If Moms Scrapbook, What do Dads Do?

Posted on 03/28/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 39 of 86 in the series Scrapworthy Lives Results

Here’s another post from my dissertation.

If mothers do motherhood through scrapbooking, do fathers also do fatherhood by their very absence from scrapbooking? What I find is that fathers support their scrapbooking wives in a variety of ways.

Fathers do fatherhood in scrapbooking primarily by taking care of the children so that their wives can scrapbook. Even digital scrapbooking, which only requires a computer, requires children to be otherwise occupied. Respondents who are mothers of younger children almost always mention how they scrapbook only when their husbands can take over their children’s bedtime rituals or can take the children out of the house for the day so she can scrapbook.

In the scrapbooks themselves, women who are making albums about their children do fatherhood for their husbands. In journaling about fathers and their children, scrapbookers might talk about how much “daddy loves his little girl” or how much the child loves her or his daddy (even when the child is an infant and cannot yet verbally express this love).

Motherhood may be done through actually making the scrapbooks, but fatherhood can be done through displaying and sharing the scrapbooks. Husbands occasionally take the scrapbooks their wives make to work to share with coworkers, for instance.

The scrapbook also makes up for the time fathers spend away from the family. Husbands who work long hours away from home are appreciative of their wife’s scrapbooking because it allows them to get to know their children better and become more informed about what they miss while they were at work.

If you are a parent, what role do fathers play in your scrapbooking? Join the conversation below.

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Stephanie

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Treat Your Scrapbook Supplies Like Your Wardrobe

Posted on 03/26/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 7 of 7 in the series Fashion!

In 2012, I started a regular feature that  includes a layout illustrating a fashion trend from the September 2011 issue of Vogue. Since then, I’ve cut way back on posting, but today I have a special treat for you! Today, Sara from 1200 Some Miles is guest posting today! I’ll turn it over to Sara:

I have enjoyed Stephanie’s Fashion! series. I have found another way that fashion relates to scrapbooking. Building your collection of supplies can be similar to building your wardrobe! Here is what I’ve learned:

It is important to invest in some quality “basics.” For me, that includes cardstock and tools. These items are the foundation of my collection, similar to a good pair of black pants. I retired my first paper trimmer for a better one since I use a paper trimmer on every project. I keep a variety of colors of smooth cardstock for stamping and textured cardstock for layouts.

It is fun to buy a few trendy items, but I do not have to follow all the trends. I enjoy watching all of the new products come out at CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) shows, but I only pick a few of my favorites to purchase. Similar to fashion, there have been some trends that just do not work for me.  Sometimes I am slow to adopt a trend, such as misting.  Currently, I love all of the chevron patterns.

I should only buy items that I love. I like bargain shopping, but I do not like clutter. If I do not love a piece of clothing or a pair of shoes, it just sits in my closet. I have bought some scrapbook supplies on sale that sat in my stash for a long time. I realized that I mainly purchased them because of the low price.

It is good to review your collection of supplies and purge as necessary a couple of times a year. I go through and donate clothes we no longer wear to local charities a couple of times a year. The same works for scrapbook supplies. I have donated extra supplies to organizations that make Life Books for foster youth, to a YWCA, and to various charity drives. I feel good about donating items that I am not using.  Our recent move to a new state was extra motivation to evaluate my collection of supplies.

Similar to my fashion, I tend to create in a clean and simple style.  Sometimes I like to try new products and techniques, but I often stick to the basics.

For this layout, I started with one of my favorite basics, Kraft cardstock.  I added some new papers from the Lawn Fawn’s Bright Side collection.  (I wanted to add more chevron papers, but they did not work well with this layout.)  Finally, I accessorized with some ribbon from Queen & Co. and a button from My Mind’s Eye.

Do you treat your fashion wardrobe and scrapbook supplies similarly? Comment below or join the conversation on facebook or twitter.

Sara Grafton has been scrapbooking since 2005 and stamping since 2008.  She blogs about papercrafts, her family, and exploring her new state at 1200 Some Miles.

Related Posts:

Fashion!: Lace

Fashion!: Men’s Classic Bow Ties

Fashion!: Triangles

Fashion!: Using Glitter on a Scrapbook Layout

Fashion!: Bright Primary Colors

Fashion!

Check out my Pinterest boards, including a board devoted to fashion trends.

