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It’s a bit wild that I have been scrapbooking as long as I have. It’s interesting to have this time, while I reorganize, to let my mind wander back through it all. Not just the memories I have saved in my albums but the process of my scrapping itself. I got into this hobby via CM like a lot of people. I fell in love,  became a consultant,  got overwhelmed,  hung on as long as I could and then gave up. When I left the hospital where I worked and went to working at home with my husband I was no longer around lots of people.  By that time though,  I was always helping others with their pages and not getting of my own done.

My pages were always a bit more artistic than other peoples because I’ve always been artistic.  The funny thing is to look back at those albums now and see how very UN-artistic they really were. lol I also think about the different things that influenced my choices in embellishing  compared to what has me so excited lately.

I’ve had time to really think as I reorganize and see how much “stuff” I really have. The thought that pops into my mind is “What the hell was I saving all this stuff for?” lol  I have so many things that I coveted, relished buying, got all excited about what I COULD do with and NEVER used!  I was hoarding or better yet I was idolizing decorations!  I remind myself of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. ” My precious..My precious” I used my goodies so sparingly. I always seemed to be waiting for the ‘perfect” use for each thing. “What if I used this on this page and then I had a better page that it would have been perfect for?” What happened 13 years later?  They are still sitting in my stash.  Un-used…  Forgotten…  and abandoned.  So much for how “special” they were. lol

Last spring I wandered through Ustream and came across Paperclipping Live. A relaxed, fun live broadcast of a woman scrapbooking in a style totally different from mine.  She was so quirky and relaxed that I felt like we were long lost friends. I began to make my way back there every Tuesday night to drop in and “lurk”. It turns out Noell and her hubby Izzy run a Scrapbooking video tutorial site called Paperclipping.com.  They have built a whole friendly community there in the free side.  The videos (except for some samples) are in a membership area and for a very reasonable fee you have access to them for 6 months.  Did I mention you keep them forever on your computer too? They are high quality down-loadable videos.

I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent but you can tell I was excited right? lol  Over the past two months I’ve had a renewed love of scrapbooking.  I had given up and all my goodies had been sitting there gather dust.  I’ve fooled myself thinking that making cards and going through my 50 boxes, from my favorite monthly kit club, was keeping me “active’ in my hobby.  The little projects would get a bit of my attention but the rest of the boxes would sit on the top of my cabinets. What I truly want is to dive back into my albums.  I was starting to feel like a stalker at the Live shows so I  finally signed in and started joining the conversations, all be it a little at a time.  I purchased a membership to Paperclipping and have really enjoyed the variety of tutorials Noell makes.  Lot’s of overall design advice I never understood and fun ideas for all sorts of great projects.

I’ve been discovering online groups/communities that I never knew existed and having a blast joining in.  I never realized how much I missed the “sisterhood” part of this hobby. It’s like my love for scrapbooking is being reborn. I can feel my excitement again. I can attribute a lot of this to Noell and I owe her a big thank you.

I also want to mention a great new community that is the net is buzzing about. 
CreatingTheHive.com is awesome.  It’s crafters of all sorts all in one place. I even helped my mom, who raised me to be the “crafty ” person that I am, to make a profile and start participating. lol  What better recommendation can I give a place than that!  lol  Check it out.

So what is my big epiphany you may be thinking?? lol Well, as I’m wading through all my trinkets, I’m realizing that I can finally use them!!  lol  I am actually going to stop hoarding and start sticking things to my pages!  SO what if I only have one of that particular thing?  I’m going to stop waiting for the perfect use for every little bauble.  There is no time like now and I have found ways to take these ‘old” new things and make them more updated and fun again. My new motto is “Use it or lose it!”  Join me?

HUGS, Claudia

Tags: communities

I’m in the middle of moving and reorganizing my scrap area. It’s quite a task and there are so many things I keep finding to do. Since I’ve been scrapping for coming on 13 years, I have accumulated quite a bit of “stuff”. My goodies also include a lot of dabbling in many forms of art. I’m a jack of all trades but master of none, I guess. lol They all seem to find their way into my scrapbooks though and I love it all.

One of the biggest tasks I’ve gone through, in this never-ending endeavor, is taming the huge amount magazines. I have many years of several scrapbook, card making, stamping magazines. I also have a random assortment of other arts & crafts mags lining the shelves and filling assorted baskets all over my house. My husband is far worse of a magazine hoarder than I have ever been. So imagine the worst scenario and then double that and you will have a good idea of what my house looks like. lol We’ve always kept them pristine condition and I finally decided it was time to peel through the layers of it all to just keep what I truly wanted. I don’t mean just keeping the periodicals I like best. I like them all! I mean only keeping the actual layouts that inspire me. So, if you would think it’s time to get rid of all those old and out dated publications this might be a fun way for you to do it too.

I noticed that each year, after school was over, my kids seemed to have several barely used composition notebooks. They are the type with cardboard covers and stitched bindings. The covers are sturdy and fun to decorate. These make inexpensive yet sturdy books for you to leaf through when you need some ideas. Over the next week or two I took a handful of magazines with me everywhere I went. I also brought a pocket folder and a retractable blade. Then when I had a few minutes of quiet time, I simply went though all of my magazines, page by page and ripped out the entire page when I saw something I liked. I also took the pages that had step by step techniques and instructions. I found it much easier to make sure that I organized the things as I went. then I made a book for each type of thing. I can’t tell you the fun and satisfaction I felt in ripping through those old space hogs.

a few examples of my "Magazine Mini's"

Next, I started just cutting out the layouts just sitting in front of the tv in the evenings. This is where, if you have kids, you can enlist them for help. If you want to be able to see the manufacturers, be sure to leave them in when you trim your LOs. They typically seem to be in tiny text under the pictures. Finally, I just grabbed a glue stick and started sticking them into the composition books. I made sure to leave room around the pictures so I can jot down notes if I wanted. Reminding myself what caught my eye in that LO or what I have planned for it. The kids loved this part too. Most aged kids will enjoy this. Mine are in middle school and still got great satisfaction in siting there with a glue stick and slapping them onto the pages.

During this process my hubby got motivated too and so we also went through his magazines as well! He loves computers, techy stuff and photography. I can’t say I did much with his computer and tech magazines but I really enjoyed ripping into his photography magazines. Instead of putting them on the composition books though, I simply keep them in pocket folders for inspiration in my other arts such as painting and sketching.

You may decide to organize your books by themes. I didn’t worry about that but I did keep my cards and scrapbook layouts in a separate books. Here are some ideas for books:

layouts
layouts by themes
Techniques
Idea Sketches
Cards
Stamps
Ads

The last one might make you take a double take but don’t forget you can get great inspiration using the professional designs found in advertising pages. Things like color sets and general design translate quite easily to scrapbooking.

I think you will be just as tickled as I am with all of the room you clear off of your shelves. I will clarify that I still have one huge basket full of current magazines. I haven’t gone so crazy as to tear these up. However, the ones in the back are quaking in their boots because they know I add my newest additions to the front and their days are numbered. lol

Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to share your thought in the comments section! Claudia

Tags: Inspiration