Saturday, December 31, 2016

The Expectations of Christmas Future by Stephanie


First things first ... 

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE to you all! 
I hope your last day of 2016 is spent doing something you enjoy with people you love. My mom and I have a tradition of scrapbooking together while we watch the festivities live on television, so I am definitely looking forward to that later tonight - assuming, of course, that my 4 month old cooperates and doesn't decide to forgo her evening nap. 


This has been ... a quiet year for me on the scrapbooking front. I prefer the word "quiet" to "unproductive" as it makes me feel less guilty about the pitiful number of layouts I made! I think all of us go through seasons where our inspiration is stifled or our creativity channeled into other, non-paper-crafty projects ... that was 2016 for me.


I only made a handful of layouts this year, but the ones I did make are some of my all-time favorites. 

Looking back, I realize these layouts actually have a lot in common. From a design perspective, they're all relatively simple layouts, on white 12x12 cardstock with lots of "white space" and just a few embellishments (mostly ephemera and enamel dots). I've decided that I quite like this look and plan to stick with it for my 2017 layouts. From a memory keeping perspective, the layouts I made in 2016 were all about things that truly matter to me and my family. With a new baby, I have very limited time to scrapbook so I have to choose which photos and stories are most important to me. Believe it or not, I actually LOVE having to make that choice. I love looking through my album and seeing a collection of carefully curated layouts, each one deeply meaningful and crafted with the utmost care. In 2017, I definitely want to continue documenting only the things that "truly matter" - which is a very good thing, since I don't have time to scrapbook any other way right now.

To summarize my creative goal for 2017: I'm hoping to become a bit of a scrapbooking minimalist.  


I plan to go into more detail about this on my personal blog, Skyline Paperie, but the general gist is that I want to create fewer, but better, layouts. I want to spend more time selecting the photos, creating the design + journaling the memory and less time perusing online scrappy stores and buying new products. I want to take my time creating and enjoy the process of putting a layout together, not rush things so I can upload them to my blog or meet a design team deadline.


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Postscript - 

Hi all, Susanne popping in here to give you all a sneak peek at January’s inspiration kit.  Once revealed I think you will agree that this selection ties into Stephanie’s idea for a simpler, more focused approach in the New Year.  It is something new, just released, and serves as a great entrance to 2017.  It is going to be a great year for counterfeiting – you would agree if you could only see what’s behind that door!



See you in 2017! Yes, that’s tomorrow!

4 comments:

  1. Wonderful way to approach 2017 and I wish you a great year to all the Master Forgers :) Looking forward to the inspiration that you all bring to the blog and to the choice of kits too. The 1st one of the year looks rather nice from the peek so far with the blues and the black n white. Happy New Year to you all!

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  2. Happy New year to you Stephanie.I love the style in these 2 layouts.Wishing you well for your scrapbooking endeavours in 2017. (when Lina allows you of course)

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  3. Happy New Year to you Stephanie, and a big "thanks for the memories" to all the Master Forgers. I have enjoyed all the posts this month. And I know a lot of you, a little bit better. Here's to 2017 and a whole new year of CKC magic.

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  4. Better is my one little word for 2017, so this definitely echoes my own ideals for the New Year. I'll look forward to seeing your beautiful work x

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