I thought it would be fun to go back and take a look at the very first "real" scrapbook page I ever made. I say "real" because I did do some decorated photo albums before this, but I don't really consider those scrapbooks in the real sense.
I really started scrapbooking after my first son was born in 2003, and almost the entire first album is baby pictures, of course. For my first layout, I took the easy way out...I used a premade kit! And here it is:
The paper was pre-printed and the kit came with some cut out tags and die cuts, so everything coordinated and all I had to do was add the photos. And that's really about all I did, or knew how to do at that time.
This first set of photos were taken while we were still in the hospital. Since our son was in the NICU for the first 5 days (he was a preemie), all of the photos we have in the hospital are from the visitation room there - he was never in the regular nursery or my room. We don't have any of the usual photos that most people would have of their first child in the hospital - visitation was quite limited in the NICU, and we only got to spend about 30 minutes with him for feeding every 3 hours. With the limited time I didn't take a lot of photos, I do wish I would have taken more.
The layouts are really quite simple, but I was new to this and didn't really have any supplies other than the scrapbook kit. Over time I would accumulate much more.
I took a look at the second layout I made and was surprised to see that I did a little better job - added some decorative metal frames and accent photos in them.
These early pages are a good reminder that we all start somewhere, and over time things change and hopefully become better. I do see how these early layouts resemble what I still do now...everyone really does have their own style that kind of sticks with them. But we all start somewhere, and it really doesn't matter where, as long as you keep going.
Sometimes scrapbooking can take a lot of work. And it can be tedious sometimes. And once in a while it can feel like another thing you "have to" get done. But there are a lot of fun parts to. Looking for supplies can be fun, buying stuff is definitely fun. And usually, most of the work involved in actually creating something is pretty fun to.
Today I have everything I need to get started on my next project. The albums arrived today, the 597 photos arrived 3 days ago. I've chosen the papers and embellishments, and stocked up on cardstock and adhesive. Today I spread it all out on the table, take a step back, and look at this pile of random stuff that I will turn into something meaningful. For me, this is the fun part.
Maybe it's just the anticipation, or maybe it's the idea of taking all of this stuff and working with it and manipulating it to have it become something else.
In reality, it's just paper and stickers and photos and tags. But maybe it's more than that. Or at least it will be. In a few days or a few weeks, it'll be something more. It'll be all that's left of our trip and all that's left of that time we spent together. It'll be our memories, our laughter, and sometimes our fears. It'll be our "I can't believe we did that" moments and our "do you remember when..." moments.
And it'll always be there, to look back at and talk about. Years from now when some of our memories have faded and the details of these moments have been replaced by those that have followed, we can pull it off the shelf and remember again.
