Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,688
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Jun 7, 2015 2:10:57 GMT
I'm having one of those times when none of the projects I am working on are inspiring me but I really want to scrap. Which has got me thinking about what I scrap and why I choose to work on those albums/stories.
I started with CM so had the mentality of "I must scrap all the photos". Everything from that period is scrapped although there are plenty that I would like to re-do to actually include the stories (not that there's anything wrong with the two triangles, two strips, and 8 photos cut into wacky shapes style).
I've done photo a day, PL, or month in review projects on and off for the last 9 years. Since I was two years behind in putting albums together at the start of this year I decided to make 2015 a break year. Although I miss having the summary of my year I've enjoyed being able to work on my previous albums without any guilt or pressure to keep up with the current year.
I do a Dec Daily every year in a 6x8 or 5x7 and love that I enjoy the season more for documenting it. It makes me look for the good in each day rather than focus on the overcrowded shopping centres, gift buying frenzy, horrible traffic that is usually Dec.
I do a mix of paper and digi and think there's definitely a place for both in my albums. I really enjoy both and I like being able to switch between them depending on my creative mood.
I've done so many albums on my childhood that I feel like I am struggling to think of or recall new stories to tell.
I've got heritage albums with photos from both sides of my family. I've had a lot of unknown photos identified over the last couple of years and have enjoyed telling those stories. There are plenty of gaps still but tracking down the past is always going to remain a work in progress.
These days I mostly do vacation albums but unless I magically win the lottery and can start taking more vacations I'm going to run out of stories to tell.
I also struggle with the amount of space the albums take up. Although I have done PL in an every day format I don't want to document every day of my remaining life as I simply don't have the space to store that many albums and can only imagine the burden it will become to whomever has to deal with them when I'm gone. As a result I think I've pulled too far back on what I scrap and I'm trying to find that balance between being creatively exciting, tells my story, and doesn't take over my whole house.
So that was a really long-winded way of asking what are your pages normally about? Why did you decide to document those stories or create those albums?
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oaksong
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,167 
Location: LA Suburbia
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Jun 27, 2014 6:24:29 GMT
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Post by oaksong on Jun 7, 2015 2:44:58 GMT
Like you, I started out with CM, but went my own way early on with 12x12 top loading pages, full color backgrounds (gasp!) and lots of color. Over the years, I created about 8 albums for each of my two kids. Aside from the baby and toddler years, the subjects were pretty much the same year after year — school, sports, holidays, camps, performances, awards. I also have a few albums of vacations and family events. There are some big gaps here and there, which I am looking forward to completing once I am an empty-nester in a couple of months. Then again, I may spend next fall holed up in my craft room with the scrapbooks of my little darlings, sobbing and missing them terribly.  Last fall, I decided to try pocket-page scrapping for the first time. I wanted to document every day life during the last year of having a kid still at home, and one in college who still comes home for school breaks. For the format, I chose 4 WRMK 8x8 albums in brown, red, green, turquoise, one for each season. I have scrapped events large and small, from holidays and birthdays, to haircuts, a rainbow and a bobcat. The process of creating these albums has given me a lot of joy in documenting our family life. I can't imagine doing it year after year, though. It would seem like a chore, but then again, my pocket-pages are embellished more like a regular scrapbook. Some future projects I want to tackle are family heritage/genealogy albums, my own wedding album, and childhood albums for myself and my husband. I have plenty of ideas to keep me busy for a long time, and lots of supplies to complete them (in case of the apocalypse, you know). |
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scrapaddie
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,090
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Post by scrapaddie on Jun 7, 2015 3:49:46 GMT
I scrap the trips that I take. I've got to do some pretty exciting traveling , including Kenya Tanzania and Australia. I am making a new baby album from my sister. She is 56 years old, our parents are gone, and the album they had made is falling apart. I didn't start scrapping until my daughter was a junior in high school, so if I get bored I can always go back and relive those times of her childhood. I do have to admit though that in recent years I've probably done more card making and scrapbooking. Cards are quick and simple compared to a scrapbook page. And I sometimes wonder just what is going to happen with all the scrapbooks when I am gone.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 28, 2024 14:55:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2015 5:05:23 GMT
I have a recipe album to put together. I was going to give it to my mom for Mother's Day last year but that didn't go as planned. I can't find it now. Plus it wouldn't mean anything to her anymore as she has severe dementia. I will do it. I will just get her to help me do it.
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Post by nitad on Jun 7, 2015 6:28:42 GMT
I stopped chronological scrapping (unless I'm doing a vacation) and I have found that very freeing. I scrap whatever grabs my fancy at the time and I put them in an album as I go along. I could have a page of myself as a baby and then one of my children graduating. I like the surprise in the albums because you never know whats coming next. I have lots (and I mean lots) of photos waiting to be scrapped so i go through every now and then and pick out a few that speak to me and just go with it.
