Q-3 Team challenge CHAT!

Gosh, sorry to have gone at such length about the stupid kit. All five were purchased on whim, more or less. The Recollections one was just what was easy to pull out this past weird weekend. Now I probably have to pack it away again for a bit, hopefully with some good notes about the planning I managed to do....

The new job got kind of weird on day one of week two. Trying to keep an open mind. I'm sure as I learn and understand more it will make more sense, right?

I hope so. (((Hugs)))

safe travels

Ugh, I've been failing in my team captain duties this month... Thank goodness for the single thread and thank goodness for grammadee!

It's already nearly the middle of August, and I have only finished one layout so far this month! I have two more that I'm working on, that I hope to finish in the next day or two. 

At least I have started working on my first sketch and layout for Sketchtember. I'd like to have it done or almost done before I go overseas in ten days. (OMG ten days? I have so much to do!)

I'm not good at editing down to the bare highlights - we took an epic (2+week) road trip in 2017 to 16 states, DC, and into Canada plus my sister's wedding and a visit to my mum...I'm still (slowly) working on scrapping it but it's probably going to be 3-4 albums. And that's after narrowing it down to the best photos from each place/event. And yes - plenty of scenery pictures - I try to just choose the best from each day.

I think -for me- the biggest issue is that we did and saw SO much and I want all of that represented. If we do a day-trip to a single place - then I can usually narrow that down to 1-3 layouts - but when we travel, we may end up in several places each day and even if they all only get 1 layout (as if) that's still a LOT

joblackford - I am glad you got to the meetup with no drama And overall, it sounds like a really nice day!

kitbop - I would make as many layouts and use as many pictures I felt were needed or just wanted to make. A lot of the pictures would be smaller than 4x6, I might combine some themes into one page and maybe include some hidden journaling or just bullet points for some layouts and let other pages tell more of the story. You could make pockets or flaps to add additional pictures. Or use pocket pages - they would be great for parade pictures, topiaries, some character meet & greets, etc.

Linda - good luck with your current photo project.

That's a really tough question and most of the answer revolves around what kind of album you and your family would value most. And how you enjoy creating.

My first thought is that energy and time are limited so I would prioritize the things that I love the most, and that reflect what I value the most. I'd start with the pictures that have the family in them. The view pictures represent fleeting experiences in the moment and they have a really strong pull on me soon afterwards, wishing I could still be there and showing everyone what I saw...  but in the long run (like if great-grandchildren picked up the album) would they be very meaningful? I'm not saying that you shouldn't put them in your album if they make you happy, but I'd focus on the people and core stories first and add the amazing views later. 

Your question reminds me of Shimelle's Disney albums. They are a huge ongoing project and never really done. She seems to get the basics in there first and then comes back over and over to fill in more details and stories. I don't know if that suits your way of working though. It would drive me bonkers! I like finishing. 

I forgot to say that - if it is a multiple day trip I'll do one big layout for each day then follow up with the others. And I only print the pictures for one day at a time, other wise it feels like a job to get them all done

I am LOVING Katie Pertiet's Inspiration Board set of templates for my travel album. I took a ridiculous amount of photos on my week long trip interstate, and I want to use most of the photos. The templates have got little film strips on them, so I can include lots of photos on one page. First of all I select the best photos, and put them in the bigger photo sections, then the "still want to use but not the very best shot" photos get added to the film strip. Truth be told, some of the little film strip photos are filler photos, and wouldn't have made it onto the page if I didn't have to fill that spot! But most of them I wanted to use anyway.

And if I have a large number of "best" photos for each day / tour, I do as many pages as necessary to fit them all in.

These are some of the pages in my album (which I have already shared previously). As you can see, I can fit around ten photos on every 12x12 page - usually 4-5 bigger sized photos and 3-5 small photos.




If I was using pocket pages, I would probably add two or more little photos onto a 6x4 pocket card, so I could squeeze more photos in. I do this now in my Project Life album, if I can't narrow it down to just one photo for that day.

Wow, you are VERY organised! 

I admire people who can think ahead and get stuff done weeks early! (You might think that I’m doing the same with the donation cards I’m talking about but some of them really need to go out in September (late summer/early fall cards) so I’m actually cutting it pretty fine.)

I stamped inside the last couple of cards I plan to add to my donation box. I’ve included all the older repurposed cards, all the cards for fall, Christmas, Hanukkah, and winter, and in the process I made space in my storage for all the general hello cards I’ve made this year. They will be a good start for the next donation box. I’m glad to be done with insides of cards for a while, ready to do some crafting!

I did the boring part of the next project today - getting white scraps die cut and ready to stamp using a borrowed stamp set. Happy to get my white scraps back under control.

I haven't really gotten much done. I did get my stamp set together and my dies organized - these are just newly purchased ones. I stamped some flowers today and I need to die cut them. I still haven't done the one layout I had hoped to but saw another one today that I think will be perfect for some flower pictures from my garden - not a lot of flowers but they make me happy and I will be planting so many more next year. I just need to dig up an area and redo it. I have two classes from this week maybe three that I want to watch - there is just never enough time.

Nice to see you, joyfulnana !

"TRIGGER" WARNING: job angst. Feel free to scroll....

I strongly suspect that part of what is going on is that I am screwing this up. Things went so well with the very, very short-lived job. I seemed to get along with everyone instantly. The culture was a great fit. Their on-boarding was robust and personable, if that makes sense. It was also an illusion built on a myth or something like that.

This is a start up acquired by a large company two years ago. Onboarding is fractured -- partly in-person, partly automated, with both gaps and redundancies born of the two-fold nature of the little company inside the big company. My actual manager (title: director) and team lead (title: sr. manager) sit in Illinois at the big company. Myself and a lower-level team member sit in Massachusetts at the little company. My manager was in MA M-W of my first week; team leader the same days this week. Team leader said he'd walk me around and introduce me to folks, but didn't find the time. Team member has introduced me to one person I really need to work with and maybe a couple others incidentally. We had a team lunch each week with the visiting members from IL and team member was very friendly during them, but not so much when we're just in the office. I feel like I should be more assertive, but....

Maybe it's some of the PTSD from what I've been through lately. But I'm at least a little afraid it's going to happen again and truly be my fault this time.

Mostly I think I need to relax, give myself some grace, and try to really dig in when I come back from vacation. But the thinking part of me is not the problem....