Note from Ro: This Could Be the Most Important Muse You’ve Ever Read

Warning: This is a fairly long article, but an important one. I hope it will cause you to carefully think about your own record keeping. Are you doing it? Are you doing it well? Would your family be okay if you suddenly died, or would your lack of organization and record-keeping increase the level of suffering they experience?

The PROBLEM

I woke up in a panic. “What if something goes wrong in my surgery today? What if I don’t wake up? Or what if I get an infection that kills me? Or what if I get run over by a bus full of marauding Vikings as I cross the parking lot to the hospital door? What would Gary do? Has he been listening to me when I tell him where things are?”

The inner-voice quickly replied, “He has listened, but he didn’t understand. He’d be in trouble.”

Because the next day was pay day, I quickly ran downstairs and wrote a quick tutorial for Gary that explained the process of how to make sure the Scrap Girls designers get paid, then I printed it out. As he drove me to the hospital for my shoulder surgery, I told him where he could find the instructions. I told him that if anything should happen to me, the first call he should make would be to the accountant. “His name is Steve,” I said. “You can find his phone number in my cellphone. “

Even though I’ve had many surgeries before, there was something about this particular surgery on this particular day under these particular circumstances that made me realize that I am not invincible. I could die at any time – and without warning. Because I am the person in our family (and for the Scrap Girls company) who handles all the finances, makes the big decisions, and keeps the records, my unexpected and unprepared-for loss could potentially create hardship for a lot of people.

That’s not what I want. I do not want to leave a mess behind me. I want to be like my father who had so carefully prepared for his passing that the family had no problems, other than grieving for him.

I realized that I have far too many loose ends hanging about and that I haven’t put everything my family will need – and what I want them to have – together in one spot. If I had died that day, my family would have had to dig through a lot of files to find the name of my insurance agent. They would have to remember that my most important passwords are locked in a safe. They would have to stumble on our attorney’s contact information, which is currently attached to the inside of a cabinet door with blue tape. They would have to sort through the hundreds of contacts on my cell phone to try to figure out which people needed to be called.

They would have likely missed the thousands of family photos, large numbers of unprinted layouts, and six years of precious articles and books precariously stored on one of the internal drives on my desktop computer. If they had stumbled on the photos, layouts, and my writings, they wouldn’t know which things I want saved and put into a book and which things can be deleted.

They wouldn’t know that I have four DVDs containing Julianne’s wedding photos stored in a folder in the back of an office cabinet. They wouldn’t know that I have three old audio tapes containing interviews I did with my grandparents for a school project in a plastic box on a high shelf in the hall closet. They wouldn’t know that the home movie video I just moved onto my computer needs reformatting before it can be burned to a DVD, that I have accidentally dumped little home movies of our new granddaughter, Baylee, onto four different spots on my computer, and that some of my handwritten journals contain letters I’ve written to my children to be read after my death.

I’ve done a great deal of thinking about this situation, trying to figure out how it happened and what I need to do to repair it since my surgery. I have considered how I could tie everything together in a way that not only made everything accessible and locatable, but enjoyable for them to look at. I’ve looked for solutions that would clearly communicate, “This is who your mother was. This is what was important to her. This is evidence that she loved you very much.”

My SOLUTION

The answer began to peek its head in the door the day I printed out the Presentation Digital Scrapbook 1-2-3 album I had made about Miss Baylee. The whole process was so easy in comparison to what I usually go through when I print out my digital scrapbooking layouts.

I saved the layouts as JPG (image) files. Then because they were sized at 8.5×11 inches, I was able to quickly print them out through the Windows print option. (Right-click on the image and choose Print from the pop-up menu.)
The glorious edge-to-edge layouts came shooting out of the printer looking as beautiful as if a lab had printed them. And then, because they were 8.5×11 inches, I didn’t have to trim them before putting them in a special album, as I do with 8×8-inch square prints. All I had to do was print them on standard-sized photo paper and slip them into standard page protectors from the office supply store, then place them in a standard three-ring binder. The whole process took approximately 5-10 minutes.

