Bits & Pieces: Me A to Z

I have been thinking about the process of scrapbooking. I've never really considered anything but the actual "page assembly" as "scrapbooking" before. Now, I am beginning to embrace stages, or "little bits and pieces" of scrapbooking, as detailed in my "on my desk right now" post.


I am still trying to complete my album from Cathy's Me: The Abridged Version class that ended September 31st. It is a LOT of journaling and therefore a lot of work. Not something I can sit down and whip out on thirty minutes. Add to that picking out two pictures to go with each letter's journaling and we have a serious time commitment on hand.


Gone are the days when I could come from work and sit for 5 hours, uninterrupted, at my craft table. I have been taking more responsibilities on (preparing healthy meals, moving my butt, home improvement projects, etc) and find it's really cut into my scrapbooking time. At first, I thought that meant I couldn't scrapbook at all. I was quite used to sitting down and creating a page from start to finish. For a few months, I just decided if I didn't have enough time to complete it, I wasn't even going to start on it.


Thankfully, I got over that hang up and have begun embracing the process of scrapbooking in "bits and pieces." A little bit here, a little bit there. It's a result of having several classes that need to be completed and several big projects going on at once. Let's be realistic. Unless you are "my super exgirlfriend" (fun little movie, by the way) there is no way you can complete a 28 page album with apx. 300 words and 2 pictures per page in one evening. That's 218,400 words people! Crazy!


Actually, no, it's not crazy. It's really neat that I am now a little over 50% done with the project. In the past, I would have given up and the album would have sat unfinished for who knows how long, possibly even forever?! The success and confidence of this project is because I set small goals for myself. Tonight, I will journal 2 letters. Another, 2 more. On the weekend, print, trim and adhere them to the pages. Next week, spend an evening picking out photos to go with the letters. Another night, print them out and add to pages. Repeat this whole process and finish up the album.


How cool will it be to finally have a completed album from a class and not care that it didn't happen in the time alloted for the class (which was only 30 days)! I am looking forward to using this to continue to balance my scrapbook work load as I have to finish up this Me: A to Z album, work on Ali Edward's Yesterday and Today projects, get ready for my photography class next month and also get reading to be even more of a blogger with Shimelle's class on scrapbook blogging. Stay tuned, things could get interesting!