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 I don't know why there is a stigma attached to scrapping a page about yourself. Why is it deemed vain or selfish? Why does any woman who scraps feel it’s a big taboo? These were the questions both Annie Hafermann and I queried during a conversation one day two weeks ago. Why is it that our beloved "other halves" admire pages about them and the kids and the pets and the occasions but when it comes to a page we may have created for ourselves they seem to "tut" and murmur "oooh, me, me, me!". Both Annie and I grumbled between us, when Annie piped up that she felt she had to get all her words down on a layout and relay her thoughts to her son because she might get run over by the number 95 tomorrow. What would her son have to remind him of his mum? Sure enough little Dean would have lots of albums already dedicated to him to leaf through and look back at the beautiful pages she had made in his honour. But thinking about it, wouldn't little Dean be wanting to know why there were no pages of his mother and how would he know what her favourite sandwich filling was or how she liked her coffee?
After that very phone call I felt enraged because I get the same treatment from friends and family. They LOVE to see pages I have created about them and ogle over my albums to see what family occasion I have recorded. There are very few layouts just about me which I have enjoyed making, but I do worry about the calls of vanity and selfishness. THIS HAS GOT TO STOP!!! We are very much the makers of memories - filling album after album so lovingly. We painstakingly record every inch and details of occasions to scrap and put blood and sweat down on that page. But isn't it time we started recognising ourselves and trying different styles of pages to suit us and not them? I think of the pages I have done about my great grandmother. I can only scrap about the hearsay and the distant memories of family members. I’m sure I’ve done the page justice but I’m also sure that my great grandmother would have given me loads of facts so true to their words had she done them herself. So now I think I’m going to scrap in my way and in my words so that the records and feelings are true. My pages now may differ from pages in 3 years time but isn’t that a good thing - recording moods and feelings and how things change?
 I did a page entitled "I am a Mother" and I uploaded to both UKS and my blog. That night I joked with another friend, Anna Bowkis that I had done a page about me. She laughed as she always does and giggled "ooh me, me, me". I know she didn't mean any harm but I said to her "Anna, have a go. It’s so liberating to do up one of your prettiest pictures and in a style that you can go crazy with". So she scraplifted the layout that very night and two hours later she came up with this . I asked how did she feel and she said she too found it liberating and so much fun. Even her unrelenting DH, a true man of honesty said he liked it. RESULT!!! So I encouraged Annie to have a go and a few more friends. Within 2 days I had my friends scrapping with their new found freedom and I was enjoying the results. So much so that I felt very "Joan of Arc" and planned a crusade to get other women - everywhere - to enjoy the ride. I initially started with a wee teaser of a prize out of my own stash but as the interest strengthened I thought I’d up the game and I contacted lots of UK sponsors to see if they would donate a prize. I was completely gob smacked with the generosity of their support with prizes pledged and coming in from as little as a pack of brads to kits to papers to ribbons to an Ellison Big Shot Die Cutter including postage for the delivery of the prize.
The profile of the challenge had reached bloggers as far as New Zealand, South Africa, California, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Germany, France, Singapore and the US as well as many UK Scrappers. The enthusiasm can be seen in the artwork so far. I’ve never "met" so many women in the space of a week and all these UK scrappers that have hidden behind their character avatars are coming to the gallery - why it is almost like a beauty pageant! What’s even more uplifting is the support I have received from American "celebrity" scrappers such as Cathy Zielske, Donna Downey, Rhonna Farrer, Tara Whitney, Ali Edwards, Wendy Smedley (Editor of Simple Scrapbooks) and Renne Pearson (Contributing Editor). They express their support to get women to do more pages about them - a legacy any family member would treasure before and after we leave this planet. So why don't you join the ride too? Show us the real you and get that BOM started - which I know you have been putting off for a good while now!  
layouts reproduced with permission of Cathy Zielske, and Rhonna Farrer For details about the campaign, visit the Scrap Yourself thread on the boards. I couldn't possibly select any particular one UKS layout to feature here as I’m so amazed by them all but do visit the gallery to see them in one beautiful place. For international contributors and daily updates about the challenge, click here. {moscomment} |
