Thursday, June 18, 2009

My First Layout and Other Nostalgia...

I learned (or should I say re-learned) a valuable lesson this week: - Always create to satisfy your own heart. Trying to create something for someone else's approval just plain doesn't work, and it's a sure way to come up with a bad case of artist's block. This is what happened to me this past week and it's been driving me crazy. Aargh.

Artist's block is something that happens to me every so often and each time it takes me awhile to come back to the same conclusion I noted above. I'm trying too hard. Once I realize that and let go I'm free again. It's getting to the point of realization that is sometimes the hard part. Each time I get a little better at it though, so that's progress, right?

I was reflecting on all this tonight and it made me think about my first scrapbooks. I've loved keeping scrapbooks since I was a kid, and back then I never gave much thought to how they looked. I just wanted to have a place to keep my memories. I love to go back and look at them. Here's a picture of my very first page in my very first scrapbook. It was 1971...

I think it's so funny that I felt the need to keep that article from my teeny bop magazine about David Cassidy's gall bladder surgery. I think it was in "Tiger Beat." Anyone remember that magazine? HA! And on the other page is my fifth grade class photo. Here's a closeup...

I'm the one in the second row, fifth from the left, with my eyes closed. Ha. You can see it a little better if you click on the image.

The other thing I always did as a kid was keep a bulletin board with poems, doodles, magazine clippings, song lyrics and anything else that was inspiring me at the time. When I moved out I took the stuff that was on that bulletin board and put it in this box...
Now it's like a treasure box full of memories. I'm so glad I have it.

How about you? Do you have scrapbooks or other memorabilia that you kept as a kid? Where do you keep it now?

I'm inspired now. I'm off to play in my art journal. Have a wonderful Thursday my friends and I will be back tomorrow with another update!

8 comments:

Nathalie Kalbach said...

so cool you showed this!!! I love the old school photo of yours! I did keep my own scrapbooks- but I didn't know that this is called scrapbooking- LOL. I have old diarys that are full with letters and photos. funny enough I stopped writing a diary when I started scrapbooking on layouts - kind of sad sometimes.

Marit said...

I thought so, I thought so, I thought so.... we have the same age! (give or take a few months maybe) I WAS THERE MICHELLE! My Scrapbook was about the Bay City Rollers (see my post here: http://marit.marius-siroen.com/?p=874) and I have 7 scrapbooks! I too had a memoryboard, pics etc. I'll look them up and post it, it's inpiring indeed!!!)

Diane said...

Yep. I have my treasures stashed away in various places and two treasure boxes with lots of special letters, pictures etc.
I love these little memory jogs - very inspiring.

BlessedinTexas said...

How fun Michelle! I cant wait to see what you make and do today because I can hear your excitement about creating something anything today!!!

Have a fun, creative and bold day!!

Anonymous said...

That is really neat!! I loved those Teen Beat and Tiger Beat mags, especially BOP!! I never kept any of the pics but I had a big thing for NKOTB!

Sharyn said...

heee! I have this same type of pages! David Cassidy indeed! I missed that article tho!

Rita said...

I've always kept stuff and have a few old scrapbooks. I'm keeping plenty of stuff for my kids too, so they will have those memeories. I KWYM about letting go...I've been in a scrapping rut lately and I'm trying to get over it!

McMGrad89 said...

I started keeping things in albums my senior year in high school and all through college. I kept them in (gasp!) magnetic page albums. The memorabilia are for the most part permanently a part of the album. That's okay. I still love to flip through and find memories of that fun time.