Thursday, May 17, 2007

Knowing My Limits

Yesterday, I received a fat envelope in the mail with photos from our vacation, all ready to be preserved for posterity.

I imagine that I could be a pretty good scrapbooker. I like doing graphic design-type things, I have a penchant for pretty paper, and I can be crafty if I put my mind to it. I think I would like accumulating all of those fanciful sticker-things, hole-puncher gadgets, and acid-free pens in all colors of the rainbow. I certainly enjoy the end product.

There’s just one problem: I really hate being behind.

Maybe I’m oversimplifying, but it seems to me that scrapbooking is an exercise of endless catching up. There’s nothing you can do ahead of time because you have to see how the pictures turn out. I just couldn’t deal with that.

So, this weekend, I’m putting my photos into a regular photo album. Maybe it’s not as glamorous or whimsical as a scrapbook, but I can stay on top of the flow of pictures much more easily. Plus, I like the fact that people sit through my commentary since I don’t write convenient captions in the margins. I do, however, fire up my handy-dandy label-maker to make labels for whole events. I can’t go completely without gadgets, can I?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I think I can be pretty creative in other aspects sometimes, scrapbooking is soo not one of my hobbies and/or talents. I love making photo books on websites like Kodakgallery.com because you put it all together on the computer and then it just magically appears in the mail. Viola! You should check it out sometime and see if it might be something you would enjoy more than...scrapbooking.:-)

Janet said...

speaking as someone with 1,268 photos in my closet waiting to be dealt with, I know how you feel

L Sass said...

When I studied abroad in Paris, I collected oodles of souvenirs and photos for a scrapbook memorializing the semester.

Five years later, all that stuff is in a duffel bag at my parents' house.

Needless to say, I'm with you!

Unknown said...

What about digital scrapbooking? I don't do either, regular paper stuff of digital stuff - but I have heard people raving about how much quicker & less messy the digital stuff is, you can do dozens of pages in a day instead of spend hours agonizing about whether or not two papers match - you just change the color with a few clicks. Love your blog, btw!

xox