I have been Scrapping!

Scrapping!  Ah!  Isn't that how this whole thing got started?

First off, I mentioned a few days ago that I completed five paper pages.  Four of those went into Gordon's (son #2) first year album and the other was a random Halloween 2005 page for Thomas (son #1) for which I had the appropriate Bob the Builder stickers.  Gordon is 6 now, by the way.  Sigh.

I've been feeling a cross between ambitiousness and anxiety in getting my paper scrapping done.  I've committed to completing my second and third sons' first year albums in paper (or hybrid), and I really, really want to finish them in 2012.  I have a lot of little mementos that need to go into those albums, and I like the idea of at least one hand-made, paper book for each boy.  And, finishing this year would mean that I could mark off another resolution: organize my paper supplies.

I've decided not to buy any more paper supplies, especially after my adventure back into paper scrapping the other day.  It took me about a half an hour just to gather everything together, and the whole process made me feel really disorganized and cluttered.  I keep most of my stuff in my husband's office closet, papers in the filing cabinet, and stamps and accessories in a rolling organizer.  If I can use what I have, don't buy any more, and clean up as I go along, maybe by the end of this year, my mess will be a little more manageable.

When I pulled out my stack of pictures to scrap, I felt a little jolt-- have I really not scrapped with paper since.... 2006?  Surely that can't be right!  But it is.  I've made hybrid projects, and I've made a bunch of cards (which is why, even when these albums are complete, I'll still hang on to some of my paper supplies), but I haven't scrapped a paper page in nearly five years.  Wow.  I'm feeling a little rusty!

Luckily, my pictures are organized by date, and I made a couple of little notes on the post-its dividing the pictures with the where's and who's.  Here's my little stack (about 25 pages worth...)

Since I was already overwhelmed with the whole thing, I decided to be as minimalist as possible-- I used cardstock, some stickers, and journaled with a black pen.  And two hours later, my five very simple, very understated, very mediocre pages were done.

And now I'm ready to go back to digi!  :D

Really, though, I missed not being able to re-size anything, or change photos to black and white, or create titles easily, or layer... I just love digi.  These albums are going to be a challenge, that's for sure!