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I seldom throw away small scraps of paper. Not because I don’t have enough product to work with, but because I don’t like the waste, especially with product that has doubtlessly has left a global footprint (even if it is made from recycled paper).
That little piece of pretty paper has been through a long journey to end up in my box of scraps. I mean, think about it: How much energy and resource is used for producing the basic paper, print it, package it and then ship it? Add in the fact that all the components in the product has possibly been hauled half across the globe at least twice before they make it to the end product… And then there’s me, the end consumer, in a country that mostly import the things we use in this hobby. That’s yet another transport.
So you see… I don’t often bin scraps. I try to use them, as much as possible. And that includes the scraps of “non-pretty” paper as well. All testers and experiments can always be reused and repurposed. I often use plain, unbleached paper when trying out mists or paints or any sort of mixed media experiment. Or if I am spraying the edge of one paper, I put down a scrap piece of paper edge by edge to catch the excess. They can then easily be used as an accent layer on a layout or a card, or for making a handmade embellishment, or for making tags.
I have a tag punch that is one of my favourites, for example. It punched three tags in different sizes in one go. I grab it, punch it, pierce it and hang it on a binder ring where I keep loads of other tags I’ve sort of collected (the ones I like from clothes of packaging that can be recycled). I use them when organizing my storage, for gifts, for layouts, for cards, for flowers, as bookmarks…
There are so many things you can do with the scraps. Punch out shapes, fold them into something, layer them and sew them together. Ink them or distress them and turn them into something new. Good material can always be turned into something new and useful. Good material can always be turned into art.
I love when I find old photos on my hard drive that maybe didn’t make much sense at the time they were taken, but have details that suddenly make sense to me NOW. As I looked through the photos of an old layout yesterday, I found this one:
 My living room table, January 2008 I remember that I used to take loads of photos like this, just documenting my work surface at the time (it changed rather often, I lived my crafting life in bags) and how it changed through the process. Documenting the time I spent crafting and creating. The funny thing is how it turns into a sort of time capsule. In this photo I notice:
- My first cutting mat, all flat and nice back then, now all wonky from too much embossing
- My first set of water-proof black pens, still in use and working perfectly (that was a good buy!)
- My glue pens, which I thought was the shizzle back then, but now… not so much (thank you, hindsight…)
- Some of my very first scraps of paper, linen white with gold flecks in it, bless my little cotton socks! (I still have some left. Some things lasts you forever)
- My old and old-school mobile phone, a tiny black Sony Ericsson. The battery lasted for days! Mostly because I kept it as an alarm clock, on mute, forgotten under my pillow.
- My old living room table, oak finish, handmade in India, which I’ve had since I was 19.
When this photo was taken I had two small shopping bags with material and tools for paper crafting, which I stored in my closet. I usually did my crafting by my living room table. I remember exactly how my living room was furnished; the small couch, the bookcases filled with books behind me, the large window to my right, the TV by the wall opposite from me. Stuff EVERYWHERE, that had to be cleaned up and put away when I was done. I find it funny that just looking at this photo, I remember how it felt starting out, trying to figure out what materials and techniques to use, trying to understand it all.
Scrapbooking is a hobby used to preserve memories, and much time is spent on creating pages highlighting various events in your life. But what about the hobby itself, the time spent doing something you love? While I wouldn’t put this photo on a 12×12 layout with loads of pretty embellishments, I would very much use it in a project documenting my everyday life (like Project Life, or Week in the Life), because arts and crafts are such a big part of it. It not always about the end result like a finished layout), but also the process and the journey. It’s a part of your story that maybe never gets told. If you feel you never get anything done, these will be the images to look back on, just as much as those of the big events in your life. It’s your work in progress.
Like I said, I used to take photos of my work surface during crafting. I think I forgot about it, at some point, trying to learn how to take better photos of the end results. I think I’ll try to remember to take more photos like this from now on. Don’t forget to document the process of your hobby, be it scrapbooking, wood working, sewing, cooking… As you evolve, these photos will be a time line of your process. Small time capsules of something you love to do.
I spent an entire week taking everyday pictures and writing down notes about my day to day life, and now I’m left with the task of putting it all together in some sort of comprehensive collection, like an album. This has got me thinking. I haven’t done many layouts for me. I’ve made a travel album for my mother from our big trip to Italy last year. I did a friendship mini album for a friend a while ago. I have made very few layouts for myself, and certainly nothing close to an album. I think mainly because it’s felt kind of scary. The Week in the Life project is a big change for me.
Why scary?
Well, let’s get through the general stigmas, here we go:
It’s selfish and egocentrical. It’s just me, it’s not interesting to anybody else. It’s not realistic to spend so much time and money on something just for me. It’s just a silly little hobby, it’s not that important. And of course, the never ending self-consciousness: I don’t dare be so personal, what if anybody were to actually see it, what would they think?
