Showing More of Ourselves in Our Scrapbooks: Documenting the Peaks and Valleys of Life

Showing More of Ourselves in Our Scrapbooks: Documenting the Peaks and Valleys of Life

I really enjoyed this past Mother's Day. The kids are getting old enough to understand why we have the holiday, they get excited to give gifts and cards, and love coming upstairs to watch me open them. Their attention spans are longer now and they appreciate family togetherness more, so it was fun for me to create this page about our day together:



I love creating the "happy" layouts! I do feel it's important to document optimism, family togetherness, and everything that's good. But, honestly, I feel equally compelled to make pages about things like this:



It's not the most popular choice amongst scrapbookers to show the unpleasant realities of life in their albums. Some people have questioned why I would create a page about things my kids do that bother me. They have said they don't want to focus on the difficult things, and that the positive should only be accentuated. I do think being positive is important in our pages, but I see no reason why the "rosey" parts of our lives should completely dominate them.

I'll tell you one reason I feel this way. I overheard a conversation once --- I believe it was right before Christmas one year. There was a small group of ladies in an aerobics class I was taking, and before class started, they were discussing things that were hard for them about the holidays. One of the things they lamented was receiving the yearly Christmas letters from family and friends. They were talking about how weary they were of hearing about their friends "perfect" life, their "perfect" children, who were "perfect" in all their extra-curriculars, their "perfect" houses, and etc. These gals said additionally, that they didn't believe those who said everything in their lives were "stunning" and "always ideal."

I thought about what was being said and decided there was some truth to it. Making things appear perfect isn't always interesting. Sometimes, it can also come off as fake and insincere.

So, a few years later, when I discovered scrapping, I decided I would try to present a balanced view as I created my albums. While I don't believe that our scrapbooks need to have a gloomy tone, I think it's acceptable and even important to show that our lives have peaks and valleys. There are wonderful times, and then there those days when things are rough.

I made a choice to document our difficulties because I want my kids to see that life is not always smooth sailing. I think it will be a great teaching tool for them. They need to see that tough times in our life can be overcome and can teach us important lessons. I hope that by showing how we worked our way through the rough patches, we became better as individuals and families.

So how does one create a page on a hard subject? By being tactfully honest, which to me, means:

-speaking from your heart (as corny as that sounds)
-writing about what you've learned during your experience
-ensuring that your content is tasteful and not offensive
-not sharing any information that has been told to you in confidence

As I have applied these guidelines, it has helped me make layouts that tell the not-so-happy story with sensitivity.

For example, before my husband and I adopted our kids, we had a long, arduous battle with infertility. We had made the decision to file adoption papers and have me receive fertility treatments at the same time. There came a point when we knew we had had enough pills, needles, and doctor appointments, and that we were done with the medical aspect of trying to have children.

At that point, I made an album documenting my experience with infertility and the loss of having my own biological children. One of the reasons I did this was to provide a way for me to say goodbye to that dream. It helped me mourn the loss and enabled me to embrace the idea of adoption. One of the layouts I did was a goodbye letter to my biological child, the one I wouldn't ever get to hold in my arms:




When the album was finished, I realized that it has also served as a catharsis. Creating it had enabled me to feel my sad feelings and move on with my life. And, on those days when I still feel the grief and long for that dream child, I read through the album once more, touch the pages, and cry. It has turned out to be a work that continues to heal and comfort me.

The album is too big to share in its entirety here, so if you wish to see more, then you can see it at my gallery over at Two Peas.

Whew! That was a lot to say! I hope that something I wrote today will get you thinking about what you share in your layouts, and inspire you to show the peaks and the valleys.

Have a good day!
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I'm Excited to Tell You...

I'm Excited to Tell You...

...that I'm working on a creative team again! Digital scrapbooking designer Heather T, who designs kits, papers, and page elements over at Pixel Canvas, offered me a spot on her creative team and I've accepted. I sent an application over for her latest CT call, and I was lucky enough to be chosen! Each CT applicant was asked to create a page layout from a kit she posted on her blog, and this was the page I submitted for the call:





Additionally, here is a page I created using Heather's "Country Dreams" kit, which you can find over at the Pixel Canvas:


I'm excited that I will have the chance to share lots of future layouts here using Heather's great stuff! Heather has a great blog, and she often gives away beautiful freebies, so if you have a chance, stop by and visit.


