Browsing Category

Layouts

Albums, Layouts, Scrapbooking, Tips and Tricks

Norway 2018 // Starting (and simplifying) a big vacation album

This summer, we got to go on a five-week vacation back to Norway. It was a really good trip that I knew I wanted to scrapbook, but the thought of cramming five weeks of non-stop adventure memories into one album was kind of daunting.

There’s no way I would ever be able to scrapbook such a long trip chronologically, so in order to not feel overwhelmed by the project, I decided to split the album up into sections. This made the whole thing seem much more organized and doable, at least in my head.

I ended up with four separate sections, plus a mini section each for the plane travel to and from Norway.

On the back of my opening page, I created a pocket using a flight map from the in-flight magazine and the menu of the restaurant where we had lunch before our flight (Floret at SeaTac – Cafe Flora’s sister restaurant, so good!). I used it to hold our tickets and some flight ephemera.

Each of the main sections gets a full page photo with a half circle and a stamped title – I decided to stamp as messily as possible so I wouldn’t have to get all perfectionistic and sit there fiddling with the stamps for three hours.

After the opening page, each section has a divided 3×8 page protector with a short introduction. The circle embellishment combo I used is an idea that I totally stole from @klisterprinsessan – I used journaling spots from old Ali Edwards kits and circle stickers from this year’s summer release.

The first section is about my parents’ summer house, which is where we spent most of our trip and is what I view as my home in Norway. I miss it so much!

The next section is about the people we spent time with there – grandparents, aunts and uncles, old friends.

Section number three is about the three-day trip JK and I took to the mountains, which was such a wonderful, relaxing (even though we hiked or ran every day) getaway for us.

I collected tons of memorabilia on this trip, and I’m trying to use a lot of it in the album, like this map and really well-designed circle logos from brochures I found.

The last section is about my sister-in-law’s wedding, the main event of our vacation!

This section is full of all sorts of stuff: programs, hymns, JK’s handwritten speech, a bag of confetti…and it’s going to be epically cute once I get photos of Nora and Lily as flower girls in there!

The album ends with the flight home…that blue thing in the back is a barf bag from the plane, which I’m using to hold the tickets. Heh.

Since this album is going to be full of really busy photos, I’m keeping the rest of the design simple – white journaling cards, typed journaling, stamps, and a handdrawn black line. (This page is about how we ran into former Prime Minister of Norway and current Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, on a hike! It was such an ultra-Norwegian experience.)

For now, the rest of the album looks like this: random photos, journaling cards, and memorabilia here and there.

(These photos are of me, the girls, and their grandparents in front of the summer house in 2015, 2016, and 2018!)

I’ve written a list of important things to remember, so there’s no rush in finishing this album – I can just jump in and work on it when I feel inspired or want to reminisce.

Dividing a project like this into themed chunks is definitely the way to go for me!

October 2, 2018 by Ingunn Markiewicz

Hiking, Layouts, Scrapbooking, Top Trips

From Life to Layout // Beaver Lake

I’m unfortunately crawling along down deep in the dumps these days, but I am doing everything I can to climb back up. One of those things is to get outside and move – I think what kicked this depression off was not being able to run after Sun Mountain due to a little injury – I really need to get back into it, because it’s what makes up the difference between Ingunn as a useless lump and Ingunn as a fully functional, content human. Another thing is to be mindful, and to take notice of life around me (versus just counting down the hours until I can go to bed).

The new Story Kit, Learn, prompted me to combine these two things. We were going on a family hike – nothing big, just wandering as far as we felt like on the PCT south from Snoqualmie Pass (we turned around at Beaver Lake instead of hiking all the way to Mexico), and I decided to actively seek out life lessons from the day.

Nora came prepared with her very own map, and she would stop at regular intervals to check said map and make sure we were in the right place. I love this kid.

She is just wonderful in general. See, it’s so frustrating to go through depression as a parent – not only is it difficult because I can’t just take a mental health day off, but there’s also this guilt that comes along with objectively seeing how amazing my life is and how lucky I am, yet here I am not wanting to get out of bed in the morning.

Luckily, depression doesn’t mean that I can’t feel happiness – this day was so good. These ups keep me going through the downs.

Oh, and here’s a bonus life lesson that didn’t make it onto my scrapbook page: all this rain comes with a silver lining – mushrooms! Nora found her first king bolete! She was so proud.

And just like rain brings with it delicious mushrooms, these gloomy times of mine have silver linings as well – mindfulness, intense empathy, and deep appreciation of the good, little things in life.

I scrapbooked this using the Learn Story Kit, of course, since that was the prompt of this little experiment. I love, love, love the photo of me and Nora, so I enlarged it and added one of the digital stamps from the kit as my title.

