Thinking ...

So obviously it's been forever since I last had a post up here. Life has been hectic. But let's face it, even if I didn't have any activities or children or chores to distract me, I would still say life is hectic.

As far as scrapping goes, I have done a few things here and there. No layouts, though there is one in progress on my table right now. I have made several last minute cards that I didn't even have time to photograph. I even made some Disneyland autograph books which came out really cute but alas, no photos. Because why ... last minute, of course!

So why did I title this post "Thinking ..."? Well, that's what I have been doing over the past month and a half. Thinking about lots of things related to this blog. Perhaps it would help if I gave a little bit of background.

I started this blog at the request of a local scrapbook store. I was on the design team and in an effort to help with getting the word out about the store, as well as to provide inspiration to customers, I started Scrap Happens. Do you get my play on words there? If not, it's supposed to be like S*#t Happens. And that it does. Unfortunately, my local scrapbook store fell to hard economic times. But I liked having a blog. I liked the idea of a little extra pressure to do some scrapping so that I would have some content to post here. And I so I kept it going. Trying hard to post my crafty creations.

But soon, that pressure I liked the idea of so much in the beginning, became a burden. And I found my creative mojo fading. I think this has to do with a lot of things. I used to thrive in the late night hours. Waiting all day for my family to fall asleep so I could go into my craft room guilt free. Now, when the kids and husband are asleep, I find the couch calling my name. The craft room is too quiet. My computer in there too slow. I have nothing that is inspiring me to scrap. I don't feel like getting all of the stuff out. It's too messy. You get the point. And therefore the blog fell by the wayside. Because after all, it's called Scrap Happens and if I am not scrapping, I shouldn't be posting anything.

And then the Paperclipping Roundtable entered my world. I have posted about it here before. Basically it's a free weekly podcast where people who work within the scrapbooking industry get together and talk about various subjects pertaining to scrapbooking. They have the two regular hosts and then have a variety of recurring guests which include Ali Edwards, Stacy Julian, Anna Cabrerra, and Angie Lucas of Ella Publishing. To add to the fun, they have special guest spots which have been filled with people like Stephanie Howell (my all time fav scrapper), Kelly Purkey, Shimelle Laine, to name a few. Seriously, you should check it out. You can find it on iTunes and download it to your iPod or iPhone. Not to mention listening to it from your computer. Anyways ... I started listening and began to feel myself get inspired about scrapbooking again. But not the same kind of inspiration I had before. I was now and am now inspired to share/tell my stories through scrapbooking. Yeah, scrapping a birthday party or event will be fun from time to time, but if it's not telling a story about something I wish to remember or document for the future, more than likely, it's not going to see any game time.

Now enter the problem of remembering the stories I want to share long enough to actually get them scrapped. Unfortunately, my memory is terrible. I know it's because I rush rush rush through life all the time, and don't slow down to really let something special sink in.

To make a long long long story a little shorter, this is where my blog comes into play. I am no longer going to adhere to the rule that any post I make needs to be scrapbooking or craft related. I am not a "celebrity" in this industry and would be shocked if there are more than 5 people who pop in here from time to time. So my guess is this change is not going to make a lick of difference to anyone, but I felt the need to post something about the new direction I am going to take.

This blog will now be a journal of sorts about me and my family's life. A place to document things I wish to remember. A tool for me to use when I do find some time to scrap - where I can come back and look at past posts and think, "Oh yeah, I remember that. Remember feeling that."

So there you have it. Scrap Happens is taking a new direction. (ha! that makes me think of Glee) I will still certainly post scrapbook pages I complete up here. But hopefully you'll see more things about my day to day life. It is MY blog after all right?