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Post by missysauter on Jul 24, 2014 20:27:32 GMT
Another thread really got me thinking about telling my life stories. I do vacation and event photo layouts pretty well. There's never very much journaling, but hey, they're in an album that counts for something. Right? I'm trying to come up with things that I think are important enough to have special layouts to tell the rest of the story, but I don't get very far. I know I've had a full life and have lots of stories - but I'm not so sure that anyone will really be interested in those. Hmmm... What do all of you think? What do you do?
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Post by titancia on Jul 24, 2014 20:31:23 GMT
I feel the same way. I try to think of it as journaling instead of telling a story--I don't think I'm anything special or have amazing stories, but if I like looking back on my own life. Even if the little stories or every day schedules don't mean anything to anyone else, it does to me, so I just do it for myself.
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tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
Jun 26, 2014 15:57:39 GMT
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Jul 24, 2014 21:38:54 GMT
I'm one of those weird scrappers who keeps her vacation & Christmas photos in separate albums and scraps everything else chronologically. I find that I have very little to say on vacation & Christmas layouts. The pics are pretty self explanatory, you know? I do a little more journaling in my regular albums, but it varies. Some page just don't require it, and others have a huge story. I also do Project Life and I find myself doing mostly random photos: my purse, misc. things I make for dinner, my kids' clothes all over the floor, the wacky way my older son sleeps, etc. Those all get me journaling - why I like the purse, where I got the recipe & who in the family likes/dislikes it, how is it possible my kids can live like this?, etc. I figure these are all things that don't seem like much now, but will at the very least make us all chuckle in 20 years when we read about my obsession w/Yankee Candle or the fact my youngest dips his pancakes in milk. Not sure this helps you, but I hope so!
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Post by DawnMcD on Jul 24, 2014 22:11:12 GMT
I think instead of trying to think of a story that is interested start writing down the random stories that come to your mins when you look at your photos. The stories you tell other people. Like I have 1 photo from my 5th birthday. Me with all my presents. And I have stories I can tell about all the homemaking gifts I got and the baby doll and crib. But another story that always comes to mind with that pic is that it is my only birthday that I can remember my Dad being there (my mother and he divorced when I was a baby) that is the story I will be sure to share when I scrap that photo.
So if say in one of your vacation photos you have a picture of someone eating something - and some other time during the vacation something interesting happened around eating - you can put that photo with that story.
I hope this is making sense. LOL Also don't feel pressured to have a story for every photo or layout - it will not always happen!
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Renee
Junior Member
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Jun 26, 2014 0:39:03 GMT
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Post by Renee on Jul 25, 2014 0:19:11 GMT
I completely agree! I don't take pictures like I used to when my daughter was young. I have a great life, but I just don't think it's interesting enough to document. Vacations and holidays are the only things I take pictures of and scrap. Even then, I don't have the same excitement I did when my daughter was little. Maybe I'm just in a slump?
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camcas
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Jun 26, 2014 3:41:19 GMT
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Post by camcas on Jul 25, 2014 0:48:05 GMT
sometimes there is a story ...and sometimes i just wanna play with paper and glue...either is OK I reckon!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 25, 2014 0:54:17 GMT
I think about the stories my mom (Depression era childhood) would tell us about the things she and her siblings would do as kids. You know, the stuff they played with, things her mom made to eat, what the holidays were like. She would tell us what life was like as a young adult, the different jobs she had, how she met our dad, etc. I always thought her stories were fascinating because everything was so different then. She had a pretty ordinary life for the times, but what makes it interesting is because everything has changed so much!
When you look at it from that perspective, think about how much things have changed just in our own lifetime. When I was a little kid, people were still listening to music on vinyl records and 8-track tapes were the hot new thing. Our TV was a giant thing in a wooden console and new appliances came in colors like avocado or harvest gold. The Walkman cassette player hadn't been invented yet (neither had the microwave oven or VCR) and if you wanted to talk on the phone you were restricted by a cord, LOL. No one had a computer in their house and no one owned a cell phone. Remember when gas was under .50 a gallon? These are the kinds of facts that the kids of today are going to be blown away by because they haven't ever known life without some of this stuff!