I kept all my journaling on page two, divided into the different life lessons:

Everything is a phase // I’ve always tended toward all-or-nothing thinking, so when things change for the worse, I immediately assume that OHMIGOD LIFE WILL BE LIKE THIS FOREVER. But parenthood has taught me that life is full of transitory stages that feel endless when you’re in them (morning sickness, inconsolable newborns, tantruming toddlers), and that they do in fact end and life goes back to being pretty damn awesome. The tantrumorama of this morning did not, as I immediately feared, ruin the day. This too shall pass, and that includes this current phase of life where depression is doing its damnedest to take hold again.

Just get outside // Hiking is my number one antidepressant, but it’s hard to take your meds when you’re in the thick of things. But it’s pretty clear that everyone, young and old, feels better outside. Troubles melt away and bodies relax. Wifi is replaced with mountain views and fall colors and family songs. Muscles warm up and lungs fill with fresh air and endorphins course through our bloodstreams, leaving us high on life and blissfully tired.

Skills are built, not born // Nora has been working on finding her trail legs since she first hit Tiger Mountain at ten days old. There have been a lot of stumbles and missteps, but she gets back up and keeps on going. (At one point today, she stopped and said “last time I fell off a rock here and started crying and threw my sunglasses!” – that was a year ago! How does she even remember that?) You can’t keep harping on your kids to keep practicing yet tell yourself that you are useless and untalented and uncreative because you lack certain skills. You just need the courage to work on those skills.

Be true to yourself // Nora’s hiking fashion picks of today included unicorn pants, a rainbow tutu, and a badge from a tech conference in 2016, and she wore it all with pride. Don’t worry that you are not fitting into someone else’s narrow view of what life should look like. Do what works for you and your family.

The journey matters more than the destination // Today we didn’t even have a destination! We just set off south-bound on the PCT and moseyed along, picking mushrooms and berries and enjoying each other’s company. Nora found her first porcini and she was so proud. Be present. Be mindful. Don’t let life pass you by while you struggle to find the summit.

I used embossed number stamps along the side, then gelatos to create little watercolor blobs around them. (I used too much water around number one and kind of messed it up, but whatevs.)

I added a 6×12 photo pocket in the middle with four extra photos. In the center pocket I attached that great wood veneer “life lessons” piece to some vellum, and on the back I put some lyrics from a song that was stuck in my head during the hike: Springa by Ane Brun. (It’s from a new movie about Astrid Lindgren that I am just dying to see!)

I didn’t include the photo of Nora with the bolete, because it occurred to me that I’ve never scrapbooked about the fact that we love to forage for mushrooms! So I’m saving that photo for a future page full of…fungal fun. I can sneak my silver-lining-of-rain life lesson onto that page instead.

October 1, 2018 by Ingunn Markiewicz

Hiking, Layouts, Mount Rainier, Scrapbooking, Top Trips

From Life to Layout // A Weekend in Paradise

Back in July, I was able to join the Alpine Trails Book Club for a night of camping in Mount Rainier National Park! The premise is so simple but genius – pick a book to read, then gather to discuss the book in a place that is somewhat related to the book. In June, we read Dirt Work and joined a trail work party with Washington Trails Association. This time, the book was A Year in Paradise by Floyd Schmoe…so naturally, this amazing, impressive, bad-ass group of women met in Paradise on Mount Rainier.

We stood together underneath Comet Falls, the spray a very welcome shower on a hot day, in awe of the sheer majesticness of it all. I’m not usually a waterfall person, but this place? This place was cool.

We traipsed together through blankets of avalanche lilies in Van Trump Park.

We saw the sunset together from Pinnacle Saddle.

We camped together in the Cougar Rock Campground, sharing food and stories and gear.

For me, the camping was the biggest part – it meant that I spent my first night ever away from Nora and Lily. A bittersweet but oh so important rite of passage of motherhood.

On Sunday morning, we headed out on the main event – hiking around Paradise while ~~stalking marmots~~ discussing our book.

I had read A Year in Paradise over ten years ago, back when I first started hiking. This was during a period when I was binge-reading anything I could get my hands on about hiking or mountaineering in the Pacific Northwest, so I couldn’t really remember many details. Rereading it, I was surprised by what a charming, inspiring book it really is – maybe I am just able to enjoy it more now that I am old and grizzled. Walking around in Floyd Schmoe’s old stomping grounds while discussing his book with fellow outdoorsy bibliophiles was nothing short of magical.

This weekend meant a lot to me, so I wanted to give it lots of real estate in my scrapbook – I absolutely did not want to whittle down my photos too much, because looking at them brings me lots of happy feels!

There’s a lot going on in the photos, so I didn’t want to detract from them by using lots of embellishments. I made the opening page with the Adventure Story Kit from Ali Edwards, and for the rest of the pages I just used photos, typed journaling, stamps, and handdrawn lines. (In case you’re wondering – why yes, I did in fact attempt to draw those lines straight. #talentedartist)

The stamp set I used is Roam from Kelly Purkey. I knew I wanted to use it for this trip even before I left, because the “widen your boundaries” sentiment worked perfectly for my mom’s weekend away.

