Scrapbooking Revisted

I think the last time I scrapbooked was over a year ago. Unfortunately, I burned out and didn't touch a 12x12 sheet of cardstock except to tuck it safely away. I continued to take photos of the kids, but I just didn't have the heart to scrapbook them. In fact, just 6 months ago, I finally figured out that I would never ever in a million years be able to "catch up" on all the pictures, events and memories. (I'm a very slow learner, obviously!) I bought 15 albums, 20 sets of page protectors for 4x6 pictures and set to putting all of my pictures into those albums by year. A huge undertaking, to say the least. I'm still working on that little project. I hope to have it completed by Christmas 2013. Yeah, that's right, 2013.

Ritual documents our tradition of reading before bedtime.

Style Girl documents E's amazing and funky sense of style. The title was  created with DecoArt SnowTex writers

While I handled all the pictures, memories flooded over me and suddenly the scrapbooking bug bit me again. I picked up a few 12x12s and did a few pages, for old times sake. The pictures that I chose were ones that were sitting around. (They aren't even current.) This session was extremely rewarding and I remembered why I loved this art form for so many years: it is a great way to connect in an artistic way with loved ones, it is a relatively quick project and it is a great way to reminisce on happy memories. Although, I don't see myself as a strict scrapbooker anymore, I still love it and will every-so-often create a new layout.

New Bunks records D and Z's foray into sharing a room which lasted years and lead to them becoming best friends.

Noses 2 documents the special relationship between my father and E

However, I'm not the same scrapbooker I was a year ago. I'm not gaga over the newest lines of papers. I don't feel like I need the new chipboard alphabets. Instead, I found myself reaching into my "junk bin" of papers from previous projects. I found myself painting with wild abandon. Combining my knowledge of mixed-media techniques to create backgrounds on chipboard and cardboard. It was fun to combine bits of this and that into one cohesive whole. The pages that resulted are different, fresh and filled with the memories of previous projects. I love them.

I hope that this week, you too can feel that awesome sense of elation that occurs when creating!

xoxo
Bethany