“I want to go home to the dull old town, with the shaded street, and the open square, and the hill, and the flats, and the house I love, and the paths I know — I want to go home.” — Paul Kester

This page is framed as a letter to my nieces who are now living in the place where I grew up. It's not really to them, though. It's to myself and it's about the feelings I have seeing them come out of the same landscape that I did.

place shapes character

The places we come from, the places we’ve traveled through, and the places we long to visit  all inform who we are. How many of you have had the very longing described in the opening quote here? When you experience this kind of longing for a place, the place itself takes on associations and triggers feelings.

Writers and filmmakers understand this connection between place and character, often creating a story setting with such power it becomes a character itself. Think of 1920s Long Island in The Great Gatsby. Its geography and society inform the characters’ actions–both those who’ve lived there all their lives and the newcomer Gatsby.

When I want to plumb my own thoughts on the places in my life, past and present, I often turn to the poem “First Year” by Irish poet Eavan Boland that begins:

It was in our first home–
our damp, upstairs, one-year eyrie–
above a tree-lined area
nearer the city.

That first stanza can carry me immediately to a “garden” apartment in Silver Springs, MD (my first adult home away from my parents) and from there I’m recalling the furniture, the deck, the view of the parking lot below it, and even the stories. The ending to this poem drives home this poet’s belief in the impact place has on character (and even the relationships that a character is capable of).

Where is the soul of a marriage?
Because I am writing this
not to recall our lives,
but to imagine them,
I will say it is
in the first gifts of place:
the steep inclines
and country silences
of your boyhood,
the orange-faced narcissi
and the whole length of the
Blackwater
strengthening our embrace.

Many of my favorite scrapbook pages are those I’ve created as my own nod to the places in my early years. Here are several ideas for scrapbooking your childhood places and getting at the “essence” of those locations.

scrapbook your childhood home

“Been There” (above) and “What You Know First” (below) are both about my childhood home–a topic I scrapbook again and again. On “What You Know First” I used photos from over the last several years. My journaling tells a brief history of my family’s history with this home as well as what it means to me today.

“Been There” by Debbie Hodge

scrapbook your childhood community

Celeste Smith included photos of four spots in her childhood community on “Scotia, New York.” Her journaling adds details of each that recall her activities at these locations. Notice that her journaled details are a combination of facts (The library was a “rabbit warren of old rooms”) and what the place meant to her (“The library opened up a world of books to me”). When you combine these two aspects of a place you create a strong evocation of it even for those of use who have never been there.

“Scotia, New York” by Celeste Smith

scrapbook the “now” of a childhood place

My parents still live in my childhood home so I get to spend time there several times a year. I truly love being there, and with “Its Charm” I photographed and wrote about the aspects of it that charm me. Do you spend time at a childhood place? How is it for you? Does it still charm? Do you have different feelings? Scrapbook them with your own photos or photos found online.

“Its Charm” by Debbie Hodge

highlight one element that represents a childhood place for you

The “Hydrangeas” on Amy Mallory’s page were an aspect of visiting her grandparents’ home that she treasured. On this page Amy writes about her  history with his location, using the hydrangeas as a recurring element in her story as it moves through the years. Is there a story about a place you want to tell and is there some element of that place that you could thread through the story?

“Hydrangeas” by Amy Mallory

scrapbook a place you loved to visit in your childhood

When your family piled in the car on a Sunday afternoon where did you go? Whose homes did you visit frequently? What images and memories have stayed with you?Celeste Smith scrapbooked the charms of her grandparents’ back yard on “Take Note.” Notice she’s got just one photo – of a family gathering in the yard. It’s through her journaling of physical details and remembered activities that the essence of this place is revealed.

“Take Note” by Celeste Smith

What are your childhood places?

Take a minute right now to jot down page ideas this article inspired. Have you already scrapbooked your childhood places? Link us up in the comments. Do you feel newly inspired to scrapbook a childhood place? Tell us your plans and come back and link your layouts.

Every year around this time, we find ourselves making resolutions, setting goals and exploring changes to better our everyday lives.  Upon researching the Top Ten New Year’s Resolutions made each year, I noted that many of the goals below seemed to always make the list.  And believe it or not, you can incorporate your beloved hobby of scrapbooking into helping you to achieve each and every one of them.

Allow me to share some examples of how you can reach your goals and have fun scrapping too!

Make Healthier Choices

Eating better and exercising more are both noble goals, that can lead you to an overall healthier lifestyle.  So why not use your papercrafting skills to help you get excited about the work that lies ahead.

• Make a hybrid Diet and Exercise Journal to keep track of your efforts.
• Design your own Recipe Cards for all of those new low-calorie recipes
• Create a before and after layout.

Try Out Something New

Trying something new is a common and worth-while goal.  Not only can mixing things up help you to open your mind, but it can also lead you to find new opportunities to be inspired.  Even if your “something new”  has nothing to do with your crafting, it still opens you up to having new experiences which make for great scrapbook layouts!

• Take a class to learn a new skill or craft.
• Participate in a challenge.
• Branch out and try a new technique, tool or style of your current craft.

Spend More Quality Time with  Your Family

Spending quality time with my family has always been very important to me.  I used to think that my crafting cut into this time.   But after looking at all of the wonderful crafts I’ve created for my family to enjoy, I have since realized that my papercrafting can lead to fabulous family moments.

• Make educational crafts or homeschooling aids for your children.
• Go through your pages with your family and reminisce.
• Personalize books, toys and other gifts for your children.
• Spend time crafting with your children.

Get Organized

Organizing can be a very overwhelming task–one that never really seems to end.  Just like scrapbooking, there is a process to it, that differs for each person.   Bringing a bit of your own personal style into your organizing,  could not only make the experience a less daunting, but it might also inspire you to better maintain the end result.  And using your scrapbooking talents may just be the perfect way to achieve this goal in style!

