Using your Scrapbook as a Journal

I found a great book about journaling as part of your scrapbooking experience a while ago. Now, this made a lot of sense to me, because I'd watched my mother write travel journal after travel journal. However, she then simply sticks them in the front of her albums and adds all the pictures behind the travel journal. I never liked that style of journaling, because it created such a divorce between text and pictures. Up until I saw the book on incorporating journaling into your scrapbooks, I scrapbooked mostly by using pictures and adding captions. But over time, I noticed that so many of the stories associated with the pictures got lost.

My usual method of journaling involves writing out the whole story in one long block of text (if I'm doing it on the computer) or writing a rough draft (if I'm going to be journaling by hand). Then I break that block of text down into smaller segments so as not to overwhelm any one page with a massive amount of text and add pictures as I go.

The page on the top left is done using a computer and printing out the text on one page with plenty of space in between the blocks for a nice edge finish. It is from a set of pages about my in-laws visiting us in DC. I broke the journal down into the separate days, and at the beginning of each "day" I put in my block of text. All of the text throughout is on the same color paper, to bind the story together, but that's certainly not a requirement. I find that journaling in this way helps me with my captioning, because I can refer back to a phrase in the text without having to worry about people being able to figure out the greater context of the picture.

The page on the right is from a trip I took to Boundary Waters in Minnesota. The trip leaders had us write about our experience while we there and sent us what we had written a few months later. I actually wrote out the whole story on cardstock and used it in place of regular journaling, since it captured exactly what was in my mind at the time of the trip. Again, I broke the text down into smaller chunks, and added one of the blocks of text every few pages. I also added the little notes that we wrote to each other at the end of the trip as an added reminder of the my adventure.

The actual text I had written during the trip, I added to the very back page of the scrapbook, using the letter I had received from my trip leaders as a sort of "envelope." To do this, I glued down both sides and across the bottom of the letter, and then about halfway down the page I added another line of glue to create a pocket for my pages.

This same method can be applied by keeping a travel journal and then using what you wrote during the trip as part of your scrapbooking layout.

First Commission

Crafting is such a big part of my life, that some part of it is bound to end up in a scrapbook. In this case, I received a commission for a cross-stitch piece for a friend's after-school soccer program. I took pictures of the process, as well as several close-ups of different elements.

The page may seem a bit cluttered, but that's just the way I operate. I liked the idea of being able to see the progression from start to finish without having to continue on the next page. You can see, the big block of text on the left is the story about the commission and finishing the piece. I'll blog about journaling in your scrapbook in the next entry.

I think the hardest part about the commission was finding a good way to do the soccer ball, so I used the closeup of that on the page as well. All in all, I'm really satisfied with the way it turned out.

Female Gamer

I'm a woman and I play World of Warcraft. I made my first character, a female tauren druid on Kilrogg, on my boyfriend's account back when we first started dating (Jan. of 2005). I was hooked. Back then we not only shared an account, but also a computer. So most of our dates went something like this... go to his house, take 2-4 hour turns, except on Sundays (after he got his undead rogue on Archimonde to 60) when he got six hours to raid MC. In the summer of 2006, I finally built my own computer and got my own account, at which point I created a female undead rogue (who was my main) and a female troll mage (who is now my main) on Archimonde to be able to play with him. I am what is known in World of Warcraft as a an "alt whore," meaning I like to make multiple characters on multiple servers and take turns playing whichever one I feel like (in direct contrast to those people who focus on their one "main" character exclusively until they are so rich and bored that they make a secondary character or "alt," etc. etc. etc.). Most of these characters are female, although I do have a single, solitary male character to mix things up a bit. My DH (Dear Husband- the same former boyfriend who got me hooked on the game in the first place) has since usurped that character, which I'm not sure he would have done if the character had also been female.

Even though I love the game, there are some things that have bothered me about WoW since I first started playing. Not enough to stop playing or change anything, but definitely things that have made me uncomfortable or have made me stop and think. WoW should be a great equalizer. Male and female characters have no differences in their abilities except appearance. If you're a good player, you're a good player, and it doesn't matter what race, gender, religion, etc. you are. However, this is unfortunately not always the case. There are several inherent problems with the game including: 1) stereotyping of female characters- and the verbalization of this 2) behavior that would constitute sexual harassment or rape IRL (in real life) 3) portrayal of female characters in-game and 4) intolerance of women in leadership positions.

