Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:15:35 — 69.2MB)
The Topic
Anna Aspnes joins us today to talk about documenting vacation memories. What has worked for us and what hasn’t in the past. How much do we plan ahead, how do get things documented, and so much more!
Joining the Discussion:
Anna Aspnes
Peppermint Granberg
Katie Nelson
Steph
Show Notes:
The Mom on the iPhone
Journaling Borrowed From the Internet
Made with Over
Picks of the Week:
Anna: for iPhone
Peppermint: Diaro for Android
Katie: JoliDrive
Steph: Lens Tag
Sponsors:
For the best deal in digital scrapbooking, become a member at TheDailyDigi.com.
Great show as always!
It was so interesting to hear that Katie was switching to ring binders. I’ve recently been making the switch too. I’m still in 12 x 12 because I love it for my paper scrapping. I’ve always resisted the ring binders because they’re so huge, but I found that I’m scrapping so much now that it’s really inconvenient for me to keep my pages in some semblance of order (like Katie, I don’t scrap chronologically). I feel the same as Katie that I’m constantly pulling apart the post bound albums.
I decided to just fill up the post bound albums that I have and accept that those will be static, and moving forward I’ll be using 12 x 12 rings. I just recently got my first Becky Higgins album, and I just love it! I also love that we can get her stuff in stores now.
Another great show (as always!).
Last year I was on vacation during Lain Ehmann’s layout-a-day challenge. I decided to scrap my vacation while I was on it. I used a layered template set by Ali Edwards called “Bread & Butter” and a set of solid backgrounds and did a layout each morning of the day before. This was a pretty relaxed vacation (= no kids!) so I had the time to get it done and it was great to do it all while the memories were so fresh. It was also so awesome to be home and know that the stories were told! It would be a little tougher on a family vacation, but I would absolutely do this again. (If you want to take a peek, my layouts are here: http://sheplerfamily.com/the-rest-of-our-vacation/ )
It’s refreshing to hear I am not the only one who gets overwhelmed trying to document the memories while I’m in the moment of living them. I’m not a great multi-tasker, so I have a hard time finding that balance. I sometimes end up disappointed that my photos don’t reflect the memories in my head, or vice versa, that I was too busy trying to photograph everything that I end up feeling like I wasn’t very involved in the moment. I often feel like there are so many who do such a great job at this! I follow lots of scrappers on social media and it seems they are constantly documenting life and I’m like “wait up!” LOL Guess I’m still trying to figure what’s comfortable to me and how to go at my own pace.
Sort of related – not really – but you guys tend to talk about kids and social media quite a bit on the show (which I love) and I found this article you might find interesting: http://www.ksl.com/?#038;nid=1004&title=parents-teens-who-interact-on-social-media-are-closer-in-real-life&fm=home_page&s_cid=queue-13
Thanks for another great show!
It’s great to hear from you, Lynette!! Thanks for sharing! I can see how that would be the case! Great info!
I’m a new listener and just wanted to congratulate you on a fun and informative show – it went straight on my subscription list after I finished the first show! :o)
Thanks Meredith! We appreciate it!
I am an active member of Creative Memories groups that have used, use, and will continue to use SBC+ software. Creative Memories leased the software from Panstoria. Panstoria has recently put the product out under their own label, Artisan. So even if Creative Memories doesn’t support the software, the software will still exist and be supported through Panstoria.
I know that the SBC users are passionate about their software, and the gist of the conversation from those I know that use it is that they’ll quit using it only when it ceases to work. Many are hedging and buying the software directly from Panstoria now.
I personally now use PSE, but I am a *.page creator for Scrapping with Liz and for Mye de Leon and I know plenty of people who seek out the *.page files. In fact, I recently sent one to Anna A. of her freebies to offer to her users; but I don’t know what she did with it. LOL
I’m happy that Panstoria has come through for people – it’s actually a free download too!
http://www.mystory.com.au/products/software/
You need to register, but you only pay for printing and the digi supplies.
I assume you’ll be able to open your old layouts too.
