. Now you can pin these new versions to your Pinterest inspiration boards.

 

Are there any older trends you'd like to see make a comeback? Any you're glad to see gone?

 

More on Summer CHA:

Chalk it up to Pinterest

Summer CHA motif trends

5 Favorites from the CHA Summer Trade Show

Glasses are the new mustache

Each craft industry trade show has a few stand-out motifs..recurring images that trend across multiple product lines and manufacturers. The past couple of shows, mustaches have been EVERYWHERE, and they haven't gone away yet. But I think we may be turing a corner. Gradually shaving off the old mustache trend, if you will. (Or maybe that's just my wishful thinking, because I've never really embraced the 'stache.)

I think glasses may be the next iteration of the hipster and photo booth influences that brought us the mustache. Spectacles were present on enough products to give me hope that the industry may be ready to look past the hackneyed handlebar to the next quirky craze. 

Doodlebug

My Mind's Eye

Pink Paislee

I suspect we might also start seeing more lips and ties/bow ties as popular photo booth props continue to influence product motifs. Let's face it, no one loves a photo booth more than a scrapbooker.

Another hipster icon gaining popularity is the cassette tape. I wonder how long until CDs are considered charmingly retro. I may just have to yell at a kid to get off my lawn the day that happens. 

Allison Kreft for Webster's Pages

Maya Road

Arrows and geotags are still going strong. While they speak to the pop culture of social media and location tagging, they are also universal and versatile enough to find their way onto just about any type of project, giving them some staying power. You can find a version of one or both of these images on just about every new product line released.

Dear Lizzy for American Crafts

Studio Calico

Studio Calico

We R Memory Keepers

Another pop culture trend that I believe is on the cusp is the old-timey clipart ethos of Someecards. I saw at least two examples of this type of artwork on paper products, and I expect we’ll see more at the winter show. 

Glitz Designs

My Mind's Eye

Any of these trends get your creative gears turning? And more importantly, are you ready for the proliferation of mustaches to be trimmed?

Coming up next: trends that are making a reappearance!

Previously: the chalkboard trend.

Chalk it up to Pinterest

I spent last week in Las Vegas at the Craft and Hobby Association summer trade show, scoping out the latest and greatest in craft industry products and trends. While the summer show is traditionally much smaller than the winter one, there was no shortage of inspiration and must-have items. You can read more about my favorites on the Big Picture Classes blog, and listen to my overall impressions on episode #169 of Paperclipping Roundtable.

Meanwhile, I’ll fill you in here on the trends I spotted on the show floor.

The biggest craze by far was chalkboard-inspired products. Like so many other recent trends in crafts and home décor (like mason jars, fancy straws, and printed treat bags), this appears to be a crossover from wedding industry fads popularized by Pinterest.

Rhonna Farrer is the queen of chalk art, and her line with My Minds Eye was a standout in the category. 

But chalkboard influence and the associated predominance of black was literally everywhere, whether in bits and pieces or complete lines. 

Prima chalkboard flowers

Prima

FancyPants chalkbaord labels and washi tape

Pebbles

Echo Park

Teresa Collins

We R Memory Keepers

We R Memory Keepers

Studio Calico

Cosmo Cricket

What do you think about the chalk art craze? Does it inspire you? Baffle you? Sound off in the comments!

Coming up tomorrow: Summer CHA motif trends.

Big news for phone photography enthusiasts!

I’m super excited to finally be able tell you about a fantastic new class from Big Picture Classes…

The Phone Photography Project

It includes 32 days of phone photography challenges (for both iPhone and Android) from 32 expert instructors – which is awesome in and of itself, because the list of instructors reads like a who’s who of inspiring, creative ladies. I am seriously so honored to be included among them.

In addition to all that daily inspiration from fantastic phone photographers, the class is absolutely jam-packed with content – tips, tricks, photo examples, project ideas, inspiration, giveaways, a handbook of 60+ app reviews, and all sorts of phone photo fun. (Or would that be phone photo phun?)

 

 

If you’d like to improve your phone photography skills, or just have fun hanging out with a whole bunch of phone photo aficionados while challenging yourself creatively, then I encourage you to grab a spot in The Phone Photography Project while you can at the introductory price of $39. (It will be going up to the regular price of $49 shortly.)

If you decide to join the fun I would very much appreciate it if you would use my affiliate link, which you’ll find all over the place in this post.

