A Shift in Approach

I have been contemplating my approach to scrapbooking for quite some time. The chronological approach has me frustrated and overwhelmed. There is a lot that plays into this - the fact that I printed over 700 photos from half of 2010, the fact that my scrapbooks are starting to feel repetitive, and the fact that I want my albums to be more meaningful for my children later in their lives.  When one night I realized I felt stressed about how "behind" I was, I acknowledged the absurdity of that situation. My hobbies should not feel like chores. I also realized that same night that I have three pages in one album titled "Joy." Someone was getting stale.

Because I was ready to start thinking about things differently, I found the iScrap class I took from Stacy Julian at Big Picture Classes to be perfectly timed for me. I was ready to play with a different approach to scrapbooking. Within two weeks I completed an 8X8 album, which could be considered a 2010 introspective. What I liked about this approach is that you start with the story or the message and then find the photo to go with that message. What I also found interesting is that by connecting the photo to the statement I originally brainstormed, I learned something about myself. For example, one of my statements was I went on a lot of train rides. This sounds simple and frankly not very meaningful beyond reporting on an activity, but as I journaled using Stacy's technique, I discovered that the reason I love trains so much is because they allude to a simpler time, a time free of iPods, cell phones, video games, and email.

So while I am not ready to completely drop the chronological approach - I will still scrapbook major events - I am ready to branch out more into the other approach. When I have some sun light and some time, I will photograph and upload images from the project.

In the meantime, here are some other projects. This is a card I made. The flower is made from a scrap of black cotton quilting fabric.

 These are hearts the kids and I made for Valentine's Day. Sawyer is clearly in love with scissors.

This page reflects my new approach in that its topic isn't event-centered, but rather relationship-centered.

Gearing Up for a Serious Weekend of Play

I will be spending my weekend with other scrapbookers this weekend. I hope to have lots of pages to share with you next week. I am also taking my first online scrapbooking course through Big Picture Classes. Although they all sounded fun, I chose iScrap, a class in which you make a mini album using I-statements with prompts from the teacher. I can't wait to get going.

I haven't been very good about uploading pictures, so I thought I would share some of my recent creations. The first three are cards I made using sketches from Card Patterns. I rarely use sketches for scrapbook layouts, but love them for cards.

 The next two are for my album I am making that is all about me. I want my children to some day know me as a person, not just as their mom.

 This is my resolution page for 2011. My goal is to simplify my life. I haven't been too successful yet, but I am working on it. So far, I have cleaned about my email in boxes and started cutting down on methods of email input.

These two are not my favorite in terms of design, but I love the topic because it is about the relationship between my husband and and son. They play a game called "Break the Pickle," which makes my son crack up. I was glad I caught this moment on film.