Scrapbooking Heals

- Scrapbooking as a Healing Instrument to Overcome Loss

It is terrible to lose a family member or a pet and most of us have had to suffer such a loss. Everyone grieves differently. Some people can express their grief and overcome it quicker than others who find it difficult to grieve and express their feelings. What I have found, is that it scrapbooking can help heal when suffering a loss. It can provide a little bit of closure and help you to grieve in a more productive way, because what you're doing with scrapbooking is not only displaying photos, you are telling a story, talking about your feelings and sharing your pain, even if you don't show it to anyone.

I didn't realize what a healing effect scrapbooking had until my cat died and my father-in-law died. First, my cat Pooky died of an apparent heart attack when he was 16 years old. I was lucky enough to be with him when he died, as I would have felt very guilty if I hadn't been at home. The very next day, I started a mini album as a tribute to my cat. I made it so special, remembering all the little details about him, the silly things he used to do, what I miss about him and how big he was (a regular Garfield). After I had finished the album, I realized that, hey, that really helped me. I don't feel as bad as the first few days after he died. I believe that I was able to deal with his death much quicker than if I had not scrapped about it.

My father-in-law died last year of a rare internal melanoma cancer at the age of 75. This was about four months after his birthday. For his birthday present, I had the idea to make a huge scrapbook of his life and career. I spent long weeks making the album just perfect. I loved this man dearly. It was such a joy to see him looking at it and how much he appreciated me making it for him. He was overwhelmed and I think I made him smile for the first time that day. We thought the cancer had gone away, but I was sceptical. I've known so many people with cancer and I just know that many times there is no cure. It made me proud to make him happy, even if only for a moment. Had I known that he would no longer be with us four months later, I don't think I would have made that album. In the end, I'm glad I did though, because it is a documentation of his whole life. Now, the rest of the family can look at it from time to time and remember him and what a wonderful person he was. It helped me to make the album. I was able to grieve immediately when he died and although I some�imes still cry, the pain just gets to be less each time.

If you are a scrapbooker, then you might even know what I'm talking about. I guess I somehow sensed it was going to help me get over my pain, like a kind of instinct. People that have difficulties speaking to someone about their grief and pain now have a way to express their feelings without being really forced emotionally to talk about it with someone. No one else has to see your layout or album. That is entirely up to you. But, if you do want to "talk" about it, all you have to do is show it to someone.

Can't figure out what to express in your layout? Take the best photo of the person or animal, and / or a photo together with you. That is the first step. Choose your cardstock, patterned paper to match the photo and set the mood. Then you might want to write a little something. You can right about what you liked best about them, the funny things they did that made you laugh, what you miss about them, what their favourite color, food, animal, hobby was, or just what made them so special to you. If you want, you can write about how much it hurts you, how losing this person has affected you. I know it's tough, but it might just help you with your grieving and with a little bit of the pain. It feels good to get it out and down on paper and if it's something creative, then all the better. You will feel good about creating something, about writing down your feelings and about remembering good times with that person.

I hope this idea will be able to help you with your loss. I can only speak from experience. It helped me a lot.
Jacqueline M. Schimmel

Scrapbook Tips And Techniques

If you have never made a scrapbook before and are going to start on your first one you are about to enter the wonderful world of scrap booking and I promise you you will be hooked as soon as you start.

Creating a scrap book is a way of displaying pictures and memories with stunning paper designs and added little extras.

There is no right or wrong way to make a scrapbook page as this is down to your individual taste however when I created my first scrapbook page I did run into a few problems, so this article will hopefully give you a few tips and ideas should you come across the same issues as I did.

The most important thing to remember is to always use acid free products and papers when creating your scrapbook. Using products that are not acid free could potentially cause your photos to color and your papers to deteriorate faster than you would have liked.

One of the problems I came across time and time again was finding the right color brad to attach photos and embellishments to my scrapbook page do I embossed the brad to match the paper. Simply dip your brad in pigmented ink then sprinkle the embossing powder color that matches your project or use clear embossing powder if you have used a colored ink then heat emboss as normal. Try not to over heat as this can cause the brad to become fragile and snap.

Try not to make your pages too perfect sometimes throwing things together on instinct can have a much better effect.

If you are using rubber stamps for your scrapbook pages try to keep them as clean as possible, baby wipes are great to clean the actual stamp but take care not to make the wooden mount too wet, one way round keeping the wood dry is to carefully peel the stamp from its wooden mount then varnish the wood with a clear varnish and remount the stamp, doing this will not only make the stamp waterproof but will mean you can easily wipe away any ink.

If you want to cut a circle there is no need to spend huge amounts of money on expensive templates and cutting guides I found keeping lids off old bottles and the actual bottles themselves can make fantastic templates and if you save them from different products soon you will have all different size circles.

Sometimes I found that once I had created a page that I thought was finished id look at it and feel there was something missing, id try adding something to the page but felt that it then looked over done so my solution was to mounted the whole page and it finished it off a treat, you can try using as many different colors until you find the one that works.
About the Author

Vicki Churchill writes for a site that specializes in Card Making Ideas providing you with excellent tips and ideas for Scrap Booking and Brads



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