Some of you may remember my big plan for doing a digital album for Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas project this year. Some of you may also have read my post this weekend about what my December was like. Let's just say that life happened to my album just like it happened to me.
I also had some computer problems- something that I'm not used to seeing as how a) I'm a software engineer by day and b) I use a Mac!! Long story short, I had two issues- my web browser and memory. I've known for a long time that my Firefox web browswer was getting more and more bloated and taking up more and more memory just sitting there. (If the software I wrote for work leaked like that, I'd be in huge trouble.) I've since made the switch to Google's Chrome browser and am much happier for it. As for the memory, my fairly new (about a year and a half old) 27" beast of an iMac only had 4GB of RAM, and I was trying to run Photoshop CS5, Lightroom, Firefox (before I switched), and the DVD player (because I have to have my Stargate while I scrap) all at the same time. It was all just too much for that little bit of memory, so I bought another pair of 4GB sticks to shove into it for a total of 12GB, and now it's perfectly happy running all that at the same time.
But back on the scrapping front...
As it turns out, after Christmas lots of blog posts started popping up written by scrappers who were either very behind or just starting on their December albums, or choosing to do their own thing, regroup, or go in an entirely different direction. I've collected just a few to help encourage those of you who are in the same boat as I am.
I'm hoping that if you're feeling like you'll never get your album finished you'll take the time to click on a link or two and read and perhaps feel a bit better...or at least not so alone.
As for me, I'm still planning on completing my album. I've got all the photos edited and planned out for each day, along with some notes. And one of the good things about doing it all at the end? I can batch tasks! Right now I'm in the process of selecting a digital template for each of the remaining days and simply dragging photos and supplies onto it and saving it to be scrapped later- perhaps on the plane to CHA at the end this month. And since it's digital it's something that I can open up and work on when I have a few minutes here or there without having to worry about continually dragging out and then putting away physical supplies. Thank goodness I did all that planning before December started!
I do have a few pages completed, though not necessarily in order. The first two are ready to share, though, and I'll be continuing to post my pages until the album is finished.
December 1- The annual Christmas "Manifesto" prompt for those following Journal Your Christmas.
December 2- The Weather
If you're still working on your own Christmas journal, I've got a Pinterest pinboard going with lots of amazing albums by those who did manage to finish theirs. That's another good thing about being behind on this- I can enjoy everyone else's albums and lift ideas.
So, who else is with me on getting these things finished? 2010 will not be remembered as the year I didn't get my journal done!