Need Other Ideas

[shastahun]

For what to scrap. I'm running out of "Jesse and I" pictures.

I know a lot of you girls scrap your kids, but I can't have kids naturally(DNA/chromosome issue) and will have to do IVF which we just can't afford right now. So yeah, no kid pics other than my nephews, which I have done a few pages of them as well.

Ever since I had my RE appointment telling me that bit of news, I've been so depressed. Scrapbooking helps but I'm just running out of ideas. I need help! I've been looking at old portfolio challenges but it's like I just hit a wall.

[xboxmom]

What about landscape photos or pictures of flowers etc. Or pictures of places you want to travel to, or things you want to learn like new languages, how to sew etc etc. Pages about whats hot and whats not in our life right now. Dream pages about cars, houses, boats, vacation homes etc. New jobs, old jobs. You could do a whole years worth of a scrapped diary. Call it a year in my head. Or something like that.

Sorry to hear about the DNA issues that really sucks. I hope one day you are able to have a child or adopt one if you choose....have you looked into being a foster parent? I know there are a few ladies on here that are, maybe you could get some info from them on the subject if its something you are interested in.

GL and happy scrapping.

[shastahun]

Originally Posted by xboxmom

What about landscape photos or pictures of flowers etc. Or pictures of places you want to travel to, or things you want to learn like new languages, how to sew etc etc. Pages about whats hot and whats not in our life right now. Dream pages about cars, houses, boats, vacation homes etc. New jobs, old jobs. You could do a whole years worth of a scrapped diary. Call it a year in my head. Or something like that.

Sorry to hear about the DNA issues that really sucks. I hope one day you are able to have a child or adopt one if you choose....have you looked into being a foster parent? I know there are a few ladies on here that are, maybe you could get some info from them on the subject if its something you are interested in.

GL and happy scrapping.

Thank you hon! So many awesome ideas that I never thought of doing.

We're looking into all of our options, but we're a military family so I'm not sure how much the state would like that if we were going to try to foster kids. Apparently we have to have been married for 2 years before we can start the adoption process, and that is in September so once we hit that milestone we're going to start filling out papers for adoption.

[breakingbrie]

Also, you can scrap what you're depressed about. Even photoless layouts. I know it helps quite a few of us around here to get it out and scrap about it. I've seen some really awesome photoless los in the gallery, and if it's personal and don't want to share all the journaling, you can just blur it out.

I love Kim's idea of dream pages!! I might have to do some of those myself

Some really random things to scrap - fears, pet peeves, fave tv shows/books/movies, current events, 'a day in the life' and take pics of all the little things you do/places you go, scan old photos of yourself and scrap those, about the town you live in... I haven't done layouts for these things in a while - makes me want to go scrap

[Nettio]

Well...I'm a child-free military wife too and I always feel a bit weird answering this question because the truth is that I don't really think about it too much - I just scrap my life! Since I'm not scrapbooking for kids, I do tend to view my scrapbooks more as my own personal journals/memory books so pretty much anything is fair game including places we go, stuff we do, stuff I love, random thoughts, random moments...there's a whole lot of randomness going on in my albums but I love it that way.

In a way I tend to think not having kids has been an advantage because I'm able to focus on my own story right now without having all the pressure of documenting kids who are growing up too fast. But I do understand how hard it can be to feel like you're the only person in the gallery not scrapbooking cute kid photos especially if that's something you really want to be able to do.

Anyway, you can check out my gallery here to see the types of topics I scrap.

And if you're looking for more inspiration, there's an old episode of The Digi Show podcast all about child-free scrapbooking which has some really good ideas in it too. It's free to listen! http://www.paperclipping.com/pds028-...s-in-the-sink/

HTH!

[NatalieKW]

Lists! Goals!

I'm so sorry to hear about the not getting pregnant thing. Bless you heart! :/

[jacinda]

Have you scrapped your childhood/family history yet?

