I'm considering giving up SB - I'm so Behind!!!

[scrappyhappy08]

I think scrapbooking #1 is about you...What you enjoy doing...like someone else said it's not a job...it's supposed to be fun unless it is your job KWIM?? Don't let all the pics get you down....I don't print out every pic but the ones I do I keep in a photo album so they are accessible...I think everyone is behind....If you truly love it don't give it up.!!!

[okanogangirl]

I would encourage you not to give up. I'd suggest getting all the pictures you have now in traditional albums. Don't try to get caught up on your scrappin', just go from today forward. Before you have pictures printed, pick out the best. Then go through those and pick out the best of the best. If you need to, do it another time. I have to do that because I could easily print 500 pictures a month.

I don't scrap chronologically. I try to write the dates on my pages if it's necessary, but I scrap pics by what mood I'm in. If I really don't feel like doin CMas, then I don't, I find something to scrap that tickles my fancy.

Another idea, CM has some really nice albums for the people who don't feel creative enough or have enough time that you can put all your pics in the sleeves but also buy the mats to journal on and even mat some of your pics. There is also room for title bars. I bet if you wanted to invest in those, you could get caught up real fast and still be able to put your personal touch on it.

Again, I'd suggest not gettting caught up, just making it your resolve to go from this day forward! Good Luck!

By the way, when your kids are older and time has flown by, you'll appreciate that you didn't throw in the towel.

[daisydo]

Maybe try putting all your pictures in regular albums, reserving a few of the ones that call to you to scrap. That way you feel like you have accomplished organizing your pictures, and don't feel BEHIND and yet..can take them out to scrap when the medium calls to you.

Besides, think of scrapping this way. You never want to be caught up. It's the process you love, and you hope to be scrappin' when you are 90.

Hang in there..

[craftyscrapr]

hey there, from NC.....
DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!.....i have not done many layouts the past few yrs, but
lots and lots of cards...i don't know anyone who is "caught up" with their scrapbooking...just do a page a week to get started....start w/ a favorite picture...look on here for ideas, if you are having a scrappers block....but, don't give up!!!!!........

[scrapatrick]

I just wanted to share my situation with you. I have been scrapbooking for several years now. When I started I was not married and had no kids. My Mom enjoyed looking at the things that I created so much that she has now taken on scrapbooking. Obviously she has several (28 to be exact) years of photos from my childhood and growing up. (Not to mention my sister's 31 years.) Like I told her, I would much rather have a couple pages with your thoughts and sentiments written down that a whole album of pictures to look through. The pictures to me are not as important as the stories that she has to go with them. She has done some very basic pages just to get the pictures in, but then took the time to tell me about them. This means more to me than any big detailed scrapbook. I just want to always remember what she has told me about my past!

[scraphappymom]

I know exactly how you feel. I was behind when I started scrapping and have never caught up ...when I feel like it's pointless to scrap the thousands of pictures I take each year...I take a break and just paper craft. I make cards, journals, alter anything that doesn't move...it eases the guilt of the major $$ invested because I'm using my scrap stash and it gives me a fresh start to tackle the mountain of pictures again.

Oh and I NEVER scrap chronologically...just grab a stack of pictures...scrap whatever jumps out at ya.

HTH

Keep crafting

[inspired ~P~]

This is probably the same thing everybody else has been saying, but...

Scrapbooking should be fun...not stressful. If you never get all of your pictures scrapbooked--so what! If you end up having 800 scrapbooks--so what! We shouldn't stress over scrapbooking. Any little tidbit we can leave in our books is appreciated (even if it is not everything we could have included). Some is better than none. But if you are really not enjoying it anymore--take a break. Don't scrapbook for awhile--maybe keep looking at mags, etc. Soon you will be inspired and remember why you started scrapbooking in the first place...you just need to be rejuvenated.

[noel joy]

i agree with the you don't have to scrap every picture/event idea. the very first "real" scrapbook i made was of my oldest daughter. i scrapped every picture i took of her the first two months after she was born. wow! i felt as though i'd never be able to keep up, and i wouldn't be able to if i was trying to! i have two girls now 5 & 7 and have taken literally tens of thousands of pictures. i would not trade a single picture or memory, but i also don't feel like i have to get every single one on paper. that was so freeing.

i think about it like this... i get together fairly often with my grandma. she tells me stories about when she was young, or about my dad as a kid. some of her stories are written down, some aren't. and there are millions of memories that i know i've never heard the stories for. but i treasure the ones i do have, and enjoy each one. and i'm glad she's shared them with me over the years. the idea that it's better to not tell any than to just pick and choose some would be a very sad choice here.

i hope you can find the joy you used to have. and i think we've all had those kind of days.

{{{hugs}}}

[Miss*Onigur]

I was like you, "behind" many years! My neighbor and I got together and spent a weekend sorting pix. We only kept what we were going to scrap. I got over the "chronological order" a long time ago! I'll group pix together of the "like event", ie: birthdays, Christmas, etc. I am a very "anal perfectionist" then it stop becoming fun!
My suggestion, find a friend who has never SB before, start w/the basics, enjoy yourselfs, laugh at old pix, place them on a page and viola' it'll come together! I have a "Family" album, 1 for my Dd and Ds and that's it! I started doing mini albums w/chipboard, and believe me, my DD snubbed her nose, but when she saw the "finished" product, she loved it and hated admitting it! It was a "Dance" book!

TAke a break, come back w/fresh eyes and imagination and DON'T STRESS!