Hello Ella Blog Readers!
 
Its Katie Scott and every Friday for the next 7 weeks, we are going to be talking TV. Why? Well, last month was sweeps month, so chances are that between the Winter Olympics and all the new shows on primetime, then your TV has probably been on more than usual! (At least it has been in my family.)

How does TV relate to scrapbooking? It doesn't, except that the monitor in my scrapbooking room doubles as a computer screen and as a television (thanks honey), and that I find that if I've got a theme, it makes it easier for me to scrapbook more quickly. And as I thought about TV last month, I was inspired to creative and quick pages that I might not have otherwise thought of making.
 
Let Me Explain: If you are an Ella fan, then you are probably familiar with Wendy Smedley and her book with Aby Garvey "The Organized & Inspired Scrapbooker" (which is unfortunately sold out). This book is pure eye candy; but the most interesting part of the book for me was "Chapter 3: Approach," which explores how most scrapbookers fall into four categories when it comes to starting a layout: 1. Story First; 2. Photos First; 3. Supplies First; and 4. Design First. (Tip: for an excellent discussion of the Process of Scrapbooking, take a listen to Paperclipping Episode #7, where Angie Lucas and other scrapbookers discuss how they approach scrapbooking.)
 
Ok, back to the point: I am usually a "Story First" or "Photos First" type of scrapbooker, which means that I either (1) have an idea for a page then go about finding pictures and scrapbooking supplies to support my story or (2) I sift through my photos and come up with an idea and then go about finding the scrapbooking supplies to complete the page. By choosing a theme first (like TV), then I can think about stories associated with that theme or find photos that fit into the theme. I find I think up layouts and execute them more quickly. I completed the 7 layouts you will see in this series of blog posts in ONE AFTERNOON using this Theme Approach!
 
My first page was a combination of the story-first and photos-first approaches. Story First: I knew I wanted to do a page about a TV show that my family is currently enjoying, and we like to watch Survivor, The Simpons, and American Idol as a family. Photos First: Then I flipped through my photos and found some photos of my son playing the American Idol home game. Based on that, I picked American Idol for the page. (But if I would have found pictures of our many kayak trips to an uninhabited island near our house, then I probably would have done a Survivor-themed page. And if I found pictures from our last trip to Universal Studios it would have been The Simpons.)



Journaling reads: "I'm pretty sure our family has seen every episode - its good clean fun & there isn't much of that on tv now days. We even bought the at home game. The funniest thing was that Mac went straight into AC/DC (thanks to our old "Manny" Gino) and Allison sang 'This Little Light of Mine' (thanks to Church School). "

Supplies: patterned paper (American Crafts); American Idol graphic printed from a google image search; letters (QuicKutz Studio); font (Calibri).
 
Ella friend, Barb Wong made this sketch to go along with the layout, Thanks Barb!!


Your first Ella challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to play along and create one TV-themed layouts every week for the next 7 weeks. Create your first layout about or inspired by a tv show that you or your family is currently enjoying. I can't wait to see what you create!

(Post your finished layouts in this gallery at Scrapbook.com by next Thursday, and MAKE SURE you tag them "Ella TV challenge." We'll pick one random winner out of the gallery each week who will receive a free eBook. We'll also pick one random winner at the end of the 7 weeks who will receive a $50 gift certificate to Scrapbook.com! To view other layouts that have been submitted for this series, just click here and type "Ella TV" in the search box.)

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