crafty goodness

When I tell people that I scrapbook, I get mixed reactions. Some people say things like, "I would love to scrapbook, but I just don't have the time (this one is particularly annoying to me as it implies that I somehow have more time in the day than they do)." Others tell me that they scrapbooked the first year of their children's lives, but that now they are "so completely behind they just wouldn't know where to begin!!" Some are overwhelmed by the choices, the products, the amount of stories they have to tell. Still others just look at me like I am from another planet........ a planet where women wear fuzzy, appliqued sweaters and sit around gluing bits and bobs to paper :)

What I have learned over the last few years, is that there are a million different ways to tell our stories: scrapbooks, journals, photographs, shadow boxes, even trunks stored in the attic filled with family heirlooms. In the end, the point is to just get the stories told!! There is no right or wrong way. No right or wrong time. And it is never to late to get started. Just pick a process that feels comfortable to you, and simply begin telling the stories of your life.

Or tell your stories in lots of different ways depending on your mood.....like I do :)

A few weeks ago, I compiled a bunch of photos from 2009, created a collage out of them, had them printed on 12 x 12 paper at Costco, and simply slipped this "2009 Highlights" page into my Family album along with all of my other layouts........simple, no-stress, and it tells a story.

This is a layout I did a few months after our son was born to document how I felt the first time I looked at this photo, the first time that it really dawned on me that we had become a family of four. I didn't write a novel about my feelings, I simply jotted down a few sentences, stuck the photo on some patterned paper, added a title and called it a day. Now, when I look back at this layout, I will immediately remember how I was feeling during that special time in our lives.

This is a shot of the shelves in my craft room where I keep a lot of my embellishments (most of them labeled in clear glass jars). I have found that I use what I can see.....for me, when it comes to scrapbooking, out of sight, really is out of mind. Above the shelf, you can just barely see a banner I created a couple years ago that says "HOME." It's decoration for my studio, but it also tells a story.

And this one, I just made last week. I am totally addicted to Darcy Miller's scrapbox idea!! For this one, I purchased a shadowbox at Michael's (half-off), added four photos from the night of our wedding rehearsal, attached a small square photo in the middle (mounted on foam board) of the view from the top of our hotel, and glued in some flowers from the mock-bouquet I carried that night. These are so fun to put together, and I think they will look great when I can group a bunch of them together on a shelf!!

Just a few different ways that I use to tell our family's story. Motherhood as an art form :)