Memoria Arts~ Life in the Making

Photos photos everywhere...

 

Ah, scrapbooking.

It's been a while. Two years, to be exact.

I've had a few projects I've finished here or there, a few pages, but these have taken weeks and months to complete. It's hard to explain why I haven't been enjoying my favorite hobby. Or maybe it is if I faced the truth of it...

my life has changed.

My new normal doesn't even come close to what my old normal was.

I like it that way.

However, it means that my time to piddle and play is very limited. As things have begun to 'settle down' (ha!) I've slowly been working art back into my days. It is important to me- it just keeps me sane, and I realized during my forced time away from art play that it is a pressure valve for me. Sometimes, it's just the idea that I've actually completed something that day and it stayed done and whole and beautiful- unlike my life and the laundry, which seems to be in some state of mess or process, never staying done. Sometimes, I need to work through something I am struggling with, and the abstract of just creating helps me to parse it all out. For someone who is a wordsmith, word lover, word consumer, I find the visual imagery helps me to clear out the clutter in my brain. There are so many reasons. I've gone on quite a few creative capers over the last year or so, fussing around with mixed media explorations, and it's been so freeing. Scrapbooking? Not so much.

It's the photographs.

This occurred to me not so long ago when I looked at a stack of photographs sitting on my desk that had sat unscrapped for nearly a year. It almost made me want to cry. I didn't even know where to begin, and my first inclination was just to walk away and do something else. But then I started flipping through them and I saw why I put them there in the first place- the stories, the moments I wanted to tell. I realized I just needed to get started (again), and these layouts are the fruits of that night.

In that process, I realized that I needed to condense my supplies. Part of this was just practicality- many of my paints, pens, and glues had dried up from two years of no use. (With the exception of the Creative Memories stuff- that stuff is made to last, thank goodness! I am still using some of the same pens my mom gave me over eight years ago.) Part of it is the fact that who I am as a scrapbooker, oddly enough, has solidified and cemented in the two years of not scrapbooking. Maybe it's a metaphor for other aspects of my life too, who knows. I know what I like and I don't like- what my style is. What my focus is. What 'floats my boat' technically speaking, and what makes me want to throw up my glue covered hands in disgust.

But there's those photographs!

How do I condense those into a system that makes sense for me? I am not a chronological scrapper. I never was, I never will be. It's always been about the story for me. And, okay, the chance to get paint on my fingers. I looked at the Creative Memories system. It's all about chronology, and that just ain't me. I scrap what inspires me in the moment. That's not to say that all these piles of photographs aren't stopping me cold, because they are. I just have to find a system that works for me. I have primarily digital photographs, all stored on my Mac; there is a little bit of stomach churning realization that if my trusty sidekick suddenly decided to take an extended vacation where all hard drives go sometimes, I am majorly up a creek and have lost years of pictures in the blink of an eye.

I've picked up Stacy Julian's Photo Freedom recently. Her system makes a lot of sense to me, how I think, how I scrapbook. I am game to try it...I am desperately hoping it makes a difference. I want to get back to the hobby I love. I'll let you know how it goes.

If you let grandma come for a visit...

(With apologies to Laura Joffe Numeroff)

IF you let grandma come for a visit,

she'll want to read to you.

And if you let her read to you,

she'll want to sing to you.

And if you let her sing to you,

she'll get very goofy.

And if she gets goofy,

she'll want to play with you.

And if you let her play with you,

she might bless you with some outside toys.

And if she blesses you with some outside toys,

she'll decide you need a sandbox.

And if she decides you need a sandbox,

she'll decide to build one.

And if she decides to build one,

she'll take you to your favorite place, the hardware store.

And if she takes you to the hardware store,

She'll get sand and wood and all manner of things.

And if she gets sand and wood and all manner of things,

then she'll ask daddy to build it.

And if daddy builds it,

she'll want you to play in it.

And if she wants you to play,

she'll take lots of pictures.

And if she takes lots of pictures,

she'll want to scrapbook them.

And if she scrapbooks them,

she'll have to come for another visit...

