The Old-Fashioned Page

Yesterday I did a scrapbook layout---with stickers. With Boyd's Bear stickers. True---they are alphabet stickers. But in my head I kept apologizing to my own little internal scrapbook editor (the one that laughs at my ideas) for being so old-fashioned as to use stickers. I justified my choice by explaining that I was using Chatterbox paper, the newest line. And a lovely modern design. And ribbon.  Ribbon is very September 2005, right?

But I couldn't help feeling a little silly over using those stickers. So why did I insist?  Well, I was working with a photograph of Nathan when he was nine months old, a photograph from Kiddie Kandids.  In the picture, he's sitting in a wagon and the wagon has teddy bears arranged around the wheels.  Why teddy bears?  Well, I'd found those stickers.  I wanted a photograph to match.  And here I am, five years later, finally getting around to making the layout. I found myself wanting to stay true to that original intent, using the stickers.

Which really got me thinking about how my scrapbooking approach has changed. I've been scrapping for a long time---since 1996---and have seen countless trends come and go. Somewhere in all those years I've lost my inital enthusiasm for product-driven pages like the one I made yesterday. Really, it's become too hard; there is almost too much stuff to buy. I've become a far more careful shopper after a recent purge of hundreds of dollars of stuff I'll never use.  But yesterday, I wanted to reconnect to that excitement. The feeling of finding the exact right paper or stickers for a layout. So I shushed my internal scrapbook editor and made my old-fashioned page.

Comments

[Sophia]

So, do we get to see this layout? I LOVE that you dared to be different! Way to go, Amy!! BTW, I thought of you tonight while we took our hike up the canyon!

Sophia

[Kelly Edgerton]

Ahh, come on, show us the page. I think it sounds perfect. Good for you - you marched to your own tune. Honestly, this is what I believe makes us the happiest.

[elizabeth]

I think I have those bear stickers! You've inspired me to use them. Now, if you could come up with something adorable for my shoebox full of Mrs. Grossman's stickers, that would also be great!

[Heather D. White]

So where's the page Amy?? Such a tease talking about it and not giving us a peek!! Would love to see it. And I think I have those same bear stickers. LOL!