• Design your own digital labels or paper tags to categorize things.
• Re-purpose old belongings you no longer have use for in your crafting.
• Make a chore chart banner.

Make More Time For You

When was the last time you put yourself first?  With families and jobs and commitments and aspirations–who has the time, right?!  However, many of us still make it a goal each year, to create more time for ourselves.  Now wouldn’t it be great if as scrapbookers, we could “make” extra time for ourselves?  Unfortunately, I haven’t found the secret to creating more time with my glue runner or paper trimmer–but I would encourage you to use these tools to create both opportunities and reminders to make more time for yourself.

• Create a mini album with prompts to remind you to pamper yourself once in a while.
• Make your own calendars or planners to help you schedule time for you.
• Set aside time each week for you to scrapbook or craft.

Give Yourself a Makeover

Giving ourselves a makeover is one of the easiest and most common ways we aim to improve ourselves each year.  For some reason we’ve convinced ourselves that the right haircut could change our lives.  While this often isn’t the case, sometimes changing something this simple can improve the way we feel about ourselves and put us in the right frame of mind to channel our renewed energy towards our other goals. And while I wouldn’t recommend using your decorative scissors to give your hair a trim…there are countless ways that your craftiness can contribute to giving yourself the makeover you desire.

• Practice a little creative organizing to give your scrap space a makeover.
• Use your digi skills to give your blog a facelift, by designing a new header.
• Spice up your look with some new hand-made,accessories or dress up your old ones with handmade embellishments.

Start a Journal

Keeping a journal can be beneficial in a number of different ways.  Some of us may find it therapeutic, others use it as a way to keep a personal record, and still others use it as a method of keeping track of ideas and thoughts.  However you decide to use your journal, your crafting supplies can aid you in accomplishing the goal of keeping one.

• Design your own journal.
• Start a blog and use the stories and thoughts you share for inspiration for your layouts.
• Start an art journal to share your thoughts and stories.
• Keep a creative journal to keep track of things that inspire you.

spurring your memory for scrapbooking past times

Are you ready to scrapbook your younger years, but unable to remember specific details? Maybe you’re working on “all about me” pages or a “book of me” and just trying to get scrapbook page subject ideas by remembering incidents. The first few lessons in our Scrapbook Your Story series have lots of prompts for you to scrapbook where you come from and your younger years. But what if you can’t remember enough to get those pages scrapbooked?

Try a little look at the popular culture of your youth. Use the resources below to check out the music, books, consumer goods, and even television shows of the era you’re recalling.

Source: stock.xchng / mjw

general nostalgia websites

There are lots of  “nostalgia” websites offering pictures and links to fads, consumer products, lifestyles, commercials, music, tv shows, movies, world events, toys, timelines, trivia and much more. Type “70s nostalgia” (insert your desired decade) into your search engine to find such sites. Here’s a sampling of  these sites by decade.

• InfoPlease – timelines by year or by decade
• 40s – Lisa’s Nostalgia Cafe – war bonds for Christmas
• 50s - Lisa’s Nostalgia Cafe – color TV, car seat belts, first organ transplant
• 60s When We Were Kids – Berlin Wall, “Feminine Mystique,” Woodstock
• 70s In The 70s – Evel Knievel attempts to jump snake river canyon
• 80s Driko’s 80s Music & Nostalgia – Jordache Jeans and Wierd Al Yankovich
• 90s 90s 411 – Beanie Babies, Doc Martens, Ally McBeal

music

Source: AllCDCovers.com

You can also zero in on specific subjects that were important to you, like music. Limit yourself to browsing one of these sites for just a few minutes and then free-write for 10 to 20 minutes and see what kind of forgotten memories you’re able to recall.

• WTIT tape radio: top 100 songs by decade beginning with the 60s
• 365 top-selling songs of the 20th century
• SongLyrics.com
• Album & CD covers

television

Check out the details on the television shows you watched with these sites.

CrazyAboutTV.com Find lists of television shows from the 40s through present day. Select decade from the column on the left, click on your chosen show, and you’ll see a list of the episodes.

TelevisionTunes.com Listen to television show theme songs to spur memories. (I checked out “All in the Family” and “Rhoda.”)

movies

Cant’ remember which movies you watched–or are you just looking for a little more detail? You can get a list of movies by decade at IMDB.com (scroll down and find the links in the right sidebar) and then follow the links for specific movies for more memory spurs.

consumer goods/advertisements

Source: AdClassix.com

A great source of information on consumer goods are print advertisements.

AdClassix.com has print ads for perfumes, cars, food, pharmacy, oil and gas, restaurants and more up through the very early 70s. I tracked down this ad for the car I learned  to drive on: an AMC Hornet!

So where will you start? Tell me what detail you find that surprises you–that had perhaps been a bit buried in the recesses of your memory.

Source: stock.xchng / 13dede

Look to your behavior to find material for scrapping yourself:

• Begin with your habits and routines around daily life—from what you like for breakfast to a look at the errands you run regularly. Chart out a typical day. Think about how long it’s gone this way, what it was like before, and how it might change. Scrap the parts that you think reveal something about you, that you don’t want to forget, or that you just feel like scrapbooking. Make sure to include journaling that: 1) includes details not shown in the photo, and 2) talks about you and how this routine is related to who you are.
• Look at other cycles in your life and list the routines you have around them, including weekly routines, annual routines, and things you do when the seasons change. I scrapped “Two-Week Accumulation” with a photo taken on cleaning day at my house—which comes around every two weeks.
• Next, consider your own unique approach to things big and small: Do you plan dinners or do you eat out or do you rely on someone else or do you just fly by the seat of your pants? How about vacations? Do you like to be busy sightseeing or would you rather sit by the pool? Think about your “I’d rathers” and scrap those that most compel you. “I’m A Schlepper” is a page I did about my tendency to take a lot of stuff with me when I go places. In the journaling, I included both details about this behavior as well as thoughts about what this says about me.
• Once you’ve got a list of your habits, routines, and approaches to life, it’s time to get contemplative. Consider evaluating some of these tendencies. To do this, write about whether you think the behavior is a good or bad thing. Defend it or write about changes you’d like to make.

