I haven’t yet convinced NF to start a scrapbook, though not for lack of trying. It might be easier if we didn’t live across the country. It’s hard to resist when I offer private lessons, take out a stack of supplies and hand them over. But with the entire country stretched between us, I had to figure out another approach. NF finds the idea of starting a scrapbook intriguing, but she’s overwhelmed; she’s stuck, and she simply doesn’t know how to start.
If you ask why, NF will say it’s because of the box in her drawer that holds rolls and rolls of undeveloped film. It sits there year after year, as if in silent reproach. She feels that she has to develop the film and organize every other photo and bit of memorabilia she’s accumulated before she starts a scrapbook. Like many people, NF has the notion that it would be cheating to do otherwise.
NF is busy. She works all day. If her daughter were nagging her to start an album it might already be a regular pastime the two can share. But at this point her child is more interested in what’s for dinner or a ride to a game or to a friend’s house. NF is plagued by those rolls of film. They document years of her daughter’s life, after all. But her few free hours are spent with meals, homework - the here and now. Sound familiar?
Many would advise that the way to start is to organize and categorize photos first. But I’d like to suggest otherwise. By NOT organizing what is in boxes and drawers, by putting aside any guilt and any sense of feeling overwhelmed by an enormous task it’s possible to begin a scrapbook that starts NOW without a backward glance.
Guilt! It’s a heavy weight. It brings messages of what someone should do, whether they want to or not. Guilt spits out rules: You Can’t Have Dessert Till You Eat All The Peas. Who says so? I ate cookies for breakfast today and the world kept spinning.
What if we simply decided that scrapbooks could start at any point without regard to what anyone else does and without caring how many boxes of photos, digital images on the camera or computer, or rolls of film are sitting idle? It’s a liberating notion for beginners, a useful concept for those who already keep albums but find it a bit overwhelming at times.
I decided that if I could convince NF that she can leave the rolls of film in the drawer for a while longer (somewhere between five months and the rest of her life), maybe she’d see things in a new light! And it worked.
 | Keep The Guilt in the Drawer Beginner Project Zoom in to view this project closer Make this project: |
I asked her to send me a photo of the onerous rolls of film - her husband’s digital camera made that fast and easy. I agreed to turn the photo into the first page of her scrapbook - a sort of “Get-Over-The-Guilt” layout. From then on, all of the pages are up to her. If she wants to develop the rolls of film, so be it. If not, she can use exclusively digital photos taken from this point forward. NF can work on an album for the next thirty years, or call hers done when it reaches ten pages. She can change her mind and move from 12 x 12 pages to 6 x 6. She can throw away the page I made, using it as an idea but not including it in her album - I wouldn’t mind a bit. The only plan at this point is for me to mail her the page and for her to decide what to do for the first page that she will call her own.
Isn’t it amazing how easy it gets once the preconceived notions are put away?
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No Guilt. No Rules. The idea is to make pages. It can be one at a time or several, as many as you want and have time for, and in whatever way feels like fun. Unless you submit layouts to a publication, no one outside of your circle of family and friends will ever see what’s in your album. Sure, there are scrapbooking contests; there are pie baking competitions, too. If that becomes NF’s goal someday down the road, I’ll be proud that I gave her take the first steps.
To help you get motivated I invited the fabulous designers at Hot Off The Press to create some super easy projects.
We decided that the starting point for everything would be their Finished In A Flash kits. The kits make it so simple. Everything from paper and die cuts to brads, ribbon and other embellishments is included, all elements color-coordinated.
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Not only did they make an album page, they decided to show what else can be made from one kit. It will give some idea how versatile a single kit can be.
 | Christmas Finished In a Flash™ Decorated Tin Beginner Project Zoom in to view this project closer Make this project: |
I made one scrapbook page for NF and will send her all the extra supplies from my Finished In A Flash kit to NF as a present.
Okay, NF - and all of you who have put off starting an album: From this point on it’s up to you!
To find the products mentioned in this article and shown in these layouts, check with your local scrapbook retailer. Browse our Premier Retail Stores for coupons to a store near you.
