Scrapbook My Life

In the scrapbooking world, Project 365 is a hot new concept. Becky Higgins, popular Creating Keepsakes contributor, is promoting the idea of making an album featuring a photo per day for one year. There is a special kit you can purchase for the project, but many scrappers are taking the concept and using their own supplies to create the album.

Is Project 365 a great idea? Theoretically, I love the idea of being able to scrapbook all the little moments in my life that often get overlooked. However, I have a feeling very few people are going to be able to keep up with this. I started the year trying to take a photo per day. Less than a week later, I’ve already missed two days! Between my freelancing business and my goal to rejoin Weight Watchers, I’m afraid Project 365 is just too much work.

To celebrate 2009, I made a trip to my local Hobby Lobby to pick up a new scrapbook album. (I like to separate my layouts by year to make them easier to find.) Of course, even though they had the albums 50% off this week, they no longer carry the style I’ve been using for the past two years. It may sound a bit anal retentive, but I like my albums to be a neat and tidy row on my bookshelf instead of a hodge-podge of mismatched stuff. Additionally, since I’m a fairly prolific scrapper with a fondness for bulky embellishments, I need an album that can hold LOTS of pages. I did find one that’s a reasonable approximation to what I had before, but it’s not quite as nice. If I ever come across the perfect album to store my layouts in, I’m going to max out my credit card to buy 50 of them!

I finally had a chance to do some serious scrapping last night, reminding me of a common complaint. Nothing irritates a scrapbooker quicker than the site of fingerprints on a layout!  While there are products you can buy to remove unwanted fingerprints and smudges from your photos, lint-free shoe shine cloths will work just as well.  In a pinch, you can even try using a baby wipe!

To help reduce the amount of fingerprints on your photos, you might want to consider having them processed with a matte finish. Since I tend to be a messy scrapper and my son has started to enjoy playing with my glue sticks while I’m working, I anticipate most of my 2009 photos will be done in a matte finish. Textured acid-free cardstock is another great choice for printing images, since small imperfections on less visible on this surface.

If you love to scrapbook, it’s only natural to want to share your passion with those around you. However, converting people into full-fledged scrappers can be a challenging task. At one point, both my mother and my best friend were avid scrappers. Now, I’m the only one who has managed to keep it up.

Luckily, there are still ways to share what you love without forcing everyone to pick up a new hobby. Enlist your family and friends to help you find embellishments for your scrapbook. Have them save anything they think you might be able to use. Many people hate to throw useful items away and will be happy to give their buttons, bows, wrapping paper, greeting cards, fabric swatches, and other goodies a new home. Remember to show them the finished layouts you created with their treasures.

Asking your loved ones to contribute journaling to your scrapbook pages is another way to share your hobby. This is especially fun if you have a young child at home, since kids tend to have clever and usual insights for holiday scrapbook layouts. For example, a child’s description of how your family celebrates Christmas is a wonderful way to spice up a layout of people opening their gifts.

During the holiday season, it’s hard to find time to scrapbook. However, by planning ahead and saving bits of interesting bits of memorabilia, you can create wonderful keepsake pages for your album in a hurry. Here are some items you can use as the basis for quick and easy holiday scrapbook layouts:

• Your child’s wish list from Santa
• Tags from some of your favorite Christmas gifts
• Your family’s annual Christmas letter
• A copy of your grocery shopping list from making Christmas dinner and the recipes you used
• A program from your child’s Christmas concert
• A collage made from photo greeting cards you’ve received from family and friends

As we’re all recovering from the Thanksgiving day feast, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas! If you’re reading this in the process of searching for gifts for the scrapbooker on your shopping list, here are a few ideas to consider:

• Scrapbookers can never have enough adhesives. Fill a small basket with glue sticks, glue dots, double-sided tape, and other adhesive products for a gift that’s sure to please.

• Cardstock is a practical gift for the serious scrapbook enthusiast. Pick a nice assortment of neutrals with a few fun colors thrown in for a bit of variety.

• If you know that the scrapbooker on your holiday shopping list frequently scrapbooks a particular theme, such as baby boy photos or vacation memories, choose a small assortment of stickers, chipboard, ribbon, and rub-ons to match these types of layouts.

• Scrapbookers who love to learn about new techniques will appreciate a subscription to Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, or Simple Scrapbooks.

• When all else fails, you can’t go wrong with a gift certificate to a local craft o scrapbook supply store!

What I like the most about scrapbooking is the diversity among those who are passionate about this great hobby. Some people scrapbook to create a lasting legacy for their children, others enjoy socializing at crops or workshops, and some are simply looking for a great way to showcase their amazing photography skills. But for me, crafting has always been a form of therapy. When I’m sad, lonely, or upset, making something helps me feel better. It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s a scrapbook page, a handmade card, a new bracelet, or a knitted scarf.  Keeping my hands busy and during a pile of raw materials into a finished project is immensely satisfying – even when I make a mistake or the item doesn’t turn out quite like I had hoped.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working on updating the gallery pages at LoveToKnow Scrapbooking. It’s a project I really should be more diligent about completing, but the process of photographing, scanning, and uploading layouts is quite time consuming. Anyway, you can check out  Baby and Children Scrapbooking Projects and  Holiday Scrapbooking Projects to see some of my favorite pages.

For me, looking at my pages in an online gallery is an interesting experience. With pages from different years mixed together, I keep noticing small ways my scrapbooking style continues to evolve. Of course, there is also the fun of seeing how my son has grown so much! (He’ll be four on Thanksgiving!)

Do you think it’s possible to “burn out” from a hobby? I’ve been scrapbooking since 2002, but lately I just haven’t felt particularly inspired. Plus, between my freelance writing business, the purchase of our first home, and chasing around one super active toddler, I’m just exhausted at the end of the day. Getting my creative energy back has proven to be quite a challenge.

I think another issue that’s contributing to the problem is that I have so much stuff! When you’ve been accumulating supplies for six years, you end up with lots of cardstock, patterned paper, and embellishments. Deciding what to use and when to use it is a job in itself.

I am trying to make handmade Christmas cards, however. Hopefully, this tiny project will be enough to get me back into the scrapbooking spirit!

My husband and I recently purchased our first home, so I’ve been thinking of ways to scrapbook this occasion. Here are some of the home themed page ideas I’ve seen in various places:

• How did you choose the color schemes/themes for the rooms in your house?
• Do you have any special collections displayed in your home?
• How would you describe your interior decorating style?
• What do you like the most about your home? What do you like the least?

I also like the idea of charting the progress of various remodeling projects. I’ve been busy saving paint chips, tear sheets from interior decorating magazines, fabric swatches, and other little bits of memorabilia to incorporate into my “Welcome to Our Home” project.

If you’re looking for some great home quotes to embellish your scrapbook layouts, here are a few of my favorites:

• “There’s nothing half so pleasant as coming home again.” –Margaret Elizabeth Sangster
• “When you’re safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you’re having an adventure you wish you were safe at home” –Thorton Wilder
• “Home is the place where it feels right to walk around without shoes”  –Anonymous
• “A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.” –Anonymous