I have one "project" type album in mind though and that's (like Elannah) a recipe album. I'd like to make one for DD with recipes that she has grown up with.
I do have to agree with the space issue though. Damn! Albums take up a lot of room! I do love looking through them though and so do the kids so I don't feel like they are "wasted space".
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Post by LisaDV on Jun 7, 2015 11:17:39 GMT
I love the everyday moments or the personality trait stories the best and those are probably 90% of my albums and like you, they'll be a mix of digi and paper and a mix of sizes as well from 8x8, 8.5x11, 12x12 and 12x12 pocket pages. For the professional photos (school year) for my kids and nieces and nephews, I tend to do just a pretty page with their information. I've realized that I like the story telling, so I have a book (an excel worksheet) that is all about the stories I want to tell. I have way more ideas than time so if I think of something to tell, it goes on the excel worksheet. I have it separated by family, each family member, places, animals, extended family and friends. So if I have a picture and no real story, I go there to find one which helps to motivate me. I don't scrapbook chronologically and not every photo, although I'm still struggling with the space of the albums I have. I've thought of going 8.5x11 as they are just easier to pick up and to store.
I have started making cards as well, even though I still have too many stories to scrapbook. And sometimes I just want to art journal so I turn my focus to that for awhile. Have you tried either of those? Sometimes you just need a change.
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Post by mikklynn on Jun 7, 2015 12:52:57 GMT
Like nitad I stopped scrapping chronologically. It stressed me out to feel like I was behind. I really love to scrapbook about my grandchildren. I do everyday stuff and funny things they say, as well as holidays, first day of school, etc. I like to tell the story about what we were doing and why. I have some fabulous photos from my late grandmother's photo album. I have no clue why they took a picture standing out in a field in front of a hay stack, for example. I agree, the albums take up a lot of room. I figure the grandkids can keep them, scan them, or toss them when I'm gone. But, for now, they bring me a lot of pleasure. |
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Post by carolynhasacat on Jun 7, 2015 13:33:46 GMT
One of the most satisfying projects I ever did was a vacation album for my bff. I pulled her photos and stories from her emails to me about the trip and made a little mini-book for her capturing them. She is the type who never prints photos and she doesn't scrap. I mailed it to her as a surprise and she was shocked and ecstatic to have the memories of that trip preserved. And it was fun to scrap without worrying about writing the journaling or having too many photos to sort through. Can you work on a project like that?
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Loydene
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,639
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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Post by Loydene on Jun 7, 2015 13:55:38 GMT
I do vacations. My DS is grown and out of my home so I have many fewer pictures. And -- much earlier, I came to a realization that I was experiencing too much life behind a lens and substantially reduced the volume of pictures I took. I still intend to scrapbook DS's earlier years -- 12x12 format. I don't care for the Project Life concept. I've used pocket pages for some vacation scrapbooks -- and I'm a bit on the fence. I don't think it really made the process faster and sometimes a 12x12 page would have worked better.
I've created mini-albums for vacations -- but prefer to stick with the 12x12 format overall.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Nov 28, 2024 14:55:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 7, 2015 14:10:39 GMT
I love to scrap, too, and what inspires me is travel and my 12 grandchildren.
I make albums for each of them and for trips we take.
About once a year we take a family trip and I scrap it in each of their albums. I am just finishing their pages for the trip we all took in December to Smoky mountains.
I want them to remember, when I am gone, the things we did together and how much we love them.
I also like to find older pictures that mean a lot to me, reprint them in a larger size and scrap a special page.
I like to make birthday cards with my favorite landscape photos.
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tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Jun 7, 2015 19:31:01 GMT
I am a chrono scrapper and while I do feel the stress of always feeling behind, I found myself more stressed out when I tried just scrapping whatever I felt like. I figure if my kids ever look at them again  it would be easier if the albums basically told a story of the year, so the pages have to be in somewhat of a chrono order. I couldn't just stick random pages in the books and just having them hanging out, not in albums made me even battier. I went back to chrono. I also do PL. Those albums are a combo of pics from my husband's travels (he's gone M-F every week for work) and photos of things I want to remember someday, but don't need a full 12x12 page to tell the story. Things like our favorite meals or my obsession w/candles or how my kid's bed looks like a murder took place in it the nite before. How I choose what to scrap is based on what I want my kids, grandkids, great grandkids, etc. to be able to remember and know about our life. How I scrap those things is the fun & creative part for me. Sounds to me like you're working on a whole lotta stuff, Chinagirl828! Maybe taking a little break will get your mojo going again? I find that while I love scrapping, if I do it too often it begins to feel more like a chore and therefore less enjoyable. Maybe take some time off and then see what calls you back to the scrapping table. Hang in there! |
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Post by checkwheelsdown on Jun 7, 2015 21:31:04 GMT
Right now I'm attempting to catch up with the eleventy billion family pictures from the kids' childhoods and our life in the Air Force. I don't necessarily scrap chronologically (I randomly selected 2003 for the year I'm scrapping now) but I do order layouts in my albums chronologically.
