Tuesday's thought...
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 at 04:16PM Ugh. I think I'm at one of those turning point things. Where I need to decide. Have I mentioned how I'm a naturally indecisive sort? ;) Here's the thing, though. Once upon a time I was a very productive scrapbooker. At some points, I even wrote a scrapbooking book and had a monthly column in one of the leading industry magazines and all that. :) But. I honestly don't know that I've scrapbooked a physical page in about a year...and, even back then, it was hit and miss.
Part of me is sad by that. I love my scrapbooks. I love being able to hand the boys an album to show them that I'm not making stories about their past completely up, lol. And. I love my scrapbook supplies. ;) It took me years to collect all my lovely stash. And I've already purged a tremendous amount in the last year or so, so I feel justified in keeping what I still have, right?
But. The reality of it is that I just don't scrapbook that much any more. My days are filled with homeschooling and driving boys to stuff, and I'm good with that. That's what I want my life to look like right now.
So. As I sit here in my office overwhelmed by the mess and trying to find that book report assignment I meant to give to Noah, I'm realizing that something needs to be done about this. About the fact that 80% of my office is organized for and dedicated to scrapbooking, yet 90% of my time in here is spent doing stuff for homeschooling.
Because we rearranged rooms last year so that each boy could have his own room, I have no extra space to simply relocate my scrapbooking stuff to. (Okay, yes, if you get all technical, I'm sure I could find a spot somewhere, but it would throw off whatever that room was intended for and I'd rather not do that. I'm really trying to be all good about not just re-collecting a bunch of "stuff" after doing so much work to purge.)
So I think my only option is to really purge again (and probably do some reorganizing and maybe buy some new shelves from IKEA, lol). But I don't want to. So there. ;)
Reader Comments (5)
Your days will not always be filled with homeschooling stuff. And scrapbooking may become something that you spend more time on again some day in the future. My suggestion would be to put some of it into storage. Maybe keep out a small amount so you can throw together a card or a quick craft, but beyond that, pack it into some boxes, label them with love and hearts, and you can pull out your beloved stash again someday when you are ready. There is no need to turn this page without leaving a bookmark. You'll come back to it some day, and when you do, you'll be glad you don't have to re-purchase all your stuff!!!!!
XXOO
I, too, go through stretches of not scrapbooking and then the minute I feel inspired or flip through a scrapbook magazine, I get the itch again and I'm glad I still have my stuff handy. I make time for it because, just like you said, you love your scrapbooks and so do your children. Maybe take a a more digital approach and add a few embellishments to them before putting them in a scrapbook? Or do pages in batches while your boys are working on projects of their own? You never regret spending time making pages for your scrapbooks. :)
You are in the busy, fun part of childhood. Enjoy it. Scrapbooking will still be there when you are ready to get back into it. I've taken a pretty good break a couple of times over the years (my kids are 11, 14 & 17 now, so I've been scrapbooking for over 16 years), but I still love to come back every now and then and make a bunch of pages. I know that in a few years I'll have nothing but time and then I can scrap to my hearts content. In the meantime, my scrapping now tends to be more of the mini-book variety. I like the finite aspect of it and my kids LOVE looking at the pages I do. The beauty of scrapbooking is that YOU get to make the rules. As far as purging your supplies, I've done it in bits and pieces here and there. Anything I don't really love I pass on to friends or church or the foster kids scrap program. The lightness of getting rid of some of my old things actually inspired me to scrap. Good luck. I've really enjoyed your layouts over the years (and have your book!) Remember--we can have it all, just not necessarily at the same time.
I've been there. Still have some things and they really need to go. Especially stamps. Certainly don't need or want those anymore. And hey, if I ever decide I do need/want them again, they'll be around, ready to be re-purchased. I just have to DO IT.
I love scrapbooking too! I fought going digital but last year decided when I just never had time to sit down and scrapbook that I needed to go digital. I love it! I have been able to catch up on a few of the years I missed, and get the current ones done. I do books for each of teh kids individually, the family, grandparents, and girl scouts and more.. So i do lots of scrapbooks. while the totally homemade ones have character. The digital ones come out pretty sharp looking and nice as well. if you haven't already, maybe try out shutterfly. I have been so happy to get through 2009 to 2013 all in the last year even with not a ton of time.