Scrapbooking

I’ve really gone and done it now. My husband is thrilled, just thrilled. Thrilled with a capitol T. Did I mention that he was thrilled?

A poor crafter is one that can’t come up with any ideas or even be able to copy an idea; a fair crafter can do one or the other but not both. A good crafter can come up with an idea or two – three on a good day, and copy just about anything and have it look good and a great crafter is one that can look at a coat hanger and come up with 101 uses – and they all look/work great. They are the “creative” people.
I fall into the good crafter range. I can copy just about anything (except floral arrangements – I suck at that). I also have several hobbies that I enjoy: sewing, ceramics, crocheting, gardening, needlepoint, arts & crafts, and now my latest one.
I’ve gone and done it. I’ve become “one of them”. I am a scrap-booker. (They say the first step is to admit it.)
A couple of years ago my friends started this hobby and invited me into the fun. I resisted. Big time. No way – no how. I have enough hobbies and things going on in my life that this is just another hobby for me to get into, invest in, get behind in and get frustrated with. No way, no how was I going to start. Then DD turned 16. Jr/Sr prom was a reality. Graduation was a reality.
It hit me like a ton of bricks that life is moving waaay to fast. Not like it hit when I turned 40 and wow! Was I getting old, but more of wow! Life is m-o-v-i-n-g.
For the most part I take pictures on all the holidays, birthdays, etc – all of the usual “landmark” days. I can stick those pictures into an album as good as anyone else I suppose. I can flip those pages and remember when they were taken, I don’t need a date printed on them to remind me. I even brought out an old album to prove my point.
Then it hit me. A simple question. “What’s the story behind these pictures?”, I could remember them but what if I’m not there to tell it?
I wanted DD to be able to take her prom book and show it to her grandchildren and tell them the story of how she felt like a princess getting ready for the evening, how her friends all met at our house and joked about their “limo” (mom’s van), how her feet hurt at the dance and she had to take her shoes off and she wondered if her feel smelled and how the “after party” went great (playing Texas Hold’em) – and she won. I wanted her to be able to tell that story with the help of this album drawing them in. I’m hooked.
I’ve done most of my scrapbooking here at home by myself. I’ve been slowly accumulating a few tools. This is one of those hobbies that can be expensive if you let it. For me the challenge is more of – how to make a page look good for very little money. I’ve gone to friends houses and worked with one or two people but I’ve never had the opportunity to attend a Crop party. Several of us have made the gesture of at least trying to get together as a big group for a while now but it’s always fallen through – it’s a lot of schedules to try and coordinate. January was to be the big one. It was finally coming together and we were all going to be there. The snow and ice canceled the plans for us however. We finally met last week but it was a smaller group. But that’s ok. We’ve decided to set a date (first Monday of the month or something like that) and whoever makes it – makes it and the ones that don’t – we’ll see at another time. We’re also thinking of every other month maybe doing a “weekend” crop and alternate houses. A huge slumber party! I’m thinking hunting season would be a good time for my house!
This thrills my husband in a good and a bad way!
I love doing this and I’ve mentioned to Flo a few times that she should take this up too. She’s one of those “creative” people and would be so good at this! Maybe I can hook up with Holly and get Flo going – then we can make a trip to Texas for a cropping party! That could be her “themed” weekend get away!