Wednesday 9 September 2009

Scrapbooking Q & A & a VSL {Very Simple Layout}.



I pinched this idea off a new bloggy friend of mine who you can find here. I want to have a record of how I feel about scrapbooking & intend to update it every 6 months at least. It is a pretty long Q & A so I have decided to split it up into 3 or 4 posts until I get through it all. I won't post them consecutively (would hate to bore the living daylights out of you ;-D) so don't worry, I will ensure a decent spattering of layouts & photos in between to keep things interesting!

Why do you scrapbook?

I scrapbook for various reasons. 1) When I first discovered scrapbooking over 6 years ago I was instantly drawn to it, having been a creative person all my life. Like most other people, I had shoeboxes full of photographs & a few horrid photo albums {remember the ones where you peeled off the cellophane & adhered the photos to the sticky page??? Eeeuuuw...and eventually they would start to fall off???!!! SO not a good look...} I was at a stage in my life when I knew that moving countries was something that was definitely going to be happening within the next few years & I wanted 2) to sort out my possessions & create some order with regard to my memories. So initially it was to sort out the photos I had already taken & display them all chronologically & attractively.

3) As the years have gone by, however, I have learnt more & more about scrapbooking & come to see that it is so much more meaningful than that & now I often take photos with a specific layout in mind & believe that it is important to scrapbook more than just important events. I consider my scrapbooks a visual diary of my (& my family's) life & hope that my children will treasure their albums forever & pass them down to future generations. 4) This thought makes me feel that what I am doing is more than just "playing around" with pretty papers, but also creating a legacy & documenting a period in history from a specific viewpoint.

I scrapbook because it is a fantastic creative outlet for me that 5) I also feel is useful & not just frivolous. Of course I also love that I get to work with 6) beautiful papers & embellishments, 7) constantly learn more & more about photography, photo-editing & photo-printing, 8) how to express myself better verbally{through journaling} but most of all I love this hobby because 9) almost everything {bar altered art projects & mini-albums} gets stored within the confines of my uniform 12 x 12 albums {This appeals to the organised part of me} within my album shelves & 10) this means that if it is necessary for me to move countries again I can take all my hard work with me. Before I scrapbooked I poured most of my creative energy into my house & garden {in Zimbabwe} & then had to abandon it due to the political & economic demise of my country, so much of my work remains there in the mosaiced floors, garden design, etc, & of course this is a source of great sadness to me.

So there are at least 10 good reasons why I scrapbook, and while my style, etc may change, I doubt these reasons ever will.

How & when did you discover scrapbooking?

I discovered scrapbooking quite by chance in 2003 when my daughter was invited to a holiday scrapbooking workshop with a friend of hers when we were still living in Zimbabwe. I remember she needed to take quite a bit of money with her & not being very happy about that LOL! Then I will never forget laying eyes on the first layout she created with her school camp photos. I just couldn't stop staring at it & my mind started spinning. I could see so much potential before me & then & there got all the details of the scrapbooking teacher & got to her store within the week & signed us both up for weekly lessons. I didn't have the time at that stage in my life to devote any more than an afternoon a week {& some finishing off time if necessary} to my newfound craft but I knew right from the beginning that scrapbooking was going to become a major player in my life.

Here is an easy peasy layout I created last week when I was still busy on my scalloped cardstock spree ;-D Wow how Chelsea has changed in 2 years! I am so grateful for photographs like this to remind me what a sweet little cherub face she used to have. I bought the Bazzill scalloped cardstock just AS IS - with holes pre-punched. I finally tired of my Threading Water punch & decided to use up some of my vast ribbon stash instead, aswell as some of my Fiesta Felt flowers, a couple of Prima basics, some local bling & a K & Co. die-cut butterfly. The sentiment stickers are Making Memories {Noteworthy perhaps?} & the alpha stickers are local Natstat "thickers".

So I managed to make quite a dent in my older stash with this last week's spree & am looking forward to my Cocoa Daisy kit arriving shortly...I hope...still waiting... {sent out late last month because the product in it was piping hot - straight from CHA in July - woo hoo!!!} Hopefully any day now...



10 comments:

topkatnz said...

I like that very simple layout - some layouts and photos just need a simple touch.

Vicki said...

Yep, me liking it very much too. So what new CHA stuff are you getting!!! LOL. I got my hands on some of the new BG yesterday.

Diana said...

Can't wait to read more of your q&a! And the layout is lovely. I love the flower and ribbon details; they look so professional!

somebody who needs to love herself said...

hi helen this my first time to your blog. love your layout might just scraplift it.

mariam

tania said...

Beautiful layout, everything is just perfect!

Wishful Thinking said...

Hello :-)
Nice LO - I grinned at your comment about being tired of your threading water punch so used ribbon instead LOL :-)
Rachel

Jenny in Durbs said...

Great l/o & really good q & a.

Ella Swan said...

Aaah thank you folks...yes sometimes we just need a few "pretties" & we're done! No need to overcomplicate things...Glad you enjoyed the Q & A - I always love to read & answer those things but notice that I receive the least comments on those posts - think they are too much of a long-haul read ;-D

Sandra said...

I love simple layouts the most, and WOW, that blue is gorgeous!

Helen, please can you check your spam? The other day I left a loooooong comment on your post about cleaning up your blog and sidebar and it's not there (:

I'm wondering if I used our family email addy, rather than the one I usually do, which is the one attached to my blog.

Michelle Ramsay said...

Lovely layout. I certainly enjoy reading your posts, long or short as I find that it helps me get to know you a bit more, which I find very interesting.