Which comes first, the hobby or life? Obviously, life wins every time. Slow down yet again.
I'm still struggling through the self-designed mini-album. One agonizing page at a time. It's not as bad as that, I'm having fun in the creating, but find it amazing how much still remains a challenge. Especially the mechanical aspects. If I could ever commit to a dedicated Crop group, there would be an explosion of creativity and skills from which to draw.
I'm hoping for the luxury of creating a few designed albums before the end of the year... particularly those on YouTube I still drool over. Over the past several weeks the complete Tropical Travelogue and Le Cirque collection pieces have filtered into the house. I was surprised today when finding the Le Cirque 8x8 pad; something never expected! Several weeks ago I posted a link to a YouTube video featuring a flip-flap album created from the Le Cirque collection. With the 12x12 pad in hand I thought to pull together the measurement to get the album started. Of course, in the manner all too familiar now, the album was built using the 8x8 pad. Naturally. The 12x12 could have been used, but when completely unfolded, would measure 36 inches long and over 24 high. The problem with these proportions become abundantly clear. A mega mini??? Purpose defeated.
It's taken awhile to decide where and to whom the albums will ultimately go. I plan to make a childhood scrapbook for each of the boys, and one each for my sister and one brother. Insofar as these gifts go, each will be copied versions of other albums. The total lack of self-generated creativity will always work against my favour; yet, it's possible that, in time, it may all click together some day.
G45 came out with a line of pigment inks that takes the guess work out of colour coordination decisions. That's very exciting news for partially colour-blind individuals! In the latest haul I bought two of the five available colours, and will buy the other three over the next month.
The Mister celebrated his birthday this week and I created a stunning tag instead of the usual card. As soon as the weather clears, and the pain isn't as crippling, I hope to photograph and post it here. Again, there were several unanticipated mechanical problems, but was able to overcome them without great interruption. This was the first full size tag I've created and was very pleased with the results. See? Some of this may eventually rub off into real creativity.
I hope to get a real jump on the Tropical Travelogue project this week. The plan is to create one page from a tutorial and one from my own creativity. That's the plan... now to make it a reality.