JOURNALING: I prefer purchasing house-cleaning services to purchasing new clothes . . . or even new craft supplies. It’s been almost two years now that I’ve had this extra money to make this possible. The best thing about it is that it ensures the house does get cleaned at least every two weeks. This does not mean that I don’t clean. Indeed, picking up for the cleaning person is a major undertaking around here. When Jenn arrives, I’ve usually finished picking up downstairs and I move to my bedroom, where I put some things away and pile even more on the bed -- to be put away right before I’m ready to crawl in it 12 hours later. My office is a nook off the bedroom, and so we’re all often here in the late evening, doing homework, reading, the boys taking baths in our tub while I do a little work and watch MSNBC. These photos are a great shot of what most accumulates in this room: books, clothes, and an odd assortment of toys. (Oh, wait, I already took the 15 drinking glasses downstairs.)

priming the engine: ask yourself this

• list 5 things you do almost every day (or every weekday) because you must
• list 5 things you do everyday because you want to
• what item from these lists do you think does the most for your life?
• what item does the least for (or even harms) it?
• what are some pages you could do about your habits?

think about it: quotations

Use these quotes as a springboard to thinking about your approach to the small and big things in your life. Pull out a pencil and paper before you start reading, so you can make notes about ideas that come to mind.

• Good habits, which bring our lower passions and appetites under automatic control, leave our natures free to explore the larger experiences of life – Ralph W Sockman
• Ability is what you’re capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. – Lou Holtz
• Though this be madness, yet there is method in ‘t. – William Shakespeare
• If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain. – Maya Angelou
• Manners are the happy ways of doing things; each one a stroke of genius or of love, now repeated and hardened into usage, they form at last a rich varnish, with which the routine of life is washed, and its details adorned. If they are superficial, so are the dew-drops which give such a depth to the morning meadows. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Curious things, habits. People never knew they had them. – Agatha Christie
• A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. – Herm Albright
• Human Beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. – William James
• Abundance is, in large part, an attitude. – Sue Patton Thoele
• Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time. – Mark Twain
• Nothing is stronger than habit. – Ovid
• Choose the life that is most useful, and habit will make it the most agreeable. – Sir Francis Bacon
• Art and science have their meeting point in method. – Edward Bulwer-Lytton

write it: journaling prompts

Complete these prompts and jumpstart your journaling.

• There’s actually a good reason I do it this way . . .
• Just, please, don’t interrupt me when I’m in the middle of . . .
• I’d rather ____ than ____. (For example: I’d rather spend my extra money on a housecleaner than new clothes. I’d rather read a book than watch TV).
• I’m a night owl/early riser because. . .
• When spring/summer/winter /fall arrives, I immediately want to . . .
• At least once a day/week/month, I . . .
• It’s not my favorite thing to do, but nevertheless, you can count on me to make sure . . .
• The first/last thing I do in the morning/evening is . . .
• I know I shouldn’t _______ but I do anyway because . . .
• I spend way too much time . . .
• I’ve memorized these phone numbers because . . .

I take a lot of stuff to the beach--shovels, buckets, chair, pop-up tent, food, drink, extra clothes, sand-sculpting tools. This behavior extends to other outings. I think it has to do with wanting to be prepared--but, even more, it may be that I think if I’m prepared, I have control & then all is right with the world. In my defense, I’d like to point out that at least I’m a self-aware schlepper. 08*07

What are your interests big and small? What are you good at and what do you enjoy doing? Ask yourself these questions about yourself at different times in your life. Have your passions changed since childhood or are you still loving animals and painting? When you look around your home, at the items that fill it, what do they indicate about what’s important to you? Perhaps you have several interests that you pursue with varying amounts of energy.

MY ELUSIVE DREAMS: analyzed in a Venn Diagram I love listening to the plaintive Roger Miller duet, “My Elusive Dreams,” in which a couple sings about a man’s “elusive dreams and schemes.” He is apologetic and sad and just plain unable to make progress. So what about my dreams? I will say that my dreams have never equated to schemes. And that I have made progress on each of them. And that pursuing them doesn’t take an enormous toll on my family (though there is some toll). But, WHY? Why, when I could pursue other paths that would provide a much greater chance of success, do I pick dreams in which there is so little reward for so many fellow dreamers? And why don’t I stick with a dream? My novel is almost done. My non-fiction proposal is finally out to agents. And now I want to publish scrapbook layouts? What keeps me from making that final focused push? Maybe, though, I am pushing. Maybe I’m not jumping from dream to dream. Because, LOOK HERE!, at this Venn diagram and see how things overlap. Maybe writing fiction and non-fiction and scrapbooking are all the same dream and I’m pursuing this dream well. And, even more, when I really think about it, I just have to ask: “if a dream weren’t elusive, then would it still be a dream?” January 2005.