You can open old layouts only if you save them back to the SBC 3.0 format (that is, unless CM plays nice and allows Panstoria users to use the CM proprietary extensions). Also, SBC 4.0 specific kits won’t open natively in Panstoria, and unless you were an early adopter of Artisan, SBC 3.0 kits won’t open in there. So SBC users may have a huge amount of $$ locked up in kits that are difficult (but not impossible) to access. It is possible to export kits, but it’s a bit tedious.
Thanks for all of the info Leslie! This makes me so sad for all of the people that were so loyal to CM and will be out!!
Thanks for the info Leslie! I’m a MM and SBC user too and I plan to use them until it stops working. I just upgraded my computer so hopefully I can make it work for me for awhile. My biggest concern is keeping all the photo organization I’ve done so losing Memory Manager is my fear. I’ve been doing research and doing my best to download all that I need so I won’t have too many interruptions. I haven’t scrapped as much as I would like but maybe that’s a blessing in disguise right now. I’m hoping the legal stuff doesn’t prevent Panstoria from helping out all of us who are in limbo with Creative Memories.
A few of the users on How To Scrap On Mac have developed a system for exporting things from MM so that they could put the photos into iPhoto. I do believe that some of the information stays with the photo (though I don’t think MM writes to metadata, but instead keeps it all in a separate database file). Panstoria has a MM replacement software, called Historian, that is apparently a seamless way to bring your MM photos into it. It works the same.
Update to my comment – I just hit confirm on my purchase of PSE. All the yanking around with Creative Memories is too much so I decided to just go with PSE. I’m going to relisten to all the podcasts for PSE tips and tricks (since it never applied, I never retained that information). I’m looking forward to using templates more easily and being able to join the herd. I plan on still using Memory Manager to organize my photos since I really do like that software still. However, I think my productivity will increase with PSE. Here’s hoping!!
And a random comment, I found QR codes for quilters to add to the backs of their quilts to commemorate either who made the quilt, or why, or whatever. Reminded me of the QR code discussions here. Love technology!
Becky
Hey Digi Show Girls! Love the podcast – and have a scrapbooking question I hoped you or one of your listeners/readers might be able to help with. I’ve just bought a Bamboo Stylus for iPad and love using it to add writing to photographs (my favourite app for this is Adobe Ideas). Next l’d love to use it to add writing to my digi layouts but am not sure how. My current workflow is: 1.Write my word or phrase on a blank page in Adobe Ideas. 2.Save as a picture to my camera roll. 3.Open dropbox app on iPad and upload picture from camera roll. 4.Open drop box folder on laptop (Windows) and wait for picture to download. 5.Open file in PSE. 6.Use magic wand tool to extract writing. 7.Paste in to layout. 8.Discover it doesn’t fit and start the whole process again! Please tell me there is an easier way to use my iPad with PSE, or should I give up and buy a Wacom tablet? Any ideas gratefully received, thanks! Naomi x
Naomi, check out this post and let me know if it will work for you, I would imagine it would solve the problem:
/scrapbooking-high-resolution-layouts-on-a-tablet/
Thank you so much for that link Steph! I tried it out and was really pleased with the result (although I will need to work on my brush work, it’s scruffier than I thought it would be!). I can now add TeamViewer to the long list of products/services I’ve started using as a result of listening to your show (Feedly, Pinterest, RadLab, Project Life, Katrina’s Capture Your Everyday class…) and look forward to whatever excellent recommendations you girls make next!
Thank you!! Great to hear!!
Writing with brushes in Photoshop will almost always create jaggy looking writing. If you can use Illustrator, I would. A free vector program I’ve heard people talk about is Inkscape, maybe try that one?
Can you create brushes in PSE? If so you can open up what I assume is a black and white image from Ideas, use “CTRL + A” to select the entire canvas, then Edit < Define Brush to make it into a scalable brush. As long as it's black and white then it will disregard the white background and just turn the black bits into a brush you can scale and stamp like any stamp.
Yes, PSE can make brushes. I think it is limited to the 2500 pixels, like older versions of CS. So, just resize to 2500 pixels first and as long as it’s b/w (not greyscale) it will work great.
(Long – but I just did the whole album switcheroo thing):
I am a paper scrapbooker and I just recently worked on my library of albums. I used to have a mix of post bound and 3 ring but I got rid of most of my post bound and bought a bunch of 3 ring.