Grandma Camp 09

It was a huge success. My brother graduated on the 30th, so we had three generations vacationing together for much of the time- my Grandma and Poppa (my father's parents), and my Oma (my mother's mother). What my mom arranged was an excellent example of a "staycation"...everything she found for the kids was either free or nearly free and less than an hour's drive from her house. It's inspired me to look at my hometown in a different way for the summer too.

 In no particular order, here are some of the many things they did:

- pool party (daily) at the next door neighbor's
- a trip to the beach (Virginia Beach, VA)
- the Nauticus museum (home of the USS Wisconsin, Norfolk, VA)
- the Parksley Train Museum (on the Eastern Shore of VA)
- the Parksley Fire Department (Eastern Shore, VA)
- the Asseateague Light House (Eastern Shore, VA)
- the Chicnoteague Marsh (Eastern Shore, VA~ Remember the book Misty of Chicnoteague? They saw the ponies!)
- the Virginia Air and Space Museum (Newport News, VA)
- daily trips to the park

Excerpts from the journal...

One of the coolest things about keeping the gratitude journal has been the fact that we as a family can look back over it- in a way, it is a prayer journal as well. It is amazing to see our own personal spiritual journey as a family played out over the pages. I've noticed that our entries tend to fall in three different categories, which I've loosely labeled as provisions, blessings, and graces. Provisions are specific answers to specific prayers. Blessings are provision for needs we were perhaps not aware of, and graces are those over the top, knock-your-socks-off, blow-your-mind, outta nowhere things that just amaze and delight. By writing these down, I think we are actually seeing the day to day involvement of God in our lives- something that I am not sure we were completely aware of before this. Who would have ever imagined that James would go so long without any real job leads? Yet at the same time, God has clearly kept us and preserved us. Such undeserved grace that brightens each and every day. I thought I'd share a few.

*November. As is typical, we have come to the end of a week wondering where the next one is going to take us. We had enough money to cover the bills, but I have no idea where we will find money for groceries and gas. It seems just when we are hitting the bottom of the barrel, James gets a call for computer work from one of his old clients. This week, we really needed about $150 to make it through, and what do you know, that's the exact amount of the work Mrs. T needed. I am continually amazed at how God provides so specifically, just enough. And it is so obviously from His hand- James hadn't talked to this client in months and months. So cool.

*December. My sneaky little friend R, ok, ok, you know how much we love her! She shared with some of the local homeschoolers that we were having a rough time. Do you know they got together and got seven (!!!) jumbo boxes of diapers for David and Lorelei? I don't think we'll need to get diapers again until February or March. One less thing to worry about, and completely out of the blue. I am so humbled that they cared so much. And such a practical thing too. I probably would never have thought of it myself. I am going to have to file that away for when I get the chance to bless someone else!

A more recent one- I love it when it's not even people we know- it just seems that much more obvious that God was in it, and I often wonder if the people have any clue how they were instruments of God's pleasure.

* February 23, 2008.Today was a pretty tough day. We are all sick with the flu, and horrors of horrors, I seem to have it the worst! That never happens to mama, right? Poor David. He has been so miserable, and come to find out, has a double ear infection. Tough little guy. The cool thing today, though, I just have to write down before I forget. They determined I needed a bag of IV fluids, as I was just a bit too far on this side of dehydrated. I am so thankful that they could do it right there in the office and I didn't have to mess with the crazy hospital at this time of the year. It took about an hour, hour and a half, even on the fast drip. We were at the doctors office from 11 am to just about 3pm. Anyways, the office manager was such a sweet lady and offered us some of their lunch. (The drug reps often bring the offices lunch catered from a local place.) I couldn't really eat, honestly. But the funny thing was that James had said not a day before that he was really craving barbecue. It was a bit of a joke for us, because no one was the least bit interested in eating except for him. Guess what the lunch was? Barbecue! How that made me laugh. He sure enjoyed it. A little bit later, she came back in and asked us if there was any way that we might want to take the rest of the food home- as it was just going to be thrown away and everyone in the office had had their fill. She wasn't joking that there was food left over- full industrial sized pans of barbeque, baked beans, coleslaw, and fruit salad, along with buns and other fixings. Here was dinner for those of us who actually felt like eating, and then some. James says he might make Bean Casserole out of some of it tommorrow.... how cool that even though we haven't had the slightest chance to get by the grocery store or do any sort of meal planning,  it has been provided for us for at least two days! I pray the Lord blesses them there at Dr. B's office- they sure did bless us today!

