First introduced to Creative Memories in November of 1997 at a company-sponsored Lunch & Learn Seminar, as of this posting, I've completed 22 23 27 31 albums.

Initially, after the bla bla bla was explained, I spent a few weeks sorting and cataloguing.

--This is just a sampling of what I began with--

Pictures scattered in boxes ...



and bags ...



The pièce d'resistance being these wretched
albums my sister rescued from uncaring relatives
after mom passed away...



Four months, 161 pages, four albums later,
with another three in the works ...

Creatively cropped, that stack of really gross pages condensed into one Heritage Album, which I entitled "Roots" - because the photographs dated back several generations to my parents, my parents' parents and my parents' parents' parents.

In addition to dating back several generations, the photos in the Heritage Album represented different family relationships/different family situations, each segment of which had its own story to tell. I relied on instincts and illustrated the history of those relationships/situations by breaking the book down into sections - BRANCHES, VINES, FALLEN LEAVES, SHATTERED LIMBS ("shattered" rather than "scattered" more accurately reflects that portion of family history).

The toughest part of scrapbooking, aside from cost of supplies, is coming up with ideas. That problem was somewhat solved thanks to the many idea sites on the web. When I first started off, I did not find a lot of sites on Heritage Albums. Since that time, heritage layouts are more prevalent on the web and heritage layouts appear regularly in issues of various scrapbook publications, of which "Memory Makers" and "Keepsakes" are my personal favorites.

Experts suggest beginning scrapbookers start with the most recent photos and work backwards. I found it easier, faster and more satisfying to whip the really old stuff into shape first and work forward.

Now that I am a somewhat seasoned veteran and have developed my own style, it's not unusual for me to review my old layouts, not be happy with their appearance and get the urge to redo the pages. I passed those books onto another relative to care for and enjoy because years from now, I know it will be a hoot to mull over the family history and note my development in the art of scrapbooking.

Happy Scrapping

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Just back from Wooten Scrapbooking.  Got out fairly cheap with $89 worth of product, which will get me started on my next project.

 I've chronicled the Generations in several Heritage albums, which are of my mother, and her kin, my mother's mother and her kin, and my mother's children from when we were little to our own children.   I've done separate albums which are more like my own personal diary in pictures.  I've done several albums which showed the Grandkids from babies to the teens they are now, and I'm at the point now where everything is a mixture of 2007, 2008 and 2009 events.  I've just been a prolific scrapping fool.

What to title my next album was a chore.  Trying to come up with a starting point was like giving birth.  I was walking around brainstorming, talking to myself and thinking out loud.

Some of the titles I thought about are:

• Places
• Events
• Family Affairs
• What's Happening 2007
• What's Happening 2008
• What's Happening 2009
• Family - The Next Generation (a tribute to Starwars)
• Us
• All of Us

Nothing was clicking until I heard someone on television say, "We Live, We Grow."

THAT'S IT!  "We Live, We Grow, We Change."

And change we have.  A family which was so broken in 2003 has been mending since 2008 and is now in pretty good shape.  And, since we just had a death in the family, I'll do an extended section at the end which says "We Die."

At any rate, I am in the process of reworking this site.  I've taken down all the old layouts and I'm in the process of capturing images of some of my latest work and will be posting those photos soon.

Y'all come back now, you hear.

 

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