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IMP Design Team Maribeth Lysen | Questions When Starting A New Album

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IMP Blog Contributor Maribeth Lysen | Questions when Setting up a new Album

 

Hi everyone! I love the start of a fresh album. I typically start thinking about what I want to do for the upcoming year around October. I always start by asking myself some questions (which are Hi everyone! I love the start of a fresh album. I typically start thinking about what I want to do for the upcoming year around October. I always start by asking myself some questions (which are inspired from the first In My Pocket Class):

  • Do I like the size I’m currently working in? Yes, I’m enjoying 9×12. 8.5×11 was too small and 12×12 is too big. 9×12 feels like Goldilocks, just right. 
  • What worked well for me this year? The 9×12 size, the months where I took the time to take notes most days, having a dedicated and organized craft room, tracking projects, and printing my photos (love, love, love my Picturemate for printing at home). 
  • What didn’t? My note taking and picture taking fell off in the fall, once we found out we had to move. So did my documenting. Having my stuff packed away in storage since November has been a huge bummer. 
  • Where is the energy for me in scrapbooking right now? I’m loving hybrid and can’t wait to see what the designers release every month in the shop! I’m hoping to do more playing around in Procreate to make some of my own papers/cards on IPad. Puffy stickers and chipboard remain favorites. I’ve also started using washi-tape more often and I’ve been enjoying that (both digital washi and regular washi). 
  • What stories do I want to tell? Documenting our cross-country move and creating a new home will be a big part of my story this year. 
  • How was my journaling/note taking this past year? Still not as consistent as I would like it to be. I’m hoping to work on that this coming year. I also want to start a gratitude journal and include that in my albums. 
  • How is my photography practice? It started to fall off in the fall and I became a tad reliant on my husband’s photos so I need to get back to capturing more of the everyday. I miss it and I miss seeing it in my albums. 
  • Anything new I want to learn or skills I want to build? Continue practicing my writing, photography, and photoshop skills. Continue working in Canva. 
  • How is my stash looking? I had paired down when I reorganized last June and I feel good about that. I want to keep my space balanced. Regularly going through and purging is important to keeping me from being overwhelmed. I also am noting what I am using often and what I wish I would use more (stamps and my electronic die cutting machine). 
  • If you have any kit/software subscriptions, it’s a good time to evaluate if the subscriptions you have are still working for you or if you want to try something new. I am continuing my subscriptions but noticing costs to make sure they fall in my budget. For me, it works to set aside a monthly budget for my art supplies to help me pay attention to what I’m spending.

I jot these notes down on my computer so I can refer back to them in the coming months. Once I’ve got the answers to these questions, I place an order for my albums. I always end up using 2 albums so I just go ahead and order both at the same time along with a fair number of pocket pages. In addition to pocket pages, I always have a few full size layouts and other inserts, depending on my mood, so I go ahead and grab some extra page protectors. Now I’m ready to get started! 

Creating the opening pocket page for a new album is always one of my favorite things to do because I use my favorite photos. It’s the perfect opportunity to scroll back through your photos and grab some favorites, even if they’ve already made it in an album. I have no problem scrapping them again. I want to love my opening page so using my favorite photos and products helps make that happen. 

I used this awesome 2022 stamp from Papierstudio Shop as my jumping off point for the layout design. I knew I wanted the 2022 to be big so I enlarged it on a 4×6 card, and recolored the stamp to a grey in Photoshop and printed the card. I left plenty of space at the bottom because I knew I wanted to add some of my favorite papers from the store, this adorable stripe from The Practical Scrapper. I printed out the paper on another 4×6 card and cut off a section and glued it to my card. I could have done this digitally, but in this case, I wanted the physical layers. Next I added some black and white ribbon, letter stickers (Pink Fresh), a puffy heart (Elle Studio), and some pink enamel dots (Hero Arts), all from my stash. I really loved how this card turned out. 

For the picture of my adorable puppy Cash being naughty and eating my work papers, I used another digital stamp, this one from Papierstudio Shop in photoshop, recolored it to match my color scheme, added my photo digitally, and then printed the photo. I added some black and white twine and another puffy heart (Citrus Twist) from my stash. 

I created the “So Sweet” card so I could use this adorable plant I fussy cut from The Practical Scrapper, Every Day Life journaling card. I added it to aqua paper from the Life Stories Kit, also from the Practical Scrapper and some more of my favorite stripped paper, and black letter stickers (Citris Twist). I did a recolor on this “The Best is Yet to Come Card” in photoshop, added another black heart (Elle Stuidos). I decided to leave the rest of the photos just as they were and call the opening page done!

I hope you will join us for the new In My Pocket Class!