Why I Do It

I take photos constantly. I’m kind of a pest about it, actually. I’m constantly sneaking photos. Stopping to capture the details - food, flowers, street signs, shops, views, and of course, people. I think most scrapbookers can relate to this. I’m often keenly aware that I’m being a pest. Does anyone else feel like this? My friends and family are used to it by now, but still. I always end up with more photos than I can use in my scrapbooks. I guess that’s the beauty of everything being digital now. We get to choose the best photos from a huge selection of OK photos.

This month’s kits from Kelly Purkey Shop are all about photos, and they got me thinking about my photo-taking habit. Working with this month’s kits forced me to stop and think about the why. I ended up doing some longer journaling about my reasons on a traveler’s notebook layout.

Lately, I’ve been using my traveler’s notebooks to tell some longer stories. In the past, much of my journaling has been quick, often in the form of lists. Which I’m glad to have, and enjoy looking back on. But I’m working on writing more lately, and traveler’s notebooks have been a good place for me to work on that. On this one I used paper from the Me, Myself, and I traveler’s notebook kit, the Memory Frames stamp set, and the Snapshot stamp set to highlight three photos from May and talk about the memories associated with the photos.

I used the Snapshot project kit to document some of my favorite photos from my recent trip to Portland, ME. I love trying to capture the spirit of a place and an experience in photos. It’s one of my favorite things to do while traveling.

For me, right now, the focus has been on photos and words. My scrapbooking has become quite simple lately. That’s not how it’s always been. There have definitely been times when the artistic side of the craft was my focus. There isn’t really a right or wrong way. It’s just that lately I want to focus on taking better photos and delving deeper with my journaling. That’s one of the reason I love Kelly’s products. The kit themes are always a jumping off point for journaling.

On this layout, I used stamp sets designed by Tina of Life Love Paper as a journaling prompt. It’s not exactly natural or comfortable for me to journal about feelings, but then again it’s not exactly natural or comfortable for me to talk about them out loud, either. Generally, I think bottling them up is best. Kidding. Writing is definitely easier. So I’m trying.

I’ll always love telling stories with words and pictures. And there have been times when collage and paint have been a huge part of the process for me as well. But in the end, no matter how simple or how complicated my scrapbooking gets, it’s always about the stories. That’s why I do it.

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