My Evolution

in scrapping.....

I suppose we should start in the beginning back in late 2001/early 2002. I had recently graduated from Texas A&M with an Undergraduate & Masters degree in Accounting, emphasis Tax and was about to get married. One of my friends at the client I was working on invited me to a Creative Memories party at her house. I had no idea what I was getting into.

In the beginning I was oblivious to the trends in scrapbooking, design principles or that there were whole magazines for this. My world only consisted of Creative Memories. Going to the craft store or local scrapbooking store was not in my routine activities.

I had tons of fun. I was scrapping my pet pictures and after we got married I worked on my wedding album on Saturdays at the coffee table while Mitch watched football. I was cheesy, used lots of quotes, lots of pictures, cut some of those pictures in various shapes and always journaled.

We moved to Kentucky a year later in 2003 and I made new scrappy friends who introduced me to Stampin Up and making cards. We threw in some Bunco, lots of parties and this quickly became my social outlet. So much fun.

Then Garrett came into the world in late 2004 and all of a sudden my time was limited and I had more pictures than I knew what to do with. My world was still primarily Creative Memories but I had begun to open my eyes to other manufacturers and the almighty Michaels coupon.

Somewhere along the line I convinced myself that I had to scrapbook every picture printed and they had to be done in order. I was still having fun when making cards but when it came to Garrett's album I was paralyzed. This was his only baby book and my perfectionist tendencies had me taking ages to complete a page.

Around Garrett's first birthday I got my Canon Rebel XT. After a year of shooting digital I didn't even know how many pictures I had because I told myself until I had scrapped all the pictures I already had printed of Garrett (11 months worth) I wasn't allowed to print new pictures. So, he was frozen in time in our printed pictures. In his baby book, he was still in the womb.

We moved back to Texas in 2006 and I left both my Creative Memories & Stampin Up suppliers. In a flash I was a regular at Hobby Lobby, Michaels and the local scrapbook store. I picked up Simple Scrapbooks periodically and fell in love with the clean style. I made a new set of scrapping friends and began going on scrapbook retreats.

With a toddler running the house, yes not around simply running it, I saw these weekends as time to get caught up. I would proclaim "Oh yes, I scrap every picture and in order." Somehow this became my badge of honor. Since I wasn't caught up I was still scrapping baby Garrett even though toddler Garrett filling my life with stories to be told. I would frantically count pages done to see if I had accomplished anything on the weekend retreats and would be shamed if I didn't hit more than 20 layouts. I was giddy with joy when he was "born" in his baby book. Lisa & Heather do you remember that retreat?

All of a sudden I realized I wasn't having fun anymore. This was now just another have to item on the list. I found myself no longer journaling because I wasn't inspired to tell a story. It was just another picture of Garrett. I was scrapbooking my pictures but not my memories. I may as well have just put them in a photo album.

Late 2007 I began exploring Big Picture Scrapbooking after reading the book Big Picture Scrapbooking and becoming familiar with Stacy Julian. I loved how she didn't scrap chronologically but was telling her life story. However, I didn't know how to change my ways. When I got the email for her Library of Memories class I was intrigued. Would I really be able to change the way I saw scrapbooking? I wasn't completely sold but decided to jump in anyway. I was committed to trying & worked the system without question. I am oh so grateful I did.

I now see myself as a Life Artist, embracing imperfection and scrapping my memories and not just pictures. I credit the class Library of Memories at Big Picture Scrapbooking and the book Photo Freedom for this life change. I don't mean to be overly dramatic but this class was a true turning point in my life. The last year I have had more fun with this part of my life than I ever had. I am passionate about noticing, appreciating and preserving my family's life. This is not just a hobby for me anymore this is the way I see my life.

If any of this rang true for you I sincerely urge you to take a deep breath and sign up for class. Registration closes February 5th or when the spots fill up. I'll place a pretty big bet that you won't be sorry. I'd love to share my library with you and how it works so there are examples in action soon to come.

lovemon