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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

It's a Love/Hate Thing...

When I did my major spring cleaning, I realized that my scrapbooking cabinet needed a major overhaul. Remember this?

I haven't touched this stuff since last August when I finally finished our wedding album and began a new album containing special occasions from our first few years of marriage. Yes -- it took me 2 years to complete our wedding album. Don't judge me, just love me.

Today I finally decided to tackle it because I was avoiding working on my thesis proposal love to work hard everyday. There's nothing like procrastinating by doing something productive, now is there? All in all, the overhaul went well. Here is the after:

(Sorry the pictures aren't great. It is a very narrow room and one door of the cabinet closes unless you are holding it open so I was limited with the angles I could get).

BUT - this post is not really about the before and after of the cabinet. This post is about scrapbooking itself. As I was going through and organizing all of my supplies, I realized that I have a love/hate relationship with scrapping.

I love my scrapbooks and I would never trade them for anything. I love sitting down with them every once in a while and reliving the memories that are contained within them. BUT - I stinkin' hate the scrapping process.

Once I get going, I really love scrapping. The problem is that there is no place for me to work in our current home. I have the cabinet for my supplies, which is awesome, but when I want to work on it, I have to use the dining room table. I can't really leave stuff out for an extended period of time. The getting out and putting away is the worst part so I often avoid it. It never seems to be worth the task if I can only work for a few hours here and there. I wait until I have a whole weekend to dedicate to scrapping to get it out and as you can well imagine, those weekends are few and far between.

I am so far behind I don't even know where to start. I have finished our wedding album and started a few pages documenting the first bit of our marriage. Basically, I have finished up until November 2006 (3 months after the wedding). I'm sure you will believe me when I say a LOT has happened since then. Let's see... a niece, a flood, a move, three Christmases, two thanksgivings, a new dog, a honeymoon, three camping trips, a graduation, a garden and a new nephew to name a few. How am I possibly going to get all of those pages done and still manage to tackle the task of scrapbooking my trip to Scotland before I forget what that country was called?

I considered just starting fresh and going ahead with the album for the trip but I don't want to just forget about all the stuff that's happened in our first three years of marriage. Besides, I have about 8 pages done between the wedding and now so I don't want to just let those go to waste. I just wish I could put life on hold, get caught up on the scrapbooks and then continue with life.

Last Christmas I got a Christmas album kit. I find most album kits to be kind of lame but this one is actually very nice. The album is pretty and so are the coordinating papers, stickers and accents. I have considered making one page to represent each Christmas we spend together and keep adding to the book as the years go on. So far, I'm 0 for 3. If I'm going to do this, I better get moving.

So, all you scrappers out there, can you help? Please tell me, how do you do it? How do you decide what is scrap worthy? How do you keep up? How do you organize your stuff? What do you do with the photos you print but don't end up making it into your album? What do you do with the scrap pieces of paper that you don't use? I am about to give up!

9 comments:

Brittany Ann said...

I have the same love-hate relationship. You are not alone. It's just so hard to find the space and time to get in the groove!

Holly said...

Well, I stopped scrapping a long time ago. Skippy loves to remind me that he is the only one without a baby scrapbook. Don't ask how that happened, I swear it wasn't on purpose just because he's the middle child!

Ashley @ The Happy Little Home said...

I haven't scrapped in so long! This is giving me a little motivation! It looks great!

Elizabeth said...

......I haven't touched my hundreds of dollars worth of scrapbooking supplies in about a year. I still buy them when I see them on sale, I just don't USE them anymore. I also have a love/hate relationship with it LOL. So, I can't offer any advice!

BTW, my friend and I are starting a summer blog carnival tomorrow. On Fridays, we want to post cool down recipes to fight the heat of summer. Last night, we were talking about whether we had anyone that might want to be part of the carnival and I immediately thought of you since you already have awesome recipes! Is it something you're interested in?

Tricia said...

Your scrapbook closet is great! Scrapbooking for me has turned digital at this point. Three kiddos who like to touch everything has made keeping it all in order impossible. Believe me, no judgement for two years to finish a wedding album. I have a baby book almost 7 years in the making. ;)
BTW, your bbq looks like it was so much fun! Yay, Summer!
Have a fantastic day!
*Tricia

Jessica McCoy said...

I wish I was good at scrap booking! I would really love to do it but I'm just not good at it. We have an album for our wedding but that's about it. Everything else is on 3 digital camera drives... lame I know.

Maybe you could set up a folding table in a guest room or corner of your living room so that it is dedicated to just that.

Courtney said...

Wow, the cabinet looks great! I scrapbooked.... once. :)

Mandi @ Sweetly Home said...

K girl, here are some of my "get it done and love it" scrapbook tips.

First, instead of scrapping every Christmas...perhaps combine all three. Maybe have shots of your favorite gifts. Or compare all three Christmas trees. Or maybe highlight one great moment from each Christmas. Bc remember...by the time you are 50...you'll have 30 some odd Christmas layouts ahead of you. Concentrate on a special memory or your favorite ortaments or what you love most about the holiday. Same thing with Thanksgiving. Maybe this time, compile a couple favorite recipes or traditions and document those.

I like to decide why I am documenting the memory. Am I wanting to record the entire story of the event...or just a snapshot of the moment. Some layouts to me require more elaborate journaling. But if I were doing a layout about our new dog, I'd put a photo of him, his name, when he came to live with us and maybe a sentence or two about his unique journey from England.

Some other things you may wnat to do:

Sketch out your layout. This will help you in placing your photos, paper and embelishiments without having to drag everything out. Keep a running file or notebook of sketches.

Make mini albums. They are tiny and quick and once completed, you ahve an entire album rather than just a single layout. I'm trying to make a bunch of mini's to place in a bowl on our coffee table.

Make page kits. Select your photos and embelishments that you want to put on a page. Clip them together or put in a folder or in a large freezer bag. When the time comes to scrap, all you need is your folder/baggie with your pieces and adhesive. You have to get out far less.

Get carrying cases for the products you use most. For my birthday I got these great Amy Butler carrying caddies for my frequently used supplies. I can just grab that and head to my table rather than grabbing each item individually. Cleanup is much easier as I just toss it all back into the caddy.

Scrapin' is my passion. I love it...can ya tell? Have fun with teh process. And remember that not everything has to be done cronologically. Scrap when you are inspiried. Enjoy the hobby!

Taryn said...

I have this same love -hat relationship with scrapping. At least you have your weeding done- I haven't even gotten that far!