More on Scrapbooking and Telling Your Story

I enjoyed reading your comments and emails regarding my Creative Surge post. I can’t tell you how important I think it is that you record your story. For me, scrapbooking is how I do this. Some of you may journal. Others may take photos, upload them to Snapfish or Shutterfly, and share the albums with family and friends that way. Whatever works for you, do something! I have never been good at keeping a journal, so what I have been doing to record little things about Elias’s day is writing one or two lines in the notebook where we keep track of his feedings. That has been working well for me.

My mom instilled the importance of recording one’s story in my sister and me at a very young age. She always took pictures, and chronicled our childhood through photo albums. In fact, my sister and I have a photo album for each year of our life, which I know is way more than what most people my age have. I can’t express how grateful I am for those couple thousand pictures. Thank you Mom.

I began scrapbooking in 2003, shortly after meeting Matthew. Since then, my style has evolved, as has the importance of story in my albums. While I used to be all about the paper and the embellishments, I now journal on a lot more of my pages. The story behind those pictures is important! But, I do give my self the freedom to be okay with sometimes not having journaling (like in the layout before). That’s okay, too.

One thing I enjoy doing in my scrapbooking is participating in challenge blogs (you can find a list of some of my favorites to the right). These blogs often jumpstart my creativity and sometimes make it easier for me to create a page quickly. Below is my take on this week’s scrapjacked challenge. It only took about 15-20 minutes (which is all I could carve out between feedings anyway). I love all the little details, like the words in the ki lace paper, the felt and metal embellishments and the thickers.

Pages generally take me anywhere from 20-90 minutes. I imagine that now that I am a mommy, I will be doing my simple, faster layouts, which is fine with me. Again, to me it is about chronicling the story, not about the latest and greatest technique (although those are fun to work in now and again).

If you are just getting started in scrapbooking, the sheer volume of products can be overwhelming. I would recommend getting a kit that has everything coordinated in one package for you. I think this month’s CK Kit of the Month is a great one for a new (or old) scrapbooker. Check it out here.

So, go write down something from your day or week. Chronicle your story – God has made it uniquely yours!

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