Sprinter or Marathoner

I’ve been scrapbooking for about seven years, and in that time I’ve found myself flucuating between wanting to sprint through the process and be finished, or to train myself for the long-term marathon of leaving a lasting legacy in words and pictures for my family.

To say the world of scrapbooking has exploded in the past five years is to say a hurricane drops a “little” rain and wind. Part of my inner struggle with the “art” of scrapbooking is the plethora of embellishments available for potential artists.

I love to scrapbook, and when I have purposefully set aside the time to do so I find the hobby to be a cathartic and thoroughly enjoyable one. I spent the summer re-doing an album for my oldest daughter, and the sense of accomplishment that rose inside of me as each page was completed is next to euphoric. That is, until I open my craft cabinet and gaze longingly at the close to 3,000 or more photos that still need to be scrapbooked.

I subscribe to one of the most widely-known scrapbooking magazines around, and over the years I have found many ideas that I have “scraplifted” into my own album treasures. Yet, as the years have passed, the elaborate nature of the layouts and the number of embellishments per page have not only intimidated my creativity — they have made me mad with the sheer commercial avenue scrapbooking has taken.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the choices now available for those of us who desire to leave our families with tangible memories. Yet, I can’t help but think we’ve gone a bit astray from the original purpose of putting a scrapbook together. I have to remind myself on a regular basis what my goal is in scrapbooking — to leave a piece of myself behind for future generations and to showcase the pictures of my friends and family. The products I can now purchase are many, yet my decisions must be more discerning in order to accomplish my goal.

I encourage all who scrapbook already to evaluate your own personal style and decide what works best for you, without falling prey to the “more is better” mentality. If you haven’t begun to scrapbook because of a fear of being overwhelmed, start small. There are some darling 8″x8″ or smaller albums out there to “get your feet wet,” so to speak. Pick some of your favorite photos, get a few fun stickers and patterned paper, along with a great pen for journaling (which is really the heart of your scrapbooking anyway) and begin leaving those memories on paper.

Happy Scrapbooking!