Picture is our blessings journal, which I made way back in August of 07.

Postcard Wednesday, Edition 3...

Still a good reminder, yes? It was penned 94 years ago. I hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane this month,  collecting stories as we go.  It was a perfect way to transition as we head into Thanksgiving and Christmas. This season, make sure you ask questions, listen for stories, and, above all, RECORD them! {climbing off soapbox now, he he he}

Postcard Wednesday, Edition 2...

  This one is written in German. I thought mine was good enough to translate, but it has eluded me. It was written in 1908. Isn't the script beautiful?
This one was postmarked 1944.

Howdy:
  Your family sounds swell. My husband and I have been married for just a year and we a just starting house keeping. He was in the Army but got discharged. I am 23 years old. Husband, 26. We both work.
Mrs. M. Becker
3437 W. 45th St.
Cleveland, Ohio

Making a road map (Collecting Stories #5)

Starting a project can sometimes be the hardest task of the whole process- ask any writer about book and article proposals, and they'll groan outright. I conjecture the same is true in the other creative arts as well. When you are working on a specific story you want to tell, it is helpful to map out how you want to go. I tend to be an 'in the moment' scrapper: I grab the picture that speaks to me that moment, and then go from there. I am completely different when I am focusing on a specific time or story- I like neat, organized, and easy to complete, or I'll never finish. I am currently working on a small mini album of my trip to Colorado last month. I took this with me on the plane, so it had to be portable and easy to accomplish. Many scrappers will tell you this- when you are focusing on specifics, decide in advance just how much product you are going to use and pull it all out. (Most kits are created this way- papers coordinate with embellishments and ribbon, etc. but can be mixed and matched for a cohesive look.) It will solve the endless deliberations of just what exactly to put on the page.

For this project, I have simple piles, as you can see below. They are grouped into events, and they go in chronological order clockwise from the left side of the desk to the right. The last pile is the papers and embellishments I have chosen to use. (Scraps leftover from larger projects are great for mini-albums!) This is simple and fast. Minus the journaling, my Colorado album came together in about an hour and a half start to finish. Larger projects may require a more intense organization system. With my wedding album, I've worked in chunks (rehearsal, arriving, family, ceremony, reception, etc.) with the same use of product and color through out. Sometimes it helps to use a sketch or two and continually rotate them- which will also help with the cohesiveness of a story. I've linked to a bunch of advice about organizing those "big" stories at the bottom of this post.
Sometimes it is helpful to organize your thoughts into a beginning, middle, and end type structure before you get down to work. You can see how I've done this in the picture below (the page is from my art journal). It is just a quick brainstorming of what you want to say. I sometimes even jot a color combination that comes to mind when I think of the subject, like blue and green on a layout about James.
I also think it is important to note that there is no need to reinvent the wheel, particularly in scrapbooking (I can't say the same for writing, which is a whole different breed all together.) There are magazines and web sites chock full of inspiration. One of the best tools in a scrapper's toolbox is the sketch- the underlying design to a beautiful layout. These sketches can be used over and over again. I also collect these in my scrapping journal for reference. I get inspired by so many different things each time I look at them- sometimes it's the colors, sometimes it's a technique the artist used, sometimes it's a photograph. When working on a large project, pick a few that really work for what you are doing, and use them over and over. It makes it so much easier.

If you take the time to organize a road map before beginning a project, that time invested will pay vast dividends during the actual project. Decide what main colors you are going to use: my Colorado album has mostly blue and green with pops of red and black. Decide what products/embellishments you want to use: ribbon, buttons, alphas, paint, etc. Decide if you are going to use a sketch or not, and of course, decide which photographs tell the story the best.

