Scrapbooking and the like

I don't talk much in this blog about my scrapbooking hobby.  And I thought I would share with you some insights I've had recently as they relate to scrapbooking.

First you should know I've been scrapbooking since 1998. My Aunt J - bless her - visited and she brought with her a scrapbook. I had heard of scrapbooks, but never had seen one like this. She explained what it was, etc...and I was hooked. It would go nicely with my other expensive hobby of photography.

Fast forward 16 years (and probably thousands of dollars) and my scrapbooking has changed significantly.  When I first started, scrapbooking was in its infancy. It was new and the products available were, well, limited.  Over the years, the products have improved, and scrapbooking became a BIG deal. (It was started by the Mormons BTW and most of the first businesses were owned by the Mormons. Not sure why that matters - but it seemed interesting to me). Anyhow, the trends of scrapbooking, like anything, have changed over the years as well. Looking through my scrapbooks you can see how trends developed.

The most recent trend is to use one or two photos per page and then add so many embellishments that an average page can cost up to $10. Not the style for this girl.

However...I had a revelation recently. 

I'm currently taking a couple of classes on scrapbooking. One of the classes is called the Arts and Science of Scrapbooking. The idea of the class is to determine what side of the brain you function with, and then do the challenges for the other side of the brain.

There are two instructure's: one who's left brained and one who's right brained. They give each other challenges and the objective of the course is for you - or me rather - to do the challenge that is opposite the side of the brain I use most. I'm predominately left brained, so I'm supposed to do the right brain challenges. Seems easy enough...turns out not so much.

Somehow in the course of these challenges it was mentioned that you don't have to scrap ALL your photos.

Say what?

That's right, it was said out loud....You....Don't.... Have... To... Scrap.... All.... Your.... Photos....

Wait...my head is still spinning!

I've ALWAYS scrapped all my photos. And this idea of NOT scrapping them hit me upside the head and suddenly I felt relief that I didn't have to scrap them all.  The idea is you just pick the "best" ones and focus on them was just so refreshing.

I think I knew this in the back of my head, but I never gave myself permission to just scrap the good photos. Now I've given myself permission, a whole new world has opened up for me. I should also add that a realization that NO ONE ever looks at my scrapbooks kinda helped. I mean by the time you get say a European vacation scrapbooked everyone has already seen the photos, so why bother.

Anywhoooo....

This is the place where the "magic" happens.  I've worked hard to get this space organized in a way that has everything "relatively" within arms reach and my work space open for creativity.  I have found that by getting myself a bigger desk to work with, I just spread out more and tend to have less space. Go figure.

So one of the right brain challenges for this class was to look through my stash of paper until a sheet of paper reminds you of something.  I found this paper and while I didn't pin point it at the time, it made me think of photos of myself with my camera. I rarely scrapbook photos of myself, so figured why not step out and tell the story as to WHY I take photos at all.

 

Another challenge was to do a collage. This challenge forced me to learn how to make collages in PSE. Which I couldn't really figure out so I went to another option in Picasa.

 

Here's a good example of picking only a couple of photos. I have a TON of photos of the fur kids and have wanted to scrap some of my favorites.  Giving myself permission to only scrap the best really helped me focus on the best ones and find a balance for it.

Totally a left brained layout. I admit it. I had been trying to figure out what to do with all the gelato photos from the trip. This layout was presented in class and it was perfect for those photos. This layout taught me how to resize photos in PSE - I know you'd think I would have already figured that out. AND I learned how to create specific frames for my Epson PictureMate so it prints 2X2 photos.

And lastly, this class along with another class on sketches I'm taking, has allowed me to let go of so many photos and really focus on the story behind them. I've not done a good job of journaling because well I figured who cared. No child of mine will be looking at these scrapbooks 50 years from now and wanting to know my life story.

But, what I did find was telling my own story was cathartic.  Especially when it came to BigBro and the DadUnit. I miss them both so much and scrapping about them really helped me heal a little.

I gave dad a coffee cup once that said, "Any man can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a dad" and it is soo true.

 

Wasn't expecting to see BigBro's headstone next in line after dad's.

This celebration page is my example of picking the best photos for me. 300 people showed up to his celebration of life. I took 100 or so photos.  But the real story, for me, were the people who showed up that I cared about. And that's the story I told.

Celebrating BigBro.

I realize this blog isn't for everyone, and some of you probably don't care at all. AND in rereading it, it's really all over the place.  What I'm trying to say, I think, is that after 16 years of scrapbooking (47 scrapbooks in total), I'm still learning.  I'm learning how to use my stash, break out of my norm, and be open to some change - for once.  And in the process of all this learning, I've healed a little.