Scrap.b.o.s.ing
(My craft workspace, in the corner of the nursery.)
I seem to have developed a fixation for scrapbooking lately, or more particularly scrapbooking my Book of Shadows (for my non-Pagan readers that is a book that I keep all my spiritual research, essays and notes in, it is not a book for me, but a D-ring binder.)
I have always loved scrapbooking but it was a hobby I swore I would never get into because of the apparent staggering cost scrapbooking can reach. I was in Joanns today and some papers sell for $5 a piece! (Considering I only had $7 to spend, that paper was out of the question, no matter how glorious it was.) Not to mention the cost of all the cool types of stamps, scissors, punches, stickers, embellishments galore which, well, are enough to make this crafter drool and frugally cringe at the same time.
Luckily I have superhuman powers of restraint (or I am just an anally frugal b…witch) and only spent $6.59. I bought a #2 x-acto knife (using a 40% off coupon), a 3/4″ stencil brush, and a 4-pack of stencil blanks (these are plastic sheets you use to make your own stencils.) Now I can make some border stencils for my Book of Shadows pages! Yay, scrapbooking!
But, wait! What about my aforementioned promise to myself about not scrapbooking?!
All the pages in it were so… plain…
Random typed up bits, some handwritten stuff, some torn out pages from magazines and newspapers, all stuffed in sheet protectors in no particular order. Unlike the cover, the guts of my binder did not reflect who I was (yes I am trying to justify the scrapbooking urge here.) I riffled through the pages in despair looking for something that could redeem me when I found a page with an Ojibway poem that I had decorated. I put that in the front of the binder. Beyond that though, there was nothing, just blah pages, so uninspiring I could hardly read them. (Can you tell that I am one of those people who like picture books?)
Instead of wallowing in self-despair (at least after pulling myself out of a couple good hours of it) I decided I rewrite the page about Bealtaine. I got some of the pretty paper from my craft closet (yes, I did end up finishing organizing it) and embellish it with a balsamroot arrowleaf flower I created out of some other pretty paper. That page went in second. I was on a mission now, no doubt sent to me straight from the Goddess.
Poking through My “bits and ends” drawer I then found stickers! These led me to redoing a couple more pages. Scrounging in the drawer some more I found some flower borders I had designed and transfered them to some more pretty paper and redid some gardening pages. Then I found myself up late at night in bed designing a Celtic knot border and redoing the Apple page. Then I…
You can see where this is going right? I found myself unwittingly scrapbooking. It didn’t occur to me till yesterday that is was in fact what I was doing, which made me pause and consider my vow before discarding it. The reason for my vow to not scrapbook was now moot as I have discovered, quite by accident, that it was not a high cost hobby when you do it all yourself (and having an expansive bits and ends drawer helps.) In fact, the way I was approaching it required no money down (until I took my $7 to Joanns today at least. And I can deal with the occasional purchase.)
Ultimately doing it almost all myself is infinitely more rewarding anyhow. I like scrapbooking, it is something completely for me and not dictated by customer deadlines.
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Your designs are so beautiful Jaspy! I think scrapbooking would be a wondering hobby for you just because you’re so creative and really it doesn’t have to cost that much at all.
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June 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Your artistic streak really shines on a project like this. And I’m not at all surprised you showed such restraint in keeping to your budget. You have more backbone in that regards than most people I know. I agree with you though, the personal touch to your grimoire is far better than some store bought design etc. The more personal you make it, the better it is. Do you have to be so organized though??? Ah, the kid may change that though.
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June 3rd, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Mexico Nana (soon to be great-nana.
Your Great Grandmother Devins was an avid scrap-booker. Aunt Ruth has all her books - many trip scrapbooks, Christmas scrapbook, family history scrapbook, scrapbook of famous artists and on and on. They are wonderful treasures to hand down through the years. She had sturdy covers that lasted through the years but the insides were full of cutout pictures, quotes etc. Hope you can see them sometime.
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June 3rd, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Your great grandma Devins was an avid scrap-booker. Aunt Ruth has all of them now. Scrapbook for Christmas, many trips, family history, birds, famous artists and on and on. They have sturdy commercial covers but inside is a wealth of cut-out pictures, quotes, poems even some family stories. I still love seeing them. Hope you can see them some time as well. Your cousin Damara will have her first baby, a girl, about July 5.
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June 4th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I’m doing a book and I guess some may call it book of shadow, scrapbook, a journal or about me.
I have two which I will give to my sons and they can learn and be able to share to others about me.
I’ve ask others to sent a page to mind and mine is only a 3 ring binder.
Plus I copy off my blog.
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