The ABCs of Simple Scrapbooking is a 26 week video series. In each episode, I’ll explore one fundamental idea of stress-free memory keeping.
L is for Letting Go
I love it when life’s lessons teach me something about memory keeping. In my short time as a mom, I’ve come to better understand how to go with the flow and let go of unreasonable expectations.
In this episode of our series, I share a few ways you can apply this concept to your scrapbooking. One of the hardest things for me to let go of is the desire to have every page be a show-stopper.
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Tell Your Story
I would love to hear your voice in this conversation. Leave a comment below telling me one thing you should let go of in your scrapbooking. If you have let go of something already, please share your experience!
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Great video! I need to let go of so many things:
-expectation of every page having that ‘wow!’ factor
-judging the success of a layout based on how many comments it received.
-letting go of the need to buy new, just-released-from-CHA product, to feel like my layouts are current and stylish product wise, and instead use what I already have.
…
and on and on….
It’s not easy to be a “simple scrapbooker” anymore when the inspiration (in magazines and blog posts) comes from atists that
represent company product, given to them in exchange for their talent and advertising purposes, which obliges them to use and promote such product. And because the product is free and plentiful for them, it is always trendy, new and abundantly used on everything they produce. How can our layouts compete with theirs? Of course we measure ourselves against them …. And Store sponsored crops are based on a similar philosophy because stores must sell product in order to survive and the peer pressure is on when your friends and everyone there begins buying. Experienced, well-healed scrapbooking friends can be your greatest asset and your biggest enemy at the same time. The truth is, most of us, the scrapbooking hoi poloi, have time, energy and fund limits we must respect, but little and few in the industry promote this reality. I still scrap 8.5×11, using page protectors from office supply store, one or two 4×6 photos per page (with some digital enhancements and elements) and with the accent on telling the story. I’m big on journaling, embellishment is minimal, plain and simple, and I’m OK with that. This lets me document my daily life almost daily and my pictures dont languish on the hard drive – but I wouldnt dare post my “loyouts” to any gallery.
Plain and simple just isn’t “trendy” – and that’s too bad.
Just my two cents.
Terrific video! Letting go of our self-imposed expectations is a great way to learn to enjoy the process again. Memory keepers
have a purpose in mind, let the purpose be your own. Whether “plain and simple” or elaborately embellished, the project is yours. There is no comparison needed if the layout achieves your purpose.
Really enjoying the alphabet series. Thanks.
I just recently starting posting layouts online, and I started getting “attached” to positive comments. When I don’t get much of a response then I become disappointed. When I start not liking my layouts or thinking they are not good enough then I start to get burned out. I want to get back to the place where I just think about telling the story and keeping the memory and not worry so much about stylistic details or new products. Thanks for making me aware that I need to step back a little and not stress about unimportant things.
Letting go of the guilt of not being “caught up” and stressing about just getting started. I need to learn to put aside more time for myself to do the things I enjoy…aka…less tv, e-mails, and yes, alas….Facebook.