Below are links to advice and information on each of these steps.
Week in the Life Album Creation- A good demonstration of working a plan and going with it. Also chock full of tips in general about basic digital skills. (Ali Edwards)
Anatomy of an Album- Another great show and tell of an album at completion- seeing the organization and the hows and whys of how to make it work. (Ali Edwards)
Illustrating Stories- A great all around resource for things related to telling the story, chock full of links to sketch, challenge, dare, and tutorial blogs. (Liz Ness and Jackie Wood)
Shimelle- I can't recommend her online classes/tutorials enough. I took a few for free, and have since paid for others- it is delightful. She does a wonderful job. Clear instructions, lots of support. (Shimelle Lane)
Organizing a theme album- Two Peas has tons, and I do mean tons, of great tutorials. This one is great- explains how to organize and get started. (Tia Bennet)
Using one product line- This is another 2peas tutorial that really explains how to use a limited amount of products from one product line to speed up scrapbooking. (Anne Heyen)

I'll update this as I think of more...this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

Gathering the stories...

Let's get started, shall we?

The pointers I am giving today work for anybody, I think- but as you can probably tell, I can give the most advice from the scrap booking and writing angles.  What you see above is my art journal/stash/repository/mess keeper. (Please ignore the messy desk in the background, yipes.) This is where all my stories start, whether they are scrapping, writing, or blogging related. I would advise anyone who is interested in collecting stories to find something similar. A journal works: I have a friend who has a big divided envelope type folder that she sticks things into, and still another has a big project board that she sticks things to. Lotta Jansdotter (and Ali Edwards, too) have arranged theirs by clip boards, nailed to the wall.  The whole point of it is to have somewhere to park what you're collecting. This can get pretty vast, particularly in scrapbooking. But I have found that it is easier to work in chunks and focus on one thing at a time.

First, you need to give yourself an afternoon or even a weekend, depending on what you're after. Grab a cup of your favorite hot beverage, and a scratch pad. (Or your journal, if you're like me.) Start by asking yourself a question. "What are the stories I need to tell?" Maybe you want to tell about how you came to faith. Maybe you want to tell the story of your child's birth. Maybe you want to tell how great-Uncle Billy fought in World War II. Whatever it is, jot it down. I currently have a list of about fifty "life events" I want to tell. I am not a chronological story teller. I am not worried about telling the stories in order of their occurance. I work on the one that speaks to me, regardless of timeline. I know this is a huge stumbling block for scrapbookers in particular: lots and lots of photographs spanning years of time, and feeling guilty that you're scrapbooking your fourth child's birth before you've finished your wedding album. But since I have begun to focus on telling the story over getting it down in order, I know that the important stories around my wedding day have already been told. The rest of the album is just icing on a cake.

After you've got a good idea of the stories you want to tell, start asking yourself questions about the event. Who was it? Where was it? What was it? Why did it happen? When did it happen? How did it happen? What is the single most important thing to know about the story? What does the story mean to you? What details pop out at you when you think about it: smells, sounds, images? (The smell of my grandmother's purfume and the way her hair looked, for example.) Make sure to write these things down too.

The gathering stage comes next. In scrapbooking, this would most obviously be photographs and memorablia, journaling, etc. In writing, it might be as simple as gathering the story by asking others what they remember of the event, or it might be researching the time period, for example. Maybe you have your grandmother's dress that she wore that day. Maybe as a sewer or quilter, you want to put that in a quilt- you want to make a memory quilt with all the scraps of clothes your grandmother wore.

Here are two recent posts by Elise and Samantha that illustrate the gathering stage well: Elise jotted a little poem and included photographs, and Samantha jotted down in a stream of conciousness list some memories she had from childhood, including one about her childhood bed, including a photograph of her children in her old bed. For some of us, posting it on the blog is enough gathering and telling the story- we print our blogs off to hard copies at the end of the year. Or maybe blogging about it is just the first step.

Some books that might help a scrapbooker start gathering stories:
 

Speaking of which...

If you are a scrappy sort of memory keeper

(and not everybody is)

but if you are...

I wanted to make sure you all saw this.

