So, where have I been all summer? The short answer is: here, at home. The long answer is that I haven’t been
blogging. Why? The Social Networking Site where I got my
start as a blogger suddenly disappeared at the end of May.
Frantically, I tried to locate my friends on other
sites. I joined two SNS sites, decorated
my profile, and found a lot of my friends.
One of the sites was not a good fit for me from the beginning: they have
blogs there but nobody reads them, and few people write them.
The second site I found was more promising: there are blogs
and people actually do write over there.
Again, nobody reads them, either.
Is that the only reason to write a blog?
So someone will read it? Yes and
no. I have to write for myself: my
feelings, my observations, my thoughts.
Yet, it is nice to know that someone has read what I wrote and felt a
synergy or connection with it.
It’s not that I haven’t been creative. I just haven’t been writing as much. What I am writing now is in the form of “journaling”
on scrapbook pages. Because of my
writing background, my journaling is more substantial and interrelated with the
photos’ subject matter.
After taking a weekend class in May, I was hooked on
scrapbooking. I actually got back into
scrapbooking last fall at the encouragement of my daughter. She is an accomplished scrapper and artistic
genius, IMHO.
But taking classes made it all official. Each day of class, there is an assignment to
complete. Each day, I happily think about
the subject at hand and gather photos and papers and embellishments to complete
the project.
And every day, the completed project goes into the Student
Gallery for others to see and comment on.
And every day, I get up to a dozen or so encouraging comments on my
scrapbooking efforts. It’s fun to have
that feedback and to see my work through others’ eyes.
For me, scrapbooking is about telling a story. The photos are a big part of telling that
story. The photo part got much easier
for me late this spring: my daughter graciously spent a couple of hours with
me, helping me conquer Photoshop. No, I’m
not completely victorious yet, but I know—and can do—a heck of a lot more than
I could before she helped me.
For today’s class assignment, I used paper scraps to “weave”
a background for my photos. And those
photos were a mere 1.5 inch square!
Photoshop to the rescue, again. I
cropped and custom printed the photos I wanted just like a pro…..sorta.
The woven scrap papers were then sewn on with my sewing
machine, making them look like a quilt.
I then added the photos, some embellishments, and my journaling. What I have now is a scrapbook page that
shows what was important to me today.
Hopefully, someday, my children and grandchildren will view my
scrapbooks the way I want them to: as a family history.
Scrapped with love by Mom/Grandma: the Keeper of Memories….
Cali
And here is today's scrapbooking project:
