Being human, most scrapbookers are not caught up to date on their scrapbooking and probably have years worth of pictures to attend to. So what happens when you sit down to scrapbook and you are faced with something you would like to forget? Perhaps its a situation that was unpleasant, or perhaps it is a situation that is less than a happy memory – examples would be divorce, a marriage that didn’t work, ex boyfriends and girlfriends, really any subject that might be sensitive.
It was extremely difficult for me to sit down and scrapbook my wedding to my ex-husband. Obviously by the title I have given him, there is no reason for me to enjoy that process, it’s over. However, I did it and I did it with a smile. We have two children together, so it was important for me to include this time of my life with them.
So I did the best thing I could, and scrapbooked the event in the past tense. This allowed me to present my current feelings mixed with how I was feeling at the time. I titled the page “Once It Was Wonderful”. I included all the important photographs a single two page layout, I did not spend a lot of time on embellishing, and spent the majority of the space on journaling and small text boxes. I included some song lyrics that played quite often in my mind through the years of my marriage and explained why I chose those lyrics.
I also told the story to the children through my own words. I told them that once upon a time in a fairytale world, we think everything is perfect, especially when we are young. I also told them of my feelings at the time which were that I was scared that we were not making the right choice for us. It was too soon, and I wanted to convey that to my children. I ended the whole thing with the hardest part – to tell them that I do still care for their dad, and I feel that this was important to let them know.
There are many distressing events in our lives that might otherwise be confusing and awful for the parties involved. Think about all the major issues of the world, abuse, child abandonment, and so many other items that might be easier explained through the words on a scrapbook page. While I am sure I could have included hidden journaling on my scrapbook layout, I chose to lay my feelings out there so my children would be reminded of why their dad and I married in the first place.
You have heard of me talk about therapeutic scrapbooking several times, and scrapbooking these events can honestly give you the closure or the closer look at the situation that you need to understand what went wrong.
Good luck scrapbooking all that lives hands you, even the lemons.
Nicole Humphrey writes articles for the Scrapbooking Blog and for the Frugal Blog. She also guest blogs on a variety of topics. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
Related Articles:
Back to the Basics – Hidden Journaling
A Touching Moment With Scrapbook In Hand
My Scrapbooking Mess: A Personal Saga