No Ink... Again!!!!

You know what I hate most... running out of ink!  I have 3 (yes, 3) printers in my little RV - a wireless PhotoSmart all-in-one, an OfficeJet all-in-one, and a small 4x6 photo printer.  And when I have ink, I use them all.  I would prefer to use my PhotoSmart to my OfficeJet, but the ink is soooo much more expensive.  But when you are destitute, all ink is too expensive.  So here I am with my 3 (yes, 3) printers all out of ink.  This is not the first time it's happened, I have even made a scrapbook page for my personal 'Living in my RV waiting on the Government' scrapbook about this all too common phenomenon.

Well,  I have once again been reading the blogs (guess who?!!! www.shimelle.com ) and, of course, I have a need to scrapbook.  Of course.  A need.  (Girlfriend will never know what she has incited!!!!).  So what's a girl to do when she needs to scrapbook but can't put her hand on any pix??!!!  Well, there are a couple of ideas I want to share - literally a couple because that's all I can think of today:
 1) Scrap your photos!  Sounds simple doesn't it.  In this time of digital photography that is a serious problem when you're suffering from lack of ink.  But let's face it, we all have those pre-digital photos somewhere in a box being stored for... posterity(?) because everyone has told us not to scrap original photos but to scan-reprint-store.   Well, I have about 25 boxes of these photos and more lurking in places I haven't put my hands on yet.  So I now believe the theory of scanning-reprinting-storing to be the stupidest thing I can think of.  If you have the originals, they are your photos.  And your kids may love them when they get older, but chances are they will love seeing them in your albums with your little notes more.  But the scanning part is a definite yes.  Get a digital record of all those photos so that they will last forever.  Then scrapbook those originals rather than having boxes and boxes of pix taking up room for no apparent reason other than that they are the originals.
2)  Make templates out of white cardstock.  I have a stack of 5x7, 4x6, 3x5, 3x3, 2x3, 2x2, and 1.5x1.5 with the sizes marked on the front that I place where the photo will go.  If I need more of that size, I just cut them out.  Then I use these templates on my layouts.  If there are accents that will overlap you photo, don't glue that part of the accent down, or put a little square of cardstock on the bottom part of your popdot (thanks again Shimelle), so that you can slide your photo in when you get it printed.  If I plan on using a photo corner, I just draw it on the template then paperclip it to the layout to put on when I get my pic.  Make sure you know what photo you will use and write the description as well as the file name on the template.  I've used this method on many layouts and you'd be surprised how well it works.  I will show you an example of a layout using my cardstock templates tomorrow because there's a little more to the page I want to show than just this method.

So no, just because you don't have the photo in your hand doesn't mean you're scrapbooking mojo has to suffer.   Also, another note about using what you have:   As you may have noticed, I don't have the newest paper lines as the only time I get to buy paper is my birthday and Christmas; but that's okay because all of us need to use up that stash that we're saving for the perfect layout while we keep overlooking it in order to use the beautiful new stuff.  Regardless of what you use - original photos or paper templates, that new paper you just got or the stuff that's been sitting there forever - be creative whenever you can.  It's not only too fun, it's therapeutic.

Hope this gives you some ideas.

Cheerio.

P.S.  Shimelle Laine is have a scrapbooking web crop this weekend.  It will be just like being at a live crop but from the comfy of your scrap room with your snacks!  Check it out on her blog (www.shimelle.com).

"All you have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to you." - Gandalf  (JRR Tolkien)