My Favorites, Inspired by The Scrap Gals Podcast #61

I'm continuing to work my way through episodes of The Scrap Gals Podcast. If you haven't checked it out, you should.

I'm now caught up through March 2015, so it shouldn't be too long before I'm hearing the episodes as they're released. I really enjoy the variety of topics, the interaction between Tiffany and Tracie, and the pace and length of each episode.

Episode 61 is titled "Our Favorites" and it is 55 minutes of Tiffany and Tracie answering readers' prompts about all their scrapbook favorites. As usual, I find myself one part Tiffany (the photo-driven, journaling-heavy part), one part Tracie (the planning, want-it-to-be-just-right, organized part), and another part neither of them. I thought it would be fun to answer the same prompts they did, so I took notes during the episode.

Some of the categories I've already answered in a blog post. My favorite adhesives haven't changed, nor my favorite tool. I still love Echo Park paper (with Simple Stories a very close second), Bazzill cardstock, my Fiskars bypass trimmer and Simple Stories' stickers. With those out of the way, let's move on to the rest of the questions!

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Favorite place to have photos printed:

This is a tough one. I've tried most of the mail-order ones and have had mixed results. I don't like waiting the 5+ days to have them show up, so 99% of the time I just get one-hour photos from somewhere in town. I've tried most of those, too. Occasionally I'll find one that is GREAT and keep using it until all of a sudden it is lousy. Believe it or not, Walmart has the best 1-hour printing right now, but only when a certain employee is working. He is a perfectionist (not something you see at Walmart very often) and CARES that my photos look good. If I need photos during a time he isn't working, I use Costco in the next town over. They're almost as good and right next door to Trevor's ice skating lessons, so it's convenient as well.

Favorite album:

Another tough one. For a long time, I used Mrs. Grossman's Perfect Album, but they've been discontinued for years. I've tried a bunch of others and don't love any of them as much. 

Favorite technique: 

Hmm... maybe inking edges? I love Chestnut Roan ink on pretty much everything! 

Favorite subject to photograph:

That has to be Trevor. I also like taking selfies of Steve and me together. 

Favorite journaling technique: 

I like handwritten paragraphs that tell the story. I write in 1st person and try to work in the details that make the memory special. 

Favorite approach to scrapping:

I'm photo-driven. I always start with the photos when designing a page. The photos illustrate the story I want to tell and dictate what supplies I use.

Favorite colors to scrap:

I use a lot of earth tones in my scrapping, mostly because they look good with our skin tones and don't draw too much attention from the photos. But I really like using other colors if they don't fight with the photos. I'd say my favorite colors to scrap change to be whatever colors I haven't used in awhile!

Favorite go-to page design:

I'm all about the grid. When in doubt, line things up.  

Favorite part of the scrapping process:

I LOVE taking a newly-printed stack of photos, cropping them down and piecing them together on a page, thinking about where my title and journaling will go. It's like a puzzle.

Favorite place to buy scrapbook supplies:

We haven't had a local scrapbook store in ages and I'm not crazy about the selection at the big box stores, so 99.9% of my shopping is through Scrapbook.com. They carry pretty much everything, have excellent customer service, offer frequent deals, and ship things out very promptly. Not to mention the excellently-written product descriptions! (If you see a description in the Superstore that has grammatical errors or is just plain weird, that's not one of mine.)

Favorite place to find inspiration: 

Blogs for sure! I follow most of the manufacturers' blogs, as well as many of my fellow crafters' blogs. I see inspiring projects every single day. 

Favorite people to be inspired by:

Tough question. There are so many people who inspire me. I'm not going to name names, since I would surely leave out too many! 

Favorite time to scrap:

I'm a morning person, so I am most productive then. And I strongly prefer scrapping with natural light, so definitely daytime. But the time I scrap is much less important to me than the conditions under which I scrap. My favorite is to have an entire day, alone in the house, with no interruptions. It's part of why I love National Scrapbook Day so much.

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So how about you? I'd love to hear how you'd answer the same questions.