examining one's life via the art of scrapbooking
I am an avid reader. Presently this habit is growing in the amount of pages I read daily. I am fueled by what I read, mostly self improvement genre books with the occasional thriller/espionage novel (thank you Daniel Silva) thrown in there.
The new year started off with Rebekah Lyons book, Rhythms of Renewal. As she unpacks how to trade stress and anxiety for a life of purpose, she purposefully challenges the reader to rise to the occasion and respond by way of writing reflections to each of her chapters and insights.
This is me doing just that. Starting with chapter one, Take Inventory, I am doing just that. By way of reflecting and journaling AND scrapbooking, I want to make my way through this book responding to each chapter in a very visual way: scrapbooking.
You may know that at the time of this writing I am involved in a couple of scrapbook design times, one of which is the Paige Evans + Silhouette Design Team. That gig ends this month, but this is what I want you to know: with the best of my ability I craft pages for these teams with as much authenticity as I can. This page is a great example. As I went to crafting this layout with Paige's cut files and her very own Truly Grateful Collection, the topic of this page opened up to me as an opportunity to take this medium and to journal a book venture.
As I worked on the layout, and this selfie came to my mind, I knew I wanted to dive deeper into this process of telling my story. But to begin, I knew I needed to take inventory of my life right now. Just as the book challenges, I needed to ask the questions like What's Right? What's Wrong? What's Confused? What's Missing? "It's never too late to re-establish what you want your life to be about." And I am taking that pretty seriously.
As I stumbled upon this Epoxy Phrase Sticker (thank you very much, Paige) it really settled the direction of this next 'ME' album. I would take each chapter of Rythyms of Renewal. I would 'scrap' the chapter. I would actually work through the questions the author provided to bring the book to an actual and intentional guide for some life work.
As I wrote on Paige's blog for this post, I intended to place that journaling right here in this pocket. But obviously, that wasn't going to work. Forging ahead with this single page layout, I decided I would use a second page (probably not full 12x12-inches) to hold the response to the chapter questions.
I love how this is coming together already.
I love this medium of telling our story via scrapbook pages. Face it, I'm a nerd for paper and pretty things...and my love for photography continues to grow. I love that I can honestly work through some critical perspective via this conduit. And just maybe you too will be inspired to do the same.
Tell your story. No one else will.
You can find Rebekah's book, Rhythms of Renewal, right HERE. If you click through and purchase I get a very small kick back from your response. Honestly, that affirms this blog and these articles I am crafting for you, this wonderful community.
Resources used for this post include:
See all Paige Evans Cut Files right HERE.
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