Here are some great links to journalling prompts that might inspire a page or fifty :

http://storycorps.org/record-your-st...r/list/#anyone
http://scrapyourstories.com/
http://kellicrowe.typepad.com/kellic...u-want-to.html
http://www.squidoo.com/journalwritingprompts

[jessica31876]

I do layouts of my pets, landscapes, AAM pages, flowers, animals, my kids, my husband, other family members. I love the Grow With Love prompts by Crystal Livesay & Sara Gleason (hope that is ok to mention!!). They have helped me scrap a lot of stuff I would not normally have thought to scrap. There was also a blog which had prompts for AAM pages (all about me). I dont think I have it anymore though. I know the portfolio challenges had those types of prompts as well. Also you can scrap about what you are feeling. Sometimes when I am depressed I will scrap about that and what is causing it. Helps me release some of those feelings

[jacinda]

Send a huge list of journalling questions to your parents or grandparents, then create an album for them of their childhood/life. I did this for my Nana, and it's a keepsake my children will cherish when she's gone. No-one would have known HALF the stuff about her if I hadn't asked. I now have my own parents answering questions, and will make albums of them when they're done.

[Nettio]

Some other suggestions if you haven't checked them out before...

The Digi Dares blog has a lot of awesome prompts which aren't usually kidelated: http://www.digidares.com/

And if you want something more structured, Log Your Memory has a Challenge book you can buy that has 52 prompts in it. This years theme is Time Capsule so it has a ton of great AAM type prompts in it.

http://logyourmemory.com/2012-challenge-book/

[shastahun]

Thank you for all the wonderful responses. I actually just found a lot of photos from my childhood so I'm working on getting them scanned in right now.

[kelley]

I'd say make a cool journal/diary scrapbook. They don't always have to have pics - just scrap your everyday life - what you are thinking, your goals, things you like, etc.

[maryinaz]

Originally Posted by jacinda

Send a huge list of journalling questions to your parents or grandparents, then create an album for them of their childhood/life. I did this for my Nana, and it's a keepsake my children will cherish when she's gone. No-one would have known HALF the stuff about her if I hadn't asked. I now have my own parents answering questions, and will make albums of them when they're done.

Yes, THIS! I wrote an article about this years ago - it's on my blog now: http://myboysdonteatpasta.blogspot.c...nows-time.html

[LeeAndra]

I always thought taking this idea and making your own encyclopedia would make a great mini-album project:

http://www.encyclopediaofanordinarylife.com

The book is a great read, btw, if you want to read it first for inspiration, but the idea is pretty self-explanatory without owning or reading the book.

[xboxmom]

Glad you have lots of ideas to scrap now and that you found some old pics to use too!

[NeverendingJen]

Hey Shasta

You know I'm in a similar boat with needing IVF and having to save up a fortune as well. I tend to just scrap our life, like Lynnette does. I was really sad for a lot of years about not having kids, but after 5.5 years I am used to it now, and just scrap anyway.

[k23m]

I dont have any more suggestions - but there are some GREAT ideas on here!! Hope that gets your mojo going!!

Good luck with the adoption thing...it will all work out!

[DawnMarch]

I kind of wish I had started scrapping before I had kids because I would have had more time to tell my personal story. I still want to go back and scrap about my childhood -- where we lived, scrapping about the culture of my youth (TV, fashion, favorite toys, etc), school, church, camp, friends etc.,

I'm so sorry to hear about the reproductive issues. If it's any consolation, we have one bio kid and one adopted kid and I definitely think that adoption, while obviously different, is just as wonderful and satisfying a way to expand your family.

[scrap2day]

I'm so sorry that you were given that news. There are a number of us here who want to be Mamas but are still waiting.

I make scrapbooks for my nieces and nephews to keep.

I also scrapbook about trips I take or new things I learn. I took a cake decorating class. I didn't love cake decorating but I scrapped about the class anyway. I wanted to learn how to eat with chopsticks -- scrapped about that.

I'm in the process of working on an Encyclopedia of Me book (like the Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life mentioned above). I'm also working on a book about what it was like when I was a kid. It's fun for me to remember how much the world has changed and I thought it might be fun to share with my nieces and nephews. In that book I'm including things like what McDonald's was like, toys I had, toys I wished for but never got, when I had a birthday party, etc.

I'm also working on a family cookbook and trying out new recipes to include.

Do you like how you have decorated your home? You could do a small album about that (I like this teacup because it is from my grandmother, I like this clock because it has moved with us every time we've moved, this is my favorite reading spot, etc).

I found Project 365 difficult. But I have had better luck with trying a monthly highlight or even A Week In The Life.

I'm also a big fan of Stacy Julian and her Big Picture Scrapbooking method. I think she mentions making a book of favorites for people who visit (here is the best place to go for ice cream, this is our favorite pizza place, this is a nice park to take a walk, etc). so people feel welcome and can ask to do an activity they might see in the book. You might find her method helpful because it is more about scrapbooking about themes instead of chronologically. That might help in giving you ideas for projects.