Blurb Books- A great alternative to over complicated scrapbooks and outdated photo albums

 
 I am a little late to the party but I have finally discovered Blurb books and I LOVE them!




 I remember way back when Creative Memories was all the rage and this thing called scrapbooking was the thing to do. I have been scrapbooking for a long time now and I realized a few things along the way... Scrapbooking takes a ton of time and you need to be pretty crafty person to even do it.  Fast forward about 15 years and  all of my photographs are digital now. Most of them are stuck in digital land and never see the light of day. So I have gotten really behind, like years behind on my scrapbooks.  Not only that but I put a lot of thought into my photographs and I like for them to be the center of attention not a bunch of complicated paper designs.

Here's a couple of pictures from an old scrapbook.



This is an old scrapbook of mine...  

 
  I tried on and off over the years to hunker down and make some progress with my scrapbooks but I can never seem to finish them and that drives me crazy. Recently, I saw an advertisement for Blurb and I thought I would give a digital photo albums a try again.

 I ended up LOVING this book. I plan to make many more and I also like making them as gifts for loved ones. Another tip is if you are traveling it would be an easy way to put together a travel journal/photo book. At the end of the day download your pictures to the program and then write a few things about your day and you're done. By the end of your trip you will have a book ready to be printed.

 

  

 

 

This is my new system for creating photo albums of our trips...

 First, make an account with Blurb and download their BookSmart program. I love that you don't have to be online to work on your book and the program is pretty flexible. They also have a nice selection of landscape, portrait, and square book format options.

 I wanted to create a book from our recent RV trip. I uploaded my favorite pictures from the trip.  I also took pictures of my journal that I kept while we were vacationing and included a few of those as well as my own personal art that I uploaded.

 It was really important to me that this book didn't look like a digital scrapbook. I wanted something between a scrapbook and a coffee table picture book. I decided the layout should showcase each photograph and be complemented by a page that I could add our trip memorabilia and maybe write a little. I ended up creating a photo book with every page having a full bleed. I think it makes the book look so professional and more like a coffee table picture book. 

 The program is super user friendly, you can drag and drop, uploads pictures in seconds, and organizes by the date taken if you wish. You can create your own templates if you don't like any of the ones provided. I made my own templates so I could have full bleed pages with text overlay. If you have a photo editing program and you tweak your photos before hand and then upload them into the program you will have a really unique design.

 Since I create custom layouts for the journals I make at Poobird's Rarities I had a few perfect page designs already made and all I had to do was upload them.

 


 Once you have your book setup the way you want you can upload your book and place the order.  I went with the Matte finish and I really like how it complements my style. Look for a coupon code and you should be able to get a little discount. They are offering one right now for the month of April... Type in BIGAPRIL and you get 20% off your order for the month of April 2015!

 Now it's time to wait and stalk the mailman until it arrives... Which mine finally did in about two weeks.

 I was worried about how it would turn out because I made a digital photo album once with MyPublisher and was not at all impressed. It was a cheesy looking digital scrapbook with an itchy fabric cover.


 I can honestly say I fell in love with my Blurb book. The quality is very good and it turned out exactly how I had envisioned in my mind.

 You can call it done right then and there and show off your new, amazing photo album or you can personalize it a little more...

 Now it's time to clear off a desk and gather a few supplies to really personalize your book.  I always collect little things from our trips to include in my books. Dried leaves or pressed flowers, postage stamps, receipts, feathers,  flyers, programs, menus, bags, envelopes, and postcards are just a few of the many things you can incorporate into a book. Once you have a pile of goodies you will also need glue and a good sharpie or other permanent pen. You could use washi tapes, stamps, and of course any scrapbook stickers/supplies you might have laying around. Then you just let your imagination go and incorporate what feels right to you where you want.

 I like to turn old envelopes in to pockets to hold memorabilia. I collect leaves, flowers, feathers, and other things to use in my books. I am also big on making library cards to list off the animals, plants, or places we visited.

 Don't be afraid to write over a photograph too! Adding in your favorite quotes or captions makes the book more interesting. If you can't stand your handwriting you can always work in your text through the BookSmart program or you could type it up and print out what you want to include in the book.

 

I am still tinkering around with my book and playing with it... Depending on how thick it gets I may even punch a hole in the back and put in an eyelet to make a wrap around closure. The most important thing is to have fun and let it be a reflection of who you are and what your journey is all about.





I hope this inspires some of you to finally get your cell phone pictures out of the cloud and into your hands!

What's on my desk this week?

   A stack of work piled up on my desk this week. Well, more like I had stacks of work spread over every possible surface to work on... I even utilize the floor sometimes:)

 I had a few TN Airmail refills to make, a personalized travel journal, and a special custom memory book order. The custom orders take a lot of time because I have to design everything from scratch and put it all together for the first time. Every one I make takes on a personality of its' own and is as unique as the person it's going to. 

  I love meeting all the different people that trickle in to my shop and ask me to create something special for them or a loved one. The process feels almost magical sometimes because from basic materials like paper and chipboard emerges something so much more.
 
