A Scrapping Confession

I have a confession. My son, who will be 17 in a few weeks, doesn't have a baby album.

Shocking but true. Makes me a horrible mother, right?

But you know what? I’m okay with it.

When I started this hobby 13 years ago, I was all about scrapbooking my photos in chronological order. I was obsessed with making sure that I scrapped Halloween pictures before I tackled the Christmas ones. And, heaven forbid that I worked the album for 2002 before 2001! At the time, it was an approach that worked for me. I enjoyed the feeling knowing that I was creating pages and checking off  -- in order, mind you -– events that happened in our lives.

Over time, I came to realize that sometimes, I just wanted to create a layout around a specific picture because I was moved by it not because it was the next one in the file. I liked having the liberating feeling that it’s okay to jump around and go with the flow. If you look at my recent albums, you will see a cross section of our lives –- a layout about summer vacation last year, one from a trip to San Francisco my husband and I took in 2005 and one of my children when they were very little. All created in the past 6 months. All created because I was moved by the emotion and memories that came back to me when I looked at the photos.

So, do I want to be caught up? No…. okay, well maybe a little. But for now I’m going to be happy with my approach and remember how liberating it is to grab a photo or two, some card stock and a few embellishments and get down to capturing the moment.

Oh, and yes, I do plan to complete a baby album for my son…. One day…