I think about all of the things I wish I could ask my mom about now but can't because she's gone, and start there.
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Post by nesser01 on Jul 25, 2014 1:21:49 GMT
I wish I had this problem. lol! Sometimes I write too much on my layouts. I can always find something to write about a photo, even if it's just my thoughts.
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Post by zinnia on Jul 25, 2014 10:44:21 GMT
I also write about the little things. An example for the Christmas pages I put down what the kids really wanted each year and what they actually got. One year when my son was little he asked for a cow, a real pet cow. I put in how he also wanted a bob the builder doll as did his sister and they both received it. I also put down what their favorite tv shows are every season, music they listen to, and what movies we see. Even now we sometimes have a really good laugh and they are only teens.
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rhondaintx
Junior Member
Posts: 91
Jun 26, 2014 17:40:13 GMT
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Post by rhondaintx on Jul 25, 2014 14:11:08 GMT
I've been thinking about this as well. I'm figuring out that a "story" doesn't have to be some big, monumental, life-changing thing. I started listening to podcasts recently and came across "Give Your Photos Stories" by Get It Scrapped. They tell stories about different things (the first one is about photos of cars), and I've realized that I do have stories to tell. Try listening to some of them.
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Post by jamh on Jul 25, 2014 14:48:07 GMT
sometimes there is a story ...and sometimes i just wanna play with paper and glue...either is OK I reckon! This sums up the situation for me. My family is very small--no nieces, nephews, or grands--so my scrapbooks will end with me or DH. My daughter scraps with me,so she already has most of the really important stuff. Therefore, I just scrap for myself,takes lots of pics of any and everything and enjoy the process. I do see a story in every photo--even if it is silly or mundane, but I don't always journal it. Some layouts just speak for themselves. One of the many wonderful things about scrapping is that we are perfectly free to do what works best for us. JamH
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Post by lorieann13 on Jul 25, 2014 15:09:17 GMT
I totally agree with Camcas. For me I always journal so in years time when I am gone, my children and their family knows what was going on in the picture.
But there are times when there is a story to tell. That favorite stuffy worn down from love, hospital stays/surgeries, special occassions.
But I don't go out looking for a story for every layout because sometimes its just a regular day I captured and want to scrp.
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Post by love2scrap on Jul 26, 2014 4:21:55 GMT
Crazy4scraps is right. So much has changed in our own life time! We all have a story to tell. It wasn't that long ago where mom was expected to stay home and raise the kids. . How about those who work and raise kids? The struggle of balancing everything. Who knows what's going to be the new "norm" re family and jobs in the future.
I say look around, we may thing our life is mundane but to someone in the future it will be fascinating!
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Post by TracieClaiborne on Jul 26, 2014 4:58:47 GMT
Maybe it is narcissistic of me but I think my stories would be very interesting for anyone to read, especially my daughter and other family. I often sit and think of a story that I want to tell and let that be my starting point for a page. Just this week, I got to talking to my bestie about the stories I want to tell and off the top of my head came up with a bunch! Like so many that it overwhelmed me. I can sit and think of so many things from my childhood that I want to talk about on a page and it's mainly because I worry that I will start forgetting my stories at some point. I already have a horrible memory. I feel a great need to get my most precious memories, thoughts and feelings down on paper.
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Post by sunshinestate on Jul 26, 2014 6:31:50 GMT
There's always a story. I think the small stories are the best, the things you remember from when you were a kid especially. If something jogs my memory about my childhood or early adulthood, I write it down in a composition book that is divided up according to the houses I've lived in. As I scrap those memories, I check them off in my book. If someone else finds those stories boring, it doesn't matter to me. It only matters that I love them and always want to remember them.
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Deleted
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Nov 23, 2024 19:17:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 7:53:19 GMT
I do feel that way. I'm single. No children. No one to pass my books down to. I just don't feel like I have much in the way of interesting stories, so mostly scrap recipes.
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chrissy321
Junior Member
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Jun 26, 2014 2:22:52 GMT
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Post by chrissy321 on Jul 26, 2014 14:13:26 GMT
I'm more concerned that no one will care to read my stories since I don't have any kids. But it hasn't stopped me yet.
