We’re starting a new tradition here on Sahin Designs blog. With each collection release, I’ll ask a few SD team members to tell us a bit about their layouts to explore how they come up with the design, why they created their pages, the stories they documented, and even some scrapbook/memory keeping tips. I hope these posts will inspire you to tell your own stories!
In the story spotlights this week, we have Franzi Manko, Meg Gundlach, and Sarah Rees sharing behind the scenes from their layouts they created for Tough Times collection. Plus, Franzi was very kind to offer her layout sketch for you to replicate her design. You’ll find a download link at the bottom of this post to get her sketch.
Franzi Manko on Burnout
This story has been waiting for a long time to be told and there still is a lot more to tell as well. In 2014 I was diagnosed with burnout (and I’m forever grateful for it!) and eventually decided to get some help from a psychotherapist. A couple of years into that journey, I asked him whether it was okay to take a (self-timer) picture during the session with the intention of telling my story of this tough time. Ever since it has been sitting in my camera roll – untold.
Flipping through the cards of the collection the headline “sitting with my feelings today” immediately took me back to this picture. Originally it is a 4×6 format but since my therapist asked me to not include him in the pictures, when I tell my story, I cropped it to 1:1 format. This also had the advantage of the full page image spilling over to the second page of the spread, thereby creating a connection between the two. Knowing that I wanted to use the journal card for both title and journaling, I chose the patterned paper with all the different feels as a background. Given I was feeling all that (and probably more), it nicely added more detail to the story without me having to spell it out. Especially with these tough stories, having products that tell the story for you and/or include very specific prompts (like listing what you sense), is great to get started.
Meg Gundlach on Keeping Up
Having done weekly pocket spreads and travel albums for the last decade, I experienced all the emotions of ‘keeping up’, lack of motivation, or simply a desire to play with a new shiny project. In recent years I’ve found peace with the process and have been consistently making pages that I love. The difference? I changed my definition of ‘keeping up’ to ‘keeping good notes in my planner and regularly printing photos and placing them in pockets’. Instead of forcing myself to complete one album at the expense of all other projects, I have everything safe and organized in pockets waiting for inspiration to strike. Through this method, I can choose what I want to work on by topic (travel/holiday/season), size (4×8/6×12/12×12), or format (memory planner/TN/pocket pages).
Most often, however, I start with the products that inspire me. Rather than going through my entire stash for that ‘perfect’ sticker I must use on the page I’m making, I flipped that mentality. Instead I choose a supply or collection that I want to work with, pull out an appropriate album, and flip through until I find an unfinished page with suitable photos and stories. This way I can always use products I love instead of saving them for the ‘right time’. That being said, all rules are meant to be broken—when I received the beautiful new Tough Times collection I could have flipped to waiting spreads containing news/photos of a loved one’s vaccine appointment. However, having just received my own first dose days before I took the rare (for me) step of printing that week’s photos and making the page that I was inspired to. Is it the only completed page in my 2021 album? Sure is. And it is already my favorite.
Sarah Rees on Vaccination
I love pocket pages to hep tell the stories of my family’s life.
Covid-19 has been an emotional rollercoaster of lock downs and case surges. I knew getting vaccinated would be a story that needed it’s own full page layout and Tough Times kit was perfect for adding that memory to my book.
It took me 5 hours of searching online to find a pharmacy with vaccine availability so it was so exciting to get our shot. I felt giddy with excitement to know that we were little safer now and the feeling of relief was so amazing.
I love Elif’s designs because they combine minimalist cards which are my go to preference with gorgeous colour palettes to add pop and fun to the page. Her sketches and elements make the pages so fun to look at.
Free Layout Sketch
Sketch is a curtesy of Franzi Manko.
License: This template is for your personal use only. If you like to share this content with your friends and/or blog readers, direct them to this post rather than providing hot link to the files.
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