Mare's Mess

This weekend our scrapbooking club (the Holy Scrappers) took our annual pilgrimage to the scrapbooking expo in Kansas City. We hit the expo on Friday and Friday evening checked into our rooms at the Comfort Suites. We scrapbooked in the conference room of the hotel all night (well, we crashed about 3:00 am) and then about 9 am we were up and at it again. We worked for another 3 hours and then packed up and loaded our stuff (an hour long ordeal). You'd think that a lot would be accomplished if you're scrapbooking for 12 hours. I was able to complete 3 measly 2-page spreads.

There are (at least) 4 kinds of scrapbookers. First there is the person who slaps the pages together in no time with the slightest amount of thought - yet their pages always look great. This person is annoying and should be stopped at all costs. But nothing stops them. You can try to distract them with conversation, food, and even alcohol yet they will continue to crank out their pages as they partake in all the above. Next there are the people who also crank out the pages, but their pages are never masterpieces and they don't seem to care. "Ehhhh, looks pretty good. On to the next page." I have no problem with these people. They don't bother me and I don't bother them. Then there is your average scrapbooker. They will spend some time rearranging their page, trying different papers to find just the right shade, and looking through their embellishments to see if they possess exactly what is needed to make the page perfect. Usually they don't, but occasionally they do - and when they do it is a beautiful thing. They don't spend a huge amount of time on each page but they are usually very good. Sometimes they're great. I can tolerate this person, although I am a bit envious.

Then there is me. I've never met another scrapbooker like me before, but I'm sure there must be others. I torment myself over every page. I don't know what paper to use (plain or printed, white or black, bold or subtle), I never have the right embellishments and when I ask others if they've got what I'm looking for they are always willing to share, but they rarely have just the right one. My biggest weakness is layout. I'm horrible at figuring out how to arrange the pictures on the page. When I ask for help (which I'm loathe to do because I do it so often) one of my buddies can usually come over and say, "What if you put them like this?" and they arrange them perfectly on the page. Why can't I do that? Is there something wrong with me? Is it somehow connected to my complete lack of sense of direction? Or the fact that I have absolutely no spatial skills?

I'm a miserable person to scrapbook with as I bitch and moan and complain about every page I'm working on and then when I ask for help I don't like anyone else's ideas either. So why do I do it?

When I finally finish a page I usually love the results. I look at it and go, "Wow, I did that." I've never been an artistic or craftsy person, so I'm in awe of the fact that I can actually take a blank page and create something on it. I've always wanted to be a creator but never thought I was capable. With scrapbooking I am. I have almost as many memories of where I was and who helped me with each page I've made as I do for the pictures on the page. I've never been much of a "hobby" person and have always been a bit jealous of Matt because he had so many things he was interested in and enjoyed doing. Scrapbooking gives me a creative outlet, a social venue, and I'm making something that hopefully my kids will treasure some day as much as I do. That's why I love scrapbooking.