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Post by riversong1963 on Jul 2, 2022 14:37:58 GMT
*** Not being judgmental. *** In another thread, Peas were discussing what they don't like to scrap. My question is, why do you do it? Is it because you feel it's your "job" or responsibility? Is there pressure from family? Are you leaving a legacy? Is there a way to make these topics easier to scrapbook? I'm really curious. I don't scrapbook anything I don't enjoy scrapping. Maybe it's because my kids are grown, and I don't feel like I have to be the "keeper of their memories" anymore. I remember all those school layouts and the holiday albums that I felt compelled to document. Even then, though, I didn't feel the need to document everything. I found a way to change things up in the school and holiday albums, and now I just plain have fun with my hobby. Maybe we can share ideas to help other Peas who are struggling. Here are my suggestions. HTH. - Use an album that's a different size from the one you're using now.
- Choose 2 or 3 of the best photos of the event/subject, or the ones that really tell the story.
- Ask your kids (if applicable) what they want to remember about the event.
- Ask yourself what YOU want to remember about the event.
- Always come back to the question: Why am I creating this layout? Let the answers guide you.
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pantsonfire
Drama Llama
Take a step back, evaluate what is important, and enjoy your life with those who you love.
Posts: 6,204 
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Post by pantsonfire on Jul 2, 2022 14:50:17 GMT
Why?
Memories. Stories. Successes. Accomplishments. Childhood.
I look back fondly on the photos my parents took of my school days.
I look back through my scrapbook albums at the accomplishments my kids have had and smile with pride.
Both kids have Autism +. Getting the president award, 3.5-4.0 GPA award, and most improved math student award was huge for my oldest.
Putting my feelings down will be good for her to read one day.
It's just not a photo or event. For my kids, it's a lot more.
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paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,088
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
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Post by paget on Jul 2, 2022 14:51:59 GMT
I answered on that thread - I answered bad pictures (and I don’t scrap those) and Christmas. For Christmas I just add a couple
Pics to my PL for the week- no separate pages and certainly no December daily album! Lol
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Post by myboysnme on Jul 2, 2022 14:56:25 GMT
I scrapbook for memory keeping first and foremost. Some photos are uninspiring, boring, repetitive or whatever. But they are captured memories so I want to keep them.
Scrapbooking as an enjoyable hobby is secondary for me. With many hobbies there are unenjoyable aspects, kind of like a bad day of golf. But I persevere because scrapbooking memories is what I do.
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Post by Linda on Jul 2, 2022 15:00:51 GMT
I'm learning to pick and choose photos more when there are a ton. Also to take breaks and scrap something different. It's usually less that I don't want to scrap them and more that the number of photos is overwhelming for me
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Post by grammadee on Jul 2, 2022 15:26:20 GMT
For me it's a balance. Some photos just scream at me to be scrapped. Some supplies jump up and down shouting "Pick me! Pick ME!" Some stories come tumbling out on the page. Others, not so much. I am a starter, so the first page on a topic is fun and exciting. I am not a finisher, so the last few pages may feel like work. Some days I am full of energy and ideas. Other days, my mind is full of cotton wool and my hands are like blocks. In the back of my mind is a fairness scale, so if I scrap too much about one person, I want to balance it out even if I don't have as many pic's or I don't know what to say. If I can, I try to add at least one fun element to the process of scrapping. If I am out of ideas, I look for a sketch I like, or a LO that has design or some elements I want to lift. If I am balancing out an album or story to include photos not as inspiring or numerous, I use supplies I want to play with. If I am overwhelmed by a project, I try to do it from a kit so that the supplies I need are right at hand. Or do it with friends--in person or on line--so I can whine while I scrap. (My apologies to justjac, who often gets the benefit of my whining whether in person or on line...) I try to "mix it up". If I am overwhelmed by the number of photos, I print or crop them smaller so I can get more on one page and maybe one of them bigger so it can be the feature facing page. If a story is begging to be told, I type it in Word. I can always figure out later how to scrap it, even if I have no photos or papers that fit the story. All in all, I scrap for fun. I scrap to tell stories. I scrap to share those stories with family and friends. I scrap b/c so many things I do are fleeting--a made bed becomes unmade, a clean house gets messed up, a good meal gets eaten--but when I send time scrapping, I can see a page that is FINISHED. I spent time having fun, and I have something to show for it. |
