Lessons

Lesson Info

Process Simplified

Let's jump into it with process so what is process why do we need one and why do we get one any ideas on process angela what do you think of when when I say process what does that mean to you um I guess just of inefficient um method of getting something right right right yeah. Okay traces you have any thoughts on process um the process in which you do things so the list of sets that you d'oh to achieve something yep. Great great anybody else jennifer and he thought from mt the first thing that pops into my mind is when I go up into my new scrap room cause my my middle child moved out e I go in there and I just my head explosives too much too much choice and I don't know where to start the process right? Right right I hear you basically process is a serious of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end and in the business world they talk a lot about process you might have heard of things like ice o nine thousand ice floe nine thousand one they're all these process orien...

ted certifications to ensure that large scale businesses repeat the same processes over and over to get a particular outcome now it might seem funny applying that to scrap booking but we all have a process even if it changes every time we sit down to scrapbook we all do have a process that we go through just like we do when we get ready in the morning, and I bet if you look at your morning routine it's usually pretty consistent, you know, do you take your shower for us? Did you take your shower at night? Do you brush your teeth before you brush your hair? I mean, everybody's got their own process and just like getting ready in the morning, my process may be completely different from jennifer's or from denise is you may be a shower at night person you may be a bath person, it doesn't matter as long as we're getting to the result that we want. One thing I've noticed, though with scrap booking, is that oftentimes we start with the process that doesn't give us the outcome that we want. So yesterday we talked about that outcome through our mission statement that we're really looking to document those authentic stories. We're looking to put parts of our heart on a scrapbook page, and we talked about that how the photo centric approach can get in the way of that because we're limiting ourselves be before we even start so the so the process that I introduced to you yesterday was starting with the story versus starting with the photo. And so we're going to dig into that a little bit more so the next time you go in your scrapbook room instead of just think, ok? Lane said, start with story, but what does that mean? Hopefully what I'm going to give you right now is that kind of that roadmap for that recipe that then you can take that in your room and say, okay, I'm gonna start with this and they were going to move on from there to this step to this step, and it might feel uncomfortable just like if I asked you brush your teeth with the other hand or write your name with the other hand at first it's going to feel really, really weird, but if you broke your arm and had to do everything with your office and hand pretty soon it would start to feel normal. And in this case, if I ask you to do something that feels uncomfortable, aa lot of times resistance comes up and you think, well, I'll just do it the way I always did it, but if you do it the way you always did it, what are you going to get, what you've always gotten exactly, so if you want something different, we have to change up the process, so when it comes to scrap booking these air the different pieces of the process and we're going to talk a little bit about those so story that's pretty self explanatory what is it that we're scrapbooking about? What are we trying to tell either the story of my daughter's new shoes and how she always goes for the sparkle or katrina is picture of the fire boots, the environment, rubber boots how her son ian picks the same boots year after year after year or she might tell a different story with the same concept of the boots she might display something else maybe his dad was I know that's not true, but what if it's dad was a firefighter then she might think that that that story is about the connection between them but whatever that story is that we're trying to tell whether it's about a person ah place a thing an idea, an emotion the story is what we want to capture on the page. The photo of course is very easy it's what what photos were going to use and sometimes we might have those we've got a group books here and for those of you who are tuning into this segment maybe missed yesterday the groove book is a collection of one hundred photos that are taken from your social media from your camera on your iphone or your android device they're printed out and shipped directly to you on a monthly basis for two dollars and ninety nine cents and if that weren't enough in the the enrollment bonuses there is a page of special discounts and coupons you have a coupon for a free group book so you want to test it out unfortunately us on ly at this point but if your international know somebody in the u s you could probably order one and then have it shipped on to you so one hundred photos for two dollars, ninety nine cents it gives you a great option for scrap booking and makes it really simple because you've got your most recent photos off your phone and that is my biggest barrier to scrap booking is getting those photos off the phone so the group book is a great way to do that so you might have photos that you've already taken or you might have photos that you want to take so you think oh my gosh I really want to talk about how mike mike daughter and my cut and her cousin are so much alike and I want to get a specific photo of this that and the other where they're doing the same thing so you know in your mind what the photo is he just kind of have to plan ahead for that so you might not be able to scrapbook with that right away but you know the story you want to tell so then you can take that photo when the opportunity arises now the opposite side if you were only scrapping from your photos, you might not even think of that story to scrap book because you don't have the photo so that's why we start with the story then design is how we arrange all the different pieces on our pay eight and these are just my definitions here yours might be slightly different or there might be more technical definitions