Stephanie

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March Take Twelve

Posted on 03/17/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Month three of Take 12 is going well. I’m looking forward to a month where I have absolutely nothing planned on the 12th of the month, which looks like might happen in May. If you haven’t joined in yet, why don’t you give it a try April 12?

This month was a Monday and a work day. I realized at the end of the day that I took no photos of my husband. I suppose that is because I really wanted to focus on me and what I did that day. I only took a couple of photos of my daughter this time as well. Here the focus was on things about her that directly impacted me (like getting the call from her school that she had a fever as soon as I got out of class). I realized that I took no photos directly related to teaching. I only had one class and worked on my online classes. I think I didn’t want to risk doing anything that would violate my students’ privacy so I took no photos related to teaching.

Right now I am really focused on journal writing (not journal like scrapbookers think, but journal like academics think) and have been reading a lot of sociologically-focused books lately (which explains why I just finished up a book on quilting and am reading a book about meth before bedtime). I wanted to highlight my career-focused work this time around. I’ve rarely scrapbooked anything work-related before so this is new.

 

The photo at the top is a self-portrait and the photo of me near the bottom was taken by my three-year-old. She’s getting quite handy with the iPhone camera.

I’m having fun using Instagram. This time I opted to just use the Black & White filter. I wanted to be able to use any background papers this time, so B&W made that super-easy. I have learned that I prefer doing my Take Twelve layouts on a single page so I print out all my photos in 2×2 on two 5×7 sheets. Yes, it is a bit more costly, but the time-savings is worth it to me.

This is a bit closer-up on the journaling:

This time around I did not use the The Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit. Next month, I plan to use one of their prompts and take photos around the prompt.

Thanks for stopping by. If you get a chance, go check out the rest of the Take Twelve Team’s designs:

Like the Car
Nihao, Cupcake!
Janette Carter-Kincaid
Scrap Inspired
Scrappy Wife, Happy Life
Day by Day
Right Here-Right Now
The Scrapbooking Haven Diva
Scrapworthy Lives
People of the Scrapbook
My Little Blessings
Life is Sweet
A Swoop and a Dart
Endless Possibilities
Yeah, Write
Scrapworthy Lives is on Twitter. Are you? Follow scrapworthy on Twitter.

Stephanie

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Invisible Motherhood

Posted on 03/14/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 38 of 86 in the series Scrapworthy Lives Results

Here’s another post from my dissertation.

I was pregnant for the first and only time while conducting my interviews for my dissertation. Scratch that. I was visibly pregnant while conducting my interviews. I was not (and still am not) an aunt. I point this out, because motherhood was a very recent notion in my life while conducting my research. I was already a scrapbooker. Most of my scrapbooking friends were child-free women. My scrapbooking world was a bit different from the stereotypical image of a scrapbooker: a pregnant woman documenting her pregnancy (or the fetus which seems to be the more often case) or a pregnant woman preparing a baby album or a new mom attempting to deal with an influx of baby photos. I think you get the idea. Motherhood is related to scrapbooking. This surprises no one.

What was surprising to me, was how motherhood is deeply entwined with scrapbooking, yet motherhood is rendered invisible in scrapbooks. Scrapbooks might serve as evidence of sort regarding “good motherhood,” but the mother behind the scrapbook is rarely seen.

This invisible motherhood came to light when I was shown a scrapbook from a mother that was made a s gift for the children’s grandma. The children were four or five at the time–too young to have created the scrapbook themselves, yet there was absolutely no evidence that their mother was the scrapbook creator. The title of the book was “For Grandma” even though the children did not make the album; their mother did. The status of grandmother superseded the status of mother and her work is  made invisible by making the gift come from her children despite the fact she made the album.

I’m not sure why this surprised me so much because, mothers are usually behind the camera[1] instead of in front of the camera, too. Many respondents, however, make an effort to have others take photographs so that their picture can also be in the scrapbook.

Many scrapbooks may be a site where women do motherhood, but that motherhood is often made invisible in the scrapbook itself.

If you are a scrapbooker and a mother (or a father), how visible is your parental status in your scrapbooks? How do you get your image included in the scrapbook? Join the conversation below.

[1] Holland (1991) argues in our culture, snapshooting is classified as a domestic skill and something women can do, unlike becoming a professional photographer (e.g., fashion photographer, photojournalist).

Reference

Holland, Patricia. 1991. “Introduction: History, Memory and the Family Album.” Pp.1-14 in Family Snaps: The Meanings of Domestic Photography, edited by J. Spence and P. Holland. London, Great Britain: Virago Press.

