Scrapping My Story

The big day is here!  Today I'm at CreativeLive for Lain Ehmann's "Scrapbook Your Story" workshop!  If you have time between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm Pacific, follow the link to watch and/or chat live.  I think it's going to be an outstanding workshop.

I've been thinking a lot about the topic of "Scrapbook Your Story."  I'm very eager to hear what Lain has to say and what her perspective is.  As I looked back through my albums in preparation for the class, I came across layouts with tons of journaling, some with minimal journaling, and a few with no journaling at all.  It's no surprise to me, but the ones with the most journaling are the ones that mean the most to me all these years later.  While the pictures do trigger lots of memories, it's the written words that add so much more depth and meaning.

Take, for example, my album from my Model Organization of American States trip in 1989.  A long time has passed between then and now.  At 17, I experienced things I thought I'd remember forever... but time has a way of fading (or even erasing) memories.  When I look at the album 25 years after I made it, I am absolutely thrilled that I took the time then to tell the story behind the photos.  I'm grateful for every word I wrote in my own handwriting.  In fact, if I could tell my 17-year old self anything, it would be to add even more detail, to write down every single thing I never want to forget.  Because, sadly, I will forget a lot of it.  This album has allowed me to share my memories with people who didn't know me then, and to reminisce with those who did.  I love that.

Eventually, I'm going to scan in all my older scrapbooks.  I'm nervous about the fact that they're not backed up, plus I want to be able to share them here and giggle about the evolution of my style.  For now, I thought I'd share some of my favorite layouts from Trevor's first 5 years (2006-2011) that do a good job of really telling my story.

First, this layout from 2008.  The photo is too dark and the title a bit lonely, but I absolutely love this layout.  Reading about all of Trevor's toddler quirks makes me smile.  I never want to forget these things.

Here's one from 2007, about Trevor's first artwork.  I used his three pieces of art at the top.  I love that I wrote about him eating the yellow paint (and spitting it up); that's something I'd forgotten.

Here's another from 2007.  Trevor was a late crawler.  In fact, he learned to crawl (at 10 months) the same week he started walking!  Reading my journaling brings me right back to the frustration Trevor felt and how mad he would get trying to crawl.

I made this layout in 2010, using the photo from Trevor's first passport.  The journaling talks about the fact that he'd been to 6 countries by the time that first passport expired... yet because we'd traveled by cruise ship, his passport remained unstamped!

Another 2008 layout.  While I don't love the titlework or embellishments, the journaling on this is incredible.  I am so glad I captured the depths of the love Steve and I have for Trevor.

Here's a 2009 layout.  The journaling talks about my transition from being a classroom teacher to 32 to being a stay-at-home mom of 1.  I love reading what I wrote.  My feelings now are exactly the same as they were five years ago when I made this layout.

I could go on and on, but I'll leave off with this layout from 2011.  It's one of my all-time favorites.  Again, I feel exactly the same way today as I did when I wrote it.

Just a quick peek into how I scrap my story!  Feel free to check out more recent examples of my scrapping here.