if you look it up on wikipedia might give you a more precise definition, but for me, design is just how the pieces are all arranged storytelling is the journaling or the words it could pull in the title as well. Sometimes the title is all you need because the title is so strong. In the previous segment, I shared that page wide open spaces and they used the word the lyrics from the dixie chicks song that was enough. I didn't need to say anything else on that page. Sometimes the title could be enough and that can be storytelling and then products it tends to be everybody's favorite part products is this stuff, and then I actually separated out though products versus embellishment and I want to talk a little bit about that so products they're just whatever you going to use, but embellishments is what I consider the icing on the cake, and I think one of the big challenges that people have when I work in this process it allows me to go big picture too small picture, I'm not starting with the enamel dots and saying, how am I gonna build a page around the dots? I'm starting with the story and building down from there, it's just like getting dressed in the morning where you might put on the main thing you're gonna wear with the dress. And then from there you build on the excesses of the scarf, the shoes you start with a bigger piece and it's rare that we would start with the hearings and find something that matches these hearings today it's possible could happen, but in general, most people for me, this is what works for me, starting with the big picture and going down from there. So when I talk about the icing on the cake, that pulls in with the big picture two small focus, because if again, if I start with ok, I want to use this this particular brad. I've already lost the story in the brad I want my brad toe work in service of my story versus the story being chosen because it matches a particular brad. Now there are times where we fall in love with something like it just is the coolest stamp ever, or the coolest piece of flare, which are buttons if if people aren't familiar with those air button like the little buttons you'd wear on your shirt that say vote for who you vote for pedro or something like that but they don't have they have adhesive on the back versus a pin so those air called flair and sometimes will fall in love with one and we'll say I wanted I know I have a story to tell where I can use that and you put you know you make an effort to work it in but in general I found the most effective way for me is to get the basics of the page in place and then go back and embellished afterwards and it's just like decorating a cake you don't start adding the roses in the little curly cues on first the confetti you start with a layer of fund on icing or or royal icing or something like that and then you build on top of it from there because once you have that basis in place if you're called away because of time or you you know you you have to stop for some reason you move on or just to you know that's enough it's easier to stop that way but if you're starting with the little details that gets really hard to see the big picture and again this is my process years may be completely different and it's ok and you can experiment you can say ok lane though that this was going to try that I'm also going to try starting with a design a lot of people start with sketches and we're going to talk about that a little bit later that's okay to just like cooking you might start with the recipe versus starting with the ingredients it's just a personal preference and this I'm teaching you now what has worked for me so I would love to hear actually ask you all to take just a minute and write down what you think your your regular process is, what you would do if before this course twenty four hours ago or thirty six hours ago if you had started scrapbooking where you would start you can actually in your workbooks there's a spot to do that or you can just number things just take a minute or two and at home off though I'd love for you to do this as well. What do you what do you usually start with? What do you move on to from there and just think about it? Because sometimes we think, well, I always start this way, but it might be different especially if you're a product junkie like many people are you might find that you actually start with the product more times than not, so just take a second there and we'll check in and see what everybody thinks about their process now we have a lot of people in the chat room who are talking about the groove books they really people just a few clarification questions on how the groups share. So do you have to take one hundred pictures a month? Like what if you take less one month? How does that work? So the price is the same regardless of how many photos they developed for you, you can choose to have doubles of particular photos you can only it can have I think I can't remember what the range is there is a minimum but it's like forty or fifty yeah, yeah, so you don't have to do one hundred, but if you want to use them up because you have those those credits you can upload older pictures, you can choose to two to make multiples of a class photos so you can hand out more to other people, so it's really flexible that way so I could get because I've argued in spot yesterday that a lot of people saying, oh, I sat down with my cute little compliance six year old and might have scrapbook now I have ten ideas that don't comply it they're not kid I would benefit from this if they would just listen to me and so I was thinking yesterday line that I would get them by a great book subscription because using one keep on you know, I thought what a great white to inspire because because just like us teenagers that other species don't ever down like their fight does, so does it. Can you can you give group book to someone to get them to then give you their photo? I was like, I hear your motor e good. I think you could probably do that. Especially if you live at the same address. He just make them do it, and then you just grab it when it comes in. I'm not sure the details like if you wanted to pay for someone else's account, I'm sure there's a way to do that. Like if you wanted to send a group book. Teo, your your sister and like I lived in boston, my sister lives in california. I could subscribe to a group book for her and then have that sent onto her each month from my