Sunday, March 15, 2009

Challenge #12 & 13

I am very, very late posting our last couple of challenges for the ADSR4 race which recently finished up so here are my last two submissions.

First up is Challenge #12 hosted by We R Story Tellers. This layout was a joint effort between Pene and I.


Credits:
CIRCLE OF FRIENDS kit from the Snap and Scrap team (papers)
SCHOOL IS COOL from Oscrap collab kit (blue stitches)
GRUNGE WORD ART VERSION 2 from Cre@ Bisontine
SCRAP JOURNAL collab kit from Digital Scrapbook Obsession (ink bottle, pen and notepaper cluster all from BooLand Designs)
Title from We Are Storytellers
SHABBIER CHIC FRAMES from Jen Ulasiewicz

Journalling:
We need more storytellers in this world for who is going to tell the stories once we're gone? I had never really thought of this before I had children of my own but I've always recorded my stories by taking lots of photographs, so that in a way, was my contribution to leaving some memories of my life behind. But without these memories recorded in writing, future generations would not be able to relive my memories, my thoughts or my experiences through my photos. To do that, I needed to be able to record all of my feelings and emotions that went with the events and the moments that I’d captured on film. Thus began my journey into the world of scrapbooking.

I had always kept scrapbooks as a child with pictures from magazines, stickers, postcards, notes, cards, etc and I always thought I was just a hoarder! But I was really keeping ephemera that captures the times throughout my life. Now, through scrapbooking, I have an outlet for my creativity and also an avenue to document my stories for myself to recall and for future generations.

I initially began my journey into paper scrapbooking documenting my first child’s birth. This event was something that I wanted to capture in time and record my pregnancy, my labour, the birth, coming home and beginning our journey into parenthood. Now after having my second child, memories of it all start to fade so it’s one of the most important things to me in my life....to keep on telling these amazing stories of our life. The everyday, little moments like playing at the park, walking the dog or reading a book. These define who we are and paint a picture of what occurred during our generation. Then there are the major events and milestones in our life such as births, weddings, birthdays, holidays and Christmas. Looking through a photo album with no dates, no names and no record of where, what and when means that these memories are gone with us once we leave this Earth. Through scrapbooking, my voice is still going to be heard for many years to come and enjoyed by my friends and family and their families, hopefully carrying on our memories forever. by Sharon Dale

When I was a teenager, I used to keep a ‘day book’ – a cross between a diary and a scrapbook. I would stick in the day book movie tickets, menus to a restaurant I’d been, photos, receipts, newspaper clippings, quotes that I heard or saw, and journaling about events that had happened. I kept this going for a few years into our marriage, but then life kept getting in the way and I’d put stuff in a box to get back to, but somehow years down the track I never managed to do it.

Just before the birth of my second child, I did a scrapbooking class at Sharon’s house and I never looked back! Before long I filled an album for my first child and of course was right up to date with the birth of my second child. I did our wedding album, honeymoon, birthdays, Christmas’s and any other event that came along. Then I discovered digital scrapbooking and went on a whole new journey of discovery and learning. Of course, my daughter has an album too and I’m now 10 weeks pregnant with my fourth and have already done one layout to document the new life inside me.

What I am learning now and my challenge to myself is to document the everyday as well as the special events that is what I can leave of myself to future generations. I’d love to be able to have a scrapbook of my Nan’s to see what her life was like when she was my age, married and with children (Nan passed away at 100 years of age in 2005). And while my Mum is around for me to ask her, she has forgotten small details with the passage of time, and it is those small details I’d like to know about. I’m excited and honoured to be the storyteller of our family. by Pene Toose


And for the last challenge, hosted by Natural Designs in Scrapbooking, we had to do a double-page layout between us (one page each).

Here is my page using items from the Elemental Scraps ADSR4 kit SPRING FLING 2.


Journalling - Toby you're a little trooper and my heart went out to you on your 3rd birthday. You fell and hit your head on the side of your bed! Mummy nearly died when she saw the size of it! But that big lump on your forehead wasn't going to stop you enjoying your birthday! You always get such a diverse range of presents from everyone, so that took away any pain that you were feeling.