March 2017 Blog Train - Ideas

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I love the local heroes idea, and your city lights idea was where I was going with my Cities, States, etc. idea- and specifically love the Chicago part, since I live here ! smiley

And don't forget Read Across America Day on March 2, Dr. Seuss' birthday!! (I personally would love a Seuss-style train, but it isn't for everyone lol!)

I don't even know what pocket scrapping is!

not to add too many choices, but maybe in helping with universal / international themes, perhaps a theme like friendship would be easy for everyone to work with. (or creativity, happiness, success, emotions, disasters (fails), 'being human', ordinary life, etc.)

I love Karyn's ideas, and also Varia's:

"Something like watercolor fantasy, watercolor art, unicorns (from the forum thread) mermaids, rain drops and drizzles but in watercolor instead of clear".

"Watercolor Fantasy" sounds awesome! "Magic In The Air"

"March rushes in like a Lion, and goes out like a lamb", makes me think of weather. I also like the idea of "stash building" as suggested by Holly. Another suggestion would be a Heritage (or Genealogy) theme. A tribal/native/Indian theme would be interesting, too. I'll be happy with anything you guys come up with.

Lots of great ideas here. I really love the Watercolor Fantasy/Unicorn/Mermaid ideas though smiley

Love the friendship idea too!! I think that would be something everyone would use.

I like the idea of an "everyday life" blog train

I agree with everyone who is pointing out that we tend to be very US/northern hemisphere-centric in how we think of holidays (though not the ones Holly mentioned, which are great sparks for ideas), weather, & seasons.

Mind you, I'm about at American as you can get without being Native American (my mother's side came over on the Mayflower, as an indentured servant, & my dad's side 10 years later, in 1630) but we have so many members from all over the world that I'd love to see us move toward topics that will work better for those members, too. I think we as a site should be more general in our blog train topics so the designers & members from all over the world can make & use the kits as much as we do. Another idea would be to make at least one train a quarter focused on ideas from outside the US - not something so specific that we'd all have to research it smiley but something that would be fun for us all.

For example, instead of always doing winter kits during our (northern hemisphere) winter, consider flipping the seasons once in a while to the southern hemisphere ones. For example, do a winter train in mid-summer (here) so it could be on time for the southern hemisphere. I know I certainly wouldn't mind seeing cold things in July or August!!

It's just an idea - & one I've thought about every.single.time blog train idea threads open.

PS My wee rant isn't just relevant to the March train but to all of them.

And I'd like to second Erin - I'm doing my first PL weekly album this year (yay, I finished my first week!) & would love to see a neutral basics train, be they all pocket products or a wide variety of stash enhancements for all. Maybe even do this sort of thing once or twice a year.

PS I'm not doing my PL album in pocket protectors, but as a hybrid album with items pasted onto 8.5x11 pages & slid into Staples page protectors.

ETA - & right after I posted this, I went to the kits tab & discovered all of Violet's fabulous new kits. Duh! But it's still a great idea for a blog train at some point. smiley

And sorry to spam the thread but I just had an idea for a train at some point.

Instead of doing a specific destination, how about a train where each designer does a kit about either where they live or about their nearest big city? For example, I live in a tiny town (pop. 2500) so in my case, it could be either the Berkshire Mountain area of western Massachusetts, which has lots of visitors, or Boston (or one of the other cities around me).

Cool Sarah! I like the idea of the cities or destinations train! That would be so interesting! Perhaps it wouldn't have to be a local area but maybe any city/area that the designer would choose. If I were going to a particular city for vacation the next year, I'd just choose that one so I could scrap about it. There are really no great tourist areas really close to me. I'm 2 hours from Columbus, Ohio (a great city but not exactly a draw for most people! haha!) and 4 hours from Pittsburg, 6 hours from D.C.

However, the color palette would be strange for that... Different places would definitely call for different colors.

What about a ROAD TRIP train? Or Planes, Trains and Automobiles?

Oh, my. SO. MANY. OPTIONS. I think the blog train for March should be ANYTHING each designer wants to make----in any colors----for any season----for any topic. That way people could pick ANY of the options above, or something not even brought up here. I like ALL the options mentioned, and I could not even try to pick just one!

Erin - I think that a neutral palette would work with perhaps the addition of x number of designer chosen colors needed for the area being done. The only problem with choosing the place you are going to vacation to do a kit for would be that we'd end up with lots of kits for vacation areas (Florida, California, NYC, France, or wherever) which is why I thought doing something actually localish to us might be fun. I figured no matter where we all are, there are likely to be lots of things around us - natural resources, museums & other attractions no matter how kitschy, great local architecture or history, that sort of thing & it could also be fairly generic to an area of the country. But I do hear you on doing one that's specific to where you want to go!! I just thought it might be a fun challenge - how to do something localish while still making it work for everyone.

That said, doing a road trip train AND (rather than or, I'm greedy) a Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (love that movie) would be great. I can always use more travel bits & bobs!

As this idea has been mentioned multiple times, by not only me but others, I think it is def. something we should consider!

I would love to se a soft palette and a Watercolor Fantasy theme smiley

COMPLETELY unrelated-----Lily, I love your profile photo! So cute! That's all......carry on.

Thank you Rose!

I like the weather theme.

Ooh... I love both of these ideas:

"Raindrops & Rainbows" w/a watercolor, fantasy emphasis AND "In the Pocket" w/a pocket-scrapping, everyday life theme! Even for pocket scrapping, you can make elements and papers that traditional scrappers can use. smiley

Yes, Amanda! I love the "in the pocket" everyday life theme idea! And even if you don't know what pocket scrapping is, it would be a great train! smiley

Actually, I think that's two great themes--one for March and one for April! So....now we just need palettes, right?

I agree, Holly! smiley Maybe we could be inspired by Pantone's Spring colors?

I'm also drawn to this palette, which could go for either theme.

Erin, I LOVE the Pantone spring palette!

That spring palette could work really well for the Raindrops and Rainbows theme. Why not go with it, and then go with a mostly neutral palette for the stash builder train?

Holly, for the "pocket" one, I was picturing our black and white.. some grays and a tan..and a few bright colors to mix in, too.
I just put this together really quick. I'm not married to it so please feel free to critique and change it.

Love the palettes Erin. I esp love the "pocket" scrapping one the most.

Love the teal in this palette, Erin!

thanks guys! smiley

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