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Jul 2, 2022 16:30:52 GMT
In the other thread, my answer was >> I don't scrapbook vintage or polaroid photos from the 1960's and 1970's. The quality of the photos aren't the best, so I choose not to scrapbook them. When I first started scrapbooking (fall 1996), it was because I saw an acquaintances scrapbooks and thought were cute, and I wanted to do that with my photos as well. As time has passed and the years go by, my reason for scrapbooking has been add to.....in addition to how cute my scrapbooks are, my scrapbooks help me remember all the things I've forgotten from over the years. Especially when I have moments or days, when I feel like life, time, years are going by and I've done nothing. My scrapbooks remind me, I have done a lot. The pages are filled with memories. In addition, scrapbooking is my therapy. It helps me fill some of my time. It gives me a something to focus on, when my emotions and feelings are out of sorts. It makes me feel happy and content. I enjoy all of it.......assembling the pages, figuring out what I going to use on a page, looking back through all of my scrapbooks, organizing my scrapbook stuff, reading and participating on the message boards, looking at ideas online, following other scrapbookers or mixed media artists on social media, shopping for products, the feeling I get when others view my scrapbooks and they oohhh and aahhh and reminisce about a time, a moment, an occasion we shared. I love everything about scrapbooking (except when my now passed...beloved cat, felt it was her right to be in the middle of my scrapbooking....that annoyed me  . |
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Post by scrappyem on Jul 2, 2022 16:37:41 GMT
I answered on that thread to. Good question. For me, since I do scrap 98% of the time pocket style documenting my week, leaving out the photos I enjoy less (like kid's sports pictures for instance) would be weird since that's part of what I did that week. I'm completely fine if I have other stories/photos for the week and skipping those photos or any other photo really. But if I don't, in they go. That said, I don't take any of it too seriously. Stealing from Taylor Swift again, my motto really is, "I do what I want".
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Post by lilacgal on Jul 2, 2022 23:35:16 GMT
I answered in that thread, twice in fact. I guess deep down it feels similar to my daughter and math. She’s always telling me she’s not good at it. I tell her she is good at it. “But, mom, I don’t like math.” I smile at her and remind her for what feels like the hundredth time, “You don’t have to like something to be good at it.” I can always scrapbook things I don’t like. They’re not my favorite things, but I don’t hate them. Broccoli isn’t my favorite but I can’t get by eating only chocolate chip cookies (though some days I wish I could!). I do Journal Your Christmas so Christmas does get documented. I just feel like there should be a couple 12x12 layouts in the big albums too. Birthdays should feel acknowledged. Yet another Valentines Day too. I think the only holiday I enjoy scrapping is Independence Day because we’re usually visiting my family in VA. Seeing all the cousins running around and playing together…it feels more magical than the stressed out Christmas visits.
I feel like I’m rambling. So, to sum up, I scrapbook the things I don’t like because I feel like they should be included. They’re important to my husband and daughter. Because they are important to me, I do it for them. It’s a way I show I love them.
There are very few things I refuse to scrapbook. One of my dad’s ex girlfriends tore my family apart. I refuse to have her in any part of my scrapbooks. She was a mean-spirited, spiteful bitch who did her best to separate my dad from his four daughters. She is one reason I’ve not scrapbooked my wedding. She was there. She’s in the family photos. I don’t know how to deal with that, and it’s been twenty years.
For the longest time, I refused to scrapbook about my pacemaker. A few years ago I did a page with a hidden photo and a put the picture of my first device in there after I got it back. I still haven’t journaled though. That was 2006, and I’m still processing through those feelings too. I can talk about it, but writing those thoughts down…I just can’t. Not yet at least. Maybe one day.
