I used to be a nigh-fanatical scrapbooker, snapping hundreds of pcitures of my girls every month. I would spend hours planning and executing a lavish 2-page layout of one particular moment in a day. I have numerous scrapbooks stuffed with great snaps, funny stories, and wonderful memories. But after awhile, it all got too overwhelming. I tried to figure out how many albums each of the girls would have by the time they hit 18. It would have been something like 15. Each.
Now I rarely get opportunities to take pictures of the girls. One near-craved-in-stone tradition is the first day of school photo. A close second is the post-haircut photo. Yesterday, Liat and Meital got their hair cut and blown dry, and I got my first pictures of them together since September 2008.
Meanwhile, all the "unscrapped" years that have gone by are weighing on my conscience. I keep meaning to go back and get those photos into albums, but the hobby has lost its joy for me. Now, it's more like a chore. Most likely, once I got started and saw all those pictures again, I would enjoy the process, but I know that all the little details and stories that should go with the photos are lost by now. It makes me sad to think I let it happen.
I think several factors contributed to my loss of pleasure in scrapping. We switched to digital photos, and while it is great to print out only what I need in the size I want, I don't usually like the way the photos look printed out, even on special photo paper. Also, when Liat hit her teens she began to actively shy away from the camera for the first time. If you have to nag, threaten or beg, the pictures just aren't going to be as good. And third, the scrapbook industry and the on-line communities I had been a part of changed. It seemed to me the focus was 95% on products: who had the latest gadget and what could they do with it. Layouts became, in my opinion, more about the artistry of the scrapbooker, and less about the people (or places) in the photos.
But I started keeping scrapbooks when I was about Liat's age, so more than likely I will get back to it again one day. I just need to find the enthusiasm for it again first.
4 comments:
Oh my gosh!!! What a fantstic picture of Liat and Meital!!!! Thank so much for posting it. They are growing up fast.
Scrapbooking takes a lot of time and energy. Usually, by the time the 2nd child comes around is when it is really overwhelming! Don't feel guilty!
Your girls are so very beautiful, just by themselves...they don't need any embellishment! :)
It's kazbels from the cross-stitch board. I've missed you there.
Your girls are so grown-up and so beautiful! It seems like just yesterday (well, a few years ago) they were so little.
Your knitting is beautiful; I love seeing every thing you've done. My knitting urge woke up last fall, and I knitted an afghan for Soldiers' Angels, one for the newest member of the family, finished a hat, two washcloths and a hooded scarf. DH treated me at the local LYS, so now I'm tackling lace knitting. Now that is something that is trying my patience.
OOOOh! They look so pretty. I used to take first day of school pictures. The kids used to hate it, but too bad. The pics were for me, not for them. They grow up so fast. You need some documentation that they were young once.
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