Hey there! Amy here, and I want to share a conversation I had that I'm still thinking about.
A few weeks ago, I was talking to my daughter Haley (who’s away at college) about printing pictures. Every once in a while, she’ll share a batch with me on Dropbox, and I’ll get them printed for her, and then she’ll hang them on the wall in her apartment.
“That must freak you out,” she joked with me. “Just pictures on a wall, not scrapbooked.”
Then she stopped teasing for a second and said “but it would be weird for me to scrapbook pictures about myself anyway” and I said “no it wouldn’t! I scrapbook about myself all the time.”
But really…I don’t!
After our conversation I thumbed through the enormous pile of layouts I have that need to be added to albums and I realized that maybe 2% of them are layouts about me. Which translates into one or two a year.
The funny thing is, I do believe that we scrapbookers should make layouts about ourselves. I just feel a little bit…weird about it, sometimes (to borrow my daughter’s word). Which is silly, because these things are true:
- my stories are just as important as my kids’
- no one else can tell my stories
- someone in the future will want to know my stories
- scrapbooking stories about yourself is just as fun as stories about your kids
So this week we’re going to be sharing some layouts we’ve made about ourselves!
In keeping with that “weird” idea, I went with a slightly…non-traditional photo of myself. My 18-year-old son took it of me while he was goofing around with my camera. But I really kind of love it. It captures something I feel about myself but can’t put into words yet.
I paired it with some of my current favorite song lyrics, the ones that help me feel just a little bit more courageous and understood by the universe. (Plus, you know: every so often I like to have a bit of fun with a font or two.) The design concept is one I use a lot, which is just surrounding a photo with a whole bunch of words. Actually, I’m not sure it even qualifies as a “design concept” at all. (I’m so much better at words than design!) But it’s an approach to a layout that I’ve used almost my whole time I’ve been a scrapbooker. It makes me happy and it makes me feel like I’ve put a little bit of myself down on the layout. Which is a good match for a page that’s about myself!
Also: "gluing" vellum down with paint. That's totally a technique, right? It's one of my favorites! It's a little messy...but I like the splotchy sort of mess it makes. Plus, there's just something about gold and vellum that makes my scrapper's heart happy.
When was the last time you made a layout about yourself? You should share! Post a link in the comments and I will come and admire.
Happy scrapping!
