5.5 Tips For Beginning Memory Keepers
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Every now and then I'll receive an email or a question about how to begin scrapbooking.
I first started scrapbooking in 2002 when Simon was 11 months old. I had been browsing the internet looking for a baby book. After finding one too many that didn't fit my style I somehow ended up at twopeasinabucket.com and first saw what I would describe as "modern" scrapbooking that included a variety of photo sizes, journaling and embellishments on 12x12 or 8.5x11 cardstock foundations.
Fast forward 12 years (!!!) to today and some things are the same and others are very different.
There's definitely more variety these days - more options for page sizes and philosophies albums and projects and one of the biggest changes are the advances in digital photography. When I first started I was using a film camera as were most people at that time. So many different options can be great but it can also be super overwhelming if you are attempting to figure out where to begin.
Here are some 2014 thoughts on getting started with memory keeping:
ONE | Begin with the end in mind. Think about your overall memory keeping purpose: photo storage, storytelling, creative expression, etc. Why are you embarking on this adventure? Do you want to have more words on your pages than photos? Do you want to play with lots of pretty paper or try out lots of different creative techniques? What are you looking to have in the end? Are you looking to this to be your creative outlet or is it more about organization of memorabilia or storytelling or a little bit of all those things? It's totally possible that you won't know in the beginning what you want in the end as you first start - but it's worth thinking about it in advance. You will absolutely learn as you go and will likely go through phases where one or the other or the other aspect is most important for a period of time.
Once you've started thinking about the format for your scrapbook(s) and your overall intentions with memory keeping it will make it a whole lot easier moving forward. If you aren’t sure I’d recommend beginning with something like Project Life® - a simple and straight-forward memory keeping system that uses pockets for photos and journal cards without a ton of embellishments. You can see all my Project Life® archives here. I think Project Life® is a great entry point for people who are interested in bringing their photos and stories together in one location.
Also think about how much time you envision yourself investing in this endeavor. You might have just one project/album to complete or you might be embarking on a new lifestyle of documentation (you might not know it at this point in time and that's okay).
PS |Don't get caught up in the name. Maybe it's traditional scrapbooking or Project Life or art journaling or pocket pages or a single stand-alone album project or digital scrapbooking or whatever. They are all memory keeping and they are all awesome ways to tell the stories of your life and those you care about most.
TWO |Start simple. Don’t go out and buy a bunch of craft supplies or feel like you have to have a whole room set up to document your life. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything that's available. Start with the basics: an album to hold your photos or your layouts (those might be 12x12 or 8.5x11 or 6x8), some pens for writing your story, some paper or journaling cards and something to use to take pictures (I use my iphone probably more than 60% of the time these days). You can see my list of basics and things I recommend here. Also my list of Project Life basics here.
You might want to check out a memory keeping kit club that offers a fun collection of coordinated papers and embellishments. Most offer at least a one-month purchase option so you can see what it's all about before making a longer commitment. A few companies I have worked with and recommend include StudioCalico.com, CocoaDaisy.com and ScrapbookCircle.com. Another benefit of kit clubs is that most of them include galleries for people to share what they made with the kits - makes it easier to get started with specific inspiration and ideas for the stuff that you have right in front of you.
TWO POINT FIVE | You don't have to scrapbook every photo you take. I'll repeat it again in case it's something you need to read again: you don't have to scrapbook every photo you take. People tend to go one way or the other on this and both result in overwhelm (you will likely either have a hard time narrowing it down to one or two or you will want to include all 20 shots you took of your daughter hunting for Easter eggs). When I'm working on a page or a project I ask myself over and over again if one is enough to complement my words (and often it is but sometimes more are needed to tell a more complete story).
THREE | Make a list of the stories you want to get told. What are the important stories you want to include in your scrapbook? Consider going beyond birthdays and holidays to include stories and photos about your everyday life. Where do you call home? What does it look like and feel like and how do you feel about it? What's your daily routine? Check out my Day In The Life or Week In The Life posts for additional inspiration.
Also consider using your scrapbook as a place to write about the things you’re thankful for, letters to your kids that document where they are right now, a list of the most meaningful moments in your life up to this point, etc. Scrapbooks are such an awesome opportunity to celebrate and document more of our lives than just the holidays.