Full disclosure: I’m not 100% comfortable begging for affliate link clicks…I don’t like to sound pushy or self-indulgent. But the bottom line is it’s how I get paid for my contribution to this particular class, and while I LOVE the opportunity to share my phone photography passion and expertise and be included with such an esteemed group of instructors…it would also be super cool to get paid for my time if ya know what I mean. A girl's gotta support her Starbucks and patterned paper habits somehow. ;)

Go check it out. It’s going to be oodles of fun. I am truly as excited to participate in the challenges as I am to contribute, and I would love it if you would come play along with me!

Reboot

I’m baaaack!

This blog has been dormant for a while. For almost 11 months, to be specific. And during that time, I have felt a combination of relief and low-level guilt for removing blogging from my routine. In all honesty, I haven’t really missed it. I like to interact, and blogging hasn’t proven to be the best platform for that, for me anyway. I’ve put my online energies into Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram because they seem more conducive to connection and feedback.

However…

The time has come when I need to decide if I’m going to renew my Typepad subscription. I’m not ready to let it go, and I can’t justify paying for another year if I’m not using it, so I’ve decided to try easing back into posting here. Once or twice a week, maybe. I think that’s doable.

Plus, it kind of goes along with my One Little Word for the year: reboot.

Last year turned out to be a rollercoaster of a year, culminating in moving to a new house three weeks before Christmas. (In retrospect, I’m glad we took that plunge, but there were a lot of what-were-we-thinkings uttered at the time!) I handled the peaks and valleys of a crazy-pants year pretty well for someone who really likes to plan, organize, and feel some sense of control over things. But as a trade off, I found I got a little bit stuck, staying close to my comfort zone whenever I could. Nothing wrong with that when things get stressful, but by January I was ready for a reboot. A fresh start across the board...updating my home décor, finding some new dinner recipes, getting back in the habit of making time for creativity, making more adventurous choices. And now, resuscitating my blog.

So if you’re still reading, what would you like to see here? I’d love some feeback as I plan future posts.

The home stretch to summer

School is winding down for the year. Or ramping up, depending on whether your the kid or the mom. They are enjoying less homework and more fun stuff in class these last couple of weeks. I just finished organizing the school talent show and I'm scrambling around taking care of teacher gifts, facilitating a multitude of school projects, clearing some space in my schedule to be at end-of-the-year events, trying to get some work projects finished and off my calendar during my last few kid-free weekdays until September, counting down the number of school lunches left to make, and working on my "summer sanity plan". (Stay tuned...more on that soon!)

 

Taite performed Katy Perry's "Firework" in the talent show

If the prospect of summer vacation quickly approaching has you panicking about how to keep the kids entertained for the next couple of months, you'll want to be sure to check out my Kidding Around class, which starts June 14. It's full of fun ideas and writing prompts with a fun, art journaling angle.

Stop, look, & listen

Just a quick roundup of stuff from the past few weeks that you might want to check out...

I was a guest on Paperclipping Roundtable in mid-May. Click on the link to tune in to our discussion about scrapbooking school stuff if you haven't heard it yet.

Since we didn't really go over specific school page topics in detail, here are some school-related topics I've covered over the years, in case you're curious:

• first day
• last day
• classroom
• school friends
• homework
• big projects
• awards
• fall family movie night event
• what I do during the school day (this was a mini album of all the places I went during one day of preschool)
• spirit days (i.e., crazy hair day, superhero day, favorite book character day)
• school talent show/plays/performances
• class parties
• field trips
• year in review
• pocket pages with memorabilia
• dressed up for school dances
• graduation
• college dorm
• studying abroad (college)

 

This week, I was interviewed by Debbie Hodge for an episode of This Memory Keeper's Life. Click on the link to listen to us chat about phone photography and scrapbooking with a humorous angle, among other things. Below is the page I mentioned in the podcast, with journaling gems gleaned from my Facebook feed. I love scrapbooking kid quotes like this!

 

And finally, I have a guest blog post up at the Big Picture Classes blog. Head over there for some favorite s'mores variations from the S'Morrison Test kitchen!

Printing Phone Photos

Whether you use your phone camera more than your regular camera these days (like I do!), or you only take the occasional phone photo, chances are you've relied on your phone to capture at least one memory recently.

One of the most frequent questions I get from phoneographers is, "How do I get prints from the photos on my phone?"

There are several different ways I get prints from my phone pics, but the most recent addition to the phone photo printing scene is the newly improved, free Kodak Gallery app, available for both iPhone and Android. 

(image courtesy of Kodak)

Here's what I like about this app:

1. I can access all the photos I've ever uploaded from either the app or the website. No more trying to remember if I took a particular pic with my phone or Canon, and having to hunt on two devices for it.