The stereotyping of female characters (in WoW there are only two genders- male and female, so I use man/male and woman/female interchangably for the purposes of this post, even though I know that this sex/gender dichotomy is a lot more complicated in real life) again breaks down into several categories: 1) who makes a female character 2) what types of characters do women usually play and 3) how are "known" women treated by men. To address the first category, who makes a female character, we need to address the idea that this is a fantasy game. Not all women are going to make female characters, nor all all women who make female characters going to make ONLY female characters. Some female characters are played by men. As a male in-game friend told me one time, "if I'm going to look at someone's backside for several hours each week, that backside might as well look good." I can't even blame him, because a lot of the male characters seem even more unrealistic than the female characters, either seemingly on steroids or riddled with multiple-sclerosis.

The second category, what types of characters women usually play, is based loosely in fact, although I'm not sure if an actual study has ever been conducted (do please let me know if there has been). Women seem to be drawn to the Alliance, because it has the more "beautiful races" including humans, night elves, gnomes, dwarves and draenei. Only since the introduction of blood elves to the Horde side, have women been more willing to make a Horde character (undead, trolls, orcs, taurens and blood elves). However, this has led to stereotypes of the Alliance as feminine, incapable, etc. while the Horde is portrayed as macho, overpowering, etc. (This might just be Horde stereotyping, since I don't spend a whole lot of time Alliance-side). Also, there is the stereotype that most women play healing (or passive) classes, like priests and druids, shy away from the tank (aggressive) classes, and will play some of the more hands-off dps classes, the casters (mages and warlocks). As a woman who plays an undead rogue (as well as just about every other race/class combo out there), this seems rather ludicrous.

Finally, there is the question of how "known" women are treated by men. By "known" I mean those women who have in some way told people that they are women IRL. The guys in my guild often joke around and ask me to "get in the kitchen and make [them] a sammich" and other such wise-cracks. While I usually take these comments in the spirit they are meant (I hope) and tell them to "go f*** themselves," they do get annoying. Especially when newly joined members pick up on it, and start telling me the same as well. Now, this is annoying especially because I keep telling people that my DH is the one who cooks around here, because he loves it, is a chef, and I can't cook and not because of some stupid idea that that is "his role in life." But somehow I get greeted with this line almost every time I go online.

Second, and this is the most frightening aspect of the game, is the behavior by some men that would border on or even constitute rape or sexual harassment if done in real life. Many people playing female characters experience the fact that people are just more willing to help them out with things or give them gold and items than if they were playing a male character. However, this is taken to the extreme by men who ask female characters to strip and dance naked for them in exchange for gold (most at risk here at the night elf females).

This actually happened to me while trying to level a female night elf hunter and was a pretty scarring experience. A male character came up to me and asked me to follow him, which I did, being the trusting, naive, and helpful person I am, thinking that he just wanted help with a quest (a task you complete in exchange for money and points to skill up your character). Once we got to a "secluded" spot behind a tree, he asked me to take my equipment (clothes and armor) off and dance for him. Being the naive idiot that I am, I did this, slightly confused about what he wanted. Imagine my surprise when he then took his character's clothes off and started dancing behind me. That's when I realized what he wanted (I know, I'm stupid, naive, should have seen it coming, but nothing even remotely that offensive had happened to me up until that point) and put my armor back on and logged out, practically in tears and rather traumatized. My boyfriend actually felt like I had cheated on him when I first told him about it, and now he likes to bring it up occassionally just to see me squirm because he thinks it's hilarious. I've tried to explain to him why I'd rather forget the whole incident, but it's rather firmly etched into my brain as that time I was mentally raped.

Third, there is the topic of female character portrayal in-game. I think this is a direct relation to the game developers being mostly men and not thinking about the fact that they could very easily market this game to women as well as men as a fun way to spend your time. The things that draw me most to World of Warcraft are the vibrant colors, the beautiful animations, the simplicity of game play and the general feeling that I am in an actual fantasy world. What I have the most issue with is the fact that almost every single race has females with big boobs, big butts, and skinny bodies. Also the armor sets when worn by a female character are usually a lot more revealing than the exact same armor set on a male character. Yes, it's fantasy, but a male fantasy. Even in my wildest fantasy, I wouldn't be running into battle half-naked.

