I was just checking my email and visiting a couple digital sites for Friday freebies and challenge postings before starting laundry and cleaning up a little.
I am so encouranged by the gals over on the Oscraps site. They are so faithful to leave feedbacks for everyone. There is nothing nicer than looking at something you post and seeing little notes left by a fellow scrapbooker about one of my designs that I worked so hard on.
I love the twopeas site and it is my favorite. I've been noticing that people don't take as much time to encourage all scrapbooker instead of just the outstanding ones. There are many designers out there that do layouts that are incredible and get lots of oohs and ahhs as they should. It's the average scrapbooker that doesn't seem to get even the first little bit of "pea praise" for a layout that they are quite proud of and is really good. I'm not saying lie to people - these are pages that are good but just not "drop dead amazing".
Many of us don't know how to scan our pages and seam them together perfectly in PS so the posting looks professional. I am one who takes a digital photo of my layout (my DH wouldn't let me stand on a chair over my LO anymore to take the picture in the right light and angle) and know that doesn't do it justice but it's the only way I know to get my traditional scrapbook layout on the galleries.
I know there are a lot of postings on twopeas and the good ones do stand out keep telling them how amazing their pages are but take the time to "pat other scrapbookers on the back" even if it's not the most outstanding beautiful page with the newest products . . . leave a couple other people some "pea praise" today! This will bless someones socks off and encourage their creativity. It will bless you in return because you have brightened someones day and you never know when you will make a friend.
Now that I'm on a soapbox I have another topic to throw out there.....
I know the trend is to have little to no journaling. I LOVE journaling! I don't know about you but I am trying to leave a legacy for my sons and their future children. Yes it would be nice that they would think back on "old grandma as an amazing and talented artist" but I'm not Martha Stewart (she's great but she's not me) so I want to let anyone who looks at my albums know me. When we think about who might be seeing our scrapbooks in the future it's the little memories that will make our pages come alive and allow future generations to "get to know us". The journaling will let them know a little about what was going on in our lives when the photo was taken and will make more of an impression than the most beautiful photo on the most gorgeous colored page with no words on it at all. It's fun to have some of those pages in the albums but for the most part I am about sharing the MEMORY.
A great photo is always a great photo but the journaling tells the story behind the photo. Even a not so great photo shouldn't be overlooked for a permanent scrapbooking page just because it's not perfectly colored, focused, edited, etc. These are the photos that we should embrace for the reason that they are a special memory to us and the journaling expresses that and will make a great page out of a not so great photo. Of course beautiful papers, elements, stamps, and all the stuff helps too!
I know many of our photographs were damaged after our last move. I can sit for hours working on a single photo in Photoshop and it still wouldn't be great but that doesn't keep me from preserving the memory in my albums.
I hope you will join me on my crusades today to (can you hear the violins playing):
- Encourage fellow scrapbookers who are being overlooked
- Journal on our pages - even if it's not in style
- Use photos just because of the memory and not because it's a great photo
You will be suprised by the results and you will be blessed in return.
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