in archives, one of my favorite things to look through are the scrapbooks. though they’re a real pain to preserve, there’s just something so nice about getting to thumb through the pages of a carefully crafted scrapbook. it’s the element of collage, i think, the mixture of textures and colors, the tape and glue, the unweildiness of the pasted-together pages. more than looking through a photograph album, or a journal, flipping through a scrapbook makes you feel just a little bit closer to the maker.
the trouble is, scrapbooks take an awfully long time to make, and though i often keep the little bits of ephemera that could ostensibly fill one, they quickly begin to feel more like a burden than anything else.
but my sister cait has come up with a perfect compromise. we’re both still very much attached to our leather-bound daily calendars, relying on our hand-written reminders to ourselves for anything from dinner dates to work assignments. a few years ago, cait started pasting her little bits and scraps right into the pages of her book. she adds ticket stubs and receipts and postcards as the days pass, having, at the end of the year, a lovely little collection of how she spent her days.
this year, i plan to make a miniature scrapbook of my own. nothing too crazy, just little reminders of how i spend my days. how about you guys? any scrap-bookers out there?
p.s. i’ll be spending the next two weeks in brooklyn with my sister, so posts might be both sister and new york-centric. my apologies in advance:)
22 Comments
I don't scrap book, but I do draw on my desk calendar. I try to fill in the squares with things I did that day. It's a fun way to get my creativeness flowing without the pressure of a full blown drawing project. I posted it somewhere on my blog, I think in early November?
My sketchbooks are like my version of scrapbooks…
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I used to do this with my diary when I was a teenager, and the rare times that I go through those books again, I'm transported back to all the bus trips I took downtown, all the concerts I attended, and all the special things I bought with my baby-sitting money. It's a great way to preserve memories! I love the idea of using a daily calendar.
Great idea! I have been looking for a planner just like that one. Any suggestions on where to pick one up?
wow where did you find those bound calendars!? i am both a calendar and scrapbook junkie, so i absolutely love that idea š
i'm partial to moleskin calendars. cait likes to shake things up each year, and for 2010 she has a brand new rhodia! xo.
i'm a terrible scrapbooker, journal keeper. thank god for blogs and flickr and i mean thank GOD!
enjoy brooklyn and happy new year!
i wish i could scrap book but im so lazy lol id rather just write it down on a blog
I LOVE this post!! I love scrapbooks!
I don't scrapbook but I have boxes of things that have appeared on my bulletin boards through out the years. I love to looks back at items that I thought were so inspiring.
Fun idea!
What a perfect idea! Thank you for the inspiration. Why not just tape my bits and bobs into my journals? Easy peasy, right? Done. Thank you.
i'm in nyc for the next two weeks too.
we should get some tea and catch up!
xx.
Ha!! I do this, too. Some day ye shall find mine, chockful o' tiny particulars and ephemera. Lately, the last several years, I 've been using bound-in-Maine Gallery Leathers, capturing some of/all of what makes me tick. Scary, hunh? xoxo
I feel like scrapbooks are overwhelming to create, too, but this is such a wonderful alternative!
i love this idea. i am quite attached to my leather planner as well, and i love the thought of keeping a track of small things that make my days memorable.
i am soooooo doing this, erin! happy new year to you, i hope 2010 brings lots of loveliness to your life. x
I love this idea. I think I might do it for 2010 š Thanks for the inspiration!
Brilliant Cait…I keep all my old date books and all those little scraps I keep meaning to paste somewhere. Yay!
i have sketch books that i write ideas in, trips and add stuff too.
I also do family books. scrap books for family members with photos and items of them.
I used to journal obsessively for years but don't anymore! I love this idea and I am going to implement it this year! Thanks for posting it!!
Genius! I was a dedicated scrapbooker until I got behind in, oh, 2005. Now it seems too late to catch up, which is sad because I loved flipping through them.
Luckily I'm also dedicated to my paper planner and I just bought the most beautiful one for this year and it will be perfect for this type of thing.
i am new to your blog and i love your style. what you wrote about scrapbooks mirrors my own thoughts and frustrations exactly! i love this idea. i sort of do this in my journal, which is now so stuffed with bits and pieces of memories that it is falling apart. i want to buy myself a little daybook like this and paste things in it. why is that such a satisfying activity!?
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