To collect the stories I want to tell in my memory keeping endeavors I've been using Evernote.
FOUR | Look online for inspiration. Check out sites such as Twopeasinabucket.com or Scrapbook.com or StudioCalico.com or Pinterest. Don’t be afraid to copy other layout/album ideas as you begin to get comfortable with your own memory keeping methods.
FIVE | Embrace imperfection. It’s less about making things perfect and more about getting your stories told. People often stop scrapbooking because they're afraid they aren't creating “perfect” pages or telling “perfect” stories or using "perfect" supplies. Let that go. Just start. Start with the story that's on your heart right now. Maybe all you do is type it up on a piece of 8.5x11 paper and stick a photo alongside those words and call it good just to get started. Our lives are full of imperfections and our scrapbooks are an awesome place to reflect that truth. Have fun and don’t take it too seriously.
And PS |Do what you want to do. These are your memories and your time and your words and your life. Memory keeping can be anything you want it to be and doesn't have to fit any particular prescription. You might start out doing one thing and switch to another and that's perfectly okay. No guilt, nothing to apologize for, etc. Keep it real for yourself and your family and your lifestyle.
What are your tips for a new scrapbooker/memory keeper?
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61 comments
Great advice Ali!!!! One of the things I love most about scrapbooking and memory keeping is that it can be anything YOU want it to be!
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You are so right, thank you for this reminder. One of my biggest problems is I can spend days going over in my head over things like color. I feel color matching isn't my strong suit and I can get bogged down in that. I'm trying to let it go, use colors or patterned papers I like and be done. So letting go of insecurities over things you think you can't do or should do is the most important advice I could give. Michelle t
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LOVE #2 and #5.... why is it whenever I want to try a new craft I feel like I have to run out and buy a basket full of supplies? A quote I recently saw "Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing." Harriet Braiker
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your blog this last week or so, and the way you have been story telling, has been very inspiring. and todays' is such a great reminder.
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As always, great advice wonderful inspiration. One thing that I feel for sure is if one isn't sure they want to do this as a regurlar hobby ALL the time but really would love to get some photo's in a scrapbook. Project Life is the BEST way to do that. You therefore do not need all the "stuff" we all have to have:) You only need tha album, pages to put pictures in and a wonderful kit to do it all. And its great because it can be about everyday, a special event, holidays/birthdays. Like you said, whatever you want it to be.
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All great points especially 'start simple' and just get started. I do a combo of traditional layouts and simple/embellished 'project life' style by the month. Love your point 'embrace imperfection'. Yesterday, Easter Sunday, first BIG family dinner after a long, cold winter and the relatives had the last several years of my scrapbooks pulled off the shelves and out on the counter, the kitchen table, the dining room table and on their laps. NOT ONCE, repeat NOT ONCE, did I hear..oh, look at this pretty paper, look at this beautiful embellishment, oh, i love what she did with the ribbon and buttons and stickers. NOT ONCE. What I heard was...oh, remember this..that was so funny, oh look how cute he was as a baby, oh where does time go, oh, remember when this happened...and I heard reminiscing and more stories and more embracing of our family life. I am 63 years old.....so kids, grandkids, a wealth of family history. I relearned a lesson already known....whether today or 20 years from now, they won't notice the embellishments or the paper color, they will recall the photos, how we lived our life, the sights and sounds of our life, the stories and the times of life...exactly the goal of memory keeping.
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Well said. Thank you! I try to remind myself when I'm scrapping to stop fussing, stick it down and move on! And journal. Always journal, even if it's only in point form. Sometimes I don't love a page as I'm doing it, but I do when I come back to it later! The photos and the story have been recorded and that is the part I enjoy looking at!
That is so true, Kaysie! Thanks for sharing. It's so easy to get caught up in the HOW that we forget the WHY.
Love this! Thank you!
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Thanks for this Ali, great post reminding some of us that it's more important to just begin than to look for perfect projects. My memory keeping has come a long way but I most enjoy the creative outlet it gives me. Love seeing your posts :)
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The biggest thing that helped me: you don't have to scrap chronologically. You definitely helped me with that one! Love this reminder of why we love this hobby so much!
