Big Picture Scrapbooking

Everyone Can Write a Little | The 2009 MicroBlog Album Workshop

How Twitter or Facebook can make you a better journaler of the everyday. And, a cool digital hybrid album project to showcase your results.

Scrapbookers often cite journaling as a key stumbling block in their creative process. The echoes of "writing doesn't come naturally to me," or "I can't think of anything to say" are commonplace in the pantheon of scrapbooking challenges (joining time, space, money, and ideas on the list, to name a few).

But… what if you started practicing writing in short, measured bursts? And what if you took advantage of two online social media networks to start practicing this abbreviated way to document a question posed by both: "What are you doing right now?" And what if in the process of reporting the details that can only span a sentence or two, you became more confident in your ability to capture authentic details from your everyday life, and you then translated that content into a really cool mini album?

Join Cathy Zielske in this 4-week workshop designed to help scrapbookers capture their favorite Twitter blogs (Tweets) or their Facebook Status Updates and record them in a truly hybrid, 20-page, digitally driven 6" x 6" album. Cathy's focus will be on practicing ways of recording little stories—emphasis on little!—in either 140 (Twitter) or 160 (Facebook) character spaces (or less). Let go of the notion that capturing specific, authentic details is only for good writers who write at length. Facebook and Twitter are your new virtual notebooks. This class will encourage you to document in cyberspace, then take that content and save it into a cool little digital hybrid album project.

Cathy's Class Includes:

an inspirational, narrated PowerPoint presentation about microblogging and how it can boost your skills as a journaler.
a how-to video for working with the templates in Photoshop Elements
a how-to video for using crop marks and paper trimmers
one handout with scans of all of Cathy's album pages, including basic instructions and product information.
weekly email reminders when the classroom is updated.
four Photoshop .psd templates, (title page and filler page) two for Facebook users, two for Twitter users (one title page, one filler page)
PDFs of album cover wrap band with the class title (One for Facebook users; one for Twitter users; and one for both).
Three additional video messages in Weeks 2, 3 and 4.
private message board with exclusive access to Cathy.
private gallery for students to share their results.
four PDF files for those users who want to record their data, but don't own PS or PS Elements, allowing these users to add their Tweets or Facebook updates with handwriting.
Master Supply List
Class Syllabus

Students will learn:

How using Twitter and Facebook can ultimately improve their writing for scrapbooking layouts by encouraging them to be concise and observant about their lives.

How to make digital pages with Photoshop Elements, including how to size down photos and drop them into digital templates. (Of course, Photoshop users will be able to do the same.)

How to creatively crop photos.

How to choose type, including font sizes and leading sizes, as well as proper alignment for fonts and how to make good choices.

How to change font colors and layer type and change type opacity.

To pair their words with some of their favorite snapshots or photos they love that don't have to directly correspond in real time.

Other things:

Students who don't want to drop in photos digitally can use a Fiskars 1 3/8" square punch, which will fit the given space.

Students will need a regular format printer to print out their finished pages/and or pdfs of page templates.

Watch Cathy's introduction of Everyone Can Write a Little