I’ve said before that my scrapbooking style is simple, and it really is. But I’m working on changing my focus from scrapbooking as many pictures in the shortest amount of time to scrapbooking actual stories and memories. I’ve finally concluded that if it’s mass that I want, can just use those photo sleeves (which I actually haven’t found yet – I want the 12×12 ones with 5 slots on each side. I know they exist because I’ve seen them around. Do you know where I can get some of those?)
Anyway, I don’t need to scrapbook every picture like I was trying to do! I’m starting to realize that choosing one photo that really tells a story is really what scrapbooking is all about. Photo sleeves take care of quantity – scrapbooking is for quality journaling and story telling. I’m starting to move into one-picture-per-page land, a place I previously avoided.
Here’s the first page done using my new philosophy:
Okay, so you can see that I’m no scrapbooking genius, but I don’t have to be. I have my own style and it works for me – I love this page because it is a visual a reminder of the feelings I had in the moment that I took that picture. And I like thinking of titles. Maybe that’s cheesy, but I like it.
I’m loving the simplicity and freedom of one picture per layout. I can really focus on the story and have plenty of space to mess around with rather than being cramped and stressed about being efficient. I think me and scrapbooking are going to be getting along much better from now on.
In case you’re curious, I used my Canon Rebel XSi to take that photo. I couldn’t live without my digital SLR – I love Canon! I used the Creative Memories Corner Maker to round the corners and the Creative Memories Custom Cutting System that I found at a yard sale to make the sunshine circle shape – I love those little templates. I use them all the time and they make cutting circles and ovals sooo easy. Hmm, what else. I used my Canon printer to do the colored title and journaling. Oh, and I also used a new little gadget by Canon to print the picture – the Canon Selphy CP770 (pictured at left – it’s such a tiny and cute little thing!). It was really nice to be able to print the picture immediately and scrapbook the story while it was still fresh in my mind.
So that’s how I do it. I’m really curious to hear about your scrapbooking philosophy – what you focus on, how you choose which photos to scrapbook, your favorite tools, and anything else that influences how you scrapbook. Leave a comment with your ideas and I’ll include them in a post soon. I would also love to see some of your favorite layouts, so email them to me at kelsey[at]vanillajoy[dot]com and I’ll include them in the post also. I can’t wait to hear from you all!
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