It was such a clean, easy experience, and it reminded me of the many 8.5×11-inch paper scrapbooking albums I had created before 12×12-inch paper forced its way into the scrapbooking scene about a decade ago.

Here are some pages from the paper scrapbook I created that completely covers the first 18 years of my life. It is a historical scrapbooking document and includes some of the hot trends of the time – like scissors that create edges and sticker sneezes. I wasn’t clever enough to measure something before I cut them out so my edges are pretty funky-looking. But I love it anyway. I particularly love how I included things like letters and music I wrote in junior high. Anyone that looks through this book will have a pretty good idea of who I was.

I made a lot of 8.5×11-inch scrapbooks in the old days and loved the size because it was so convenient. But everything changed when scrapbooking moved to the 12×12-inch size.

A Little “Bet You Didn’t Know This” True Story

As it happens, because of the position I once held with a major scrapbooking manufacturer, I know the complete story about how 12×12-inch layouts came to be and why 8.5×11 fell out of favor. I’ll spare you many of the details, but will say that it had little to do with artistic value and practicality and everything to do with profit.

(Not that I’m saying it’s a bad thing that they wanted to make money because companies need to make money to survive. That’s a fact of life. It’s just that through this particular initiative, most scrapbookers came to believe that in order to make “real” layouts, they needed to work at 12×12 and that they should abandon the size that is easier and less expensive to produce  – 8.5×11. My belief is that any size you choose to use is the correct size for your layouts!)

The company that was behind the trend was a very powerful player at the time. They realized that if they cut rolls of papers into squares instead of rectangles (12×12 instead of 8.5×11), they would not only save money by having less cutting waste, they would make more money for the sheets of paper because they could charge more money for each sheet of paper.  They also realized that if they could convince scrapbookers to make layouts that were any size other than 8.5×11, they would create additional revenue streams because scrapbookers who switched from 8.5×11 to 12×12 would need to buy special albums, page protectors, and photo frames to protect their layouts. Scrapbookers could no longer use inexpensive office supplies for their albums.

Prior to getting a job for that company, I always scrapped at 8.5×11, not buying into the idea that I needed to purchase the more expensive supplies. After I got my job, I began to feel that my scrapbooks were kind of dumb and that the only way I could produce good layouts was if I used 12×12 papers. By the time I started Scrap Girls, I had bought into the logic that 12×12 products were best because people could always cut the papers down.

Only problem is, that’s not always true. Many times, the pretty edges of the papers are wrecked when you cut down a 12×12 to an 8.5.x11.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll tell you about what we’re doing about that problem in a bit. But for now, it’s time to get back to the story of how I came to decide to start making 8.5×11 layouts again.…

How I Came to My Decision

When I held that 8.5×11 book containing my Presentation Digital Scrapbook 1-2-3 about Miss Baylee in my hand that day, I was suddenly seized with a strong desire to move everything I have into 8.5×11 books. My mind sort of opened up, and I saw that if I was brave enough to convert back to the 8.5×11 size (and swim against the size-tide which that very influential scrapbooking company had created in the world), office supplies of all types existed that would allow me to store everything I needed to file together in a series of three-ring binders.

In 8.5×11 binders, I can store…

• My scrapbooking layouts
• Unused photos on contact sheets
• My writing (printed out)
• Music I have written
• DVDs containing the original PSD, JPGs and .doc files held in that particular folder.
• DVDs containing family home movies and historical audio files
• DVDs containing all of the original photos that are contained in that album
• Handwritten letters
• Drawings
• Certificates
• Memorabilia
• Financial, legal documents, and directions my family will need when I pass away
• And much more….

You see, in the real world, 8.5×11 is the standard; 12×12 and 8×8 are not. I could see that if I was willing to switch back to the standard paper size, my ability to gather and store anything I consider historically significant would dramatically improve.

