Brooding as a Process

My Simple Scrapper Finishing Day project was to continue work on my Mom Trips album.  It was a pocket page album, but it had been a struggle to make the photos fit into the page protectors and fill the pages.  The first two trips were done, but I was decidedly unhappy about the album.  It was to be a document of the adventures I have with my friends, but my desire to work on the project was very low.

On Finishing Day, rather than picking up my project to start on the next trip, I just stood there, flipping through the pages.  I had already decided I was going to abandon the pocket page format for the rest of the album.  Pocket pages had lost their allure. 

I wanted to pitch everything, and just start fresh.  I also didn’t want to repeat the work from the two trips.  Usually if I have an “off” page in an album, I just leave it as is.  If the story is told, it’s good enough.

I decided not to work on the project, and instead just sit and brood.  Pout.  Question my ability to scrapbook.   I’d get up periodically, flip through the pages, then sit down and brood some more. 

The third time I got up, I had a better idea of what was wrong: I really hated the title and introduction pages.  The pages were a wall of journaling cards and photos.  Going further into the album, I had some pages that worked well in the pocket page format, others looked just as off as the title and introduction pages.  

This time, when I sat down to brood, I fell asleep.  After a nice nap, then went back to the album, and started tearing apart the pages I didn’t like.  I made a pile for each page.  Next, I went to my paper stash, and started pulling out 12 x 12 papers I might want to use. 

I thought about my audience; I was the primary audience and my kids might be a secondary audience.  I didn’t need to build up a detailed story for each page, just memories and funny things that happened because the book was just for me.

I went to the title page stack and purged about half of what I had, keeping my audience in mind.  I did the same for the introduction stack.  I grabbed some 12 x 12 paper and started working on the layouts for each page.  In about an hour, I had re-completed both pages, and decided they were good enough.

I went back to the next page’s stack, and decided what I wanted to say.  I purged the stack, grabbed some paper, and rummaged for embellishments.  A little trimming, some re-writing, and I had another page done.  I had found a groove.

There were four pocket pages that I kept intact, and I move pictures around in four more pockets, consolidating them to two pages.  I made one more 12 x 12 layout, and the first trip was finished.  The pages fit together, even the mix of pocket pages and 12 x 12 layouts.  It was a relief to see it all together in the album.

I had initially felt like I was wasting my Finishing Day time, just sitting around feeling bad about the project.  I needed the time to sit and think and brood.  I think I was also mourning the state the project had been in, and that pocket pages really don’t make me happy at all.  I had to process that taking things apart would be an investment in my project, not a step backwards.  I liked the outcome and felt much better about the project.

I’m looking forward to working on the refresh of trip two this weekend.  I’ll follow the process I used for trip one:  page evaluation, deconstruction, purge, and reconstruction.  I don’t think I’ll need as much brooding time.