I am a scrapbooker

It's true, as anyone who knows me can attest, I like to scrapbook. Although the word scrapbooker doesn't seem quite right for me. It's more like I like to document our family occurences and record the everyday moments of our lives. These can be in mini-albums, traditional pages, notebooks, sketchbooks, etc. Over the years, (I started this adventure in high school) I have honed my work flow and discovered exactly how I like to scrapbook.

Let me share with you if you are interested. I have simplified everything greatly, which has helped me dramatically. After lots of pages and albums I realized that I am a minimalist at heart when it comes to my creations. I like plain white cardstock or paint as the back ground (although sometimes this does morph into grays, browns, or blacks), and letting my color be the photos. I do add in a smidge of color through paper pieces or other things, but they are by far few on the page.

I did go through the phase of "let's see how much Jessica can fit onto a scrapbook page", but I was always disappointed with my efforts afterwards.

I like classic, graphic design styles better.

One other thing that changed how I viewed scrapbooking, or memory keeping if you will, was that I really wanted to record the stories that I was trying to tell.

I wanted to have made it worth it in forty years when I picked up a page and could feel and remember exactly what took place; not regret that I had just stuck a picture on a piece of paper with some random comment like "Tyson is just so cute!" (which he is, but there's more to him than that, I promise) :)

It's almost become a worry- that I won't tell the story that is the most important.

Would I rather remember that Tyson or Jack was really grumpy that day, or would I also want to remember that it was a Thursday and that made it extra hard because Dusty had class and they both were sick.... you get the idea. With record keeping, more is better.

So, a little about the workflow. I usually don't scrapbook daily or weekly, more in marathons. This works for me because my brain is pretty OCD and when I focus on something I tend to put out lots and lots all at once and that is all I can think about..... (hmmmm)

I get lots of pictures printed out and stacked up for sorting. When I have a good collection I first sort out them all into little piles- either by category, or by stories I want to tell. For example, I just sorted out some photos from Jack's blessing that are pretty straight forward and then some photos of Tyson's bed that will accompany the story of how he has learned to make his own bed. (which has some drama, thanks to him being a drama-king)

After they are all sorted, I start my journalling. I do this first because I don't want to forget the details of what I want to tell, and also I feel that the journaling is equally just as important as the picture. I have a little notebook that I record the story on and then rip it out and paper clip it with the pictures it goes with. This way, I could wait for an indefinite amount of time before scrap booking and it wouldn't matter. I have the story with the pictures. The actual assembly can wait. For me, this is great because the exercise of writing opens my mind and makes my storytelling better.

So now, I have a stack of photos paper-clipped with notebook pages of journalling. I head down to my craft room when I have some moments to myself and start putting pages together. Since I know what I like now, it's pretty easy to put pages together quickly. I write (or print out) my journaling first on whatever I choose and then layout it with the photos.

I also have quite a few books and ideas I have collected with scrapbook layouts. I absolutely "scrap-lift" ideas all of the time because let's face it, I'm busy so why reinvent the wheel? I usually find a layout that works with the amount of pictures I have and get to work.

I love this memory-keeping business. I find it fulfilling and worth my time. Now that I have cut out the extra "fluff" it keeps me focused and saves money too. Just to be fair, I do have my bulging stash of embellishments, but they are only things I like and know I will use. Mostly letter stickers, word stickers, metal brads, some ribbons, stamps etc.

I hope later to cherish the things I took time to write down, to save and collect; To have documented the fact that I was on this Earth and enjoyed my life and the living of it. I hope my family enjoys it as well.