| Chatting With Wendy Smedley |
|
Transcripts from September 18, 2003 |
Rebecca
– About Scrapbooking Guide: Wendy we are so glad to have you here tonight,
and I am sure more people will be joining us as we chat. We have a great list of
questions for you already. But, I wanted to start with a little bit about you
and how you got started in this addictive world of Scrapbooking.
Wendy Smedley - Assistant Editor of Simple
Scrapbooks Magazine: When my twins were babies, I needed to get
out of the house - can anyone relate?
Rebecca: Oh yes.
Wendy: I started taking classes at a local
scrapbook store (1996) and instantly became hooked. I have been with
Simple Scrapbooks Magazine
for two years and I am passionate about introducing and empowering women to
preserve their memories as well as create memories.
Rebecca: So with the twins how many children do you have Wendy?
Wendy: I have five boys, from age 12 to 3.
The twins will be eight.
Rebecca: I know you wrote a book about getting started scrapbooking and
you have a lot of tips for new scrappers...so if you had a friend, who said,
"What do I do first to get started?" Where would you begin?
Wendy: I would suggest deciding what your
goal is. Are you trying to cover your entire life through photo preservation or
are you looking for a creative outlet to do with your friends? Do you want to
create a gift album? Once you determine your focus then you can get started.
Purchase the basic supplies, and take some classes at your local scrapbook
store. And, of course, pick up Simple Scrapbooks.
Rebecca: So for a newbie...what do you list as basic supplies?
Wendy: Paper trimmer, paper, adhesive,
photos, ruler, black pen, and a gift certificate to your favorite online or
local store. Select your photos and determine the story or message you want to
share.
Rebecca: Do you have a size of album you suggest?
Wendy: If you are doing chronological then
12" by 12" fits the most photos and the square shape of the page lends itself to
novice design. I love to do 6" by 6" or 8" by 8" for theme albums and these are
readily available at many stores. With a 12" by 12" you can fit approx. 40 pages
in an album and maybe 10-12 photos per spread and that gives you room for how
many photos ladies? About 400, plus more if you crop your photos. With the
smaller sized albums I can use less pictures on a page and thus get the project
done quicker.
Rebecca: Speaking of theme albums, is that how you would define a Simple
Scrapbook? Tell us what makes a Simple Scrapbook.
Wendy: Simple Scrapbook is a theme album as
well as a philosophy. As far as a theme album goes, you select an organizational
style (chronological being the most common) and photos and then product and
compile. We have a formula card on our website as well as in the magazine.
One of the theme albums I am currently working on is "My top
ten favorite traditions" - from vacationing at Jackson Hole to making cookies
with my kids. I also have an album that is called "You know you are a MOTHER of
boys when..." Some of the pages in that album include: "...you have an entire
load of laundry dedicate to the color heather grey," "...on Saturdays you shop
at motorcycle shops and sports shops." I enjoy creating gift albums and can do
one in a weekend. I use 20 photos that share the story, coordinated paper, and
product, and then a small album. These are perfect for end of the year teacher
gifts, family gifts, as well as friend gifts. I also get new ideas when I see
the cover story in each issue of the magazine.
Download the Simple Scrapbooks Formula Card in .pdf format by clicking
here.
Rebecca: I recently started working on an 8x8 album with my daughter
using summer vacation as the theme, but it is taking longer than I anticipated,
I think I am getting too caught up in the layouts. Someone on the forum asked,
how do you keep Simple scrapbook layouts from looking plain?
Wendy: Consistent design doesn't have to
mean "boring." You let the photos guide you through the story and words are very
important to reinforce the message and share the story with the viewer. As far
as the design, I like to try new techniques in each album I am working on so it
does not appear boring and is not boring for me to create. Try "distressing" for
example. This is a fun technique that is user friendly, as well as simple to
execute, since there is no "right" way to distress and the look is subjective.
My current favorite for my pages in my scrapbook is paper
tearing. Not just tearing the cardstock to add interest, but also tearing to
direct and guide the eye throughout the page.
Rebecca: You made us some samples of some of those techniques, would you
like me to post the link now? And you can tell us about each of those shown?
Wendy: Let's look at the layouts so you can
understand what I am talking about.
Click here or on the layouts below to see
them in greater detail.
Wendy: The way the paper is torn on the
"Profile of a Smile" page takes your eye from the top to the bottom while
forcing your eye to connect to the photos. I like to use tearing at an angle to
give the page interest and direction. And lets face it - it is the easiest and
least expensive technique. I also enjoy printing my text directly on the
background paper and saving the step of journaling and then cutting and pasting
onto the page. I am all about saving steps, which is why I LOVE the product that
is currently available such as Rusty
Pickle and Mystic Press.
Rebecca: Let's move to organization Wendy, there were many questions
about it on the forum.
<More
Questions and Answers on Page 2>
Find more articles from Simple
Scrapbooks Magazine by clicking here.
