Using the Story Board Documenter Kit with Aimee Dow

So much has changed for me this past year and to say it has had an effect my documenting style would be an understatement. Prior to Eva being born I was such a purist. I did 2 12x12 pocket pages a week and no cool new pocket configuration or size could tempted me otherwise. I would sit down first thing Monday morning to edit my photos, I’d have morning tea in town while getting my photos printed and be home in time to wrap my spread up just before lunch. Now I laugh at such a thought. Nobody with a baby got time for that!

Life these days is unorganized and staying up to date with our family memory keeping only happens because I make it a priority. I’ve still kept my weekly editing sessions except now they are done at the crack of dawn rather than after breakfast.  The other major difference is rather than printing straight away, I upload my edited photos persnickety and once a month I just print all that’s in that months folder. I have become a master of simplification and compromise.

This is where SC kit subscriptions come in. I don’t buy any supplied these days that aren’t kit subscriptions. Don’t get me wrong I love each and every new collection, but my time is just better sent creating than trying to figure out what I need and what alpha goes with what journal card. I BEYOND happy to pay someone else to do that for me and when you get a kit as good looking as storyboard just know you made the right decision.

The second big point relates to standards. I’ve always been known for my obsessive attention to detail and colour. Part of that’s my personality and part of that is bar I’ve set for myself. In order to preserve the time I have to create though, I have come to embrace a new ethos. It is the Japanese principle of Wabi Sabi. Put crudely it means to embrace the beauty of something that is imperfect and fleeting because it is imperfect and fleeting. Sounds fancy right? Yeah, it’s really not. Let me give you an example: 12 months ago I’d over never written on a layout. I hated my hand writing, I just didn’t feel like it was as neat as typewriter, so why wouldn’t I use a typewriter? Now, I get that it’s still as imperfect as it ever was, but it a piece of me in this moment and that’s what makes it beautiful. I should also point out this new ethos saves me a TON of time.

I no longer strive to get a whole weeks events into a album. Now I just go with the core things that matter to me. Such as my birthday cake… or any cake really. As one of life’s greatest joys cake really should always be documented. I added the chipboard heart because frankly it summed up my feelings toward the cake without the need for further elaboration. I used the super awesome and totally appropriate journalling cards down the side to capture the less tangible feeling I had floating round, add my ‘imperfection’ as I went.

I still carry the same color palette across both pages. So I searched my kit to find cards what would match. Lucky Studio Calico includes so many great patterns and generic cards.

It didn’t take me long at all to come up with a concept for the second page that would match. I already had the idea to use the fantastic number tickets for titles. For this page I distressed the pattern card with black ink to the number 3 really popped. I cut one of the 6x4 cards in half to so I had the same grid to back my selfie photo strips. Continuity is still very important - so I added my imperfection to this side too. The finish touch came from the amazing ‘keep it real’ flair. God, I love it when every matches.

Before I sign off, I would like to thank everyone for the love you have all left for me in the creative team gallery and on the message boards. It really touched my heart. I’ve SO enjoyed being part of the creative team this month and I really hope to see you all in the gallery real soon.

Aimee Xx