Cropping

Like many of you I have boxes and drawers and envelopes full of pictures. And for the longest time I have been wanting to start scrapbooking them. I bought magazines and read books. I even bought paper, albums and tools. But when I sat to actually do a page, I started going through the pictures and was totally overwhelmed. I had no clue where to start. In my mind, I figured I had to start with my earliest pictures and work my way to the current ones. I thought I had to use every picture I had. The thought made me dizzy. So, I put everything away and felt like a total loser! One day while I was at one of my pumpkins outings, one of the mothers mentioned that she was taking pictures for a scrapbook about camp. We started to talk about scrapbooks, and I explained how I felt about scrapbooking. She told me "...don't be silly. Buy some pretty paper and some stickers, pick out some pictures you like and put it on a page". Those few words were like a bolt of lightning to my brain. I suddenly felt like it's no big deal. I browsed through one on my books, Clean & Simple Scrapbooking by Cathy Zielske and I was inspired to do a page. She also said something so basic but that was a wake up to me. Put your photos in albums or photo boxes and only scrap the ones you want to. Duh, that made such a difference. So I took my latest photos from out stay at the shore and made a few layouts. I cannot tell you how much better I feel. It is like a weight off my shoulders. I can now justify all the $ I spent and I look forward to making more pages.

Hopefully, while I am doing this I will be inspired to crochet something. I am just not feeling it. Not another shawl, scarf or hat. Definitely not an afghan, not ready for another one. I bought a pattern from Crochet Garden which I love, but it's a sundress. I meant to do it for the summer and never got to it. I could probably go through my stash and find something I can start or finish. But like I said I am not feeling it. I am afraid to go to Michael's or AC Moore, because I can never seem to walk out without spending way too much $. Now that I am cropping, I have to avoid hoarding paper and stuff.

So for the time being, I am going to do a few layouts, read all your blogs and wait for the feeling to hit me. Love reading all your blogs and sooner or later one of you will post something and suddenly I have to have it!