My friend Lane was looking through one of my scrapbooks a couple of years ago. I had just completed some new pages of my nephew Alec and wanted to get her opinion. After spending some time pouring over each of my layouts, and ooh-in and ah-in in the appropriate places, she shared her thoughts with me. The only thing that she saw wrong with my book was that I was not there on a single layout in the entire album. Of course, as I’ve always been one to avoid the camera, I knew that she was right. She convinced me that I was only documenting part of Alec’s childhood and that a big chunk of it was missing because his Aunt Missy wasn’t in there anywhere.

Luckily for me, I discovered Angie Pederson’s “Book Of Me” not too long after this. Angie’s book made me realize my worth. I’ve always had self-confidence issues but somehow in the reading of her wonderful book I realized that my life is important. Even though I do not have a husband or children at this point in my life, someday there will be someone who wants to know more about me and my “ME” book will be a wonderful way to share my life with them. Even more importantly, in the making of my pages, somewhere along the way I’ve grown to know myself better and love myself a little more. I think I’m even a bit less critical of myself than I used to be because of this new acceptance. Now I make myself get photos taken occasionally. I’ll hand my camera off to someone else so I can get in the picture. Who cares if I’m not the perfect me that I’d like to be? I’ve come to realize that I may never be beautiful to everyone, but to the people that love me I am just right. The only one that focuses on my faults is me and I’m working on that.

The layouts that I’ve created for my album are some of the hardest that I’ve ever completed. However they are also the most rewarding. It has been almost therapeutic to create many of the pages. Angie’s book has been my guide to get me started and I enthusiastically recommend it to everyone. Many of my layout topics have come from her book but I hope that my quirky personality shines through. To begin on your journey for self-discovery, I suggest that you run out and get a copy of this book if you don’t have it already or perhaps check out her website, www.scrapyourstories.com. The next thing that you will need is a journal to gather all of your thoughts in. I used a composition notebook to keep track of my ramblings; which I decorated with my favorite new papers to cover it. I restrained myself a bit with the embellishments because I didn’t want the cover to get so lumpy that it was uncomfortable to write in.

Angie’s book is laid out in a chronological format. She gives suggestions for topic ideas from each stage of life from birth through adult years. She also includes chapters that cover more specific areas of life such as friendship and character. Her book includes writing prompts and quotes with each chapter. She also includes web addresses for related sites that make her book even more of a resource.

Of course, the most important thing is to just get started. I haven’t worked in order in my book at all. I’ve just done pages as I’ve felt like it. I’ve almost filled one entire album and I’m nowhere near done. I don’t think that this album is one that ever gets finished. As long as I am alive, I will continue to grow, to learn, to love and to evolve. I will be constantly creating and re-creating myself.

I’ve found that some of the easier pages that I’ve made for my “ME” book are ones where the journaling is in the list format. The two examples that I’m sharing here with you are based on my earliest years; “My Childhood Memories” and “Memories of Home.” Both layouts use new tags from EK Success that are just perfect for scrapbooking your life’s memories. Other layouts that I’ve done that include lists are “A Few of my Favorite Things,” which will be in a future issue of Paper Kuts, and “Counting my Blessings” which contains a list of the things that are most important to me in my life.



I’m also sharing a couple of fun layouts with you that the real me really shines through. The first is “My Summer Style.” Because I’m a schoolteacher I seem to live for my summers. This isn’t because I don’t love my job or my kids, it’s because I can be carefree for a couple of months during my favorite time of the year and just soak up the sun. It reminds me of my youth and brings a bit of joy to my life. The other layout that I did just for the fun of it is “Sun, Moon and Stars.” It deals with my addiction to reading my horoscope each day. It is as much of my daily routine as relying on my shower, coffee, and rock music to wake me up each morning.

To prove that I’m not really the wimp that I’ve felt like lately, I’m including a layout that was really hard for me to make. Some of my earlier pages include references to a man that I loved. He isn’t a part of my life right now. It still hurts but it’s made me who I am at this moment. I’m a different person than I was a month ago. I’ve had to think about what’s important to me in relationships and what I really want in a significant other. The layout, “SWF” is how I’ve recorded this part of my life. It is a serious topic that I’ve chosen to cover in a lighthearted fashion. I’ve used the widely recognized format of a singles ad to list the characteristics that I hope to find in my dream man. My love for romance book heroes is especially evident in the description. I’m not sure that such a man exists outside of a Harlequin romance but it was really kind of fun to do and it made me think of what really matters to me in a soul mate.

Creating a book of me is the most rewarding thing that I’ve ever done that is scrapbook related. I’ve made hundreds of layouts with all of the latest and greatest techniques and gadgets. None of those pages tells anything about me other than I’m a creative person and I have a great love for my family and friends. The pages I’ve done for my “ME” book tell everything about me. It’s made me feel kind of selfish at times because I’m working on my layouts and not my family or school stuff. But that’s OK. If there’s ever a time or place where it’s all right to be selfish, this is it. In fact, I hope you all decide to be a bit greedy and do something special for yourselves and create an album that’s all about you. Be sure to share it here with us when you do.