Nature is magnificent. Fierce and calming and colorful and astounding. Isn’t it?
This morning, Jake had put a box of cereal on his bag to remember to take it to work. The little squirrel found it, shook it and then was thrilled to discover food coming out of it, which he proceeded to eat. And then his water was nearby, too so he basically spent the next ten minutes, shaking, eating, and drinking. He was mighty happy. Until I took the box away which he protested loudly.
We had our playgroup today after a few week absence. It was fun to be with other mommies and it was great to get a bit of sunshine.
I love these shots of the eyelashes. I loved them on David, too.
I’ve taken a small break from the journal to work on my A Million Memories layouts. April kit is absolutely beautiful and already sold out. I am working feverishly to finish Nathaniel’s baby book. I am trying to keep in mind a few good lessons I’ve learned this week (more below). I am enjoying the process but also focusing on progress. I am also hand-journaling on most of these, to make the process faster and more authentic.
And here’s the wonderfully welcome weekend. I just finished my book which was great but it always leaves me with a sad moment since starting a book is much harder for me than going through one. But I do have one this week that I am excitedly waiting to dig into. And not an electronic one even. So I am not as sad as usual.
Note to Self:
I was listening to Paperclipping Roundtable podcast yesterday and I heard a few pithy comments that I was still thinking of today, especially as I scrapbooked. The two guests were a listener, Heather Lord and Stephanie Howell, and they both said something that stuck with me. Stephanie said how years from now when her girls look at her layouts, they will not complain about how it doesn’t have the visual triangle and while I laughed, it’s so true. When I was looking through the layouts with David yesterday, he couldn’t care whether the photos were perfect or laid on the paper perfectly. He just loved that they were there. He wanted to hear the stories. The rest didn’t matter. He won’t care that the paper I used was six months old. He won’t even care if the greens or blues match honestly. He will only focus on the photos and the stories, I am sure of it. This is important to remember for me as I struggle to put my layouts together, especially when I focus so hard on the embellishments and where each should go.
Heather also said something pithy. She said her phrase of the year is “It’s better finished than perfect.” (I apologize, I am paraphrasing, since I am writing from memory.) But it’s so true! Years from now, the only layouts I will have are the ones I finished. The stories I did tell. Even without photos. Even with crappy photos. Or even with just photos. (As much as I like telling the story I think it’s still better to have a layout with photos that tell a story than no layout at all.) Maybe it was at some point, but scrapbooking is not art for me anymore. For art, I do the art journaling, the tags, etc. Scrapbooking is for telling my stories. It’s for keeping our memories. So a layout done, however imperfect, is MUCH better than a layout that is never done. So this is a good mantra for me. Something I need to remember as I get frustrated with how far from perfect my page looks. Better done than perfect!
Three Things I’m Grateful For:
1. Grateful for another weekend. This weekend is a bit packed and I feel a bit stressed but I love the weekend. Being with my family and not having to stress about tending to both the kids and work is wonderful.
2. Grateful for magnificent books. Books that touch you deeply. There’s nothing like it.
3. Grateful to be scrapping this weekend. Any chance to tell our stories, to play with our photos. I am blessed.
Two Things David’s Grateful For:
1. Getting to go to the park with Mommy and Nathaniel’s baby group
2. Watching Hannah Montana before bed
Thanks for sharing what you learned from the PaperClipping podcast. I’ve heard so many good things about that podcast, but I just haven’t made the time to listen to them yet. I get so easily overwhelmed with information, I have to really limit myself sometimes, and say “no” even to the good stuff. But I certainly needed this bit of wisdom, so thank you for taking the time to share it.
I loved this post too.
Great nature photo, fantastic depth of field.
I admire Stephanie Howell too, great use of hand writing and lovely photos.
She also speaks from the heart…what’s not to love?
Snippets of your little one with the cereal box also made me smile.
My 14 year old is making french toast for him and his sister and the nearly 17 year old is off writing an exam….the years fly by and I am loving re-living them through you.
SO many times I read your post and have an “I remember when” moment.
Thanks once again for blessing me.
How funny that I also lisened to that podcast yesterday (Friday) and thought the exact same thing. Heather’s mantra “done is better than perfect” (that’s how I remember it) struck me as so so true as well! Whereas I think that good design principles will be timeless, the age of the papers or embellishments won’t matter 1 year from now (let alone 10 years or more). And at the end of the day, an imperfect layout preserving a memory/story IS better than no layout at all…
Something you said struck me as well: “scrapbooking is not art for me anymore”. This may not be true for everyone one, but it must feel so liberating! Focusing on telling the story on the one hand and then expressing your artsy self with other means seems to be a good balance and a good way of getting some pressure off ourselves when scrapbooking.
I have taken your idea of three things to be grateful for and have created a “Grateful Every Day” journal. It takes a commitment to write something everyday. Next, I will begin elaborating more on the things I am grateful for. I really needed to do this since the last two years have been rather “difficult” with my husband’s illness and the house fire that destroyed almost everything we had. We are in our new home, and for that I am truly thankful.