Christmas Pages

I've finally completed my Christmas pages! Even though I haven't used all the photos we took ( not by a looong shot), I've created pages about the festive season just past that I really want to treasure.
One of these is the number of 'firsts' that occurred the of Christmas 2007 - the first christmas in a new apartment, Andrew's first christmas, the first time for the girls to have wish lists... I felt these were all important thing to be documented, and important for us to be able to look back upon...

I wanted to include all 3 photos, which didn't leave much room for journaling (the essence of this page), so I created a little booklet and hid it behind one of the photos.

Another is a page which I've been meaning to create for a while now. It documents the way my family traditionally celebrate Christmas, and how these traditions have changed over the years.

I started off intending to make a mini book for my journaling and photos, but it evolved and became almost an album in it's own right! I can only just fit the page into my album!

I feel Iike I've really achieved something with these pages...being able to pass on a small part of our history on to the children. Hopefully they'll read the journaling and be able to remember Christmas as it was spent in 2007.

Pictureless Scrapbooking?

I have no photos!
Well that's not entirely true. I have tons of photos. But recently, they're all of Andrew. He must be the most photographed baby in town.
Admittedly he is way cuter than the rest of us, and he actually likes posing for the camera! The girls run away as soon as I whip out my camera, and can't be persuaded to be photographed in spite of my threats that there will be no pages of them if there are no nice photos.
The only photos I have of them are of the back of their heads, or a blurry profile as they are turning away.
I may have to resort to documenting this time of their lives without photos, or at least without photos of them, just the things that are important to them at this age.
Getting a photo of Jon is no less difficult. He hates having his photo taken, and much prefers to be behind the camera. Me? Let's just say I can count the nice photos of myself on one hand...With Valentine's Day looming on the horizon, I've been looking through my store of photos on the computer for some nice pics of the two of us to put into a mini-book/album. It came as no surprise to find that I could count the number of photos of just the two of us taken in the last 3 years on the fingers of 1 hand!
Sigh... scrapbooking this family is definitely way more difficult than most, and is certainly putting my journaling skills to the test!

Things To Do

These are the piles of photos I have been meaning to scrap. There are more in my photo library I haven't even gotten round to printing.
These are the books and magazines I have been meaning to read.
My desk is a mess of papers, adhesives, the beginnings of projects ( no pic...too embarrassing...looks like a hurricane hit my desk...you get the idea).
It used to be that I was the super organised one. My to-do list usually never had items pending for more than a couple of days...I used to devour books and magazines as quickly as I bought them...my desk was cleared as soon a project was completed. And I did complete projects. Methodically, systematically, one at a time.
Now it seems I never have enough time in the day (or night) for all these things that I want to do.

I am learning some strategies for maximising my scrapbooking time:
1. Scraplifting - let someone else do the work of coming up with a layout design, and make it my own by tweaking the design a little, using different papers and embellishments;
2. Making double-page layouts - I can get more photos on 2 pages;
3. Using coordinating papers and embellishments/kits - takes all the guesswork out of putting together a page!

But making a dent in my stack of reading material? Cleaning my desk? That's another story (or 2) altogether...

Take Time To Journal

" Without pictures, our words will still be valued by our descendants a hundred years from now, but without words, the pictures will be meaningless."

This is a quote from a magazine that caught my eye immediately! It's so true...without journaling, a scrapbook is just a photo album. Without heartfelt journaling, our pictures may not mean very much.

All too often, it's just easier to evade the task of journaling and make do with a catchy title and a few scribbled lines. Sure, it can make the story behind the pictures clearer, but it doesn't reveal what's truly important...what made us take that picture in the first place?,,,why was it important enough to scrap?...all the little things about that particular time or place, no matter how trivial it may seem now, that will be treasured by our descendants, because it will give them insight as to who we are, what is dear to our hearts...and for the subjects of our pages, it will be THEIR story...a token of our love for them...an invaluable source of knowledge about their lives.

Most people hesitate to journal because they don't like their handwriting. I haven't got the best handwriting in the world either, but it's mine, and it's unique!

I urge you all to take the time to journal...on your scrapbook pages, in a diary, whatever works for you. For those of you who truly hate your writing...there's always the computer!

So here's my new year's resolution - to journal more...to journal meaningfully, fearlessly, from the heart.