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gloryjoy
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Jun 26, 2014 12:35:32 GMT
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Post by gloryjoy on Jul 26, 2014 14:36:24 GMT
I completely agree! I don't take pictures like I used to when my daughter was young. I have a great life, but I just don't think it's interesting enough to document. Vacations and holidays are the only things I take pictures of and scrap. Even then, I don't have the same excitement I did when my daughter was little. Maybe I'm just in a slump? This is pretty much me.
We do things, go on vacations, have family dinners, go for weekends away with my girlfriends but I don't have the same urgency to take photos of everything. How many pictures can you have of Vegas when you go there twice a year, for the past 6 years? I hardly ever take pics when I go there now.
I do have a new grandson, 4 months old, and have started scrapping pictures of him. Hoping that pulls me out of my slump.
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ReneeH20
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Jun 28, 2014 16:00:48 GMT
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Post by ReneeH20 on Jul 26, 2014 16:01:40 GMT
Are there stories that you tell your kids or stories people tell when you all get together? I have been starting to write those down. Like how we always teased my brother about the tp ornament that he made in kindy (he was so proud of it). Then one year at Christmas, he made all his sisters their own tp ornament. We always laugh about that story at Christmas. It's pages like that that I have started to make.
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Post by justcindy on Jul 26, 2014 16:13:38 GMT
Maybe it is narcissistic of me but I think my stories would be very interesting for anyone to read, especially my daughter and other family. I often sit and think of a story that I want to tell and let that be my starting point for a page. Just this week, I got to talking to my bestie about the stories I want to tell and off the top of my head came up with a bunch! Like so many that it overwhelmed me. I can sit and think of so many things from my childhood that I want to talk about on a page and it's mainly because I worry that I will start forgetting my stories at some point. I already have a horrible memory. I feel a great need to get my most precious memories, thoughts and feelings down on paper. Tracie, that's exactly how I started my pet project. I can't remember if you were involved in the conversation in the thread about this, but the title is about my organizational idea. I keep a black, 12x12 storage box on the shelf above my desk, and as I think of a memory, photo or story that I want to write about that wouldn't fit in a vacation or chron album, ( like photos recently given to me of my father as a young man, and a photo of me as a baby with my dad dressed up as Santa ) I toss them in that box. I haven't started this album yet, but the gyst of it is, if my house was burning down, and I only had time to grab ONE album, what's the one album to survive? One place for all the stories and memories and thoughts that are important to me. Anyway, as I work on other scrap projects, before I put the supplies away, my plan is to grab a photo or bible verse or story reminder from that box and scrap it with the supplies left over. It's already pulled out and coordinated so I don't have to take time to start from scratch, and I get to tell a random story about something that just means something to ME. This idea might help you along - you know you want to record those precious memories, and we just never find the time to sit down and do it. And it will take the pressure off of having to remember every story you want to tell all at once. Just jot the idea down, or toss the photo in the box. It will be there when you have time to work on it.
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Post by justcindy on Jul 26, 2014 16:23:15 GMT
I'm more concerned that no one will care to read my stories since I don't have any kids. But it hasn't stopped me yet. Chrissy, that breaks my heart. Children do not define your value to your family! I don't mean to jump on a comment that may not be as big of a deal as I'm making it out to be, but please know your point of view, your characteristics, all of that takes a role in who your family is, it doesn't only become valid if you have kids. Don't sell yourself short, and don't deprive your loved ones of knowing who you are and what makes you laugh, cry, mad, happy...we've all been blessed with a life and it's important and worthy just on the fact that we're HERE. I think this gets to me so much because while I *do*have children, (22, 18 and 14) sometimes I go through stages of wondering it matters if I write this stuff down at all...going through rough patches with my kids and feeling invisible or not appreciated definitely impacts my attitude in wanting to journal, scrap, etc. So I think I can relate to how you feel sometimes. But like the second part of your post, don't let it stop you. Think of it as a multi-media journal or something. Things you want to remember, things that stand out to you as important, and why. Stuff that makes you crack up laughing, or burst into tears. Make it what you want it to be, what you want to remember or express. Do it for you, for right now, and whomever gets to read or see it is just secondary. First, make it for you.
