Have you ever been overwhelmed with trying to juggle life and work and what seems like a never ending to-do list? It’s so easy, when the going gets hectic, to drop the hobbies or crafts that mean the most to you or even considering picking up a new one. I find creating art or laying out a card or a scrapbook page to be important in my life journey. It makes me happy to make stuff. Often, I am asked why I scrapbook or how I find the time and the simple answer is that I just love making stuff and telling stories. I’ve compiled a list below of five reasons why I think you should considering scrapbooking or participating in memory keeping projects.

Your Story Matters

When I started my job at the radio station, a manager asked me, “What are you famous for?” The young and naive 23-year-old me replied, “I’m a reliable and passionate juggler.” In 2008, this was about right. Four years later, my story has changed. The point I’m making here is that your story is constantly unfolding and evolving. Your journey is the the delicate fiber that builds the fabric of your experience. It’s important to tell the story in bits and pieces and in any way that feels right to you. Stacy Julian talks about simply documenting the people and moments in your life and leaving the events to be as they are, the backdrop of the amazing people we share our lives with. Your story is yours – and when you tell + share it, you are showing up and doing work that builds your legacy. It doesn’t have to be in chronological order. There are no rules. Your story matters, more than you know, and when you start putting it down, you’ll feel an immense amount of gratitude.

Nurturing Creative Spirit Yields Magic

I’ve met a lot of people that tell me that are creatively challenged and they just can’t craft. Everyone is creative. And just like learning to ride a bike or tie a knot, learning a craft is a process. No matter how, nurturing your creativity is integral to drumming up some serious magic in your life. I find that when I am nurturing my creative spirit, I am happier and more focused. And honestly, I’ve only been scrapbooking for about three and a half years. I’m no expert. But showing up is half the battle. I want people to know the things in my head and when I put them down, I feel more and more creative. I generate a special energy around my experience and I can then share that with my friends and family. Nurturing our creative spirit helps us tap into a wonderful outlet and then begin to share the magic of fun in our lives. Scrapbooking is a way to engage in this nurturing while simultaneously documenting your most precious moments with the people you love.

“The palest ink is better than the best memory” – Chinese Proverb

Emily once wrote this down when we were drumming up the name for the biz we were endeavoring to build. When I found the paper this week it hit me like a ton of bricks. We can’t remember everything. Like a game of whisper down the lane, over time, our moments are adjusted and maybe even clouded or sometimes, altogether lost. When we document our moments and share our stories, we are placing them in a time capsule of awesomeness. And even is the ink fades over time, it will potentially outlive us and inspire or entertain future generations.

Pretty Stuff = Fun + Easy

Do you like pretty stuff? Your mind might have automatically gone to lace and frills or some other insanely effeminate image. But I want to suggest that “pretty” can be anything that just makes you feel incredible. It might be the awesome organization system you found. It could be the beautiful living room layout you checked out at Ikea. Or it could just be a board on Pinterest that you’ve curated that makes you just feel easy and lovely when you look at it. I love helping people make pretty stuff. With layouts or cards, making pretty stuff can automatically become easy and fun! Our house is decorated with found items and scrapbook pages – all things that I consider pretty. Your moments are pretty – and through scrapbooking you can share them in a fun and easy way!

Accomplishment

Have you ever reached a destination that you thought you couldn’t make? There is a sweetness waiting there at the end; the metaphorical gold at the end of the rainbow. It’s a wonderful taste of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing that you created or made something happen that, in the beginning, might have seemed nearly impossible. Memory Keeping can seem like a daunting task. You’ve got boxes of printed photographs. You’ve got disks and folders of digital photos. You are inundated with frozen moments. It could seem so easy to just say that is enough – and maybe it is. But what happens when those pictures get handed down? Who will know what that smile on your child’s face meant to you? Who will know how it felt to receive that diploma? And most of all, who will know who all those people are in your snapshots? Setting up a plan to start sifting through your photos and picking out your favorite shots is a simple way to get started. When you start telling your story and creating, you soon see the end of your layout in sight. When you put the last piece of that page together or hit the last sentence of a specific story, a sweeping sweet sense of “I did it” will come over you. And in that moment, it is so worth the time.

What’s your story? Want to learn more about scrapbooking? Just interested in trying it out? Send me a message. I’d love to hear from you and help you document your moments while honoring your relationships through the art of scrapbooking.