 Every time I start a custom project I have a ritual that I have to go through... Tuning in to the person I am creating each book for is essential. Because of this I can usually only work on 1-2 custom commissions at a time. I really need to be able to focus on the person and what the book needs to become.
I have a series of questions I always ask to help me fine tune the details and then a vision slowly starts to form in my mind. I may mull it over a few days and let the idea grow. While I am turning it over in my mind I begin constructing the "bones" of the book.

 I am always amazed how a piece of fabric and chip board evolve into this beautiful, functioning piece of art. No two are ever alike because of the energy that goes into creating each piece. 

 I pour an insane amount of attention into every detail of construction and design. I have learned so much about bookmaking over the last couple of years. I can tell you from experience using professional materials is worth every penny. If all you want is a fun little junk journal you can certainly use what you have around the house. With a little duct tape, a cereal box, some old magazines,  and a little imagination you will be on the right track to making a crafty junk journal. 

 Each book commissioned is truly a piece of art designed to inspire the customer it was created for. I create books that will hopefully become family heirlooms so the quality of materials is imperative.

 Usually, by the time I have the book constructed I have a pretty solid plan in my head and it's time to sit down and get started on the next phase.

 The next phase is a combination of digital and good old fashioned painting. I can't seem to go entirely digital.  For some reason, the process of painting, the smell, getting my hands dirty, it's an essential part for me. It's one layer of a thousand that go into each page.

   

 At some point the book begins to take on it's own personality and like magic it all comes together.
 

Once I complete an order, before I can begin a new one I have to go through my work space and clean everything top to bottom. I need a completely clear palette before I start on a new book so I don't contaminate it with the previous energy.

 Now that all of my current orders have safely arrived to their new destinations it's time to clean my mess and start on the next batch... I wonder what I'll create for someone next. The possibilities are endless.

Making the most of our day off... Exploring the desert and enjoying the beauty of Spring

Spring in the desert is a magical time of year. Almost overnight the rocky landscape transforms with a blanket of green grass and delicate wildflowers. You don't even want to step off of the trail in fear of stepping on one of the fragile plants. Every morning we wander out into the desert and fill our lungs with the sweet aroma of brittlebush and sunbaked dust that hangs in the air. The jackrabbits bounce from one creosote to the next hiding in the shade, their long ears always alert.  A little farther out the ground burrowing owls have taken up residence once again and stand guard by their burrows bobbing up and down if one wanders too close.  The desert is bursting with activity and what's truly amazing is we get to enjoy this every day just outside of a city filled with 2 million people, all going about their daily lives, most oblivious to the beauty that surrounds them. 

The weather this year has been gorgeous. It's been too beautiful to stay indoors on a day off from work so we have been researching day trips around the Las Vegas area. We recently made a trip up to the BLM office and purchased some of their maps to help us locate closed claims in the surrounding area. Locating old claims and determining what's active, what's closed, and making sure you're not in an ACEC or other closed off area requires serious research.  After consulting our maps, the LR2000, converting township/range information into GPS coordinates we were ready to load up our prospecting gear and head out. 

 I was more concerned with getting all of our off-roading/emergency gear put together. When you head out into the desert you have to be prepared for any disaster that might happen and we travel with our two puppies so we always have extra food and medicine for them too. In fact, the dogs have almost as much gear as we do! I never leave home without my Kakadu backpack filled with my camera, journal, knife, water, and snacks. We also always have our trusty cooler filled with more drinks, ice, and food than we need but if you happen to break down or there is an unexpected delay that extra sandwich will make all the difference.  Matt was in charge of the prospecting gear. For a day trip prospecting we brought 1/2",1/4",1/8th" inch sieves, a  pan, 5 gallon buckets, digging tools, portable Vac-pack, big tub to pan in and 12 gallons of fresh panning water.



We made our way out to the Eldorado area enjoying the endless expanse of wildflowers and rock formations. The entire time we were out there we didn't see or hear another person! It's such a nice escape from the city.  Another thing we didn't come across was gold... A little color in the pan would have been a welcome sight but then again we were just sampling a small area.

We settled on working a small exposure of bedrock down in a wash. We did a little crevacing and then vacuumed up the debris. All the material we vacuumed was then sifted and hauled back to the truck for panning.  There has definitely been activity out there in the past because we could see the disturbances in the landscape from previous prospectors. We only had time for testing 1 five gallon bucket of material but we didn't turn up anything. We have some more test sampling to do on future day excursions.  At the very least it's an excellent place to head out for a drive and maybe do a night or two of camping. I'm always content with just being outside and exploring the desert with my two puppies and husband.

Now, if you're not interested in wandering off into the lonely desert you can head over to the Techatticup Mine. Bobbie and her family run the business over there and are a great bunch. You can even take a tour of the old lode mine. They offer tours,kayak adventures, and there is also horseback riding which I highly recommend!  Just down the road from Techatticup you can follow the paved road all the way down to the Colorado River and take a dip in the refreshing water.

With all of the BLM land surrounding Las Vegas there is no reason you can't get out and have a day trip exploring. So much to see so little time...