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Stephanie

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Why Scrapbook

Posted on 03/07/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 37 of 86 in the series Scrapworthy Lives Results

Every other Wednesday, I write a post from my dissertation.

There are contradictory messages among scrapbookers and scrapbook industry workers. Today, I will address two of these messages.

The first message is that scrapbooks are created for the family. Care should be taken to use archival products so that the scrapbook will last for generations. Industry workers reinforce the notion that the finished scrapbook will belong to the scrapbooker’s child(ren) one day. They remind customers that their children are not going to care if every page is a work of art, but what their children will care about is that the scrapbook is completed in the first place. By deemphasizing artistry, scrapbooking becomes something attainable to anyone regardless of artistic or creative ability. In other words, industry workers emphasize that there is no excuse not to create a scrapbook for your family. This message deemphasizes that scrapbooking is for the individual scrapbooker rather than for the family. As I’ve discussed elsewhere (and I’m sure will discuss again), scrapbooking is a process for the scrapbooker even when the subject is the family.

The second message is the scrapbook(s) will eventually belong to the children of the household. This raises problems for mothers with more than one child. Do you then make multiple copies of every scrapbook layout so that each child has a copy? Do you make multiple scrapbooks (i.e., a version for the family and a version for each child)?

Though the decision to make one version or multiple versions of the scrapbook may be more based on how much time a scrapbooker has, it does raise important sociological points about how memory works. The decision to make albums of children separate from albums of the family is illustrative of how an individual has memories that are independent of the family’s collective memory. Creating albums for individual children separate from albums about the family emphasizes the individuality of the child as distinct from the collective family unit. Moreover, industry workers caution scrapbookers to focus on family albums rather than trying to create an album for each child. This way they are less likely to become overwhelmed and leave the hobby or not begin the hobby in the first place. By focusing on family albums, this has the potential reduce a mothers own individuality. We see a reassertion of a mother’s own individuality within the scrapbook industry, too, whenever we see albums “all about me.”

What’s most important to remember is that the reasons one person scrapbooks are most likely the same reasons other people scrapbook. At the same time, there are many reasons why people scrapbook. There are many reasons why mothers scrapbook. 

Why do you scrapbook? If you think about leaving your scrapbooks to future generations, who will get your scrapbooks? Why? Join the conversation below.

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Stephanie

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Why do Moms Scrapbook?

Posted on 03/01/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 36 of 86 in the series Scrapworthy Lives Results

Here’s another post from my dissertation.

It should surprise no one that pregnant women and new moms (and not-so-new moms) take up scrapbooking in larger numbers than child-free women or dads. The question is why. Why do moms scrapbook? It doesn’t seem sensible to take up a new hobby at the same time a person is becoming a new parent.

Scrapbooking, however, is a different type of hobby. Other researchers have studied women’s participation in hobbies such as dog sports (Gillespie et al. 2002) and whitewater kayaking (Bartram 2001). These hobbies force women to choose between their hobby and their family on many occasions. Scrapbooking is a hobby that allows women to remain fully committed to both their family and their hobby. One common strategy for mothers who wish to scrapbook is to do so once her children are asleep. Other hobbies are not so accommodating. For example, dog sports require care of the dogs on a daily basis and the competitions take place on weekends while children are awake. Women’s participation in hobbies has involved disregarding traditional gender roles within the family (Gillespie et al. 2002; Raisborough 1999) or suspending leisure activities while children are dependent (Bialeschki 1994). Among my respondents, neither is true.

Many of my respondents are not only mothers, but mothers of infants and pre-school aged children who require full-time care. These women are not suspending their leisure activities while their children are dependent. Scrapbooking can be done in the home while children sleep, allowing women to do both their hobby and motherhood during the same period of time. 

I did ask my respondents what their children did while they scrapbooked. Many either had dad entertain the children or waited until their children were asleep to scrapbook. If you are a mom and a scrapbooker, how do you find time to scrapbook with children? For me it has depended on my daughter’s age. A year ago (when she was two), she needed to be entertained by someone else or asleep. Now that she is three, she wants to participate. She sits on a stool and watches (and makes suggestions) me scrapbook. I’ve set-up a little desk for her next to my scrap-space and she sometimes uses that to make art, too. I think I am going to have buy her own scrapbook supplies. She likes to use my paper trimmer and uses it often enough that she really needs her own. She also needs a container of scrapbook supplies that she can search while working. She has an art-stash in another part of the house, but I really need to giver her a scrapbook-art-stash in the scrap-space because she recently started making some of her own scrapbook pages. Sometimes she will play in her room (which is right around the corner from my scrap-space).

