What is Your Scrapbooking Style?

The deeper I dive into the world of scrapbooking, the more I am convinced that there are three types of drivers on Memory Lane: the straight shooters, the scenic pathfinders, and the rest stoppers. And if you read on, you just may find out which lane you are traveling in.

The Straight Shooters
These people don’t mess around. They start at point A and get to point B as quickly and efficiently as possible. A Straight Shooter driver picks the quickest route and does not stop until she gets there, even if she has to hook up a catheter to avoid the bathroom breaks.

Now take this same attitude and transfer it to the world of scrapbooking, and you have a woman who knows what she wants and puts it together as quickly and efficiently as possible. The pictures may not be the most artsy ones in the lot, and the design could use a bit of tweaking here and there, but they are caught up, thank you very much.

Her biggest fear is not that her scrapbooks will look inferior but that she will lag behind. It’s a fast world, and there’s a pile of stuff going on. Everything must be documented and recorded ... or else.

Traffic warning: There’s no minimum speed posted on Memory Lane, and life is a journey, not a race. What’s the point in scrapbooking if you’re not going to enjoy living (and reliving) the moments? Slow down. No one is going to give you a ticket for lagging behind (as long as you’re having a good time doing it).

The Scenic Pathfinders
These drivers always take the prettiest pathway, and they are well equipped for the journey. They are the scrappers supreme! They will spend an entire day on one single page, cropping the perfect borders, using gorgeous type, and incorporating stunning embellishments for that cherry on top. They have a font to match every photo and a few that they are storing for a special occasion.

A trip to the local craft store is like a walk through heaven. They dream of perfect photos, quotable quotes, and neat little scrapbooks all in a row. Their children will probably have to go through therapy later in life from all of the photo sessions, but at least they’ll have some great pictures to show their therapists. When it comes to scrapbooking, these women rule the road.

Traffic warning: You are the stellar driver! How could you get a traffic warning when you own the highway? This is your true art form, so as long as you are enjoying what you’re doing, keep on truckin’. Just don’t flaunt the albums too much around your friends. You may cause a bit of travel sickness.

The Rest Stoppers
These women pack for the trip, but they just can’t seem to get into gear. As a matter of fact, sometimes their engines won’t even get started. She carries your camera, she takes the pictures, but something happens on the road between picking up the photos and putting them in the albums. They just never seem to make it there.

She loves taking pictures of her family and loves making memories. It’s just the “storing” part of it that’s the real bugger. And it never fails – she takes one look at that pile of photos and gets a wave of the “bad mama blues.” She feels like she’s so behind that there would be no possible way of ever catching up, so why even pull out of the rest stop?

Traffic warning: As far as the guilt goes, fuhgettaboutit! You are making memories to build a life, not to make you feel guilty. Don’t feel threatened by that overwhelming stack of photos. The first thing you need to do is make it look less threatening. Stick them all in file folders that are organized by month and year – now at least you know what you’re working with. Keep building the memories. You have the rest of your life to record them.