Here are some areas that might take center stage in your life:

• sports
• wellness (holistic pursuits, exercise, food)
• helping others
• faith
• arts (drawing, painting, writing, photography, music, singing, dancing, acting, listening to/viewing art and music and performances)
• crafts (sewing, beading, needlework, scrapbooking/papercrafts, altered projects
• digital design, mixed media/collage, decorating)
• study/learning
• travel/adventure
• animals
• cooking (food, wine)
• work or your own business
• gardening, flowers
• time with others (friendships, family, organizations)

priming the engine: ask yourself this

• What are the labels you’ve given yourself (i.e, student, mother, caregiver, runner?). In other words, which of your activities have you taken on as a part of your identity?
• Are there any of these you’d like to lose?
• What’s at least one label you’d like to add?
• What are some scrapbook pages you could do about your interests and passions?

think about it: quotations

• The Soul is the voice of the body’s interests. -George Santayana
• It is a cursed evil to any man to become as absorbed in any subject as I am in mine. –Charles Darwin
• The whole secret of life is to be interested in one thing profoundly and in a thousand things well.” –Horace Walpole
• For an interest to be rewarding, one must pay in discipline and dedication, especially though the difficult or boring stages which are inevitably encountered” –Mira Komarovsky
• A person with a hundred interests is twice as alive as one with only fifty and four times as alive as the man who has only twenty-five” -Norman Vincent Peale
• My passions were all gathered together like fingers that made a fist. Drive is considered aggression today; I knew it then as purpose. -Bette Davis
• Ambition is so powerful a passion in the human breast, that however high we reach we are never satisfied. -Niccolo Machiavelli
• Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things. -Denis Diderot
• Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion. -Georg Wilhelm
• A human being is only interesting if he’s in contact with himself. I learned you have to trust yourself, be what you are, and do what you ought to do the way you should do it. You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it. -Barbra Streisand
• You must learn day by day, year by year, to broaden your horizon. The more things you love, the more you are interested in, the more you enjoy, the more you are indignant about, the more you have left when anything happens. -Ethel Barrymore
• The road to happiness lies in two simple principles; find what interests you and that you can do well, and put your whole soul into it – every bit of energy and ambition and natural ability you have. -John D. Rockefeller
• Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly. -Langston Hughes

write it: journaling prompts

• What’s something you really like about yourself?
• When you’ve got time absolutely to yourself, what do you do?
• What would you do if money were no object?
• How do you spend your “mad money?”
• What did you love as a child?
• What’s keeping you from pursuing one of your interests?
• What would you do if there was a guarantee you’d be successful?
• What’s something you dream about doing that you’ve never told anyone?
• What do you fantasize about doing while driving your car or taking a shower?
• Who do you know who is doing something you’d like to do? Describe yourself doing it.
• How could you make the world a better place for yourself and others?
• What are five things you’re good at?

Since 1997, I have made parties to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, teas, new seasons, endings, and beginnings. Themes have included: summer snow, Vikings, Harry Potter, cowboys, space cowboys, video adventure, knights, machines, woodland picnic, Kindergarten graduation, back-to-school, and . . did I say knights? The boys and I have mass-produced stick horses, swords, jousting poles, shields, jet speeders, armor, spell books, medieval goblets, axes, and puppets.We’ve written and produced games, quests, performances, videos, comic routines, and ceremonies. Out of boxes and sticks and string and paint, we have made Diagon Alley, castles, spaceships, snow storms, ogres, outer space, corrals, and Rube Golderg machines. I even wrote a proposal for a book about making parties with children. Giving parties was how I put myself out into the world and how I spent time with my kids --- envisioning, researching, budgeting, shopping, making, and staging parties. And then I discovered scrapbooking. My family, though, has grown accustomed to making complex parties. I suggested a laser-tag party at a fun center last week for Joshua’s birthday. “I don’t think so, Mom,” he said. “It’s not how we do things.” I guess he just wants to be invited to a laser-tag party, not host one. :) Mar 08.

consider yourself: your stuff

OK . . . so it’s hard to find quotes and inspiration about scrapbooking material possessions. Almost anything quotable notes that material possessions are not what bring happiness. I get that. As a former business student, I also get that much of us in the world live in capitalist economies, which works best when products are being made and sold efficiently. No, it’s not quite the “circle of life,” but it’s also not the worst thing under the sun, so consider turning the page now and scrapbooking some of the objects in your life.

One afternoon before I dug in to picking up our home, I realized the things lying around this year were different than those last year. And so I photographed our little messes and scrapbooked them.

why scrap your objects?

For the same reason archaeologists study the artifacts of past civilizations. The items in your possession reveal information about you personally and about the culture in which you live. In other words: it’s interesting and even revelatory. Am I sure about this? Ask yourself what items you’d quickly throw in the closet if company was coming and which items you’d quickly dust off. Does this say something about you? Are you getting the idea?

which objects should you scrap?

Begin with anything that compels you–treasured items, well-used items, items you take for granted. If you’re having a hard time coming up with ideas, think about the following and makes notes.

what objects are required because of:

• ­your work
• your hobbies
• your daily needs (eating, shelter, housework, yard work, transportation, communication)
• the other people in your life

what are the decorative or sentimental or just non-utilitarian objects in your life:

• ­knickknacks
• gadgets
• heirlooms
• accumulated junk

what objects do you really enjoy having and acquiring?

• and how do you acquire these things? online, stores, barter, gifts, self-made?

what objects would you put in a personal time capsule?

JOURNALING for “I Love {Getting} Dishes: I’m not sure what came 1st. Was it my mom giving me dishes and me thus loving them or was it me loving them and my mom thus giving me more? Anyway, I’ve got a lot of dishes. I like using real dishes even for large parties, and parties are usually an excuse for me to get a few dishes (’cause they do break when you use them well). 1) I bought 4 doz. new wine glasses at Crate & Barrel for Neil’s 50th Birthday Party. 2) Neil & I bought this white stoneware (12 settings) at Bennington Pottery (and then we bought a green and black set--see bottom row 1st plate); 3 & 9) Grandma Hodge gave me her Aunt Allie’s china; 4) The wine & water glasses we got for our wedding; 5 & 6) Mom gave me punch bowls & punch cups & tea glasses & I’ve thrown several really large family tea parties. 7)4 doz. flutes for Neil’s 50th. 8) more dishes in the basement. Bottom) I’ve got many sets of plates -- usu 12-18 each (just incase we have a party). March 2008.

how could you scrap your objects?

