...that I've accepted are not my strengths. Okay, I know that we are supposed to work on our weaknesses, that they have been given to us by God so that we can become strong, that we can learn to depend on Him, and to be humbled by our limitations. This weakness, however, is something entirely different. And instead of stressing myself out continually pursuing something that is driving me crazy, I've realized that I can embrace the idea of it in a different way, still fulfil the purpose of it, and keep my sanity.
Scrapbooking. It's a huge hobby right now, with unlimited resources in stores, workshops, online, and seemingly all of my friends engaging in this art form.
It is not for me.
I collected all my photos. I bought books and papers and layout ideas and stickers. It's all in a box, sitting in my living room in plain sight, a constant reminder that I want to artistically capture my life of memories thus far.
It's been sitting there for months.
The task is daunting. I'm afraid to start and not like what I do. It seems so permanent (not to mention the cost of materials) that I'm afraid of not getting it right and the time and money gone to waste. And yet I want to preserve photographs, memories, and stories of our lives for my children and grandchildren and generations to come to cherish.
Then the other day, I realized that I am already doing this. Firstly, I have been very diligent in taking photographs of my family. (I think I even have more photos of Caleb, my second child, than I do of Colin, my first!) And in this digital age, I have been even more diligent about acutally printing the photos, dating and labeling them, and compiling them into an album.
Secondly, there is this blog. For over a year now I have been recording my thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I could never keep a handwritten journal faithfully, but this blog has enabled me to journal "our daily treasures". I plan to print them out each year and have them bound into a little book. (Who knows what might happen to this virtual online world in the future?!) Staples Business Depot, our local business supplies store, will do a fairly nice book binding for only $1!
So as it turns out, I may be terribly discouraged by the formal art of scrapbooking, but I have found other means of making sure my memories do last forever!
2 comments:
Thanks for coming by my blog and sharing how you came to your Church. And thanks also for sharing why scrapbooking is *not* for you! I'm the same way (although I haven't even gotten as far as getting the materials) with this and with hand made cards - they're things I'd like to do but I'm just not talented that way and too scared of wasting all the pretty things. But there are other ways to preserve memories and share greetings and it wouldn't do if we were all the same.
I hope the weekend was a blessing to you and the coming week happy.
If you want to do something crafty, but find actual scrapbooking daunting, try cardmaking. I'm not a huge fan of scrapbooking, but, until I got pregnant, I made just about all my own cards. Even sold some. I ADORE it, and it's much simpler and sometimes cheaper than scrapbooking. I miss it a lot, and as soon as I can figure out how to do it AND look after my baby who does not like to be put down, I want to get back into it :). Yesterday, he slept very well in his Moby on me while I filled in his baby book and worked on my Mother's Day gift to my mother, so there's cardmaking hope!! :).
-Heather.
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