Those are all bullshit reasons, of course, but certainly real from time to time, and probably reasons as to why I have hundreds of beautiful photos sitting on my hard drive that I would like to use to tell a story and use to document my memories, but somehow stopped me from doing and album about my own life and experiences, even though I’ve been scrapbooking and purposefully crafting for almost 5 years now.
But one reason that I think might have stopped me is this: I want to tell a story. It’s not just by pure coincidence that I’ve been an avid reader and creative writer all my life, that I’ve studied languages and literature at university, and that I keep participating in NanoWriMo year after year even though I’ve ever “succeeded” once. Neither is it a coincidence I struggle as much with this issue in my photography as I do in my crafting. I love story. I need story. Story is my crack.
I want to have a reason for drowning myself in pretty paper and shiny decorations and glitter and fun tools and vintage ribbons. Yes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words, there are definitely photos that speak volumes by themselves, they only need the one simple word in the title and it doesn’t matter that it’s just straight and descriptive. Those emotional money shots, that one photo that sums up an entire event or trip. A little story, just by their lonesome.
But some photos are just… what they are. Like: “This is a picture of a birthday cake”. That is pretty interesting, really. Think about it: Someone chose the picture, because it’s a part of someone’s memory. This is where the problem hits me. I don’t just want the typical descriptive “who, when and what” with a big and clear title. I want the “why”, too. And this is where it get’s personal and narrative. This is a fantastic reason for pretty paper and shiny decorations and glitter and fun tools and vintage ribbons.
Which brings me back to feeling egocentrical and self-conscious. It’s actually something that needs to be overcome. It’s a bit of a leap. Something to overcome. A little bit like writer’s block. Scrapbooker’s block?
But now I’ve gone and done this project, see? It really was an eye-opener on so many levels, and shame on me if I let it fall flat. There is a reason I took those pictures of my everyday life, and a reason I felt that impulse to take a photo of, say, the rails at the train station or my coffee cup or the self-portraits in the lift every morning. By choice. And of course I have a story, and being human, of course I want to express it.
I wholeheartedly recommend anybody and everyone to try it out, even if you’re not a scrapbooker. Take photos of your life everyday for a week, with your camera, with your phone, whatever. Make notes about what’s going on during the day, even if it’s just keeping tabs on what you have for breakfast, lunch and dinner and how many cups of coffee you drink. But take photos. Of yourself, of your surroundings, of mundane items in your home. Collect it somewhere so you see it all laid out before you. Collect it somewhere so you can go back to it. Blog, make a folder on your computer, paste it into a word document, make it into a digital photo book at some online photo store. Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
Because, how often do you take a step back and just look at your story? It’s not just for scrapbookers, you know.
I got interested – well, instantaneously obsessed – in scrapbooking because of these reasons:
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I wanted a method to save my favourite recipes in a personal and beautiful way
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The interest for cooking is something I share with my mother, and I wanted to include her in the project because it’s great to have a thing like this to do together
I have always been besotted at the sight of pretty papers and shiny things so the infatuation was a fact, instantly. And then I realised, how much more it really was, how much more I could do. It was like I’d been living under a cloudy sky all my life and suddenly I saw stars. Yes, my discovery of scrapbooking was quite sci-fi like ;) Ground Control to Major Tom!
Since then I have tried different mediums, materials and techniques, and what I seem to do most are cards. I had no idea it was so much fun and whatever I try to do I always slip back into CaRd MoDe. Because “this would look really neat on a card”…
I’ve been thinking about why that is, how it can be so utterly satisfying to spend hours on end stamping and cutting and gluing (…my fingers together) and in the end create something that certainly wont last forever and will most definitely be given away to someone else. It’s a fickle thing.
But of course, after thinking about a while it I realised why. Like most people, it’s what I grew up with. In my family cards was never given listlessly, but always with great affection and intent. Much time has been spent on trying to match the card to a flower bouquet or finding the receivers favourite motif. You just don’t do it rashly!
My mother has been a star at this. Always choosing cards with care, expressing something. And as far as I can remember she has always ordered greeting cards and gift tags from VDMFK (The Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists) – (Swedish site). When I was a kid it was always a treat to be allowed to choose one of these cards or tags, when I needed one for a friend’s birthday party or a X-mas present to my granny. When I grew older and understood what the association was all about it just blew my mind, and has been a great source of inspiration.
My grandfather was a big role model in my life in many ways, I adored him. As far as I can remember he always wrote me cards for all kinds of occasions, even if he was just secretly sneaking me a couple of dollars even though he shouldn’t have, he put them in a little cards and wrote a few words. Always horses or birds.
My dear granny has had the funny notion of delivering postcards personally. She’s quite frail nowadays, but still she’s been known to hop on a bus, then a train, and then a bus again to get that postcard in my mail box. Not ringing the door, no no, she does not want to disturb anyone, she was just in the neighbourhood ;). Pretty soon I got in the habit of rushing to the door when I heard someone sneaking about with my mailbox, to get a chance to grab her and give her coffee. Birthday or name day, international waffle day or Anna day, she writes cards.