Jessica Sprague (digital scrappy chick extraordinaire) + FREE=  no excuses for not learning a bit more about how to get those memories down!

The effort to remember...

I chose to focus on collecting stories this month for a myriad of reasons. Its hard to quantify in some ways- I've had more than a few people in the last few weeks and months ask me when I am going to write a book. (Me? Are you kidding?) I just don't think it's the right time yet for me to embark on such a lovely but arduous journey. But it has gotten me to thinking about why stories are so important, why memories matter. Why are we drawn to the little snippets of tall tales told about Great Uncle William at every thanksgiving meal? Why do we cherish the small scrap of a recipe card that Grandma scribbled her famous cake recipe? Why do my kids stare and laugh for hours at old scrapbooks from their earlier years?

And if we don't cherish these pieces of history, what is wrong with our perspective?

I only say that, because there was a time when I could have cared less about any of these things. It's hard to imagine for someone who is both a writer and scrapbooker, I know, but I cringe to think about some of the keepsakes I have thrown out in a fit of pique. I did it almost as if to erase the memory that the 'thing' represented, but yet, the memory still remains, cringe-worthy, embarrassing, woeful. And worse still *laughter* my family still remembers too, and makes sure to tell the story anyways, irregardless of "proof".

And then, there's the dozens of people I've heard from who say, I don't have time for that. I don't have time to scrapbook. I don't have time to journal. I don't have time for this. I don't have time for that. Or...I don't know how to get these memories down. I am embarrassed by my scrapbooks. I am embarrassed about what people will think.  I am embarrassed by my handwriting.  Or, I don't like to be crafty. Glitter scares me. ( Trust me, it's totally okay, and glitter scares me too!)

The fact of the matter is, the stories of our lives are important.

They are a legacy reaching back in our collective histories, that reach forward to our children and beyond. Choices my great, great, great Grandfather made affect me today. Choices that I made yesterday affect my children's future, sometimes for good, and sometimes for ill.  The stories of our lives are a treasure trove (and okay, a laughing well sometimes) for our families and friends. They can learn from our mistakes, and perhaps not make the same ones, and we can learn from theirs. We can be inspired by their triumphs, and encouraged in our own life journeys.

But. If we choose to stay silent, we are doing ourselves and our familes a great disservice.

We lose the lessons, the joys, the losses, the laughs and jokes, the stories told round the tables at family gatherings, and in a way, we lose a piece of ourselves, never to be found again. We lose our story, who we are, why we do what we do, why we make the choices we do.

In the spirtitual sense, as Kathy noted, when we don't tell what God has been doing in our lives, we often forget our "His"story too. We forget the blessings and how thankful we are. We forget the footsteps in the sand where our Savior has carried us.

Where would the collective Christian walk be without the length, depth, and breadth of the emotional "ramblings" of David's Psalms? What if David had chosen not to write? Chosen not to praise? Chosen not to sing and play instruments?

There's a thought.

 Art. Music. Poetry. Scribbled thoughts. Oral tales. Quilts. Blogs. Collected praises. And on and on....

The stories of our lives aren't words on a page. Though they can be. They certainly aren't perfect. Maybe they are just a bit messy around the edges. Maybe the canvas has a huge gash down the center. Maybe the notes are off key.

But still, we should try. We should still give praise and 'count the days'. We should remember.

What's more, it's a command.

233 times, the Bible says remember. Remember what happened to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. Remember what God did back there. Remember what God promised you, Israel. God will remember the covenant He has with us. Remember what God said He would do. Remember what the Apostles said.

Over and over.

God is still speaking today. The Spirit is still moving. I have a feeling we should still be telling the stories of those aged prophets, and we should remember what He has done in our own lives.

So that's where this blog is headed over the next few weeks...
different ways,
different approaches,
making the time to stop.
And remember.

Psalm 90:12: Teach us to number our days aright,
       that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Ann and her guest blogger, Leslie, have a simple, beautiful suggestion for collecting stories around the year, a way of gathering gratitude. I plan to highlight a related post at the end of each "collecting stories" post to show many different ways of telling the stories of our lives.