Scrapbooking & The Dealio
A few weeks ago I snagged this menu from our favorite Korean restaurant by our house with the idea to use it in a layout as a background. Then we took Terrell's sister to said favorite restaurant and she snapped this photo with no prompting. I saw it, had her text it to me and within 24 hours it was in a layout in my project life album.Welcome to my new scrapbooking philosophy.I have been in a weird slump lately (and by lately I mean like 2 years) with scrapbooking. I love scrapbooking. I love crafting. I love pretty paper. It has always been a huge part of my life. I began scrapbooking with my mom in elementary school, but I didn't really keep it up during high school or college, except for random projects here and there. (Thanks mom for YOU keeping up with it though and having our whole lives preserved so amazingly, so now I don't have a whole life's worth of photos to catch up on!!) Then when Elise designed the Seafoam edition (I still have no idea how I found her blog, but gosh I am thankful that I did!). I really thought about it for a long time, discussed it with friends and then for valentine's day (we're a no gift giving couple) Terrell just bought it for me, though we did not have the money to spend on something so 'frivolous'. Thus, Project Life was born in our household. I made these first layouts and loved every second of it. I already had this blog and was sharing crafts, so sharing my Project Life pages was a natural extension of that.
(My first and still to this day, most favorite page I've ever made)
And then. Oh man. Then I found the online scrapbooking community. It changed everything for me. There were SO many great, modern products out there. This revolutionized how I saw this hobby and set me on a whole new course. I was so excited to get back into this medium with fervour. And I did, slowly at first because we had noooooooo money, but I eyed those Studio Calico kits and design team projects like a jealous kid in summer time who wants to eat all the popsicles! And slowly, the creep began. I wanted in. I wanted to use those products. I wanted to be on those design teams. I wanted to define and claim my place in this amazing community and I wanted people to take notice.
I began creating layouts based on what was popular and trendy. I was creating to keep up with a blog content schedule. I was creating these layouts and meticulously labelling which products I used and uploading them into project galleries on sites hoping to get noticed. I did, a little, but not really. I applied for design team after design team. Anyone and everyone's teams. I got Rejection Letter after Rejection Letter (which was great for my rejection letter program, but not so great for the ego). I signed up for subscription kits and loved them at first, but then I didn't so much. They then became expensive and burdensome. I began consuming at a rate much faster than I could create. I began feeling like my pages were just like everyone else's. I was so frustrated because 'this is what I wanted'. But why? Why was I not happy just being a part of the community? Being inspired by the great pages others were making and contributing my own pages to inspire others on my own time and in my own way?
Why was this not enough? Why was I putting so much pressure on myself and getting hurt over something that is a hobby that grandma's do so they can show their friends photos of their grand babies?!And then it hit. I had lost sight of the grandmotherly goal: To preserve my photos to tell my story by doing it through a medium I enjoyed.
So I'm doing a cleanse. I have finished up my design team duties. I have cancelled my subscriptions. I have stopped buying copious amounts of new products. I have slowed down heavily relying on scrapbook content on this blog. But I'm making more and I'm loving my pages more. I'm letting myself off the hook for taking up real estate in the scrapbook world and this has been such a burden lifted. Stopping the endless applications to design teams (where I end up not liking the products and not being able to meet deadlines anyway) has made me more confident in my own style and creations. It has also allowed me to focus on more of what I want to be doing and taking my blog and my momentum in that direction. It has allowed me to be in control of what I create and when.I really respect the crafters who are SO talented, but are not a part of a team because they are only doing this as a hobby. Free stuff isn't worth the stress. I also respect the design team members who churn out so many inspiring projects each month. THANK YOU. To those of you pursuing those endeavours, I hope you find the perfect team for you and that you shine. For those of you feeling this same awkward burden, slow down with me and reflect if this is even something you truly want and need. Let's all stop looking at each other and saying "I want what you have just because', OK?All of this long rant to say: No more pressure. No more comparison. No more burdens and deadlines. No more taking up space unless I have something that adds value. Ann-Marie recommended the UnStuck App recently, its free, so I immediately jumped on and worked through my "Project Life Problem". I realized that as much as I love documenting in this format and keeping a log of our normal, daily life, I was still putting too much pressure on it with no real direction. So I'm changing it up again. I will be focusing on events and photos that excite me. I will document the things that I'm excited to document. I will take time and infuse creativity into my spreads. I will use good photos. I will document events and people and specific moments that I want to remember. I LOVE looking back through my old album and seeing just the everyday stuff, but I'm too tired for that. My time is too limited. I have to choose and this is what I choose. I will allow those things to naturally work their way into my pages.So I'm taking the grandmotherly approach. I will share my projects when I am excited to show you. I will make my projects when I have time. I will try to link products if I can. But I will make what I love and I will cherish and document, with grandmotherly love, the moments of my life. This moment where we are in our favorite restaurant, eating our favorite meal, in our everyday clothes is what I want to remember. 
Page made with the Messy Box which is the only kit I will be receiving as the products are my exact style at the moment and it is just the right price.