• take an inventory of one particular location (i.e., your purse, closet, desk, car . . .) and photograph and document the key objects
• contemplate yourself as a consumer and collector and your general tendencies
• create a page about one object that’s especially important to you, telling its history and meaning
• scrapbook a collection of those things you have in multiples (i.e., purses, shoes, dishes, magazine subscriptions . . .)
• scrapbook a theme (i.e., “things I use everyday,” “favorite knickknacks,” “things I haven’t touched in years but still have,” “things I inherited,” “presents I’ve never used,” “handiest gadgets in my house,” . . .

We play a lot of board games in our house and each holiday and birthday brings new ones into our home. This is a page of all the new games we got in December 2008.

priming the engine: ask yourself this about your stuff

As quickly as you can, write down two or three things in/on the following places:

• your purse
• your home entryway
• your car
• your kitchen counter
• your bedside drawer
• your desk
• your bathroom counter
• your coffee or end-table
• just outside your front door
• your dresser-top
• the table where you eat
• under your bed
• your closet (that’s not clothes)
• your attic or basement or primary storage area

THEN . . . . what pages do these answers make you want to do?

think about it: quotations

• Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories; those that don’t work, those that break down and those that get lost. – Russell Baker
• Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is. – Charles M. Schulz
• Culture relates to objects and is a phenomenon of the world; entertainment relates to people and is a phenomenon of life. -Hannah Arendt
• It is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be born a millionaire. – Robert Louis Stevenson
• Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; it is a positive good in the world.”- Abraham Lincoln
• Property is intended to serve life, and no matter how much we surround it with rights and respect, it has no personal being. It is part of the earth man walks on. It is not man – Martin Luther King, Jr.
• The quality of American life must keep pace with the quantity of American goods. This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. – John F Kennedy
• A house that does not have one worn, comfy chair in it is soulless. ~May Sarton

write it: journaling prompts

• The last little thing I bought for myself was _____.
• The last big thing I bought was _____.
• An inherited item that I keep out or occasionally use is _____.
• Losing my _____ would be a big problem.
• An item smaller than a bread box that I use every day is _____.
• An item bigger than a bread box that I use every day is _____.
• The most cluttered area of my home is _____.
• An item that gives me comfort is _____.
• The object I’ve had longest is _____.

Source: stock.xchng / Mattox

who are they?

Think about the many people with whom you interact:

• Who are the (non-family) people in your life–the ones you’ve chosen (or who’ve chosen you) to spend time with?
• Do you have friends for different parts of your life? Work friends, neighborhood friends, mommy friends, hobby friends?
• Do you have friends you rarely see but who still figure prominently in your life?
• Who are the people are that aren’t really your friends but with whom you frequently cross paths because of work or common membership in organizations or because of their connection to others in your life?
• Who are the people who have inspired, taught or mentored you? Who are the people you’ve taught and/or mentored.
• Which of these people belong in your scrapbook?

journaling: This girl, Patty, is the one I trust . . . the one I’d want to be stranded with on a desert island -- well, that’s if either one of us actually wanted to be stranded on a desert island (we are not fans of camping -- even when allowed to bring a pillow). Why this girl? - I’ll say it again: I trust her.- She’s interesting.- She’s kind . . . really kind. - She’s smart . - She makes lists of fun things to do--(and I can tell you our kids appreciate this :p). - In many ways, we are “cut from the same cloth.” - She doesn’t whine.- She is EXCEEDINGLY capable.... and that’s just a few of the reasons this girl is one of my favorite people in this world.

how can you scrapbook these relationships?

• Tell specific stories of times together with one particular friend or one particular group of friends, especially those that illustrate what your friendship is like and what it means
• Scrap a portrait of one friend and of your friendship. Use “dash-facts” to cover a lot of ground, or journal your feelings in letter-form. (See “This Girl” above.)
• Scrap a “directory” of friends including a photo and important details about how this friend fits into your life.
• Scrap a page about yourself and what kind of a friend you are in general. What are your attitudes and behaviors around friendship? (See “Note to Self” below.)
• Scrap a history or time-line of an ongoing friendship.
• Scrap about what particular friends have “put onto your radar screen.” In other words what aspects of your current life are a result of a friendship?

priming the engine: ask yourself this

Answer these questions with NON-FAMILY members (or maybe a cousin who is like a friend—but not your immediate family). Also note – the people you list may be friends, they may be acquaintances, and they just may be people who cross your path.

• who was the last person you SAW?
• who was the last person with whom you SPOKE?
• who shows up in your dreams?
• to whom do you owe a call/letter/visit?
• who causes you to have a “deer-in-the-headlights” reaction (in other words, you want to get away from)?
• who causes you to want to make a cup of tea and settle in?
• with whom must you spend time?
• in whom do you confide?
• with whom do you keep a distant but cordial relationship?
• with whom would you choose to be stuck on a deserted island?
• who would you trust to throw your next big birthday party?
• who would you agree to help put on a community event?
• who do you wish you knew better?
• who do you wish you knew less about?
• who irritates you?
• who makes you laugh?

Based upon these answers, what are some pages you could make?

journaling: I enjoy spending time with friends -- but I’m not good at making time for it. This was a year ago January. Right now I’m a bit on the outs with Jill because of my infrequent appearances this fall -- right when I’d announced I’d be more available -- but all of a sudden Mondays are the only day she can meet and on Mondays, I need/want to work. It took me over 30 years to discover how much I like being alone -- and then once I had a family being with them. So . . . there’s only so much time to go around, and I’m stingy with it . . . but maybe I should be more generous in 08?

think about it: quotations about friends & other folk

Use these quotes as a way to think about the friends & acquaintances in your life.