Finally, there is the topic of female leadership. Although there are certainly all-female guilds, on the whole, big raiding guilds are dominated by men. Women, although they do sometimes rise quite high, are often passed over for the more "important" roles like raid leading. I successfully led several raids back in BC (Burning Crusade, the first expansion of World of Warcraft) and was even elevated to a "raid officer." But the second I dropped off the radar for a month or two while I was trying to slowly level up when the second expansion WotLK (Wrath of the Lich King) came out, I was tossed back out of my position as a raid officer and was no longer a viable candidate to lead raids even after I had successfully learned the fights well enough to be able to explain them myself. Also, I was constantly told to be less of a bitch, when men who were leading, who were equally harsh task masters, were complimented for their "firm leadership" or their ability to maintain order. Also, I was harshly criticized for trying out a new looting system, to the point where I started crying (yes, I'm an emotional person and proud of it) and quit the game for several months, only to come back to a guild where that exact looting system was now standard pratice. Was that because I was female and trying something new, which... gasp... actually worked or because it was "new" period. I'm certainly never going to know for sure.

Yes, I love the game, yes, I'm always going to come back to it after periodic absences. But I'm not at all happy with some of the gender biases inherent in both the game and the people that play it.

Mr. and Mrs. HIM

I recently sent a family friend a wedding present. As is the case with most such occurances, I promptly got a thank you note in return... addressed to Mr. and Mrs. HIM (in other words, Mr. and Mrs. John Vee*). Now, I recently got married myself, so it's not completely irrational to assume that I would have taken his last name (which I didn't), but I still don't see how anyone expects that I could possibly have taken his first name too (Emily Post etiquette be damned). The fact that she didn't even bother to check if I'd changed my name, or how I might prefer to be addressed, shows how entrenched patriarchal norms are in modern etiquette. I have told everyone who has asked that I am keeping my last name, prefering to be addressed as Ms. HER, but that I wouldn't mind being addressed socially as Mrs. Anna Vee.

The whole idea that women have to change their last names is so last century. So why do people still automatically assume that if a woman gets married, she'll want to be addressed by her husbands first and last name? Isn't his last name "possessive" enough? I was also talking to a friend about this, and apparently they used a professional printing service to address their wedding invitations. His parents-in-law are Dr. HIM and Dr. HER, but the printers changed it to say Dr. and Mrs. HIM. The same with a close family friend who prefered to be addressed as Ms. HER because she also did not change her last name. The printer ignored this naming convention and sent off an invitation to Mr. and Mrs. HIM. Needless to say, said friend was not best pleased (this was before I got married, and is therefore not me, although as you can see by this post I would have been equally displeased). Why is the wedding industry so dead set against anything that might be outside the "normal, picture-perfect" wedding? But the wedding industry is another post entirely.

*Names changed to protect the anonymity of DH.

Junk Journal (cont.)

So, a few days ago, I posted about finding instructions on YouTube through Enjoy The Ride's post on how to make a Junk Journal. Well, after spending several days collecting the materials for it (although I could not find good ribbon or stamp pads anywhere without driving to a craft store), I finally put it together. On the right, you can see the materials I gathered together before starting. Unfortunately, since I couldn't get to a craft store, I didn't have any extra scrapbooking paper to spare, nor did I have ink pads. And I was forced to make do with gold, silver and black gift wrapping ribbon. Which actually doesn't look too bad.

So I sat down and put it together all in one afternoon. I think the whole process ended up taking me about an hour. I did end up crinkling all of the pages and have ordered several colors of stamp pads via the internet for future inking of the pages. I also cut the A-Z dividers into smaller sizes, for easy gluing.

Unfortunately, the YouTube video recommends putting a divider every 8-10 pages, which I thought to mean actual sheets of paper instead of 8-10 sides of a page. So the A, B, and C all have 8 sheets of paper in between, and I had to put X, Y and Z all on the same page because I ran out of room. Most of the other letters have about 2-4 sheets associated with each one.

I also found some pretty cool paper clips at Staples, which I randomly clipped to pages for future use. I'm trying to figure out, if I want to change out the ribbons at some future time, when I can get nice cloth ones, or if I like the way it looks right now. All in all, I'm rather satisfied with how it turned out. I glued my Alice in Wonderland movie stubs in already.