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I have a box (recipe box size) of photos sitting on my desk right next to my computer and after reading your post and all of the comments I am tempted to just grab the box, and just scrapbook them...they won't be in chronological order, but at least they will be in an album for people to look at and enjoy! I am usually a chronological scrapbooker, maybe it's time to do something different!
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Thank you for the post, Ali. You give such great advice! The only other tip I would add, and you really covered it, but I want to reiterate it because I think it's so important: perfection has no place in scrapbooking. When I started, I made a pact with myself that scrapbooking/papercrafting was the one arena in my life that was perfection-free. I didn't want it to be ruined by that emotional baggage, and that has worked well for me. Also, it takes time to develop your own style, so patience is a real help.
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One thing I've found very freeing as I continuing my memory keeping journey is that it's ok if your pages look alike. No one is going to look at them and say "oh gee, you used the same layout pattern 5 times in this book." They're just going to see that you captured memories and that you made the layouts with love.
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Always love your posts and really great to see you go back to your beginnings. We often take beginners classes at our shop in NZ and I believe there is no 'perfect' way. Just to embrace what you are doing, whether it is photos, words or creativity or all of the above. I always believe you start with what you want to remember, whether it is photos, souvenirs or journaling of events, all are important. Most important, it should mean something to you or who you are making it for.
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Excellent points by all. Just enjoy the "journey". I love the materials, I love the picture taking, I love the challenge, I love looking at the pictures, I LOVE being with my friends when I scrap ( my most favorite of all!) and I love the end product-the story-the memories!
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Start. Just start. That's my advice. If you research and research at some point you need to just start. It's a lot easier to steer a moving ship, right? Making pages/books you don't like might be more helpful than thinking about making pages because you can figure out what works for you.
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So totally agree -- JUST START. Do it anyway you have time to do it whether its simple or basic as long as you have the memories down. Even if you just keep a journal and write down the memories you can always go back to match up photos. I think photobooks (i.e. Shutterfly) are the easiest to pull together for busy moms. That's the way I have been able to keep up with our family memories and then I include special projects (i.e. Dec Daily, Week in the Life) and I don't feel so overwhelmed this way.
Good advice, Annika. I've been collecting supplies for years, but have yet to make a scrapbook page, because I don't know where to start. It's time to just put something together!
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It must be that time for reflection when it comes to all of this. :-) I just did a two part series on my blog about 'just starting' project life and making it work for you! :-)
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I tried to make pages and something just didn't work for me... then I tried Project Life and someting jsut clicked. :-)
When will you be doing Week in the life in 2014?
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Hi Anne - planning for the second week in September.
Thanks. Marked my calendar!
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Ali, I am very thankful for this post! I've been scrapbooking since 1998 and have felt burnt-out for the last year. This has been great to read through and remember the reasons I started. I feel a "re-newed" sense of purpose and look forward to spending time this evening looking through my albums and re-thinking how I want to proceed.
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Awesome.
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This is all such great advice Ali! I have been scrapbooking since 1997 after the birth of my daughter. When I first started I scrapbooked just for my family and for me, it was very freeing and enjoyable. Then somewhere along the line I started scrapbooking for recognition. I scrapbooked for kit clubs, design teams, contests and submissions....and I burned out, I didn't enjoy it anymore. I am just now starting to want to scrapbook again, and this time I want to tell my story just for my family and me, not caring what anyone else thinks or if I am using the newest products and the enjoyment factor is back. Don't worry about trends, do what looks good to your eye.
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Welcome back Amberca. I totally get it :).
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Thank you Ali. I just wanted to share that I have had no time to scrapbook this past year. I still took a good amount of photos. Now that I have time again I have printed the photos and have them in a PL book. Now I just have to go back and tell the stories. How could I not tell the stories of selling a house, building a new house, holidays, birthdays, a family wedding, a family funeral, and everyday life! Thanks for keeping me motivated.
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I am a newbie to Project Life. Love what I see. Have tons of old family photographs which I dearly need to document. I particularly liked the tip that you don't need to scrapbook every photograph that has been taken. Time to do a clean sweep and turf out what you don't really need to keep. Best to use those that one can share a story about. I will remember these. Thanks Ali.
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