The Take Away : THREE RING BINDERS TAKE UP LESS SPACE ON THE SHELF THAN POST BOUND! (who knew?)
Anyway, I did go through the effort of removing the page protectors from the post bound albums – so I wouldn’t have to buy those too in addition to the expense of lots of new albums. And after all the using screw drivers and pliers to get the pages out – I was so disappointed to see that the holes didn’t fit the 3 ring notebooks – many of them were 2 holes for a 12×12! So I continued on my thrifty mission and used binder clips to put a bunch of page protectors together and then put a 3 ring page protector on top to use it as a template and used the Cropodile to punch holes through the pages. It did take a long time and the extra holes are really just fine – it doesn’t look as bad as you might think. Also, I sold my page protector empty post bounds on Craigslist and a very nice lady came and was completely thrilled to get about 40 post bound albums for about $1.50 a piece. I also gave her a box of my older supplies for free (since I was purging – and she was also thrilled with that); so win-win – it was fun to meet another local scrapbooker.
12×12 3 ring Albums: I got a bunch of American Crafts albums at Tuesday Morning for less than $10 an album; and I also got a bunch of Becky Higgins / Project Life albums for $11 each at Michaels on sale).
8×8 Albums: I find these and 9×9 albums (older Heidi Swapp) at the scrapbooking yardsale that my local shop (Whim So Doodle) puts on and I usually pick these up for $1-$3 an album. With the page protectors for these albums – I also do the cropodile trick and/or cut down larger page protectors to fit.
I’m so impressed with your frugalness! I’m sure the page protectors look just fine!
Haha when I first printed I had no idea to check for holes or ring vs. post bound and I bought a bunch of post bound page protectors on sale for my ring binder and did the same thing with clips and my Cropadile. This time I actually bought the right kind and it was a lot quicker and easier, but now I know that I don’t have to worry about the holes if I find a good deal.
P.S. That Red Rocks Amphitheater is in the newest Train (the band) video “Bruises” – it looks so pretty!
Link: http://youtu.be/LmXaaEvnnOQ
Fun song and video! That amphitheater looks different than the one I was at though. The one I went to had actual seats (thank goodness) for old people like me, I don’t remember seeing tiered bench seating at all there. But, cinematography can play tricks on the eye and mind, I know. You can se a couple of photos here: http://www.dostgeorge.com/tuacahn.html
I know I should have written this down the first time you all mentioned it, but what is that app that you can upload your Instagram photos from your phone? Thanks for everything you ladies do!
I want say Instaport.
I scrap 12×12.
As a paper scrapper, I started with Creative Memories albums ages ago. After using them for about 10 years, I realized that although I like having my scrapbooks in chronological order, trying to scrap in chronological order was hindering me.
So, I started creating pages on 12×12 cardstock instead of CM pages. At that point, I switched over to post-bound albums. I’ve never really cared for post-bound because of the screw and post hassle. However, I didn’t consider 3-ring because I was concerned about the page protectors sagging/buckling or the holes stretching because they aren’t packed in as tightly as the post-bound. I guess it wouldn’t be as much of an issue for my digital pages as it would have been for my heavier paper pages.
Any thoughts on this? Has anyone used 3-ring (12×12 in particular) for any length of time? Are there issues with the page protectors?
Thanks!
So interesting to hear how others scrap vacations (Being an Aussie I would call them holidays – but that means something different to Americans). I have a tried and true method I have used over and over. I divide my photos into folders by major location – usually using my itinerary from the travel agent. Then I chose about twenty that are my favourites from that folder and add them to a sub folder. These are the ones I will scrap with. When I did this with my Mum recently of her trip to Europe it was clear she had thing for doorways – most of her twenty faves were doors so we did a sub group to solve that – I had a similar problem with gelati shops in Italy! Once the groups are decided I then use the SAME layout to do a double page spread of each location using those chosen photos. Add a bit of journaling, and pockets to hold ephemera and I am done. The layout I use is one of Becky Higgins’ 10 plus photos from her sketch book number 1. It uses a simple strip of paper horizontally across the centre of the two pages and contrasting cardstock to mount the photos on. Easy, low on supply requirements and showcases the photos. Perfect. I use it for ALL of my event scrapping too.
