Let's Get Ready for LOAD!

Welcome to the February Pre-LOAD blog hop! If you are visiting from Connie's blog (or any of the Pre-LOAD blogs), a warm welcome to you.

February brings Lain Ehmann's semi-annual LOAD (Layout A Day challenge). During this month long challenge, a big group of fun scrapbookers strive to make one scrapbook layout a day. Lain sends out inspiring video & photo prompts each day and you can create a layout using that prompt or just make a page on your own. Everyone posts their layouts in a special group on Flickr and we interact on our Flickr message board. If you are interested in joining us, check out Lain's blog at www.layoutaday.com.

This Feb 2014 LOAD challenge will be my 8th time participating. In anticipation of this Blog Hop, I thought it would be interesting to see how many layouts I made each time.

LOAD 2-09: 28 layouts
LOAD 10-09: 36 layouts
LOAD 2-10: 41 layouts
LOAD 10-10: 19 layouts
LOAD 2-11: 29 layouts
LOAD 5-11: 4 layouts
LOAD 5-12: 8 layouts
LOAD 2-12: 27 layouts

As you can see my output varies greatly through the years. Truthfully, success should not be measured in the number of layouts completed. In the early LOAD challenges, I tried hard to make a layout a day so I could win the overall grand prize. Its very easy to get caught up in the camaraderie of the message board and seeing everyone's great layouts on Flickr. But as the years went on, it became harder for me to participate fully because everyday life kept getting in the way. Those months that I made only a few layouts were disappointing at first but in hindsight they were the only layouts I made that year and for that I am thankful.

In preparation for this upcoming challenge, I thought I'd share my tips for successful LOAD -

1. GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER
aka catch up on your household chores, to-do lists, etc
Truth be told, when scrapbooking each and every day, the house gets ignored and things get put off. So its best to start off with a relatively clean house, well stocked fridge, and all the laundry done. Once you start scrapbooking, all these will fall off your radar screen for a while!

2. PREPARE MEALS IN ADVANCE
This is part of the getting things in order but its important enough to warrant its own number! The week before LOAD I double up on the dinners I made, freezing the extra for the following month. I fully stock my fridge with everything my family needs so there's no need to run to the grocery store more often than necessary. I also have ingredients on hand for easy to put together casseroles and crock pot meals which I rely on heavily during LOAD month. Here are some of my favorite make-ahead or crock pot recipes that my family loves:

Super Short Ribs
Pork Stew in Green Salsa
Slow Cooker Taco Soup

3. STOCK UP ON NECESSARY SCRAPBOOK SUPPLIES
Yes, its quite possible to run out of adhesive and your basic cardstock colors so make sure you have plenty onhand to keep you going for the whole month. Nothing ruins your groove more than to run out of your tape runner refill mid-layout. Also organize your supplies as best you can so you know what you have and where you can find it.

4. LOOK THROUGH YOUR PHOTOS
I store my photos in the Library of Memories way (a la Stacy Julian) which means photos to be possibly scrapbooked are in storage binders and other photos filed in Category Drawers. Before LOAD, I like to spend some time looking through these photos which will remind you of why you scrapbook and what stories you would still like to tell. Make a list of page ideas as they come up. This will be helpful when you may be running out of steam toward the end of the month. And just looking through your photos gets your mojo up and running. Warning though, this could also be a time-sucker as you get carried away with the photos and memories.

5. MAKE MINI PAGE KITS
When I am going through my photos and I see specific ones I definitely know I want to make a page with, I pull them out of their storage binder. I will immediately pull out matching cardstock, patterned paper, and any embellishments I know I want to use for them. And I make a pile so I have sets of paper,cardstock,photos right on top of each other. This is VERY helpful to me so when Lain's prompt comes in the morning, I can pull out the page kit I put together that may apply and get started right away. I might not end up using the exact papers I pulled out for the photos but at least its a starting point. For me, picking supplies out takes the most time.

6. REMEMBER THE PAGE DOESN'T HAVE TO BE DONE ALL AT ONCE
For me, it is hard to find a long chunk of time during any given day to do an entire layout during one sitting. So I break the process up into pieces. So ideally in the morning, I read/watch the day's prompt and mull it over while drinking my coffee. Next few minutes I have will be to quickly pull out pictures and papers to match (or pull out one of the mini-page kits I assembled above). During the course of the day whenever I have time I will think or quickly jot down journaling and photo placement for my page. And then at the end of the day I will put together the layout (i.e. glue down) I have already assembled in my head or physically during that day. Then its a quick photograph and posting in the gallery.

7. HAVE FUN
What I love most about Lain's LOAD challenge is the great people who participate, the endless supply of inspiration Lain provides, and the interaction on the message boards and comments on each other's layouts. So if you are committed to participating, try to engage fully with what's going on in the Flickr group. The whole process is a LOT more fun that way!

And lastly.....

8. KEEP THE END IN MIND

I'm quoting a phrase frequently used by Becky Higgins. Remember why you are doing this. When things get rough during the month and you want to quit or skip a day, remember your goal. There is an amazing feeling of accomplishment when there's a stack of completed layouts (no matter how many) ready to be put into albums.

And believe it or not, making a layout a day gets easier as the month goes on. You just get in a groove, you stop worrying about the perfect paper or embellishments, and you just create. And then you wonder how you managed to squeeze all that scrapbooking in and where all your time goes!

I'm so happy to be a part of this Blog Hop. I hope that I've been helpful to those who are new to LOAD. Just writing this post has gotten me excited for next month and I realize that I need to start getting ready. February 1st is only a few days away!!

Cara's blog is up next but here's the entire hop list in case you missed any!

Kelli www.useitscrapbooking.com/
Dani scrapperonthestreet.com
Valerie myrainbowcoalition.blogspot.com/
Karen photoskeptalive.wordpress.com/
Danielle ecoscrapbook.blogspot.com/
Connie clickychickcreates.com/
Sherrie littlebitofeverythingme.blogspot.com <----- You are here
Cara www.vincens.typepad.com/ <----- Your next stop
Heather noexcusescrapbooking.com/
Kim gma654.blogspot.com
Christy myscrapbookevolution.blogspot.com/
Lisa E lisae-design.blogspot.com/
Lisa H lisahausmann.blogspot.com

Thanks for stopping by. And thanks to Lisa H. for organizing this all.
See you around the Hop and look forward to all the fun with you in Feb!