I try not to stress too much when I ask a child if he/she remembers a particular trip or event and they say no because the pictures were buried in photo boxes all their lives. It just tells me I can't die until all those memories are scrapped. At the rate I'm going, I will never die.
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Post by LisaDV on Jun 7, 2015 21:55:08 GMT
I don't necessarily scrap chronologically (I randomly selected 2003 for the year I'm scrapping now) but I do order layouts in my albums chronologically.
Agreed, I have to have my layouts in chronologically order or very close to, even if I don't scrap that way.
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,688
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Jun 7, 2015 23:50:54 GMT
I try not to stress too much when I ask a child if he/she remembers a particular trip or event and they say no because the pictures were buried in photo boxes all their lives. It just tells me I can't die until all those memories are scrapped. At the rate I'm going, I will never die. This seriously made me laugh. |
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,688
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Jun 7, 2015 23:55:48 GMT
Thanks for all your thoughts - I love seeing what motivates everyone and picking up new ideas along the way.
Ironically after my scrappy meltdown yesterday I decided to choose some photos to have printed. My target was to pull out 100 photos since I have a credit sitting in my account to cover it, and knowing that I wanted to shrink some of those photos down to 3x4 so I'd get more than 100 by the time I was done. I made it to about 40 before I found some photos that set me off scrapping again.
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Post by alissa103 on Jun 8, 2015 0:18:26 GMT
Oh I'm glad your photos inspired you again, Karen!  I was also going to suggest maybe starting an art journal or some other mixed media project to get you creating again. That is something to think about if you are feeling uninspired again. I scrap DS. He's three, so the photos are pretty cute and fun right now. Like we went to the pool today and his cute little self playing in the water in his lime green swimsuit… those photos are adorable. I have the perfect paper in mind for the photos and so sometimes it just comes easy like that. Also, just to get some of the stories and photos into his albums, I will do an easy (no-frills) pocket page. Sometimes the photos are horrible and not scrap-worthy and other times I have a story but no photos. The pocket pages have come in handy for that sort of thing and frees my "must scrap all the photos" feelings. When I'm not feeling the baby pictures, I love to create an altered project as a gift or a mini book or if I'm short on time, a card or two. I actually make quite a few cards because they don't take a lot of time and are good scrap busters. I tend to just pick up whatever scraps are left on my desk from the last layout and make a card or two. But I am most definitely a card maker. And I know a lot of scrappers do not like to make cards. So that idea doesn't work for everyone. But yeah, I TOTALLY get the space issues. If I continue scrapping at this pace, DS is going to end up with a zillion albums! Not sure how to handle that, but I'm ok with it at the moment. |
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Post by jloubier on Jun 8, 2015 0:50:18 GMT
Hi Karen, Great question. My scrapbooking has considerably slowed down. I'm at the point where, although I still love the process, I'm struggling with finding new things to scrap about. I've scrapbooked all of my childhood memories, most of our trips, our pets, and our kids. I've stopped scrapbooking Christmas, autumn, winter, and nature. Those types of layouts become redundant in my opinion. These days I prefer to scrapbook the things that are more personal to me. I will not scrapbook a beautiful photo just for the sake of scrapbooking it. I must have something insightful to say about it. Journaling has become the most important part. The amount of room it takes to store the 12 x 12 albums is an incentive to only scrap the important stuff. I still remember the vintage pages you did with your old family photos. I still remember a lot of your pages, actually. You have a beautiful scrapbooking style. I still miss the challenges we used to participate in on 2Peas. I hope you get your groove back. |
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 6,688
Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Jun 8, 2015 1:39:42 GMT
I still remember the vintage pages you did with your old family photos. I still remember a lot of your pages, actually. You have a beautiful scrapbooking style. Oh gosh, thanks Jacynthe! Your style inspired me so much with many of those pages. I think my heritage pages is where I really found my style and I still love so many of those pages. |
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Post by mikklynn on Jun 8, 2015 2:16:08 GMT
Chinagirl828 I'm glad you found your mojo again!
One of the things I love about scrapbooking is all the different styles. There are great reasons to scrap chronologically or not. To me, there are NO rules.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jun 8, 2015 4:40:34 GMT
There are so many stories I want to tell, and I am SO behind because my stuff has been packed up for so long. I'm eager to get started now that my studio buildout is done, but I have months worth of organizing to do before I can really get going.
What really fires me up is looking through my photos and seeing the pics that speak to me. Sometimes with time, I might find a photo (maybe even one that I've already scrapped in a different way) that inspires me to tell a different story about that person, that place or that moment in time and some of those pages end up being my favorites.