Finally getting around to listening to quite a few shows while driving on vacation this week and this afternoon I listened to this one. I am and will continue to be a fan of the program sold by Creative Memories, Storybook Creator 4.0. I am hopeful that Panstoria will be able to come through on some of the legal issues to make our use seamless, but am willing to deal with it and even buy Artisan (just a different version of the program sold by the creators) if I need a new computer. I, like Leslie, am a converter of templates for quite a few designers and there are many users out there.
I am a member of the Daily Game and have been disappointed when templates are offered in only psd format. Even when the pngs files are offered, they are left in my to do folder. Because of all the template converting that I do for designers I just don’t get around to converting other templates and therefore never use them.
There are so many designers offering this file format, not just the Scrap Orchard ones, that I don’t really need to buy any templates that don’t offer page files unless I just must have it. 
SBC does just what I need it to do right now, but I am leaving the possibility open that I would move to Elements in the future as I get more comfortable working in it for something other than photos. The “not being able to print at CM” is not a big deal to me since I do most of my printing elsewhere, even bought credits for my Summer Bucket List project at Persnickety. 
Also, there is an untapped market out there for users of SBC who have never ventured out of the CM world. I am part of a few groups that Leslie mentioned and I have been directing them to favorite stores and several times I have suggest the Digi Game as a great option for someone wanting to try out designers out there. I was a little surprised to hear that only 2% of your followers use page files and wondered when the last time was you did a survey. I have been a member for about 15 months and not seen one, obviously I could have missed it.
Thanks for mentioning the situation and giving the opportunity to comment.
The main purposes of The Digi Files is to give scrappers the opportunity to try different designers and designers the chance to find new customers. I ask designers to create their products exactly as they would for their stores. If I required all designers to include page files, but they don’t ever include page files with the products in their store, then that wouldn’t be an honest representation of what’s in their store. If a designer includes page files in The Digi Files, then my members that want page files, know that they can go to that designer’s store, buy templates, and page files will be included. If page files are not included in The Digi Files, then page users know that designer isn’t a good fit for them.
Because of this, I don’t see a day that I will require designers to include page files. The designers need to be able to make choices about that based on what’s best for their own business. Just like I don’t require designers to include specific products that might be popular or in high demand (journaling cards, for example), unless its something they want to include or regularly do include.
As for a survey, I don’t remember the exact date of the last survey, but I think it was about a year ago or so. We are due for another one, but I need to get the new membership platform rolled out first. That being said, even if the results came back that 50% of our members use page files, that won’t change my requirements of designers. I might start encouraging designers to consider creating page files and share our statistics with them, but I would not require them to create something different from what they are providing customers in their own stores.
I hope that helps, a little.
Thank you for your quick comment Steph.
I completely understand for this site you do not require anything specific from your contributors as they are providing what they usually sell in their stores. I hope you understand that I am also commenting to those designers that only offer psd files because, as you mention, designers look to you for information. There are people out there who do not have Elements, let alone Photoshop, so can’t do anything with those psd files. I have definitely found designers that I don’t need need to buy from (or even download freebies) because there are no pngs offered. I have written to designers who I really like and indicated that psd files don’t work for well for me and would they consider at least offering pngs files. Or if I really really like their designs I have asked if they would consider having me convert their templates for them.
Also as far as the survey, I believe a survey by the Digi Files is not just for you, but for designers and stores. If you put it out there that only 2% of your listeners/subscribers use a specific file type, our file type dries up. In fact, you suggested during this show that designers don’t need to offer them anymore with CM going under. It was later said that the program won’t disappear off people’s computers and there will still be users. But still it was said and that was concerning and really that is what spurred my writing a comment since there are a lot of rumors and misconceptions, even among users, that the program will just cease to function (which is incorrect).
I am thrilled you would seriously consider a new survey. You can be sure that I will direct many people to it as I have been directing people to the Digi Game to get a taste of many designer styles that are available.
Again, thank you for your quick response and I hope this helps a little to understand where I was coming from. Listening to the shows I downloaded helped me get through about 16 hours of driving this week. Listening while driving though wasn’t so good because I couldn’t take notes! lol! Now I need to go back through all the show notes and see what I wanted to look into.