Sharing our Story

I have been thinking a lot about sharing our story these days... reorganizing my scrapbooks, looking at layouts, listening to Zoë... There is so much more to telling your story than just scrapbooks, although that is a huge part of it. It seems that quite a few people have gotten the reorganization bug lately. I can't tell you how much that helps my motivation.

A few things I have noticed (and it seems Ali and Cathy have too) I have quite a few older layouts with nothing even remotely informative on them. Cute picture of Zoë? Sure. Actual insight into my child? That would be a negative. In my beginning days of scrapbooking I felt pressured to scrap ALL my pictures. Not the bad photos or similar photos, but everything else. And scrap I did. I've been doing this for almost ten years now (yikes!) and have quite the library. Thankfully I am getting much better and focusing on the photos that tell the stories and filing the rest away. (I will share my organization system with you soon. Maybe after my Library of Memories class.)

Scrapbooking is fabulous, don't get me wrong. (I've drunk the Cool-Aid, I know.)

But there is more to telling your story than just scrapbooking. I have come to realize that Photo Books are my friend. Sure, I used to poo-poo them silently thinking, "That is not scrapbooking," but you know what? They may not have fancy embellishments or unlimited layout options but they do tell the story. They also let you share photos without feeling like you need to tell a story. (The food at my wedding reception perhaps... The arrangement was gorgeous, but all I really have to say about it is, "Yes, this was the food.")

Example #1: The photo book from our trip to Disneyland was finished, printed, and delivered to my front door less than two weeks after we returned from sunny California. I have yet to scrapbook our trip to Hawaii two years ago.

No, there are no beautiful embellishments (although I may pick up some Disney stickers while I am in Portland this weekend) but the story of our trip is there. In perfect detail no less. I doubt I can remember that much about our trip to Hawaii. (Remember, I scrapbook because my memory is terrible.)

Example #2: The Adventures of Zoë and Brodie John
I created this little book for both Zoë and Brodie (I simply changed the wording to Brodie and Zoë through out). It is designed to read like a simple children's book and contains all of the fun photos from our week long adventure in Spokane last summer. This was Brodie's very favorite birthday present and Zoë still loves reading it almost everyday.

I like that this book is so simple. There are no embellishments to come off the page or layouts for the children to remove from the protective sleeves (done that.) The best part? Zoë remembers in detail her special week in Spokane and will have this forever. Also, if something happens to the book, I can order another copy through iPhoto.

And last but not least...movies! I was blog surfing the other day and one of my friends posted a video of her cute little boy. Someone left the comment, "That is really cute, but how are you going to scrapbook that?" Um, hello people! There are other ways of telling the story. One of the most obvious ways is by taking movies.

I mentioned that I have been listening to Zoë this week. (I try and listen to her everyday, LOL!) She said to me, "Mommy, I want to watch the Zoë movie!" She means our 2006 Family DVD. Honestly, it is pretty much thirty minutes of her being darling, but it tells her story. She gets it. The videos are a perfect compliment to our family albums.

End of rant. LOL! Are you still with me? Hopefully this little post will help your creative juices flowing. I would love to hear how you tell your story. Scrapbooking (obviously if you are reading this blog) but what else?

That is all for now! I am heading to Portland tomorrow for a weekend of girlfriends and scrapbooking. I can hardly wait. This is my favorite weekend of the entire year. I get to relax with good friends and scrapbook. It doesn't get any better than that. Well, maybe if I could have a couple drinks...

Comments

[grammie]

It is so sweet when Zoe reads (talks) her books to me ~ you're completely right ~ this reinforces her 'visual learning' abilities .. just think ~ your daughter may end up with a "Freak-ish" memory like her Grammie! Have a wonderful time in Portland honey!!

[Jennifer]

Great post. I think I need to do some photo books as well. And I am really overly excited for LOM to start this week.

And I so wish I was going to be in Portland this weekend. I remember you talking about it last year and I told myself I was totally going to make the trip this year, but unfortunately I don't think anybody would let me on a plane at 37 weeks pregnant. Have fun!!

[Heather R]

Have a fantastic time in Portland!!! I just am not good at scrapping. My blogs are about the best way I tell our stories. It gives me the chance to post the pictures we take and tell little snipits of our adventures. I wish that I had the creative vision to do what you do so well. I will just continue to live vicariously through you.