• It is in the shelter of each other that the people live. -Irish Proverb
• Friendship with oneself is all-important because without it one cannot be friends with anyone else in the world. -Eleanor Roosevelt
• Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. -Kahlil Gibran
• Friendship is like money, easier made than kept. -Samuel Butler
• Live so that your friends can defend you but never have to. -Arnold Glasow
• Friendship was given by nature to be an assistant to virtue, not a companion to vice. -Cicero
• It takes a long time to grow an old friend. -John Leonard
• What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other? -George Eliot
• It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” – Oscar Wilde
• One who knows how to show and to accept kindness will be a friend better than any possession. –Sophocles
• Some people are electrifying, they light up a room when they leave. -Yiddish Proverb
• Friendship consists in forgetting what one gives, and remembering what one receives. -Alexandre Dumas
• I always like to know everything about my new friends, and nothing about my old ones. -Oscar Wilde
• Where a blood relation sobs, an intimate friend should choke up, a distant acquaintance should sigh, a stranger should merely fumble sympathetically with his handkerchief. –Mark Twain
• Sad people dislike the happy, and the happy the sad; the quick thinking the sedate, and the careless the busy and industrious. -Horace
• Some people can stay longer in an hour than others can in a week. -William Dean Howells
• Grief can take care of itself, but to get the full value of joy you must have somebody to divide it with. -Mark Twain
• I wonder if we are all wrong about each other, if we are just composing unwritten novels about the people we meet?
  –Rebecca West

write it: journaling prompts

• When I get good news, I always like to tell ____ first.
• My first best friend was _____ and I picked her/him OR she/he picked me. (circle one).
• When I’m at the grocery store and see _____ I usually go down another aisle quickly.
• When I first met _____ she/he was the last person I ever expected to become so fond of.
• I may be a little too dependent on _____.
• The friend I’m most likely to disappoint is _____.
• My friends and I most often get together at _____.
• The friend I talk to on the phone most is _____.

This is number 7 in an 11-part series full of ideas for making scrapbook pages about yourself.

consider yourself: work

Without labor nothing prospers.  -Sophocles

It could be paid employment, personal gardening, home keeping, raising children, volunteering or any number of things, but almost every one of us does some work. For many of us work is a central part of our lives and even our identity. Why not get it in your scrapbook? As soon as you begin scrapping your work, others around you will probably have a new respect for all that you do that they’d never suspected.

approaches for scrapbooking work

While the following are written in the language of “jobs” and “employment” you can apply any of them to other work you do — whether it’s being a parent or a volunteer or keeping a home or creating a garden.

• Create a layout that is an overview of the many types of work you’ve done and/or jobs you’ve had. You could use a time-line or resume format.
• Convey the sense of one occupation or work on a layout.
• Use “dash facts” or bulleted items to cover lots of topics in a limited space.
  -tell about what you do, your job title
  -List boss, coworkers, employees
  -note hours and relevant details about the daily schedule or routine
  -include address, commute route, lunch destinations
  -add details like pay, cost of commute, raise history
• Scrap a page that’s a “day-in-the-life” at work.
• Use a day-planner format to note what you did hour-by-hour on one particular day. Trust that the essence of the job will come through via this detailed example.
• Scrapbook a specific project, accomplishment, or task. Include journaling and/or photos that reveal:
  -what the task was
  -the “before” situation
  -how you did the work, including approach, what went well, what was a problem
  -the end result
  -your feelings about your work on this project.
• Scrap about the importance of work in your life.
• Scrapbook your work done at home:
  -what is your approach to house work?
  -what do you see as your main responsibilities? what are your priorities with regard to housework?
  -what is the work that no one realizes you do?
  -what are the extras you do (are you an especially good cook, party thrower, taxi driver)? 

  
  

  
  

Beginning with three photos from a business trip, I started digging for more to put on the page -- and to trigger memories. I found a version of my resume on my hard drive, the negatives from my company head-shot in a box of really old photos, and then I looked around the web for a logo since this company is no longer in existence under this name. The biggest memory trigger turned out to be these aerial shots of where I worked and my commute route from Google Street Maps.

priming the engine: ask yourself this about work.

Give quick answers to the following and then jot down ideas for pages. If an item doesn’t seem relevant or even interesting, skip it.

• first job I ever held
• shortest job I ever held
• longest job I ever held
• hardest job I ever did
• easiest job I ever did
• work I wish would go away
• work I can’t get enough of
• work I never expected to do
• work I dream of one day doing
• pages about work I could do

think about it: quotations on work

• God sells us all things at the price of labor.  -Leonardo da Vinci
• Nothing got without pains but an ill name and long nails.  -Scottish Proverb
• We are closer to the ants than to the butterflies.  Very few people can endure much leisure.  -Gerald Brenan
• Without labor nothing prospers.  -Sophocles
• What we really want to do is what we are really meant to do. When we do what we are meant to do, money comes to us, doors open for us, we feel useful, and the work we do feels like play to us.” –Julia Cameron
• Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life stifles and dies.” –Albert Camus
• The harder I work the more I live.” –George Bernard Shaw
• Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.” -James Allen
• Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, those who work hard and play hard –Colin Powell
• If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves. –Lane Kirkland
• I’m a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. –Thomas Jefferson
• Monday is a lame way to spend 1/7 of your life.  -Author Unknown
• If you have a job without any aggravations, you don’t have a job.  -Malcolm S. Forbes
• I’ve met a few people in my time who were enthusiastic about hard work.  And it was just my luck that all of them happened to be men I was working for at the time.  -Bill Gold
• Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.  -Confucius
• More men are killed by overwork than the importance of this world justifies.  -Rudyard Kipling
• By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.  -Robert Frost
• When I go into the garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health that I discover that I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands. –Ralph Waldo Emerson

write it: journaling prompts

Complete these prompts for a current job and/or one in your past.

• The first person I speak to when I get to work is _____.
• My commute to work entails ______.
• I’d really love my work if it weren’t for _____.
• The item I use most in my work is _____.
• I got this job by _____.
• On my lunch break I _____.
• I’ve personalized my workspace with _____.
• One of the perks of my job is _____.
• My favorite part of my work is _____.
• It’s hard to explain this part of my work to others: _____.
• I worry about _____ at work.
• My favorite person at work is _____.
• I’m especially good at this aspect of my work: _____.

consider yourself: you and family

In this session we’re talking about scrapping YOU and family. On other pages you can present the stories of your family members, but here, take some time to think about your role in your family (or even families). Think about the following as you develop your pages.

source: stock.xchng / vancity192

• what is family for you?

