My Words

My kids look at their scrapbooks A LOT.  They love going down memory lane almost as much as I enjoy creating the pages that go inside of these albums.  We certainly do not have a shortage of scrapbooks at our house.  My passion for scrapbooking started with wanting my children to know our stories...the stories that make up our everyday world.    Losing my mother far too early in life reinforced the fact that I'm not going to be around forever to tell these stories and to share my words with them.  Her absence in my life has played a huge role in how I scrapbook.  I truly scrapbook from my heart.  I write to my children as if I am writing a letter to them.  Somebody once asked me why I usually don't include their names in my journaling and I simply said "because I'm writing to them".  I want them to be able to know how I felt about them and the stages that they are in years from now when I am no longer around to tell them. 

The other day we were looking at the scrapbooks again.  I needed a photo for my 365 project and took one quick shot with the self-timer.  I happen to love the photo that I captured.  This is SOOOO us.  As we turn the pages, I often reanalyze the page that I created....the design...the placement of everything...my clusters and as I analyze, I hear these words constantly "MOM, READ IT TO US....MOM, READ IT AGAIN".  It is once again a reminder that it isn't the visual aspect of the page that they are interested in...it is my words.  And then I think to myself  "if they treasure these words now....I know they will treasure them years from now".  The letters that I received from my mom while I was at college still remain my most treasured possessions because I can hear her voice.  What voice are you bringing to your pages?  I know that with the next page that I create, I'm going to spend more time journaling and less time creating a cluster.  

Here is the page that I created with this photo.  I'm going to break this page down today in our webinar for Creative Composites.  

My desire to scrapbook started with telling our story.  While telling "our story", I discovered a passion for creating which has grown into so much more.  And as it has grown, my foundation has stayed the same.  I scrapbook because I want my children to know their story, read my words and know how very much they are loved.  That is what it is all about in my eyes.

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