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Post by 950nancy on Jun 8, 2015 5:00:31 GMT
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Post by LisaDV on Jun 8, 2015 10:14:59 GMT
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Post by LisaDV on Jun 8, 2015 10:34:53 GMT
Thanks for all your thoughts - I love seeing what motivates everyone and picking up new ideas along the way. Ironically after my scrappy meltdown yesterday I decided to choose some photos to have printed. My target was to pull out 100 photos since I have a credit sitting in my account to cover it, and knowing that I wanted to shrink some of those photos down to 3x4 so I'd get more than 100 by the time I was done. I made it to about 40 before I found some photos that set me off scrapping again. Glad you got your groove back! |
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Post by stefdesign on Jun 8, 2015 14:32:41 GMT
I don't do albums. I am 100% digi, and I rarely even print my layouts at all, unless there's something special I want to print to frame, give as a gift, etc. I do, however, post all of my layouts on my blog, post on online galleries (so sad that there's no more 2PS gallery!), and on FB. I tend to be all over the place with my layouts. I'm an event scrapper, and I'm particularly prolific when the weather is nice, because we get out and do a lot of sightseeing locally. Our kids are grown, and live far away, so my layouts about family are a little sparse. I also do a lot of heritage scrapping and the occasional artsy or childhood memory layout. I like to try different effects and styles, and so, even when I scrap similar events or places, I challenge myself to try a different approach. You can see my blog here, to see some of my work. I also do a lot of photography that often doesn't get into a layout, someday I might scrap these wayward photos. |
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Post by ilikepink on Jun 8, 2015 15:05:46 GMT
I scrapped my boys and our family activities - anywhere from 1 to 4 books per year. I have ODS baby book done, my high school years, and some heritage done. After my divorce/move, it was very hard to get back into again. Where my life had been revolving around the boys and husband, it now was just me. I've scrapped my "new" life, the purchase and renovations in my new house. On the bright side, it's back to one album per year.
Still have lots of pictures of the boys prior to 1999 to scrap. The quality of those pictures isn't great, and I'm not looking forward to working with them. I do have a lot of albums, but I keep going because I know that someday, the boys will appreciate them (their wives and children probably more so..lol) And having just lost my dad, I realize more than ever how important it is to have these moments preserved.
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Post by myboysnme on Jun 8, 2015 23:04:12 GMT
Right now I am trying to scrap those things that my kids (if they ever would) would have trouble scrapping. This is pretty much my life before them. I finished my teen years and have to do my entire 20's and early 30's. I need to update my heritage and childhood books.
Their lives are scrapped and while I do keep their books up to date, at this point they are adults and could easily scrap their own pics. But my life they really can't.
Eventually I want to split about 10 years of their combined childhood books into individual books for them. But I literally still have 100's of photos left to scrap along with memorabilia I saved.
Why do I scrap? To record my life in a meaningful way that others can enjoy in years to come and that I can enjoy reflecting upon. It is basic memory keeping really. I just want to remember and be remembered.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jun 9, 2015 4:00:09 GMT
Good thread!
I scrap my family.
Every day moments.
My accomplishments. And that of my kids.
I scrap big world events if they move me.
I scrap my memories of my deceased family members, because often that's all I have left of them.
I think I scrap so much because I have a fear of letting go. Of forgetting. I have a need to have something tangible to prove to myself that my life is not a life wasted. (whoa, that sounds kind of weird and maybe too heavy, but that's how it came out in my head, so I'm leaving it as I typed it).
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Post by nitad on Jun 9, 2015 8:59:45 GMT
I just want to remember and be remembered. This says it perfectly. |
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tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Jun 9, 2015 17:35:19 GMT
Good thread! I scrap my family. Every day moments. My accomplishments. And that of my kids. I scrap big world events if they move me. I scrap my memories of my deceased family members, because often that's all I have left of them.
I think I scrap so much because I have a fear of letting go. Of forgetting. I have a need to have something tangible to prove to myself that my life is not a life wasted. (whoa, that sounds kind of weird and maybe too heavy, but that's how it came out in my head, so I'm leaving it as I typed it).What I bolded is so me! |
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Deleted
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Nov 28, 2024 14:55:43 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2015 14:34:50 GMT
I scrap all of my photos in chronological order. It's a way to enjoy Christmas in July and swim parties in January.  Vacations are the most active time for photos, but I also manage to capture my niece's dance recitals, different stages in remodeling our house, happy hours at conferences, evenings with friends around a fire pit, basketball games, flag football games, game nights at our house in addition to the usual birthday and holiday photos. Those are my least favorite to take because they're so predictable. |
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it would be easier if the albums basically told a story of the year, so the pages have to be in somewhat of a chrono order. I couldn't just stick random pages in the books and just having them hanging out, not in albums made me even battier. I went back to chrono.