Did I even answer your question? I’m going to go take an anxiety pill and color now. I hope my lengthy reply makes sense to someone. 💜
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Post by riversong1963 on Jul 2, 2022 23:53:28 GMT
Very interesting. Thanks, Peas.
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Post by mikklynn on Jul 3, 2022 11:13:20 GMT
I scrapbook my Christmas photos even if they are too busy, because it's usually a fun day. It would seem strange to me to exclude Christmas from my books every year.
I guess I could say it's more that they are a challenge than say I dislike scrapping them.
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Post by boymom5 on Jul 3, 2022 14:35:23 GMT
I answered in the other thread too but it’s because it documents the traditions and the changes in the people we see during those times. (Mine was birthdays and holidays). My kids enjoy seeing cousins grow up with them, changes in friends at parties and so on. I just don’t like those pages and won’t do a DD again because all three are so similar in events.
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Post by Night Owl on Jul 4, 2022 1:02:06 GMT
It's kind of like my daughter's old elementary school pictures. Every year I would pay in advance for the school pictures and then be disappointed because I didn't like the way they turned out. NOW I look at those pictures and they look cute to me. Same with most of the pictures I scrapbooked half heartedly, now I look at them and like them more and am glad I made the layouts.
Also sometimes I am not quite satisfied with a layout but usually once I put them in the page protector I like them better. Maybe when I put them in the album psychologically they look more complete to me?
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artbabe
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,388
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Post by artbabe on Jul 4, 2022 16:08:50 GMT
I don't scrapbook the photos I don't like. I don't have to document everything. I am certainly not a chronological scrapper and I don't need to scrapbook every second of our lives.
I scrap the photos that speak to me. Or an event that meant a lot. Some of the photos are more challenging to scrap then others. I view scrapbooking as doing puzzles. The puzzle is how to make it look good. Sometimes that is easy and sometimes it is hard. I enjoy the process, though, even on the harder ones.
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Post by kmage on Jul 4, 2022 16:57:07 GMT
I don't scrapbook the photos I don't like. I don't have to document everything. I am certainly not a chronological scrapper and I don't need to scrapbook every second of our lives. 100% agree with this...except for Christmas. There is something that feels so wrong about not scrapping Christmas, even though it seems like a PITA. One thing I did try a few years ago was to move Christmas LO to one big book and just have that for Christmas, that did help. What I need to do (and have been working on) is weeding out the Christmas paper I don't like. I realized that I dislike the more traditional Christmas colors and motifs, and probably need to focus on using supplies that bring me joy to use, instead of working with pics I already find challenging and supplies that I borderline hate, just to use them up and not be wasteful. Someone mentioned this too, and I think I am going to try it this year. We just take the same boring boring photos every Christmas, so this coming year I am going to make a list of snapshots I really want to get that are meaningful, like maybe instead of photos of the kids ripping into gifts, (which always look so chaotic) a pic of each kid with their fave gift. |
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Post by refugeepea on Jul 4, 2022 18:41:32 GMT
I've changed the way I scrap. I don't make individual albums for my kids past the age of five. No school albums. Everything goes in the family album. I know my kids don't care, so I do it for me. I prefer events and holidays. I've put little things in there more frequently too because I scrap using divided sheet protectors mostly. I don't care about a legacy. I don't care about telling stories. If I do, it is brief. I don't like my feelings on display for others to read. Maybe someday, I'll do some albums with more introspection, but I really don't care right now.
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Post by wordyphotogbabe on Jul 6, 2022 1:26:06 GMT
I'm a storyteller, and I feel it's my responsibility to tell the whole story even if parts of it are uncomfortable or boring. I find sportsball, birthday, and Christmas Day photos especially tedious to scrap so they usually only get one page each... but there is a page! I know the hassle now will be worth the payoff later.
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