Scrapbooking and Stories in Hand
I have continued on my quest to scrapbook using only my stash this past week. Below are two very simple layouts I whipped up on Sunday during Brothers and Sisters. No fancy techniques. Not a lot of embellishing. But they both tell stories I wanted to capture. That is what scrapbooking is to me. There was a time when I was consumed with the latest tools and techniques. While I still like to be up on that stuff and do like to try new things on my layouts, that isn’t my focus. My focus is on my story.
Because stories are so important to me, I have been really excited to take Jessica Sprague’s free class, Stories in Hand, which launched this week. Here is what Jessica had to say about the system:
What you have to say matters. The things you think, the experiences you’ve had, the people and places and things you love, and why, are worth talking about. I believe that. And I believe that each of us has a story to contribute.
I’m often reminded as I go throughout my days of experiences I’ve been through, or little moments I’ve savored, that I’ve never written down or told anyone. Stories in Hand is a system I created in late 2008, to help me gather the stories of my life that I wanted to tell. I decided to create a class to share this system with you, to help you tell the stories that matter most to you.
Stories in Hand is not a journal, but a companion to your storytelling. It is not a place to write, but a tool to get inspiration, a guide to spark memories you’ve forgotten, and a system to organize and gather the stories you want to tell. It’s designed to sit right alongside whatever method you currently use (or would LIKE to use) to tell your stories.
She created PDFs of all the components of the Stories in Hand book for class participants to put together. The class called for either a small binder (7×6) or to make your own using materials you had at home. Shock – I made my own. 🙂 I also modified the cover from her original design and I love how it turned out.
What a great idea! X.
I carry a little notebook around in my purse with all my kid quotes, song inspirations which often trigger stories, or other thoughts that I want to eventually scrapbook, and I use that notebook all the time, I don’t want to forget to scrapbook those thoughts some day.
e.g. on my latest thought, an album called, “Look at this photograph….” the inside Title page, “everytime I do it makes me laugh” 😛 Cheesy I know but that’s me, CHEESY!
I also have started recently blogging story ideas to scrapbook, so that I don’t forget and the pictures are usually right there in the story. It’s great 🙂
I love your layouts 🙂
And I totally know what you mean about getting caught up in the most up to date styles and products and tools….but you’re so right. It’s the story that matters. I’ve found that I tell my story best, when I scrapbook the photos that mean the most to me. We take so many photos these days with digital cameras, and I have a tendency to want to scrap them all…but the stories are usually the best when I scrap the ones I love the most.
I have a little canon that is permanently attached to my hand. I take ridiculous amounts of pictures, but I don't usually go back and look at them until they're on my computer. I figure if I take a picture and stop to see if I like it, than during those few seconds I could miss a better picture. So I take care of weeding through and deleting later.
I love your work! Scrap booking is my all time favorite thing to do in the entire world. <3 I just am so busy with school and work that I don't have the time…so all my stuff is in a huge box in my closet. Hopefully I'll get a chance soon.
Those are soo cute!! I love em! Thanks for sharing them with us. I haven’t been able to do much scrapbooking lately because of having so much school and work. I am hoping to get a lot done during the holidays. NEwaz…I love those layouts!~
~Dani
These look so great… and you should totally get commission from Target because people are going to be looking all over the dollar bins for those little books 🙂
I jot down story ideas in the back of my day planner. Then I use those when I scrapbook, or blog. I used to write in journals, but have moved to the computer now. I do still hand write in a journal written to my son. My mother wrote one to me and I cherish it. So I’m passing on the tradition.
I’m also taking the Stories in Hand class as well and loving it! Excited to use it to really record stories I might have forgotten to otherwise.