Do you have multiple families? Extended and nuclear? Step-families? In-laws? Friends who have become a family? What role does family play in your life? How much does it demand of you and what does it give to you.

• who are you within your family?

Don’t think so much about how you have mother as about how you are a mother, daughter (or son). Think about your position/role. Make a list of all the different family positions you hold (sibling, grandchild, aunt . . .) and consider what these positions mean to you. How have they affected you and how have you affected family members. You can use the chart on page 3 to brainstorm about this topic.

When I see myself in these photos with you boys, it’s always a bit of a surprise. It’s a moment when I say: oh, yeah! I *am* a mom. And the three of us look pretty happy. And, oh, sheesh! am I doing a good job? Have I been taking things seriously enough? What I mean is that while I’ve thought of myself as the diaper changer, the caretaker, the facilitator of all that has to happen to get us where we’re going minute by minute, I don’t consciously think: I am the mother and this a great honor and responsibility and this is how I’m going to do my mothering. In fact, tucked in around my daily mother-work, are thoughts of my own activities, a desire to sneak off to my office and create for a while. It seems that while I’m daily being a mother, I haven’t actually taken “mother” on as an identity the way I have many of my other pursuits and occupations. Is that because I never expected to be a stay-at-home mom? Whatever the reason, these photos make me realize that I am indeed a mom and I want to be daily more conscious of that and embrace that as my identity. Right now. Before I miss another day of thinking of myself this way. journaling: 03/08

• what is/was the culture of your family/families?

Consider the following quote:

We know one another’s faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar. We  have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws. -Rose Macaulay

Here are a few things to think about in defining the culture of your “tribe.”

• —what do you call things? what  do you call each other? what are frequent expressions and sayings in your home?
• —what role does work play in your family? what are the attitudes around it? how much time does it consume and what are both its benefits and detriments?
• —what do you do for play in your family? and how often and well do you play?
• —how does your family celebrate holidays and other events? which holiday and events are most important?
• —what role do faith and religion play in your family? and how did your family’s relationship with faith come about?
• —how is money a factor in your family? how is it regarded? how hard is it to come by? what are your behaviors around spending and giving and what emotions are connected to money?
• —what is your family’s social life? do non-family members play a major part in your family’s life?

priming the engine:  ask yourself this

• list all of the ways you are a family member (i.e., sister, daughter, mother . . .)
• pick one way; write it at the top of a piece of paper; free associate for 1 minute
• what are some layouts you could do?

{repeat for other ways you are a family member}

Fill out this chart to generate topics to scrapbook and write about as well as title ideas. Open printable chart/pdf of “You and Family” chart.

think about it: quotations on family

• Our siblings push buttons that cast us in roles we felt sure we had let go of long ago – the baby, the peacekeeper, the caretaker, the avoider…. It doesn’t seem to matter how much time has elapsed or how far we’ve traveled. -Jane Mersky Leder
• There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.  -Chinese Proverb
• All fathers are invisible in daytime; daytime is ruled by mothers and fathers come out at night. Darkness brings home fathers, with their real, unspeakable power. There is more to fathers than meets the eye. – Margaret Atwood
• Some mothers are kissing mothers and some are scolding mothers, but it is love just the same, and most mothers kiss and scold together.  -Pearl S. Buck
• “My father was an amazing man. The older I got, the smarter he got.” – Mark Twain
• We know one another’s faults, virtues, catastrophes, mortifications, triumphs, rivalries, desires, and how long we can each hang by our hands to a bar. We have been banded together under pack codes and tribal laws. -Rose Macaulay
• If you don’t believe in ghosts, you’ve never been to a family reunion.  -Ashleigh Brilliant
• The family.  We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.  -Erma Bombeck
• The great advantage of living in a large family is that early lesson of life’s essential unfairness.  -Nancy Mitford
• “The great gift of family life is to be intimately acquainted with people you might never even introduce yourself to, had life not done it for you.” -Kendall Hailey
• Family faces are magic mirrors.  Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.  -Gail Lumet Buckley
• Govern a family as you would cook a small fish – very gently. –Chinese Proverb
• A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on. – Carl Sandburg
• “A man travels the world over in search of what he needs, and returns home to find it.” – George Moore
• “A child tells in the street what its father and mother say at home.” -The Talmud
• It’s not only children who grow.  Parents do too.  As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours.  I can’t tell my children to reach for the sun.  All I can do is reach for it, myself.  -Joyce Maynard
• Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.  -Robert Fulghum
• There are two lasting bequests we can give our children.  One is roots.  The other is wings.  -Hodding Carter, Jr.
• Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.  -Oscar Wilde
• The moment a child is born, the mother is also born.  She never existed before.  The woman existed, but the mother, never.  A mother is something absolutely new.  -Rajneesh
• Sweater, n.:  garment worn by child when its mother is feeling chilly.  -Ambrose Bierce
• “Making the decision to have a child-it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” -Elizabeth Stone

write it: journaling prompts

My sibling(s) and I always thought it was hilarious to _____.

It was always so embarrassing when my (mom/dad/brother/sister . . . ) would _____.

The hardest part about being a (insert family role) is _____.

My family eats dinner _____.

Being a _____(insert family role) is something I’m still learning how to do.

I’m known as the _____ one in the family.

The first person I’d talk to at a family reunion is _____.

My siblings think it’s amusing to annoy me by talking about _____.

The trait I’m most surprised by in (insert child) is _____ because she/he sure didn’t get that from me.

The thing I do like about my (mom/dad) that I never thought I would is_____.