photos. Okay, process. Let's, start over here with jennifer. Jennifer, what would you say you normally start with process? I can tell you. I see now where I go wrong. I normally start with a sketch and a photo. So basically the design in the photo and I have a title in mind, then I start based on the sketch in the photo putting my product together and I put my layout together then I add in the embellishments and no room for the journaling every time that is very very common and it's almost like we've been trained that way from the magazines with their focus on product and also sketches are something that is used very very common we're going to be talking more about sketches later if you're not familiar with those it's basically like a blueprint for your page that's all laid out and you just have to follow along and put this photo here put this piece of paper here and you can mix it up with your products but you're following a preschool a schematic for your page so it's actually very, very common so do not feel that you are alone I would say that most people are very close to what what you do as well did he start with my theme then I find my colors that I get my paper then my design that my story that's really interesting that you bring in color I love that I love that there are a lot of very people who are very passionate about color in our industry and stacy julian for one is someone who is just an embrace her of color and she actually sorts her scrapbooking supplies by color versus that by type and it's just it's a personal preference there it's just how you think through am I going to look for some the green right here I'm going to look for aah button here and it works it just how how your mind works, but interesting. How has that been work house? I've been working for you. I feel like that it's how I scrapped because I've got different albums for different folders in my brain cat husband fishing, rowing you know? So I have different albums for different themes in my life and the color that's how I have to see things I can't have all manila folders in my file cabinet they I know that the yellow was my phone the pink is my girlfriends, you know, I'm that so I have to do it. It works for me that way. But, um, there's only so much story you could tell about your garden e oh, so I guess that that's why I'm putting it last? Yeah, yeah, maybe you feel like you've told the stories you want to tell you. Still photos you want to use, but the stories you mean you're running dry in the story area? Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, thank you, tracy. Um, well, I'm a little bit different situation since I design product I normally have a set product and supposed to work with or I'm working with that week, so I normally start with the product then pull in the photos, then figure out the design and then work on the story and what what it is that I want to say, and then the embellishments come last that's it. So does that make sense in terms of what I was saying about big picture, too small picture picture with the embellishments, then you kind of work down that way, or we're gonna depending on your perspective, okay, thank you really connected to that? I'm recently off a design team on so when I was working for a store, of course needed tio promote their product, and so my process was so different also recently, office sketch team, and so in that case and now that I'm getting to scrap the way I naturally dio I find that I'm about fifty fifty on whether I start with the story and look for the photo or have a cool photo and pull out the story and then always go to design next, then if a lot products story try and journaling, probably next and then embellishment is my tough area right a really hard time adding mawr after the journaling that's great that you're already working to port. Pull a story out of the photo and starting with the story sometimes, too, and there are times where we have that great photo. And it's this you know process does not have to be set in stone we're not becoming so nine thousand one sort of by you just you you can adapt but having a process that you could go back to again and again that most of the time gives you the result you want it's so helpful it just speeds things up so much and when you realize gosh if I just switched this one thing it just shifts everything both great thank you angela um I tend to start with the photos on dh then design because usually it's a matter of wanting to put like you know, a lot of picture yeah on the down as opposed to like yesterday doing nothing with just one picture was like giving me heart really there's a hundred and use one way we're gonna get teo so I tend to you know pick out the pictures that I want and I also think very visually to like I think the pictures when in succession they tell a story so so that's kind of why you know actual words are always just on the back burner because I feel like the pictures themselves if they're arranged in you know in a certain way they will tell the story that's so true yeah we're only gonna be looking at some pages today that with a particular design that is really effective for showing succession boring progression over time so so then you know, I go designed so it's either you know, looking at somebody's picture in a magazine or sometimes a sketch or whatever um and then the products because they I love them on then and then the story and then that's where I kind of fall short because the the design is done or the pages done and then right it's like there's a lot more to say but that wasn't in the sketch, so I don't know where to put it right right? And a photographer you made find that many of your pages the bulk of the story is told with the photos and as a result the words you still need some words to help complete that story but you you you start with photos earlier in the process because they are so strong there's people like me whose photos which kid is that? I can't even tell you is that one of mine? Yeah, yeah again being able to switch it up and do what works with you and feels good for the result you want is so important. Jane well being digital little different, I think than a lot of people you're a little different but I usually start with story which great you read as prompt from lane yeah and then I go to design, which would be a template because I'm totally a template user I swear by them then I picked the photo which usually takes the longest because I've got the