Also, because I wasn't blogging a couple of months ago, I didn't get a chance to share my work from a guest CT gig I got. During the month of April '09, I was fortunate enough to do some pages for Erica Hernandez, a digital designer who works at Two Peas. Even though that's been done for two months, I still wanted to show the pages I did. I used her 8.5 x 11 templates (numbers 21, 22, and 23), "Feeling Bookish" letter set, as well as the houndstooth and herringbone overlays:













Thanks for letting me share and don't worry...I'm still going to be doing lots of posts on "common sense" topics related to scrapping. Have a good one!
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Twelve of Twelve

Twelve of Twelve


It was about three years ago when we adopted our kids. At that time, everything was so overwhelming. Learning to take care of them was so difficult, and so trying to do any scrapbooking for them was definitely not a first priority. I had little to no time to think about how I would get their life books started, or even find time to take pictures. There would be times when my hubby would take tons of photos of the children, and then we'd get super busy and forget. I'd look through their pictures and see huge gaps where we just had nothing.

Last year, I was wracking my brain, trying to think of something that would remind me to take pictures of everyone in our family. I was feeling tons of “bad mommy” guilt because I was exhausted all the time and wasn't able to keep track of all of moments I wanted to.

In my search to find a solution, I saw that many scrappers were gearing up to take part in “Project 365,” which involved taking a picture everyday for one year. A lot of the scrappers who would take part in this would do a layout each week (or month) showing the photos they took. Part of me really liked this idea, but I couldn't myself see doing this and not falling off the wagon at some point. There are just a lot of days when all I can do is keep the kids clean, fed, and out of the emergency room. I needed a solution that could be done with regularity but not necessarily everyday.

It was around that same time when I came across Susan Keuter's Twelve of Twelve challenge blog. She fully explains the concept there, which I'd encourage you to check out. The gist of it is this: on the twelve day of each month, challenge participants start taking pictures when they wake up. The idea is to take pictures of anything and everything, no matter how big or small. For instance, one might snap pictures of the pajamas they are wearing, what time it was when they woke up, what they ate for lunch, taking the kids to school, how many emails were in their inbox, what was done during a work break, and so on. Pictures are taken from sun up to sun down. Then, over the next few days, challenge participants delete any pictures they won't use or that didn't turn out, cull them down to their favorite twelve shots of the day, and then create a single or double scrapbook layout using those pictures.

Finding the “Twelve of Twelve” challenge was like striking gold for me. Here was a fun yet practical idea that wouldn't take a huge time commitment and would help me document more of those everyday moments I felt I was missing. It didn't mean I wouldn't take pictures at other times throughout the month; of course I would snap a photo here and there when I had a lucid moment. Actively participating in the challenge, though, would ensure that a month would not go by without at least some photos being snapped.

In January, when I had my first experience with the challenge, I was a little nervous at first. I kept thinking, “Will it be a pain to take my camera with me throughout the day?” I wasn't sure how that would work during the “Mom Taxi” portions of the day. I remember dropping the camera on the garage floor and freaking out, thinking I had busted the camera and ruined the whole experience (thankfully, I lucked out and the camera was just fine). After making it through the first half of the day, I realized that it was turning out to be kind of fun. Our point-and-shoot camera was very portable, and not the hassle I was expecting. I got through the whole day and managed to be excited about the challenge. My hubby and kids were enthusiastic, too, and became willing participants, so I saw that it could be something to enjoy each month.

When I got all the photos uploaded, then I started panicking. Will these be the most boring pages ever? After all, we do a lot of the same stuff day after day. I feel like I'm reliving a lot of things over and over again, sort of like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day.” I'm happy to say that this hasn't been the case. While I did see some of the same things recurring in the pages, each page has had its own “flavor.” It's been fun to watch the seasons change, recall how we change our activities with them, and capture some unexpected surprises along the way. For instance, on March 12th, I was going about snapping pictures as usual. In the late afternoon, Elijah woke up from nap with his first loose tooth. It was a complete surprise to everyone, and it made for some fun pictures. Later that night, my husband helped Elijah pull the tooth out and I captured it all!

This month, I was taken aback by all the things that were happening with us on the 12th. My daughter, Izzy, is attending her last month of kindergarten, had her first school lunch, and went to her school carnival. I also took photos of James because I wanted to remember he just recently got potty-trained (which means no more diaper changes --- yea!), and then I saw that all TV stations were switching from analog to digital. The TV thing was a minor detail, but I thought it would be a fun, small part of history to remember. Additionally, The kids now look forward to the 12th of each month as “picture day,” and they even whip out their toy cameras and snap their own photos. :)

The most important lesson I've learned over the last six months is that taking photos regularly can be worked into a busy schedule. Even if the challenge isn't your thing, designate a little time each month to take some pictures. It's easy and I've found it to be very rewarding.

