Scrapropos

Really. Sit down and think about that for a minute.

Why do you scrap? Why do you WANT to scrap?
Is it the creative outlet? Is it because you’re documenting your life for your children?
Is it that you’re trying to preserve family history before it’s all forgotten?
Maybe you’re satisfying the compliment beast that lives inside of you, and you scrap for compliments?
Perhaps you scrap for other people because you love giving meaningful gifts?
Do you scrap for others because they PAY you?

I gotta admit, I’ve scrapped for all of those reasons.
I love the creative outlet. When I go without it, I get cranky. Truly. It’s like a drug that I must have.
I want my children’s childhood documented. I want them to know the stories.
I want my past written down. I want future generations to know me.
I’m a compliment hound, I’ll admit it. I love when people ooh and ahh over my pages.
I do love to give scrap-related gifts. The reaction is always over-the-top, and I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.
And of course, I scrap because people pay me to do so.

Sometimes I let that get in the way. This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend an annual scrapbooking retreat with some of the best scrapping buds on earth. One of them asked, “Why are you behind on your albums?” I replied, “Because I don’t pay myself enough.”

Isn’t that pathetic? There have been numerous retreats when I’ve actually taken client photos with me because I needed the paycheck. I hated working on those albums each time, because scrap retreats are supposed to be about rejuvinating ME.

But this weekend, even though I desperately need a paycheck, and even though I have a new client job to start, I took my own photos. And I scrapped. FOR ME.

I didn’t scrap for my kids. I didn’t scrap for posterity. I didn’t even scrap for compliments. (Indeed, I haven’t even posted my layouts online yet. UNHEARD of for me. I usually post them as soon as the ink’s dry!)

I scrapped for me.
It was rejuvenating.
Invigorating.
I scrapped out of order. I allowed myself to save the journaling for later. I mixed colors and used blurry photos and broke all kinds of rules. But I did it for me. ME.

I dare you to do the same. Go scrap something for you.
You have some lime green paper you love, but no photos to match it?
Who cares. USE IT.
Is there a story that just doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but it makes you laugh?
SCRAP IT.

Scrap for you this week. I DARE YOU.
Then come back and link me. I wanna see what you did.
There’s a prize in it for you!