Each Monday, I discuss my Scrap Happy project based on Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun.
The last aspect of Buying Some Happiness (see part one, two, and three), is Giving Something Up. I am unwilling to give up scrapbooking and am pretty sure that would do the direct opposite of maintaining my happiness, but I am willing to make it easier to integrate it into my life, thereby maintaining happiness. I’ve already talked a lot about minimalist scrapbooking and how limiting my scrapbooking purchases is making me feel happy. But, that’s not all I’ve done. I scrapbooked my last vacation in a very different way. I usually make an album like this:
The New York City Album
The first page, which was actually completed last.
I went to New York City in 2007 and finished the album in 2011. Yes, I finished my dissertation, had a baby, moved across the country, started a new job, and started this blog in-between, but it still took me about 3.5 years to get it finished. I love the album, but just do not want trip albums to take so long anymore.
Our next trip was a shorter trip to visit my sister. I made a digital scrapbook from that trip.
I finished it in about two weeks. Now, keep in mind I had a Storybook coupon that was going to expire on December 31 and we took the trip about two weeks before that date. I was highly motivated to get the album done, but more importantly, to get the coupon used.
On my last trip, we went to California. I ended up making a scrapbook on the road (I really need to think of a better shorthand way to describe this type of scrapbook) and a photobook. I’m done with both and the trip was in May. Giving up the goal of making a 12×12 album of a vacation is liberating. All my stories have been told in these two albums. Since I made a photobook, I printed two copies. Yes, I had two coupons to use, but I figured this was an easy way for my daughter to have one of these photobooks, too. Regardless, now if someone asks to see the pictures from the trip I can do that. People quit asking to see the photos from New York because the album took so long to complete. I can honestly say, I am happy with the finished products and am happy they are finished. I would use this method again in a heartbeat.
What is something you would like to give up as it relates to scrapbooking? Do you think it will make you happier? Comment below or join the conversation on facebook or twitter.
If you want to read more about The Happiness Project or my Scrap Happy Project, check out the other posts in the Scrap Happy series.
Are you doing a happiness project? Are you doing a scrap happy project? What’s stopping you? Join me today!
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Stephanie
Stephanie Medley-Rath is a sociologist and scrapbooker who studies scrapbooking and memory keeping. Scrapworthy Lives is a blog focused on her sociological analysis of scrapbooking, with a sprinkling of posts about Stephanie's own scrapbooking projects.
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