I (Janet) have mentioned a number of times that I don’t scrap in order. I can definitely see some benefits of doing it that way, but it is just a process that will never work for me. Comments like, “I finished scrapping 2008″ leave me with all sorts of mixed feelings of guilt and sadness. Guilt that I will probably never be done scrapping 2008 and sadness because if I ever did finish scrapping 2008 (or any other year), I wouldn’t get to relive those memories in my creative process. The other problem, for me, is that scrapping in order and considering a certain month or year “done” is that it would keep me from some of my very favorite pages.
I love…no, LOVE LOVE LOVE pages that aren’t necessarily in the “here and now.” I just adore layouts where photos and memories of different times and/or different people and places are brought together to create an entirely different kind of story. I love looking at a page and instantly multiple memories flood together and I am left with a new impression of the photos in front of me. Often it is a case of photos being able to speak the words we cannot.
In the layout above, I collected a photo of my son for every month of his first year of life. I could have just put a 12 month photo on the page and just written about the way he had grown, the way he was a happy and chubby baby, the way he adored his big sister, the way he played with water any chance he got. Yes, I could have written those things. Instead, though, I took the time to gather photos from various times and now I am able to literally see him growing up from a tiny seven pound newborn to a chubby, messy-faced birthday boy. I look at this group of pictures and my heart melts.
Here are some other recent examples where I have used this oh-so-favorite scrapping style:
I love showing this layout to people because I always make them guess which child this is before they read the journaling. People are always surprised when they learn that the four photos are all of different kids. I have one photo for each of my children on the day that they first went swimming. I love that in one page I was able to bring in four separate days that happened over a span of five years, and tell one complete story.
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This layout tool me a long time but it was totally worth it as I put together 21 photos of my daughter from over the last seven years. I can look at this layout and see my beautiful girl grow up before my eyes!
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I did the same thing in this layout, except on a smaller scale. Here I took 25 photos of my youngest from 2009 and pulled them together in one cohesive page. The result? Seeing how much my girl changed in just one year!
And finally, here is a layout that you have seen before but that emphasizes the same technique. This page covers three and a half years of my life as I have had the amazing opportunity to meet some of my digi friends in real life. I have scrapped very few of these photos on their own, but together they tell a BIG part of my story and my love of all things (and people) scrappy!
So how about you? What pages do you have where you bridged a gap in time or place and told a whole new story? I would love to see them!
Love your templates but am also waiting for the Birthday Book ALBUM as someone before me commented on. Thank you.
I wish I’d taken more photos (and digital was around earlier!). Still I can start today because they have a long way yet till they grow up. I’ll need to check back in 12 months!
For the past 2 years I’ve done a “year of” page for both my son and daughter…its such a cool way to document how much they’ve changed in just one year! Here are my pages for 2009:
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=910827&title=2009-3a-a-year-of-casey&cat=all
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=909418&title=2009-3a-a-year-of-lilah&cat=all
I just finished a page for DigiDares that is just what you are talking about..
Here’s the link:
http://thencbrownings.blogspot.com/2010/01/digi-dare.html
The cool thing is that I wouldn’t have scrapped this page AT ALL if the dare hadn’t been offered. Now, it’s one of my favorites!!
Thanks for the beautiful layouts of your precious children..always cool to know “Janet’s in the house”
The circle template is my Ring Ring template set (that I originally made back in 2006!) You can find it here: http://www.sweetshoppedesigns.com/sweetshoppe/product.php?productid=19782&cat=0&page=4
When I saw your circle template at SSD… I couldn’t imagine what I would do with it… But seeing a page done with the templage definately gives way to some creative juices…
I do scrap in order because it works for me and I mostly scrap events, fun times, vacations etc. BUT with that said, I ALSO want to do pages like these!! And these are wonderful inspiration for that. Thank you so much for sharing, your style is wonderful.
I did this one a few weeks ago with my youngest son. It was for one of the Sweet Shoppe Portfolio challenges to use 4 items of everything on the page – I chose to do 4 months of him. It’s so neat to watch him grow!
http://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=121259&ppuser=8187
PS–I just realized I had that LO saved in Photoshop Express:
http://www.photoshop.com/accounts/eb84f1b8ef6e4cde96262bea6f739c7f/px-assets/914957919bed48a7a54df337d4cec313
TFL
I like to do this on occasion, including lots of pictures from a variety of years. The most recent LO was one I made last summer after my dad passed away =( I got my hands on as many pictures of him and me together that I could get. I reduced all but one to small squares and included them all on one LO (face it there were only 13 pictures!). I really really treasure that LO now.
Janet,
I ADORE the 12 month circular layout – can you please share your credits? I would love to get my hands on a template like that!
thanks for sharing your beautiful LOs of your beautiful LOs (little ones
I created this layout a few years ago…but I still love how it shows me and my friend from over the years.
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=161045&title=my-friend-3a-3aadsr238&cat=all
I love, love, love the circle layout of one photo from each month. My son is 9 months, better start gathering those photos now. Do you have a link for where you got this template? I love it! – Cathy
My LO for the In The Files challenge yesterday is my favorite photos from my daughter’s first year.
http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=922904&title=love&cat=500
Loved putting it together. It made me wish I could kiss those chubby cheeks more. Thanks for sharing!
I absolutely love the fish picture of your 4 kiddies – very clever and such a statement! Tks for sharing (I’m always inspired after seeing your layouts). Pls consider writing an ebook explaining your font choices for your titles).
Leslie
I LOVE LOVE LOVE your pages too! I too don’t scrap in any kind of order…I have done a page a bit like yours with pics of my son on (or around his b-day) for the last 6 years
http://digiscrapobsession.net/pics/showphoto.php?photo=5779&ppuser=111
I think I need to do more now…thanks for inspiring me (again!!)
Hugs
Kerri