So maybe it’s not so strange that making cards was the thing that stuck with me. It’s just something I grew up with. To make something creative on my own and give it away gives me a lot of joy.
I like to think I do my part when it comes to the climate issue; I recycle my trash, mainly travel by public transportation or walk, buy organic food when I have the chance… I do believe that everyone can contribute and that even the choices that seems minute matter. So, taking up scrapbooking as a hobby sometimes seem a bit ironic to me. It’s a hobby and an industry that seems to thrive on production and consumtion of paper, plastics and gawd knows what. Wasteful, some might say, but when one’s grandchildren flip through the scrapbooks, that might be the thing furthest from one’s mind.
I get as starry eyed as anybody when it come to the shiny, sparkly, colourful and pretty products intended for scrapbooking, and I would be lying if I didn’t admit that, yes, I want it all and do my best to build as a big a stash as possible of papers, stamps and embellishments. Sometimes though it’s just nice to look back to the roots of it all, beyond the brands, trends and prestige.
Scrapbooks used to contain… Scraps! A little bit of everything; your photos, memorabilia, old tickets, programs, pretty napkins, pressed flowers and whatever else. Decorating with what scraps you had and things you wanted to keep safe to remember. Far from the modern scrapbook by miles. The collective voice of the Wikipedia says, for instance:
Old scrapbooks tended to have photos mounted with photomount corners and perhaps notations of who was in a photo or where and when it was taken. They often included bits of memorabilia like newspaper clippings, letters, etc. With the availability of printed material it is likely that the content of scrapbooks shifted away from one’s own hand-writing or drawings or those of one’s family members toward commercially available printed mat ephemera, memorabilia collections and journaling.Modern scrapbooking has evolved into creating attractive displays of photos, text, journaling and memorabilia. Wikipedia
It’s not only just about collecting tickets and tags and photos, it’s about re-using, about recycling. So use what you have. Collect keepsakes and take photos of special moments. That is often where it all begins, not the other way around. Go nuts, go eclectic! Reinvent yourself, be true to that inner voice who thinks it has artistic freedom. Use what you have at hand, look around and you’ll find plenty of recourses. Many items have more than it’s intended use. Recycling has so many advantages; not only is it good for the environment, it’s also a more than affordable source of materials and tools. I always end up saving a heap of things that seems usable; cardboard, buttons, clothes tags, gift wrap, post cards, stamps, string, ribbons and the like. It’s free, give it a go!
Here are some things I did last year:
 A postcard made of maps from a phonebook, stamps, train ticket, fashion catalogue and newspaper.
 Flowers embossed in black on newspaper, lefs made of newspaper and a pocket made out of a home made over lay from a plastic wrapping.  Unbleached, recycled gift wrap glued to a round post card I got in the mail from one company or other, patterns stamped with some juice bottles and a wine bottle.
On the finished product I added a home-made overlay made from a plastic wrapping from a catalogue. I sketched a pattern I liked with a Sakura Glaze pen, and then attached a modified tag form a T-shirt.
Inspiration and motivation is a fickle thing. You can not rely on it to be there every day, and no matter how much geist you feel about something today, the morning after is always another story. But inspiration is the key to so many things that we do, the key to motivation and ideas. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, mostly on days when I’ve felt un-productive, and have been trying to pin-point what it that inspires me.
Well, of course, for all the obvious reasons, Tricks does! Feeling a bit Greengablish at the moment, I dare say she’s a kindred spirit. Not only does she have a unique style that always blows my mind and makes me think, she also know me so well. If I am stuck, she always knows what to do.
My family, they’ve given me all the possibillites to try things out. It seems I always discovers more things about them. Like that my dad has a passion for photography and has been doing his own passepartout. My mother used to take drawing classes and was asked to apply to an art school in Denmark. I share her love for cooking and she shares my interest in scrapbooking.
Finding out about new techniques inspires me. Every new technique I learn about is like opening a new door. Especially something used in another craft branch, then it becomes sort of a cross breeding thing, which excites me. And there is no better place to find something new like that, than the Internet.
Now, if I feel like I have to go and search for inspiration, there are so many sources, big and small, in my minds eye I see it like a big, old, loved basket (the one you would pick your fresh apples in during the fall) of treasures: colour schemes, patterns, shapes, materials, structures, add campaigns, ceramics, art, designs, photographs, animated movies, comics. You can just pick one of those up from the basket and then get that spark you need.
Things I would like to get more inspiration from and incorporate in my crafting are stories and music. Certainly the music I play when I create or write will influence what I am doing, but I haven’t so far chosen a specific piece of music and decided to interpret it in paper and glue and paint.
To be able to express an underlining story with scrapping or enhance a picture with a narrative just through design is something I am trying to reach. It’s like my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow – expression and voice. I have far to go though, still being sort of new at this. One day, maybe!
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