References

Bartram, Sherry A. 2001. “Serious Leisure Careers Among Whitewater Kayakers: A Feminist Perspective.” World Leisure 43(2):4-11.

Bialeschki, M. Deborah. 1994. “Re-entering Leisure: Transition Within the Role of Motherhood.” Journal of Leisure Research 26(1):57-74.

Gillespie, Dair L., Ann Leffler, and Elinor Lerner. 2002. “If it Weren‟t for My Hobby, I’d Have a Life: Dog Sports, Serious Leisure, and Boundary Negotiations.” Leisure Studies 21(3&4):285-304.

Raisborough, Jayne. 1999. “Research Note: The Concept of Serious Leisure and Women’s Experiences of the Sea Cadet Corps.” Leisure Studies 18(1):67-71.
Join the conversation below.

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Stephanie

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A Letter to My Readers

Posted on 02/27/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Hello everyone,

Last week I took a much needed blogging vacation. I’m back but there will be a few changes at least in the short term. I will continue to publish small bits from my doctoral research (which is why this website was created). I will occasionally check-in with my minimalist scrapbooking project. Books & Blogs and Fashion! will be on break until May or June. I will continue to participate in Take Twelve.

This blog is not the only thing I do. I also teach. I also do research. I also write for a sociologically-focused blog. (And of course, I have a family.)

I am working on a book proposal based on my doctoral research. I am working on several peer-reviewed publications based on that research, too. Basically, I need to refocus on my writing that furthers my career goals. All the writing that I do that does not further my career goals has to be reduced at least in the short-term. Once I reach my summer break, I hope to come back to more of my other writing.

What can you expect from me over the next few months? One to two posts each week and a renewed focus on my study on scrapbookers. Occasional posts from my other blog series, design teams, blog hops, and so on. Right now, my email newsletter is published twice a month and will be cut back to once a month to reflect this reduction in posts.

I’m not going anywhere. You just won’t see quite so much of me for now.

Best,
Stephanie

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Vacation

Posted on 02/20/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

I should have taken a week-long blogging break in December, but pushed on. I have declared this week my blogging-vacation. I’ll be back next week! In the meantime, feel free to explore the archives.

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February’s Take Twelve

Posted on 02/18/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 4 of 10 in the series Take Twelve

I am glad I am sticking with using my iPhone and Instagram for my Take Twelve photos. I don’t think I’d be able to keep this up without doing that. Just like last month, I’m using a sketch from The Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit to get me started.

Here’s my layout for February:



A couple of close-ups:





See that red paper for my photostrips? It’s actually a really ugly brick pattern paper. It works perfect for this because the ugly pattern is pretty well covered up!



And my daughter wanted to pose next to the layout:



Check out everyone else’s Take Twelve layouts for February:

Like the Car
Nihao, Cupcake!
Janette Carter-Kincaid
Scrap Inspired
Scrappy Wife, Happy Life
Day by Day
Right Here-Right Now
The Scrapbooking Haven Diva
Scrapworthy Lives
People of the Scrapbook
My Little Blessings
Life is Sweet
A Swoop and a Dart
Endless Possibilities
Yeah, Write

Scrapworthy Lives is on Twitter. Are you? Follow scrapworthy on Twitter.
Stephanie

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This Week on Scrapworthy Lives: February 18, 2012

Posted on 02/18/2012 by Stephanie Medley-Rath
This entry is part 45 of 47 in the series This Week on Scrapworthy Lives

Each Saturday, I provide a compilation of links from the week’s posts.

This Week:

Five Ways to support Scrapworthy Lives:

  1. Get a free copy of The Scrapworthy Lives Guide to Minimalist Scrapbooking and a sneak peak at The Scrapworthy Lives Guide to Market Research by subscribing to the Scrapworthy Lives newsletter.
  2. Subscribe by RSS.
  3. Connect with Scrapworthy Lives on Google+.
  4. Become a fan of Scrapworthy Lives on Facebook.
  5. Follow scrapworthy on Twitter.
  6. Buy my new e-book, The Scrapworthy Lives Guide to Market Research.

Stephanie
 

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