2. It's really easy to create and add to folders on the Kodak site, from my phone, which makes photo organization a breeze.

3. Even if I plan to print at home or with another service, I can still upload to Kodak for organization/storage. It's a good backup, just in case I have some sort of catastrophic phone (or computer) crash.

4. I can pick up my prints in an hour from Target or CVS! This is great for those inevitable times when my printer runs out of ink right before a big deadline. Additionally, I pay at the store, so no need for the extra step of entering credit card information.

What I don't like:

1. The bulk of my phone prints are 4x4, and the Kodak Gallery app currently has no 4x4 option to accomodate square phtoos. The help feature within the app is misleading, because the instructions for maintaining photo size without cropping can only be followed on the website. It took an order of incorrectly cropped prints and a chat with customer service to figure this out. You can upload 4x4 photos from your phone, but if you don't want them stretched/cropped to fit the 4x6 format you must add them to your cart from the website, click on "zoom and crop" for each individual photo, then check the "show entire image" box for each and every one. Seriously. What a pain.

The Kodak Gallery customer service rep told me that they recognize the popularity of Hipstamatic and Instagram and are working on making the 4x4 option available in a future app update, but they don't have a specific release date for this yet.

2. I prefer a matte finish on my prints, and matte is not available with same-day pickup at CVS or Target. This means that I either have to have the prints shipped from the site (and pay shipping) to get my matte finish, or be desperate enough (ie, out of ink, deadline looming) to choose glossy prints.

Another caveat: If you're in a big hurry to get your pics, be aware that the actual turnaround time may vary from the advertised one hour, depending on the printing load and staffing of your particular store, and the size of your order. When I uploaded a test batch of prints to my local CVS at 10am on a weekday, my confirmation email said my prints would be ready at 1pm. This isn't Kodak's fault of course, and had I chosen another store or day, the timeframe may have been different. In fact, on a different day at the same store, I received a notification that my prints were ready just 15 minutes after submitting my order, which is crazy-fast. 

Bottom line: My initial excitement at the notion of being able to upload my phone pictures for same day pickup at a local store was dampened by the shortcomings of the Kodak Gallery app and in-store paper options. Uncropped square prints and a matte finish are pretty much dealbreakers for me.

For square-format photos, I still prefer the superior quality and matte finish of the square prints at PostalPix. However, the ease of organization and inexpensive on-demand printing from Kodak are features that I will probably make use of from time to time. And as much as PostalPix excels for square photos, they don't offer a "no cropping" option for their rectangular prints. The sensor size on a phone camera means cropping always occurs on my 4x6 photos unless I format them with a time-consuming workaround. So in the event that I have a lot of rectangular phone pictures to print, ordering online from Kodak Gallery might make sense for me.

 

Interested in learning more about making the most of your phone photos, from capturing to editing to printing to scrapbooking? Sign up for my Phoneography 101 class at Timeless Treasures in Rancho Santa Margarita, Saturday, May 19 from 4 - 5:30pm. Cost: $15. Call (949) 888-7151 to register. This class features lecture-style instruction, followed by a hands-on photo walk to try out what you've learned.

Washi talkin' about?

Just a quickie post today, to share a fun/crazy/simple idea I tried several weeks ago.

I was drooling on looking at my washi tape collection while pulling some supplies for a page, when it occurred to me that the washi patterns are every bit as fun as those patterned nail polish strips I adore. 

So I decided to try a washi mani...because, why not?

All you need is a roll of fun washi tape, some scissors, an orange stick, and a nail file.

First, I cut a strip and stuck it to my fingernail.

Then I trimmed off the excess at the tip with my scissors, used the orange stick to burnish it to my nail and carefully score through the tape around my cuticle, and filed off the excess tape around the tip. It didn't really take any longer to do than the nail polish strips I usually use.

I finished with a top coat to seal it. 

The tape did lift a bit here and there, especially since I have my hands in water a lot. But was easy enough to just press back down. I imagine if I started with a base coat and applied the tape while it was still wet, they would have had more staying power.

After three days, I was ready for a change, and easily peeled them off. (Not sure if that would've been as easy if I had cemented them on with a base coat). There was ZERO chipping, because it's tape, but more lifting as time (and multiple hand washings, dish washings, crafty shenanigans, etc.) went on. I'm not giving up my Sally Hansen Salon Effects any time soon, but this is a really inexpensive and fun alternative.

Just one more use for that washi tape you're hoarding!