March Write Click Scrapbook gallery

Before I started using a digital camera, I was very methodical with my scrapbooking approach. I'd map out a section of an album so I knew which layout would go on the left, which would go on the right, and which would be a double page. This was a throwback to my Creative Memories days, when you HAD to be methodical or the fronts & backs of the layouts wouldn't fall in the right spots. I'd put photos for the next 15-20 layouts into old sheet protectors in a binder, and then I'd just work on whatever pictures came next.

When I got my first digital camera (a horrid little thing...I have nine entire months of awful photos that I still regret), I let go of my system. I just started scrapping whatever photos felt the most important or inspiring. I also started trying to do event photos (like birthdays and holidays) within three months of the event. (I am not always successful at this!) At least once a quarter I do some sort of Life Right Now layout about each of my kids (and sometimes me, too). I keep my finished layouts in a drawer until the drawer is full, and then I spend an hour or two rearranging layouts into the right albums.

I'm not entirely convinced that my old, methodical approach was wrong, nor is my current approach exactly right. One thing that I love is how, when you work in a random order and then arrange the layouts chronologically, the techniques and products get spread out through time, instead of all clumped together. I like revisiting different moments just on the whim of what I want to revisit right now. I sometimes get a little bit panicky, though, thinking I am missing things. I'd like all of our stories and photos to be together on layouts. But then I remember: I've written down almost everything. Even if it's twenty years later, I can always go back to the photos I've not yet scrapped because I can also go back in my journals and blog to find what I wanted to say about those photos.

This month's Write Click Scrapbook gallery is about getting over procrastination and working on the layouts or projects you've only half-way finished. I decided to tackle the photos of Jakey that I still had in that old binder from my old process. These were pictures taken in 2001 and 2002. It felt so completely strange to be working with these older pictures. I am so different from the person I was when I took them. My kids are so different. When I took those pictures, I couldn't see yet what sort of people they would be. I can see it more clearly now. Looking back reinforces what I got right and highlights the surprises.

Even though I only shared one layout, 
(I know! look how little Jake was! And Emily was still young and healthy.) I ended up making six, and I have one last little-Jakey photo grouping to scrap. But I feel inspired, now, to work those old photos back into my process. I loved those days when my kids were still little. I need to get the photos out of the envelopes and into the albums so I can relive the days more often.

What is your scrapbooking process?

Comments

[Laurie]

When I started scrapbooking, the advice was to do layouts with photos as soon as you got them from processing and to work backwards. I guess the idea was to work with photos while the memory was still fresh. That didn't work for me. I didn't always feel the urge to scrapbook the photos I printed out. So I just went with my gut feelings-the story I wanted to tell was the story I made a layout of. I still scrapbook that way. It means that my albums have gaps here and there, but it also means that the stories that are included are told with passion.