Don't hate on your old pages!

I love looking through my old scrapbook pages - no matter how old they are. I don't care if the elements look wonky or the shadows are weird. To me, it's about the photos and stories.I have been doing this long enough to see lots of trends come and go, and to me the pages that stand the test of time are the ones that tell stories. I don't want to scrap like the cool kids.

I have been thinking about this a lot after seeing a forum post where people shared their first pages. Everyone hates on their old pages. Maybe that's not your style any more. Maybe you were just learning to use your software. Maybe you never heard of design principles or journaling. It doesn't matter. The learning is part of the story, too.

So maybe you haven't been on some sort of gallery standouts blog. Who cares??? My grandma wouldn't know how to find those sites. But her face lights up when she sees my scrapbooks and that is awesome. I say know your audience. Don't try to impress your friends from the forums!

This is the first page I ever posted and I still love it. Love this photo of Rock - taken with my first digital camera. I think it held 20 pictures! I used freebies made by Holly McCaig back in the day. I think some of the shadows look ok and the jouranling tells about my buddy. It wins by my standards! And even after all these years, Holly is one of my bffs. Learning to digi scrap and making friends along the way became part of the story!

This one also features some freebies, some curling action and crazy fonts. When I started scrapping it was all about downloading freebies, hoarding fonts and learning how to make things in Photoshop. So while it may not be that pretty, look at the handsome guy! I love these photos of Rocky. I scanned most of my pics back then. I'm sure I could do better now, but it's like looking at a story I wrote when I was a kid. I'm sentimental like that!

And how about this beaut??? It sure is crazy looking, but this one was all about learning. I made it all myself. All those wacky shapes were made with brushes and bevels. I was probably chatting with some of the ladies from SBB - Nancy, Raechel, Dani, Helen - while I was working on it! We would stay up all night in the chat room or on messengers and share new things we learned. This page makes me teary - not because it's crazy looking, but because Taylor was sooooooo little! It's been so long since she was this little baby!

So that brings me to another kind of page...

It's simple. Composed nicely enough. Interesting shot. Trendy elements. I did this one for a challenge at RAKScraps several years ago. And while it's pretty, if I had to make room on my hard drive I'd get rid of this one before the pages above. Because it doesn't mean anything!!! While it at least has a date to place it, it tells me nothing about how Kylie was being silly and coming right up to my camera while I was trying to take pictures of her. I remember that because I have a really sick memory for this stuff - but I may not always be around to tell that story. I would remake this page and add some journaling about this crazy little girl.

Tell your stories and you will love your pages!