Fried External Hard Drive

In a fit of inspiration, I bought an external hard drive in January, thinking that my pictures would be a lot safer on something not connected to the internet 24/7 and therefore less likely to catch a virus. However, three months later, and my external hard drive fries... with all of my pictures on it. Luckily, I just finished printing the last batch of them, but those are my digital copies in case I want to make more copies. So now I have to hope that the Geek Squad or someone can get the pictures back for me without having to spend a small fortune.

Make-Over

I was getting bored with the standard templates that Blogger provides. So I did something about it. Hope you like the new lay-out.

Scrapbook- Tiled Layout

Tools: Scissors, Ruler, Pencil

Crafting Mats: Pictures, 12x12 Scrapbooking Pages, Mounting Squares

Instructions*: Determine how many pages you will need, by roughly laying out the pictures, and averaging 15 squares per 3.5x5 inch picture. Every 12x12 page will hold about 8x8 (64) 1-inch squares, with 1/4 inch allowance between pictures. Draw 1x1 inch squares on the back of the pictures to be tiled (I used pictures of flowers taken at American University) and cut them out, making sure to keep them in separate piles. With a pencil make dots along the edge of the paper about every 1 1/2 inches, and then make dots where these lines intersect. This will act as the middle point for each set of four tiles (if you look closely, you can see where my dots are, because I didn't feel like erasing them after I was done).

Arrange pictures any way you wish, making sure to keep at least two tiles of the same picture together for coherence. Stick on with mounting squares. If you would like to put a title in (like the one on my pages), leave several rows empty and explore any option you so choose. I went around campus and found different letters that spelled out "Campus in Bloom, Spring 2007" and then tried to crop them as much as possible so they would be roughly the same size when printed.

Alternatively, you could tile them on black paper to get more of a stained glass window effect, or cut out irregular patterns that fit together from picture to picture.

*Disclaimer: This is not my original idea, I saw this in a book on scrapbooking ideas and thought I would pass it on.

Just Say No?

I just finished reading Diane Haeger's The Queen's Mistake about Catherine Howard, King Henry VIII's fifth queen. I actually didn't know much about her, and obviously this is a work of fiction, although Diane does a good job of researching her books thoroughly. The whole book made me mad... because Catherine is basically pushed on an aging, obese, foul-smelling monarch at the age of 16 (which was well past the age girls got married back then), after he has already gone through 4 wives. Her relatives are ambitious enough to want another queen associated with their family (Anne Boleyn, Henry's second wife was her cousin), don't care about her wants or feelings, and hide her dubious (promiscuous) past from a vengeful king and make her out to be this perfect angel. It comes as no surprise that one of their enemies then uses it against them and Catherine is the second of Henry's wives to get beheaded.

The whole time I was reading the book, I was thinking... why didn't she just say no to Henry? Or why didn't she at least tell him that she wasn't as innocent as her relatives led him to believe. It felt like she was a lamb being led to slaughter from the moment her uncle brought her to court. Why weren't they content to let her be the king's mistress until he tired of her... nothing ever happened to his mistresses, just his wives.

But then I took a step back and thought about the pressures that were on her. First, she was in love with someone else, but she didn't want to risk being banished from court and not being allowed to see him again. Second, as an orphaned woman she had no rights, no income, nothing. She was completely dependent on her relatives for everything she had. Third, by all accounts, her uncle and her grandmother were very intimidating forces of nature, both knew exactly what they wanted, and they were willing to do anything to get it. Fourth, there was the pressure of pleasing the king, who had the power of life and death, ruin and success over everyone in his kingdom. And finally, there is that internal pressure of ambition, because once Catherine had gotten a taste of the kinds of gifts the king could give her, she wanted more. And who wouldn't want to be queen?

Do you ever feel that there are pressures on you to act a certain way or do something you may not really want to? Are these internal or external pressures? Are you motivated by guilt, peer pressure, ambition?

Cross-Stitch Phoenix

I have been working on this Phoenix for almost three years now. I'll discard it for some time, then come back to it and do a little more. Every time I pick it up it grows a bit, but I can never just sit down and finish it. It's counted cross-stitch on evenweave fabric, so there is a lot of paying attention involved. Sometimes I dispair of ever finishing it, but then I remember how far I've come already, and it gives me a renewed sense of hope.

Tools: Sewing Needle, scissors

Crafting Mats: Evenweave Fabric (ivory), embroidery floss, Magical Cross Stitch Book, lots of patience