Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Scrapbooking Ourselves

Chances are you’ve already considered this question: Why should I scrapbook myself? I’m a huge fan of making pages about me, and here are a few of my reasons:

Reason #1: It’s a Self Portrait

Scrapbooking is all about documenting... and who can document you, better than you? We scrapbook to leave a documentation of our lives, to leave a record of what was important to us. One day our kids or other descendents will go to our albums to catch a glimpse of what our lives were like... wouldn’t you want to include yourself in that? Someday my niece will want to know what I was like in my 20’s, and I’ll be able to show her this layout and say, This was me, then:

(red swirls cut from the fabulous Merrymint paper)

Reason #2: It’s Therapeutic

I’ve learned so much about myself through scrapbooking. When I decided to treat my pages as my journals, I began to explore deep topics, like who I want to be and where I’m headed. So many times I’ve worked through a challenge in my life by creating a layout about it. My pages have become a place to be honest about myself, and that’s helped me become a better person. When I made “Generous,” seeing some of my flaws in a more humorous light helped me to be more patient with myself:

(made with the Moravia collection)

Reason #3: It’s Encouraging

My layouts remind me of where I’ve come from... what a great feeling! I love looking through my albums to remember lessons I’ve learned, choices I’ve made, and dreams I still hope to accomplish. Just reading the journaling on “Happiness” made me remember how much I love my job and how lucky I am to have it!

(made with the Mimosa collection)

Making layouts about myself has been more fulfilling than I ever imagined. I encourage you to give it a try... start with a simple page about what you like, and see how it makes you feel. I’m guessing you’ll feel thrilled to have a part of yourself on paper! Happy scrapping!

xo,
Nancy

P.S. You can check out a tutorial on taking great self portraits for your layouts here.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thanks for the self portrati tutorial. i dont feel like i am very good at them...maybe i should scrap about that huh?!

 

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