Here are the rest of my “twelve of twelve” pages if you are interested in checking them out:













Thanks for looking...:)
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A Sign of Change

A Sign of Change

A few weeks ago, I picked up the June 2009 issue of Creating Keepsakes, and here's what I saw on the cover:



It was surprising to see a scrapbook page with not one, not two, but seven photos gracing the cover of the mag. I find it interesting that after years of primarily showing single photo pages on the cover, we see a page that more closely remsembles the work of many in its target audience produce.

Am I saying that single photo pages are bad? Of course not. So many of them are amazing works of art. As well, I see no point in arguing with other scrappers over the page style they like (that's something I will touch on later). What I do notice is that it's a sign of change, and I think it's high time things adapt to meet the needs of the everyday scrapper. After all, they are the ones who are plunking down their hard-earned dough to buy products and publications to help them as they create their scrapbooks.


Three great industry magazines have folded or will in the coming months, and some of that is due to the poor state of the economy. But additionally, many scrapbookers I've talked to don't want to subscribe to them. Why? Because some of the mags only feature a few scrappers with a set style. Since not everyone likes the same thing, is it plausible to publish articles and features on a handful of looks? I would say probably not. Having a little diversity in style, number of photos and products used will probably need to be the order of the day.

I think at the very least, magazines, stores, and anyone else who caters to scrapbookers will need to give equal billing to both single photo pages and multi-photo ones. I see it happening a little here and there, but not as much as I would like. After all, I think one can show how to use great products on a variety of page styles, not just one.

I recall a conversation I had with some of my online scrapping pals not too long ago. Most of them are single photo scrappers and I tend to be a multi-photo scrapper. We were talking about solutions for getting event (like birthdays, holidays, family get-togethers, etc.) and travel layouts done. Many of them were saying that there was no way they could do all single photo pages for those types of topics. They were looking for more ways to do multi-photo pages even though that wasn't their typical choice for scrapbooking. We came away from that conversation with a few ideas, but lamented the true lack of diversity shown for doing pages both ways.

So, seeing a layout that departs from the "standard" on a magazine cover is really encouraging. I hope it means that a wider array of scrapbook pages and styles will be showcased someday. Because honestly, when I see a gorgeous, yet doable and practical page idea, I'm more likely to buy publications and cool items that allow me to do so. I think a lot of other scrapbookers feel the same way.

And, in keeping with the spirit of this post, here is a layout I did that has seven photos on it:



Thanks for looking!
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It Comes Down To Common Sense

It Comes Down To Common Sense

Hello and welcome to my corner of the blogosphere! I'm glad you stopped by and hope you'll visit again when you can.  

I've been thinking a lot about scrapbooking and what first attracted me to it. It gave me goosebumps. I just loved seeing photos and journaling placed on archival paper and adorned with cool embellishments. It amazed me because of the cohesive way it works together to tell the story of something personal --- a lost tooth, a new baby, a birthday, or a fun trip someone had taken.  

There's also the part of me who likes the artistic aspect of memory keeping. It can be thrilling to get published or work on a design team, knowing that one's work may inspire others. Taking part in challenges offered on various blogs and online communities can really stretch us a scrapbookers. It also gave me a way to connect with others who shared my interest in this hobby. 

A few years before we adopted our children, I became more involved with the latter: being on design teams for online stores, doing challenges, trying to get published, and so on. I have had a small degree of success in each area. The difficulty I ran into was that I got to the point where I was scrapping too much for other people, and not enough for me and my family. It became less about telling our stories and more about trying to use the materials from the latest kit I got in the mail. I got a little burned out with all of it. 

Then, fast forward to summer 2006, when practically overnight, I became a mom to four young kids. I had one tiny baby and three active toddlers. There were three in diapers, and I was overwhelmed. How in the world would any scrapbooking at all get done with four so little? Should I even worry about trying to get published or take part in challenges? At first, I didn't think so. 

In the past three years, though, I've learned that it doesn't have to be an all-or-nothing proposition. I've come to adopt a common sense approach to scrapbooking. Our stories need to be told. I need to scrapbook because it's an important form of self-expression. I hope to find work as a designer once more. I want to show artistry in my pages, but I need to strike a balance between all these things. At the end of the day, there is still laundry to be done, the kids have to get to school, and meals need to be put on the table. I still want to try new techniques on my pages and remember a cute phase my kids went through, but it has to be something I can squeeze in between laundry and fixing up owies. It also means using the stash I've been stockpiling in current ways.

Here's a page I created with this philosophy in mind.  I love the story behind this and how cute my boy is being at this point and time:







So, with that in mind, I started this blog. Here's to using common sense to document the important events and moments of life, while still creating pages we can be proud of. I hope also to touch on some things I see happening in the industry that are helping out scrappers similar to my situation, as well as some practical, helpful ideas that enable us to do more in less time and with less hassle. 

I welcome constructive comments, so give me a holler if you like. 
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