The Process of Scrapbooking

I grew up with a mom who is an amazing housekeeper.  Her housekeeping wasn’t just about the surface – it went all the way down to the closets, cupboards and more.  Everything had a place so there was less clutter.

I remember the first time she helped me organize my own kitchen.  I had two toddlers and the craziest kitchen ever.  It took us two days, but we organized that kitchen from top to bottom.  It was a process – the first thing we did was take everything out of the cabinets and move it all to the dining room (yes we ate takeout for a few days – lol).

We then wiped all the cabinets out, and my mom starting asking me questions…

Where do you make sandwiches for the kids?

Where do you do most of your prep work for dinner?

Where do you make cookies?

What do you use this for (asked while she was holding up a gadget or tool)?

We started organizing my kitchen around centers – cooking, baking, snacks for kids, etc.  The end result was a kitchen free of clutter – organized to support me so I could stay organized and have what I needed when I needed it most – quickly and easily.

In some ways I approach scrapbooking in the same way – when I started organizing my digital supplies, I went back to what my mom taught me in the kitchen and I started thinking about how I scrap  {I start with my photos, think of the story I want to tell, then on to journaling, photo grids, templates, papers, color from my photos, accents}.

Thinking about my process helps me to organize accordingly and also use the wonders of technology to find what I want most quickly and easily.

So I thought I’d share something I created while I was thinking about my process the very first time I organized my digital supplies. I even hung it by my desk for a time to help remind me of what was important to me in my creative process. I hope you’ll create something similar for yourself to inspire you as you get organized. Remember that you are doing work that will make your creative process work for you.

I hope you all will find this perspective helpful. Think about your process of scrapbooking. Where does your creativity start? Where does that flow take you? Make note of what makes your creative process tick. The time you spend doing this will come back to you tenfold as you get organized, I promise.

The trick of true organization is taking all of this “stuff” and funneling it into a framework – using technology to organize your stuff in a way that works for you. Looking forward to sharing more in class!