It really is amazing what a month long challenge can do for you. Some people cleanse, some will work to develop new habits, some people diet, some people swear off shopping, some won’t drink or smoke, some will exercise religiously. Me? I commit to letting my creativity flourish with layout a day (LOAD)!

Many of you will be reading this from the LOAD213 blog hop, and if you came to my site from Chaos and Craziness, then you did good kiddo! But if you feel you’ve found yourself at my post and you’re kinda having an “it’s all Greek to me” moment, then my post yesterday – Life Changer – might help explain our lovely and crazy little thing called LOAD!

I love that so many from our ScrapHappy family have written blog posts dedicated to sharing knowledge and experiences to help newbies and veterans alike. My first LOAD was February 2012. I absolutely LOVED the creativity and stories that were born from the daily prompts. Some of my favorite pages ever came from LOAD212, like the one above! Since then, I’ve participated in LOAD512 and October’s SHO-LOAD. And through those experiences, I’ve learned a thing or two about what works for me during those months. I’d love to share my top three tips to make the best of LOAD213 for you!

1. MAKE A LIST – even if you’re not a list person!
Before LOAD212, I made a quick list of photos I wanted to scrap and stories I wanted to tell. Although we don’t know in advance what the LOAD daily prompt is, they’re broad and loose enough that most can be adapted. I had a list of about 25 photo/story ideas I wanted to tell. Most of it was really vague, just a starting point, a launch pad if you will. The first prompt was “You’ve got good taste” and on my list I had “parfaits, girls, recipe” as an idea. It was a great way to start the month. Having a starting point gave me confidence and I didn’t stress over finding something to fit the prompt, it was already staring me in the face. I ended up using about half of the ideas on my list. But I don’t mind that I didn’t scrap the other half during LOAD212. I was completely inspired to tell other stories, to create pages I clearly had not thought of on my own.

Also, before LOAD I only scrapped at crops, so I would print on an as-needed basis. I thought I could squeeze in a daily print run to Costco, but that was making life more difficult than necessary. I now print quite a bit at home, but I love large prints from Costco, so some of the photos on my list I went ahead and had printed, on hand, ready to go for the rest of the month. That’s my long-winded way of saying: have some photos printed and ready to go, even if you’re an on-demand-photo-printing type of scrapper : )

2. GET BUSY IN THE KITCHEN
Say what?! Yup, I said it! Get crack-a-lackin’ in the kitchen and PREP some meals (or menu ideas at the very least)! Seriously, this is a HUGE stress, time and guilt saver during LOAD. Having easy, quick, go-to dinners (think 30-minute meals) on hand for those days that are really crazy makes it doable to get a page done every day. Taking the time to have prepared, cut and marinated chicken in the freezer makes it easy to pull out in the morning to thaw, then grill or bake at dinner, meaning less time thinking about dinner, and more time thinking about a great page. Getting a handful of favorite crock-pot recipes and stocking dry / canned ingredients in the pantry means getting the cooking done earlier in the day, leaving more time to build a beautiful page. Do you really need more examples? Yeah, I didn’t think so : ) But, do follow me or add me to your reader as I’ll be posting some of my go to recipes next week!

3. SHARE THE LOVE!
This is what the community is all about… sharing the love with your fellow LOADsters! LOAD is seriously like the best high out there! I totally get a euphoric feeling when I finish a page, and just when I don’t think it can get any better, I get to read the sweetest comments on my pages. And then? And then I get to see some amazing pages, totally get inspired all over again, and gush all over my fellow LOADsters pages. Seriously… best feeling ever! Do yourself a favor and make time to comment – really, you won’t regret it!

I look forward to sharing all the love, pages, story telling, techniques and inspiration that is rolled up into our beloved LOAD!!! Now head on over to Betsye Erazo’s blog to continue the ScrapHappier blog hop journey! Oh, and if you haven’t signed up yet, I think there might be a few spots left…

Thanks for stopping by and have a joyful, creative, blessing filled day! Happy crafting!
xoxo,
/c

PS. Be sure to visit everyone on the LOAD213 ScrapHappier Blog Hop, and share some love by leaving them a comment!