Friday, January 25, 2013

LOAD 213 Hop Happier :-)

 
 
Does this remind you of yourself?  Even just a little? If it does, you need LOAD213.


Does this remind you of your family?  If so, you need LOAD213.

 
  If you are here for the blog hop, then you have probably already signed up.  If not, what are you waiting for? Enrollment is limited and there are only a few spots left!

 I am so excited...and so not prepared!  Now if you have read my PreLOAD posts before, (if not, check them out here, here and here) you are probably thinking: When are you ever prepared for LOAD?  And it is true I rarely put much effort into preparing.  For me, the joy of LOAD is going with the flow. I look at the prompt and it gives me an idea and I scrap it...no prep needed.  After all, goodness knows I have plenty of supplies!  The most I usually do is:
 1. Stock up on photo paper, ink and adhesive and
 2.  Clean my desk...
      I have plenty of adhesive. I bought ink cartridges today and I will likely never run out of photo paper.  My desk (at least the top of it) is clean... so what is the problem?  I can barely get to my desk!  And right now I have had such a busy couple weeks that I'm not sure when I will get it cleaned up.  But do you know what?

IT DOESN'T MATTER!!!

Clean room, messy room, old supplies or new ones...LOAD will be worth it! I will get so many stories told!

LOAD has changed my life.  And not just my scrapbooking life, my WHOLE life. Here are a few things I have learned from LOAD:

1) Done is better than perfect.
                  I tend to be the kind of perfectionist who doesn't like to start something unless I think it can be done perfectly...(no wonder I have a messy house!)  So  I am trying to embrace this in many different aspects of life. Like learning Nepali...Who would ever have thought that I would be able to converse with people from the other side of the world in their language?  (Certainly not my High School French teacher).  But I can and even though I can't speak perfectly, I can usually make myself understood to some degree.  And they are so appreciative. 

2) Color makes me happy.
                  Before LOAD I did not realize just how much difference a little color can make.

3) Scrap Therapy Works!
                 When I tell a painful story on a scrapbook layout, it is somehow easier to let go of the pain.  I used to do nothing but cry when I looked at pictures of my late husband, now the happy memories come through and I can smile and sometimes even laugh at his old jokes and the silly things he used to do. And the happy memories are stronger than the painful ones.  Here is a therapy LO I did during LOAD 1012:
A DreamDream Poem-1

 I love it so much.  It brings back all the joy of my wedding and honeymoon...And even though I will always miss him, I can be happy remembering.

3) Worry is counterproductive:
            Worry fixes nothing.  It only makes things worse!  In that spirit, I no longer worry about forgetting the little things that my DS or nephew said or did...because they have been captured.  I no longer worry about how little my son will know about his father...because the stories are in my scrapbooks.  And when life is overwhelming and I wonder if it is worth the work I put into it, I remember that things have been worse...and progress is being made.  If I need proof...it's on my bookshelf.  And even if some of our stories are missing, that just means there are more layouts to make!

4) There is no behind in scrapbooking! Or LOAD.
             We all take way more photos than we can possibly scrapbook in a lifetime! If we were to be "Caught up" there would be no memories to scrapbook, no more stories to tell. To me that would be a tragedy!  I need never worry that I will run out of things to scrapbook. After all I am continually making new memories...aren't you?   Also,  Lain's prompts always, always, Always, remind me of an idea or a story that hasn't been told.

5) Life happens only one day at a time. 
           So if I mess up today, I can do better tomorrow.  If I miss today's page, there is always tomorrow. So what if the vacuum gets a little dusty and some dishes pile up in the sink.  So what if the laundry hamper overflows... It will all  still be there tomorrow.   What is important is we are making and preserving memories.  It will all be worth it, whether we make 1 Layout or 28.


And in LOAD 213 we are going to learn to Scrap Happier and Be Happier...who doesn't need that?!

So Come on, Scrap Happier with us!!!



I would love to hear about how LOAD has changed your life...so leave me a comment, or better still, make a layout about it in February and share it in the Flickr Gallery.


And now back to the hop...here is the entire list:



Julie Shepler: www.sheplerfamily.com
Marcia Fortunato: mfortunato.blogspot.com
Kristie Sloan: http://kristiesloan.com/blog/
Katrina Forman: http://k84mansramblings.blogspot.com You Are Here!
Jessica Baldwin: www.inkyaddict.com Go Here Next! 
Cheryl McCain: http://cherylmccainphotography.com 
 Thanks for hopping over to see me.  I can't wait to see what Lain has in store to help us all Scrap Happier!!!  See you in the gallery!  Now go Visit Jessica Here and leave her some love too!

15 comments:

  1. Love your lessons learned from LOAD! Done is better than perfect has sort of become my motto for everything!

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  2. I like your attitude! I was completely unprepared for LOAD212 and managed to learn a lot, have fun, AND complete over 29 layouts. I just listened to the prompt and let THEM inspire my mind as to what to scrap. I think LOAD is so inspiring that you can sign up on 1/31 and start in on 2/1 and have a rockin' good time!

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  3. It sounds like we scrap in a very similar way, Katrina. While I'd love to be all prepared, I mostly just fly by the seat of my pants! At a minimum, I'd like to clean up my space, but if not, I'll just push things aside and start scrapping! So excited to scrap with you this month.

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  4. Katrina, I sooo identify with your post! I'm kind of that scrap by the seat of my pants kind of gal! I so want to "grow up" and be more prepared and organized! But alas, I am who I am, and I just scrap with it! :)

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  5. I love your cartoons that you posted and I am really looking forward to Load I know that I will do better if I at least have an idea of what pictures I would like to work on during load so i am going to get those ready. Looking forward to getting to know you better as well.

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  6. Oh, I remember when you posted that layout - I cried...
    I'm most looking forward to getting back together with all my scrap buddies - like YOU! See you next week, gf :~)

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  7. I just absolutely love your perspective and honesty! And you're so right about it being a life changer.. who would've thunk?!

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  8. Scrapping really is therapy and in more ways than one! Love your take on the hop! So glad I'll be seeing you in LOAD!

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  9. Scrap therapy - heck yes! I remember your beautiful layout. You made me laugh, you made me sad and you made me want to keep on scrappin' - just like what LOAD does! Looking forward to seeing more pages!

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  10. Thank you for sharing your personal story about scrapping. I totally agree that having the memories captured is so important, and you are giving your son such a gift. And your cartoons??? Hysterical.

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  11. Love your cartoons and the great reminders to keep things in perspective. Looking forward to seeing the awesome layouts starting next week!

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  12. You are sooo right Katrina - Sharing our stories and being able to start to remember the good times through our pages is so important - Loved your cartoons btw!!! Cant wait to see what you do this tine!!!

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  13. Load is definitely always worth it!

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  14. What I've learned about myself from LOAD. Hmmmm... Chill and have a sense of humor about well EVERYTHING! And Scrap, Scrap, Scrap. Can't wait to get see your layouts!

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