Nature vs. Fashion

A few days later, as I was mulling through my thoughts about 8.5×11 versus 12×12, I suddenly realized why it has always been much harder for me to create 12×12 layouts than 8.5×11 layouts. It has to do with the Golden Mean. This topic deserves an article or two of its own, so I’ll save that for another day. But the part that is pertinent to this discussion is that we don’t see in squares. We see in rectangles. When we look through our eyes’ window, the shape is rectangular. This is why TV and movie screens are rectangles. This is why your camera viewfinder is a rectangle. Rectangles are everywhere and are the basis of good design. Trained artists know that the proper use of certain points in the rectangle (called the eyes of the rectangle) will result in superior artwork.

A 12×12 layout is a square layout. Creating a well-designed, balanced square layout is much more difficult than creating a well-designed rectangular layout because when you are working with squares, you are fighting against nature. It is possible – obviously, because we see so many glorious 12×12 layouts around – but it is harder, and as a result, whenever I see a “poor” layout, the problem is almost always related to the individual’s difficulties in making a good 12×12 layout.

No wonder people have such a hard time arranging scrapbooking layouts well. They are fighting nature! And no wonder I have often felt like I was suffering as I struggled to make a layout look and feel “right” to me!

As all of this ran through my mind – that it would be easier for me to create, print, and store 8.5×11 layouts, and that by changing over, I would be able to put all of my records together so much easier. When I realized this, began to feel more excited about scrapbooking and record keeping than I had in nearly a decade.

I immediately started working on my books – which I have dubbed my Life Books – and am having a ball coming up with solutions for converting everything to fit in them – even my square layouts.

Over the next year, I am going to share my Life Books creation project with you in the Scrap Girls newsletters. I’ll show you what kinds of things I’m including, how I’m including them, techniques, supplies, ideas, and much more.

What is a Life Scrapbook?

Just to review, a Life Scrapbook (a term I coined) is a collection of any and all things related to your life story. It contains layouts, photos, memorabilia, DVDs, important documents, writing, drawings, legal documents, and more. It is the bringing together of all of the bits of your life that you have flung about in various corners. A Life Scrapbook tells the whole story – paints the picture of your life with a single, wider brush stroke. A Life Scrapbook is the removal of life’s categories. It is the simplification of storage and allows anyone to quickly find anything related to your life and memory-keeping without a fuss.

Scrap Girls Has Decided to Make it Easier to Scrap at 8.5×11

As I began to cruise the Boutique looking for products I could use in my Life Scrapbooks, I came across the paper section and became painfully aware that we were making it hard to scrap at 8.5×11. So many of our 12×12 papers have lovely edges and patterns that will be ruined if they are cut down to 8.5×11. A 12×12 album template needs serious rearranging and rescaling to be successfully used for the 8.5×11 size. It can be done, but it isn’t super easy – and the point of album templates is to make the layout-creating process simple and fast.

Obviously, I can’t wave a magic wand over the Scrap Girls Boutique and have it filled with 8.5×11 products. But I have taken steps to help people who want to make 8.5×11 layouts in the future have a better experience.

1. Our designers have begun to release products in the 8.5×11 size, along with the usual 12×12 size – particularly papers. I have released my own sets, too, creating a couple of nice basics that can be used repeatedly.
2. I requested that our designers – as many as want to – create some 8.5×11 ScrapSimple Paper Templates so that people can use them to add pretty edges to papers, when cutting down a 12×12 paper cuts them off. This will allow people who have already purchased a ton of 12×12 papers – or who want to get something that is not in the 12×12 size – to enjoy what we have. To get the ball rolling, I’ve released my own set of edges.
3. I’ve set up two size categories so that people who are looking for specifically designed 4×6 and 8.5×11 products can easily locate what we have. Keep an eye on them because you’ll see them grow.

How You Can Help

If you are someone who loves 8.5×11 layouts (or who is now interested in making them), you can help us help you.

• When you see 8.5×11 products that you like, please buy them. Your purchase of those products is a big vote for the size and tells the designers, “It is not a waste of time designing for me!” (It takes extra work to create both 12×12 and 8.5×11 versions of things.)
• When you see something in the Boutique that you would particularly enjoy having in the 8.5×11 size, send an email to hello@scrapgirls.com and let us know. We’ll pass your request along to the designer.
• When you make 8.5×11 layouts, share them in the Scrap Girls Gallery. As 8.5×11 layouts start to appear on a regular basis, you’ll give courage to other people who are interested in giving the size a whirl.
• If you have any thoughts or feelings about making 8.5×11 layouts, share them on the Forum and/or send us email. We’d truly love to hear what you think.

