Inspriation

I've been on a bit of a break from scrapbooking. I had been working chronologically and I got to a set of pictures that brought back some bad memories and even though I tried to just skip them with the intent of coming back to them later, it kinda derailed me.  I've been making cards and gift sets and a few altered composition books, but I'm still struggling to get back to scrapbooking, which I love.

This last weekend, while on vacation in Tucson, I stopped by Bookmans, an Arizona chain of used bookstores, and found a few old issues of Simple Scrapbooks.  I discovered this magazine and decided to subscribe to it the same month (May/June 2009) they decided to stop making it. So I will occasionally buy a back issue and savor it, cover to cover.

In their Jan/Feb 2008 issue they had an article about journaling entitled Write From The Heart, by Elizabeth Dillow.  She talks about how one of her favorite writers, Anna Quindlen, wrote an article for Newsweek, Write For Your Life, about the "demise of everyday prose." (Please, go read Write For Your Life, whether or not you ever scrapbook, it's truly inspiring.) Dillow then goes on to give some tips for more prose-like journaling in your scrapbooking.  In one example (done by another scrapbooker) we can read a "note to self" where one mom tries to keep things in perspective by reminding herself about the joys her young children bring her in spite of the challenges they create.  Something about the tone and content of the note really caught my attention.  I was crying by the end, which felt very silly, but I was also wanting to do some scrapbooking and journaling so that I will never forget how sweet my boys are and how very unique this stage of life is.

here's the layout- hopefully it will inspire you too.

 Simple Scrapbooks, Vol 7, Issue 1, Jan/Feb 2008, page 61