For those of you that have
been scrapbooking for a while, you may remember a time when Rolodexes were quite
popular for projects. If not, a Rolodex comes with blank cards and a holder
designed to capture contact information or business cards in an office setting,
but, of course, they make a unique blank canvas for other projects. I always
admired the projects that I saw in magazines, but back then Rolodexes were
really expensive and I never got to start any of those projects. Of course, now,
you can get a Rolodex really cheap, probably due to the decline in use with the
popularity of smart phones. The Rolodex
sat in the box for over a year. I knew I wanted to do something with it but I
had no idea what, and the clippings I had kept of old Rolodex projects didn’t
really appeal to me, but then the urge to capture the little things we say that
aren’t necessarily page worthy and the thought of this Rolodex in a box came
together and the light bulb went off. The things that we say tell our story.
What code words do you have in your life? What terms did you use
when you were in school that you still use today?
What family stories
do you routinely refer to in your conversations? What words or phrases do you
use as a measuring stick for events?
Giving unique names to things. What
items do you have a special label for? Who in your life comes up with unique
names for things? What are those unique names? All these things that we say they
tell parts of our story and when you combine them together you get a much more
complete story of what our lives were like.
Let’s take a little bit of
time to talk about how you’re going to navigate this project. I want to give you
a visual overview of this project, the materials for this workshop, and the
process. There are four main steps. Plan, start listening and gathering words
and phrases, complete the cards defining your words and phrases and complete the
divider cards.
Start listening:
To me,
this is the fun part. When you start listening you will start to pick up on the
things that make your vocabulary unique and you may not have even recognized it
before. I’ve shared some of the examples from my own Rolodex earlier in this
presentation, but ultimately you are the expert in your own dialect.
Planning:
You will want
to take some time to think about how you want your finished project to look.
What design ideas do you have to make this project your own? You can choose to
follow a color scheme or not. One great thing is that the design of the actual
Rolodex lends itself to mixing and matching. You can choose to use the same
papers throughout your Rolodex or use your stash. You could use scraps or
perhaps even items you’ve accumulated but don’t know that you’ll ever get to use
them otherwise. You will want to think about how you want to create the cards
and the dividers. This is a project you want others to feel free to browse
and scroll through. Of course, you can totally do this project using a Rolodex
without the sleeves. The other thing that you will want to note about a Rolodex
is that the holes punched are not circular. They are in a unique shape, so
either you will want to not cover those up or you will want to purchase one of
these business card punches, or perhaps you are better with a pair of scissors
and you can cut them out in the shape that they are in.
Creating the Cards: The
card is really where your story starts to unfold. This is where you’re going to
write down your word your phrase and then describe why it is important to your
life or the story that it tells. You have a lot of options for completing these
cards and that includes printing the downloadable PDF and handwriting your words
and phrases and the descriptions. Use the word template to type out your cards.
You can use Photoshop or the PSE templates to customize your cards. You can always add strips of
paper and embellishments to make this project hybrid. You can make this project
as simple as you want or you could include as many embellishments as you want.
The sky is the limit.
The last part of the
process, though you can do this in any order, would be the divider cards if you
choose to have them. These will help you divide your cards in alphabetical order
and provide some sort of framework for your Rolodex. For me it was in the design
of my divider cards that the unique hole punch system that Rolodex uses played
the most critical design decisions. For me, I ended up purchasing this business
card punch. An option that would not require you to use the punch would be to
cover the existing cards and either not cover up the holes or perhaps to use
paint to change the color of your cards. You can then use all sorts of
embellishments to include the alphabet headings for each divider.
There is also nothing that
says you actually have to use a Rolodex at all. You could create a mini book.
You could create a series on your blog or perhaps it’s a scrapbook page. Take
the inspiration for this project in whichever direction you want to take it.
Make this your own. I also want you to feel free to take the inspiration from
one of your cards and put it on a scrapbook page and tell the fuller story and
don’t be afraid to include things that might already be in your scrapbook pages
in your Rolodex. There is no right or wrong here. There are no rules. The object
is to tell your story, so we can do that in a variety of ways.
Each of us has a unique
dialect, a language distinguished by the words we use with our families and
friends. We have code words, sayings, words and phrases that mean something to
us and those closest to us, words and phrases that tell a story all their own.
They tell about our life experiences. They tell about the people who have
influenced us and the people we love. Our dialects, like my Texas accent, seem
quite ordinary to us, but they are an ordinary thing that is quite unique. When
we pause to listen, to recognize, to capture and to document, we can begin to
appreciate this little part of our ordinary lives. I encourage you to listen and
appreciate. Have fun with this project and enjoy the stories in your ordinary
life.
Things to think about:
What are your code words?
What flub ups have you turned into everyday language?
Kid saying that you have turned into everyday language?
What are the nicknames of your favorite people? or not so favorite?
What phrase do you use to describe an emotion or behavior?