Here’s the new 8.5×11 Category
http://store.scrapgirls.com/category/212

For the convenience of people who enjoy making 4×6 layouts, we’ve created a new category for it, too!

4×6 Product Category
http://store.scrapgirls.com/category/213

A New Boutique Category – Life Scrapbooks

One day, as I talked to Angie about my project, we went out to the Boutique and started looking for products I could use for it. It didn’t take long to realize that over the years, we have accumulated a lot of truly neat things that are getting lost in the shuffle. We have all sorts of templates, brushes, papers, embellishments, and more that would be perfect for organizing and documenting life in an organized fashion.

Angie spent a fair amount of time going through the Boutique and has compiled them into a new Boutique Category named Life Books. It has all sorts of date-related materials, planners, journaling helps, and items that lend themselves well to telling stories, telling your family history, and things that will help you review and plan your life. Take a swing by and check it out. I think you’ll enjoy it very much!

http://store.scrapgirls.com/category/210

Here’s the Start of My First Life Scrapbook

Obviously, I want to put all of my existing layouts in these Life Books. I decided to put them on 8.5×11 backgrounds – two to a page. I reduced the original layouts to 45 percent, and it works great. The pages look balanced, the type is readable, and there is just enough room for me to add additional journaling to explain what I was thinking when I created the layouts. Showing four layouts in one blow is also a nice way to group things.  The big surprise for me is that just placing them on the 8.5×11 background makes them feel more balanced to me.

I guess my eyes like rectangles.

When I do this, I plan to always group them by theme and, if possible, by color. I am now going through the process of printing every single layout I’ve ever made like this.

I love that I can show four layouts of Julianne in one spread.

This spread shows how I have begun to migrate my muses into the book. I’m using ScrapSimple Layout Templates to make this easier.  I think they look great. The 8.5×11 size gives them a magazine-like feel and increases their readability.

About Printing My Layouts

Because I decided to move everything into these Life Books – and by that, I mean everything – I was fairly worried about the expense of reprinting layouts I had already printed. But my nice Canon Pixma iP4500 printer has saved my bacon. It is so easy on ink that I’ve barely used 1/3 of the color tanks to print out about two-and-a-half years’ worth of layouts. I figured out the other day that it is costing me less than .60 a page – paper and all.

Not bad.

If you are ever in need of a new printer, I highly recommend Canon Pixma printers. Just make sure you buy the kind with individual color tanks. You need to do that because you will go through more yellow and magenta than cyan (blue). My printer has two black ink cartridges. One of them – the small one – is used by the printer when it prints out photos. The other one is what it uses when it prints out text.

Go to Amazon and read the reviews. Any printer that photographers are raving about is a good choice. That’s how I picked this one. I knew that if professional photographers love it and use it with their business, I couldn’t go wrong.

Printing 8.5×11 layouts is as easy as right-clicking on the layout file, because my Canon Printer understands that when an image is 8.5×11, it needs to print edge-to-edge. All I have to do is select the paper type I am printing on. This has made it possible for me to print out every layout I make as soon as I make it. Since I hadn’t printed out any layouts in about three years prior to beginning work on my Life Books (I just never seemed to get around to it), this is a big leap forward. My husband grabbed the book the other day and had the best time looking at it. He has decided that he thoroughly approves of my project.

No more layout printing backlog for me! All of my layouts will make it into my books as soon as they are created!

To Wrap It Up

Now you have the backstory of my Life Book project. And now, you are prepared for what is coming your way, starting tomorrow, in these special notes from me to you. I’ve spent a fair amount of time putting together something that I hope you’ll enjoy very much!

But I won’t spoil the surprise! Just keep your eyes peeled on your Inbox.

See ya tomorrow!
Ro

Note: taken from the December 27th, 2011 newsletter