When I see myself in these photos with you boys, it’s always a bit of a surprise. It’s a moment when I say: oh, yeah! I *am* a mom. And the three of us look pretty happy. And, oh, sheesh! am I doing a good job? Have I been taking things seriously enough? What I mean is that while I’ve thought of myself as the diaper changer, the caretaker, the facilitator of all that has to happen to get us where we’re going minute by minute, I don’t consciously think: I am the mother and this a great honor and responsibility and this is how I’m going to do my mothering. In fact, tucked in around my daily mother-work, are thoughts of my own activities, a desire to sneak off to my office and create for a while. It seems that while I’m daily being a mother, I haven’t actually taken “mother” on as an identity the way I have many of my other pursuits and occupations. Is that because I never expected to be a stay-at-home mom? Whatever the reason, these photos make me realize that I am indeed a mom and I want to be daily more conscious of that and embrace that as my identity. Right now. Before I miss another day of thinking of myself this way. journaling: 03/08

photo by stock.xchng / harrykeely

by Debbie Hodge

consider yourself: personal milestones & accomplishments

A part of personal growth is passing milestones and accomplishing goals. Milestones are markers of growth and development that are to be expected (i.e., losing a tooth, getting to vote, turning 30 . . .) while accomplishments are related to achieving a goal through effort or talent or shear perseverance (i.e., learning to ride a bike, earning a sports trophy, getting a desired job, building a house . . .).

recalling milestones & accomplishments

• If you have photos albums from throughout your life, look through them.
• Documents, albums, and memorabilia from your past are another good source: yearbooks will remind you of organized activities you participated in; report cards performance appraisals from work, and old resumes are also great memory joggers.
• Ask family, friends, and partners who have lived with you, worked beside you, and played beside you at different periods in your life what they remember you achieving, what they have admired about you through the years, what about you has surprised them.
• Make a time line with every five years of your life marked. First fill in expected milestones, then jot in whatever comes to mind at approximately the right spot on the time line. Precision isn’t required. The chart on page 3 of this class is another good framework for recalling your growth and accomplishments over time.

scrapbooking milestones & accomplishments

Don’t let the lack of photos keep you from scrapbooking what you’ve accomplished. Scrap with no photos or use a photo representative of the accomplishment. This could be something from the era, the place associated with what you’ve done, an item that represents the work, or something else relevant.

You can scrap a collection of your accomplishments or you can focus on one subject.

Be sure to include important details that only you know:

• how did the pursuit of the accomplishment come about?
• what were the challenges and barriers to your success?
• who was beside you?
• what were the joys of the work and the final result?
• how was your accomplishment marked or celebrated?

priming the engine: ask yourself this

Here’s a chart of things you record about yourself at different ages to get ideas for milestones and accomplishments to scrapbook. You can open a pdf to print by clicking here: Scrap Your Story Priming Your Engine Chart.

think about it: quotations on milestones, growth, & achievement

• You’ve got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.” – Irish Saying
• George Washington as a boy was ignorant of the commonest accomplishments of youth – he could not even lie. -Mark Twain
• To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.  – Anatole France
• The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall. -Vince  Lombardi
• A person needs at intervals to separate from family and companions and go to new places. One must go without familiars in order to be open to influences, to change. – Katharine Butler Hathaway
• Achievement is largely the product of steadily raising one’s levels of aspiration and expectation. -Jack Nicklaus
• Growth itself contains the germ of happiness.” – Pearl S Buck
• Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement. – C. S. Lewis
• Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future – John F. Kennedy
• It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. -Franklin D. Roosevelt
• I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often. -Brian Tracy
• The future has a way of arriving unannounced. – George Will
• “If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting happiness achieved.” – Maurice Chevalier
• Just Do It. – Nike
• Persistence is to the character of man what carbon is to steel.
• -Napoleon Hill-
• The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. – Arnold Toynbee
• The intelligent man is one who has successfully fulfilled many accomplishments, and is yet willing to learn more. -Ed Parker
• I’m very pleased with each advancing year. It stems back to when I was forty. I was a bit upset about reaching that milestone, but an older friend consoled me. ‘Don’t complain about growing old – many, people do not have that privilege.’ – Chief Justice Earl Warren

After years of being a successful, highly-praised student & employee, I decided to take on the challenge of writing fiction. I’d moved to NH with a boyfriend getting his MBA. I had a job in Information Technology at the electric utility, but still I had no friends or other activities. With time on my hands, I took a variety of adult-ed classes. This one clicked. More than clicked. • I loved learning about writing and working on my stories. I made my first friends in NH -friends I still have 20 years later. We immersed ourselves. I immersed myself. I mean: how hard could this be? I was smart. I could do anything I tried and do it better than many. • Throughout my two years as an MBA student, I still wrote. I was the valedictorian of my MBA class -- but I couldn‘t get a short story published--until that day, while I was at the Bennington Writers’ Workshop for two weeks in the summer--when I called Neil and he told me I had an envelope from the literary journal Amelia -- not one of those envelopes that I’d addressed to myself, but one *they’d* addressed to me. The story was “Your First Persian,” a funny-sad short-short written in 2nd person. I published a few more stories in small literary journals over the years. I studied with C Michael Curtis in a workshop out of his Mass. home. I went away with friends on writing weeks. • When Joshua was born I started writing a novel which I worked on for several years. Neighbors would say: “Did you ever finish that novel?” I wrote 4/5ths of the 1st draft & have the whole thing outlined. It’s “under my bed” right now. Really it’s in a box in my office, but under my bed sounds more romantic. • Succeeding at this creative endeavor was out of my reach in a way logical, objective work had never been. I was missing some spark, some ability (or even willingness) to do the “inner clenching” (that’s from Doris Lessing) it took. That’s my explanation anyway. Really I don’t totally understand it. Or maybe I don’t want to, because I do think there will come a day that I will open that box with my novel-in-progress and just maybe give it another go.