Layout-A-Day

May is a busy month for me; work gets crazy, I’m signed up for an eight week photography workshop that starts on May 1st. I love the layout-a-day challenge but I was not going to sign up.

Then, I kept seeing these tweets from Laine Ehmann. I think I understand how an addict must feel; I couldn’t stop myself from signing up for one more round! This will mark my fourth challenge and I love it every time. Above is the layout I created to capture my first month. It was really successful and I always get way more accomplished than I think I will and certainly more than I would have on my own. Even if I don’t complete a layout every single day, I will enjoy myself every single day.

But, it starts in three days and I’m not ready! Here are a few things I always like to do to set myself up for success:

1. Make a list. Laine is great about sending out a daily prompt, but I have found that I’m just not that good at following along that way. I tend to need to let an idea fester for a while. Sometimes a prompt will spark something that I do a few days later, but I need to have a list of things that I can pull from.
2. Check my supplies. I’m going more and more digital in my scrapbooking, but I still go back to paper now and again and I have a couple of go-to items that I wouldn’t want to run out of. Mostly adhesive, 12 x 12 kraft cardstock and 8.5 x 11 textured white cardstock. My three most important staples.
3. Take some photos. While I have thousands of photos already on my computer, sometimes having fresh photos on hand makes a difference. I really love scrapping with brand new and really old photos and try to make sure both are available.
4. Print some photos. I just picked up a batch of photos from a recent trip to Disneyland so I’ve got that covered.
5. Plan some meals. Especially with everything else going on this month, I want to make sure my family eats (while I’m practicing taking their picture and then scrapping it!).
6. Set my mind. I like to take a bit of time, generally while I’m working on my list, to get my mind in the space to set out on a creative adventure. This is the kind of thing that can make a girl crazy if you let it. I’m not really down with that. I love the community, I love the challenge and I love the outcome. That’s what I want to stay focused on.

There’s still time left if you want to take the challenge with me! Just visit Layout-A-Day.com and click on “LOAD Challenge”. You will be so proud of what you can accomplish!