Congratulations to the recipients of this week's giveaway—you're going to be thrilled with your new Ella e-books!
Today I wanted to share some pages that are inspired by school in some way—related topics that deserve a little coverage as your small (or not-so-small) ones head back to school, or are inspired by your own experiences with school. Anything you spend a minimum of 13 years doing definitely needs to appear from time to time in your scrapbooks! I am constantly inspired to create pages based on the things I wish I knew about my relatives; their thoughts, their activities, their opinions, their influences. Most of these pages today originated from this kind of wondering, with my hope that someday, whoever is wondering about me won't have to wonder very much. You can click on all the pages to make the journaling more legible.
Scrapbook Your Own Feelings About School
The beginning of a new school year is more exciting to me each year than the beginning of a new calendar year. I am more inspired to make things, to do things, and to learn things than I am in January; in January, I'd rather watch TV and read and recover from December. Not everyone loves school as much as I do, but I still think it's important document your excitement, ambivalence, or any feeling in between about what a new school year has meant to you in the past or means to you right now. I think of layouts like this as "thoughts" layouts—happily joining my "events" and "moments" pages in my scrapbooks. Wouldn't you just love to have a list of what your great-grandmother thought about? I know I would.
Focus on What They Wore
This might not seem like a topic worth documenting now, but wouldn't it be fun to take a look through your elementary school wardrobe 30+ years later? Mine was full of polyester-blend pants suits, Carter's pants and matching t-shirts and Hush Puppies shoes that turned my socks orange. It's fun to show off what you wore all those years ago to new generations of budding fashionistas, though to be honest, it's hard for me to imagine what might be giggle-worthy about this year's cute things 30 years from now!
Focus On a Beloved Teacher
If you have a teacher in your family, this is a great time of year to feature him or her on a scrapbook page. This is an older page from my collection that I made for my book, The Scrapbooker's Almanac. I am obsessed with handwriting, it's true : )
Even if you don't have a teacher in your family, you've known quite a few over the years. If you haven't featured an especially important teacher in your scrapbooks yet, you really should—these are part of the handful of people that shape us outside of our families, and it would be a shame to leave them out of our life's story. A lifelong friend posted this photo on Facebook last year, and it is the only one I have of one of my most favorite teachers ever, Mrs. Rohlf. It's a weird picture in a lot of ways—bad lighting (I brightened it up quite a bit in Aperture), people I don't know in there with her, a little grainy... but what a treasure. I am so thankful to Facebook for opportunities like this to exchange photos from old albums. Don't let the lack of a picture stop you, though—the influence is just as strong on your life whether you have a photo to support your writing or not. Scrapbook it anyway.
What Goes On While They're At School, Anyway?
With Maddie and Gracie at school at the same time a few hours a week this year, Bridget and I are...[whispering now] having an absolute blast together. This is not to say we don't have fun when the big sisters are around too, but this is a different kind of fun, and one I don't want to forget. What goes on while your children are at school? How do you spend your time these days if your children are off to college? Is it possible to interview your parents or grandparents about what they did all day when the children were at school? It's a fun topic, and an angle about the school year worth preserving!
I'd love to see your take on a back-to-school inspired page. Post your pages in the Flickr gallery to share with us! If you haven't visited the Flickr gallery in a while, let me invite you to stop by again soon—it is filled with some really creative work, and it is moving pretty quickly these days. Thank you to everyone who posts their pages there!