story in my head I've got a template ready do I have enough photos or do I have a template that'll match the number of photos I have then the story then I go to pick a kid or whatever and then embellishments I'm very light on the embellishes that's great that's great and you feel good about better do you wish do you see value may be switching has a lot of time spinning my wheels looking for the photos to go with the story okay interesting. All right good all right, thank you. Thanks for sure. Are there any any and ideas in the chat room? That thing when I hear you giggling over here but something good going there are people that are carrying that project life cads ran with them and they're all the people say I'm too much for perfectionists for that so I'm just carrying my post it notes around with me to get my stuff down huh? And then there's a lot of embellishment people who are traumatized starting right at him and saying I got married in general people are just really flexible I think a lot of people here it changes now karen f says my process changes all the time often it starts with the pictures then to the template which is usually digital, then to the paper then embellishments and finally, the journaling and the stories with a lot of people are kind of thinking about that story later in the game. Maybe they should be thinking about it sooner, and they're struggling with the literally the fit of the writing give you hand running. I know I have this to unless you're one of those incredibly perfection people that actually laid out before you write it right? Hey, you know, you start getting all enthusiastic and it's gone and some people are saying, are we? Then we use the stickers and the labels that why, you know you're limited, huh? Huh? Yeah, yes, a general, just just I mean that's a just what people are very excited about the embellishments, for sure, it's like they want to get to all of that just liking it, right? Yeah, the thing on the birthday cake first ideo became he's a carrier. Yeah, that's so sure, and I think it can be a simple shift to moving story up to a more prominent pace place in the process and again, it doesn't have to be pages and pages of text. It doesn't have to be full paragraph it's just working, having those flexible options that we presented yesterday, whether it's a bullet list or numbers or just fill in the blanks and knowing that you can tell a story in many different ways to fit the design you want to use to fit the photos that you're using geek it just gives us so many more options but looking at the story earlier in the process so it's not an afterthought and sometimes also just knowing what the story is before you choose those other things can naturally weave the story through your your page the creation of your page the design becomes a function of the story the embellishments become a function of the story and it all pulls together and the pages the whole tells a story not just the words or not just the thing pictures I wanted to talk on one thing that angela brought up about the photos the single photo seems like if you look at galleries or or magazines there's a huge bias towards the single photo page and part of the reason and for that is they photograph so much better to put online or to put in a magazine you have for small photos it just doesn't look as good when you look at the magazine cause a picture so much smaller of the page so that's that's something to be aware of that it's a function it's sort of like high heels, they look great and photos but if you had to wear six inch high heels to go do the shopping you'd be you know not happy so you just questioning those things? Why is everybody doing this and not necessarily making it make you feel like you're doing something wrong or different because you choose to do something different than what everybody seems to be doing? Also, I think that I moved towards single photo pages when I started scrapbooking mohr stories because oftentimes especially stories about my past and I only have one photo so just tio against him to realize as you create your pages each step of the way thinking story how does this help support my story? Do I need for photos on the page? Was one going to be enough? Do I need twenty seven buttons? What is that telling? Is it distracting from the story or is it supporting this story? If it's a page about your your button collection, it might very well support your story, but if it's just there because you have them, then it might not might not be the best choice toe build a strong story. Okay, so we talked a little bit about our process this typically I just wanted to share with you is typically my process well, I'll have the photos developed beforehand through group book and I work from the group book or from photos that I've inherited or have on hand already and then I go to story I'll look at the photo and um and decide what the story is well, actually I'm not choosing a photo, but I'm developing the photo you see the difference so I have the photo there ready to be scrapped, booked and then I decide on the story like during scrapbook improv that's the first step what is the theme or title or subject of this page that I'll select the photo from there? Go to products meaning the background of the page card, stock pattern paper, the bigger page elements then I'll tell them I'll think about the story that I'm going to tell is it going to be told best through a fill in the blanks? A by the numbers ah list paragraphs lyrics what is how am I going to tell that story? I don't know that story is I'm just figure out what the words are going to be and then I go to design and embellishments at the end and oftentimes if you watch scrapbook improv with me, I'll go through the's steps and I'll be down here and I'll say, ok, I've got five minutes I can play with those embellishments because I'm timed to thirty minutes and if I went out of time I want to run out of time here, not story down here and have a page with no story I'd rather have page with no embellishments and this is a really forced environment when I'm doing scrapbook improv, because I'm I'm forcing myself to stick to thirty minutes. When you're doing it at home, you go thirty five forty five. Nobody's. The timer isn't good. The deck isn't getting quack. My iphone set to a duck, and it quacks at thirty minutes, and so you don't have a duck quacking at you. You can go on and add those couple of extra minutes on there.