A to Z: Me (v.1)

If you scroll through the gallery at almost any scrap site, you’ll find tons of layouts with glorious pictures of kids, pets and family functions. One thing you don’t always see is all about me pages. Oh sure, there are a few that you will run across because someone is participating in a challenge, but most of the time, it seems that most scrappers are hesitant to scrap pages about themselves. Why? Is it because they see themselves as storytellers for others and don’t feel that a story that focuses solely on them is worthy of scrapping? Or do they not have time to scrap about themselves? Or is it because the scrappers are also usually the photographers and they don’t have many pictures of themselves? Or is it something entirely different? I’d love to know your thoughts.

To me, it is a topic that is important. As storytellers, I think we owe it to our friends and family to include pages about ourselves. I also think it is important to create and share about me pages in order to maintain a strong scrapping community that makes everyone feel valued. That includes people who might not have children, cute nieces/nephews, or pets that they can scrap about.

So let’s get scrapping. Let’s indulge in pages about ourselves. Let’s get beyond the idea that putting a cute kid or an adorable puppy in a layout will earn more comments in the galleries. Let’s get real about what it means to be us.

The challenge is out there. Start to scrap about yourself. But let’s get beyond the latest facebook status/twitter/instragram update, or stretch farther than your current favorite shows or books. Those things are important, but there is so much more to you than your current likes or dislikes. Those barely scratch the surface. I want you to dig down deeper. Use the A to Z method to find brainstorm scrap topics. Discover and share yourself.

Right now, we’ll start out slow. Start with A… tackle topics such as adulthood, aging and attitudes. You can take those in so many different directions. You can come up with others (share them below in the comments). Then tackle B… birth stories (yours) or birth order (where you fall in a family might make a difference). In a couple of weeks, we’ll take on some other topics, so if you have ideas, we’d love to see them. And if you have your own about me pages, link us up to those too. Let’s flood the galleries with them (and leave nice comments for the brave souls who create and post their pages).

Here are some lovely examples the OSD-ers came up with for your viewing pleasure and inspiration.

A look at aging:

by TanyaH

by Kym

Here are a couple about attitude:

by Crystal Livesay

by Jenny Tait

And a look at the complexities of birth order…

by Tania Shaw

Thank you, ladies, for sharing your stories.

Now it is your turn… don’t forget to share your thoughts, pages and ideas in the comments below!