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Post by justcindy on Jul 26, 2014 16:33:31 GMT
Another thread really got me thinking about telling my life stories. I do vacation and event photo layouts pretty well. There's never very much journaling, but hey, they're in an album that counts for something. Right? I'm trying to come up with things that I think are important enough to have special layouts to tell the rest of the story, but I don't get very far. I know I've had a full life and have lots of stories - but I'm not so sure that anyone will really be interested in those. Hmmm... What do all of you think? What do you do? Missy, if those stories are special to you, that's the reason to do them, right THERE! Put together an album for YOU....don't worry about what it's supposed to have in it, the order it's supposed to be in, or who it's supposed to be written to or for or about. Throw all that out the window and just start a book for YOU. A picture that cracks you up every time you look at it. WHY does it make you laugh? A piece of advice that someone gave you that stuck with you and changed your perspective. What was it? What were you going through when you needed that advice? How did it turn out? For me, personally, I want a place to record where I've seen God work in my life. Not just the " oh happy day I got a job and God answered my prayers for this" kind of stuff, but the hard stuff. Like how He carried me through the hardest day of my life, and how when I have doubts about something in my life now, I have that day, and other situations, that I can look back on and remember how He took care of it. That strengthens my faith for times that I *can't* see a light at the end of the tunnel, ya know? I'm not doing my book for my kids, or my husband, or anyone. I'm doing it for me. A place to have all my moments that I can look back on when I need to laugh, or be reminded of something that molded me. I'm going to put some hard stuff in there, too, I have to - it's part of who I am. 2011 was the hardest year of my life and I can't sugar coat it. I want to record stuff that was hard, and why, and who helped me and how I got through it. Don't do those pages with anyone else in mind. Do them, record the stories because they mean something to you and you want to remember why.
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Post by justcindy on Jul 26, 2014 16:43:06 GMT
Are there stories that you tell your kids or stories people tell when you all get together? I have been starting to write those down. Like how we always teased my brother about the tp ornament that he made in kindy (he was so proud of it). Then one year at Christmas, he made all his sisters their own tp ornament. We always laugh about that story at Christmas. It's pages like that that I have started to make. LOVE this!!!! what a cool brother, LOL! I'd love to see the page you made about it. You reminded me of something my own brother did a few Christmas's ago. He was remodeling the house that my siblings mostly grew up in ( I'm the youngest of 6, and I was 3 when we moved out of that house). Anyway, he gave all of my siblings and I a gift, and wanted us to open it at the same time. All the gifts were the exact same - a large trivet he had made. It was a piece of solid wood, with 4, 4" tiles on it, and a silver drawer handle on one edge. He made them out of the original kitchen cabinet doors from the house we grew up in, that my dad had built. The tiles were from the backsplash of the kitchen, and the silver handles were from the kitchen drawers. On the back he wrote what each piece was and the years we lived in that house, and the year he made the trivet. We were all bawling!
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rhondaintx
Junior Member
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Jun 26, 2014 17:40:13 GMT
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Post by rhondaintx on Jul 26, 2014 18:16:04 GMT
Sometimes I wonder if we put too much emphasis on "future generations" valuing our scrapbooks. My husband and I never get tired of reminiscing about things that have happened in our lives. To write it down and put a photo with is something that he and I will value, even if nobody else does. And if nobody cares after I'm gone, it will still have been a worthwhile project.
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Deleted
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Nov 23, 2024 19:17:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2014 19:25:29 GMT
I take the photos because there is a story to tell. The story may be a birthday party or seeing my grandma with her sister.. but the pictures exist because at some level there is a story; however short and mundane it may seem in writing a story is there.
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doglover
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Jun 27, 2014 14:50:33 GMT
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Post by doglover on Jul 29, 2014 12:32:15 GMT
I don't consider my scrapbook to be a journal with photos in it. I consider it to be a photo album with some explanations.
I always write a few lines on each page, but I don't write paragraph after paragraph. I feel like the overall collection of my pages tell a story. Anyone looking at it would know what I like to do and who is important to me. They would also be able to pick up info about current technology and décor.
I give info in bits and pieces I guess.
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