I collected some memorabilia, but didn’t feel like doing anything more creative with it than stuffing it in a page protector. S’fine.

…and I was pretty stoked to be able to legitimately use the bears from the stamp set because we actually did see a bear! I haven’t seen a bear in the wild since a couple of weeks before Nora was born, so I’m happy that my ursine drought is over.

We stopped by the Paradise Inn, of course, the place where Floyd Schmoe and his wife, Ruth, spent the winter essentially snowed in (picture The Shining, but with adorable, adventurous honeymooners). I picked up a plush marmot for the girls (okay, so really it’s for me, because…I collect plush marmots) in the gift shop – I managed to make it back before bedtime, and Nora and I decided that Schmoe would be the perfect name for this particular marmot.

Loved the book, loved the places we went, loved the companionship of other women, loved the widening of my boundaries.

September 19, 2018 by Ingunn Markiewicz

Hiking, Layouts, Mount Rainier, Scrapbooking, Top Trips

From Life to Layout // Kelly Butte

One of my favorite things about having kids is how everything feels like an adventure now. Ever since my pregnancy with Nora, we have explored lots of trails that our previous snooty selves looked down on because they were “too short”. We didn’t think they were worth the drive. Well, whatever, Former Self, these trails rock. Especially this one: Kelly Butte. 3.4 miles, 1100 feet of elevation gain. Oh, and at the top, you’ll find a fire lookout with a view straight to Mount Rainier (Rainier was hiding a bit this time, but that just gives us an excuse to go back).

But even cooler than the lookout was the trail up through the rocks to get there – steep, rocky switchbacks climbing between rock spires that gave me massive Picnic at Hanging Rock vibes (aka the creepiest movie in the history of mankind and the reason why hearing even one note of pan flute music gives me the shivers).

I was worried about how Nora would do and almost considered turning back, but I’m telling you, that trail made her come alive. She loved it. On the flat trail out of the parking lot, we had to bribe her with crackers and sing songs to keep her moving, but on this rocky stuff she turned into a little mountain goat who was living her best life. It was so cool to see.

So these days, a 3.4 mile hike is not a too-short, hour-long jaunt. It’s a full-day adventure, filled with mind-blowing experiences for the girls and memories I will try to hold on to forever. This one is definitely in the running for best hike of the year.

Speaking of trying to hold on to memories – of course I scrapbooked this. My favorite way to document things like this right now – because it’s fast and it allows me to include lots of photos – is the ol’ regular layout + pocket page combo. This time I ended up with two 9×12 pages in order to have room for all the words as well, plus enlargements of my favorite photos. I used the Adventure Story Kit from Ali Edwards – the adventure/outdoor theme combined with pink was a really refreshing change from the typical grungy greens you usually get with outdoorsy scrapbook products.

September 10, 2018 by Ingunn Markiewicz

Albums, Layouts, Scrapbooking

Actually finishing albums

Depression came sneaking back up on me in June, and I am handling it in my usual ways. More exercise (I stopped running for a while after Sun Mountain due to a sore foot, which is what I suspect triggered this bout of depression), better food, attempting to sleep more, and prioritizing more time to myself. Another thing I find really important is to set little goals for myself, which serves double duty: it adds a sense of purpose to my days, however small it may be, and it gives a small but very important boost when/if I complete it. Having to complete an entire album for Ali’s travel class actually helped me a lot in the first half of June, and the sense of accomplishment was so good (if you have ever been depressed, you might know how huge something like that felt for me at that time).

I wanted to keep that feeling going, so inspired by Ali’s other current workshop, Stories of Travel (registration closes tonight!), I decided to tackle an old, half-finished album. This was one I started in 2009 and that I really loved, so it has annoyed me to no end that I never got my act together to finish it.

Here’s what it looked like last Tuesday:

Here are some of the spreads I made for it in 2009:

Luckily it’s a very simple album, which meant that I could finish it very quickly. The only supplies I needed were:

– white cardstock
– fonts (Century Gothic for journaling, CK Becky for the “handwritten” titles and Modern No. 20 for the rest of the titles)
– this butterfly design for my Silhouette machine

I made a cover and an opening page:

I created more spreads using the same kinds of designs I used in 2009, and tried to make sure my journaling flowed reasonably well as a continuing story versus just the random pages/memories I had gotten down back then.

I found some extra bits of memorabilia to add between the pages.

(Heh, that photo of us at the restaurant is actually two 3×4 photos of us sitting on opposite ends of the table, but I printed them together to fit in the 6×4 pocket and at first glance it totally looks like we’re sitting next to each other, albeit with awkward body language!)