How do you find the time in your busy life to document the memories you’re making? It’s something I have struggled with for some time now, especially as I am pouring most of my energy into business building and family life. But scrapbooking is also very important to me, I can’t imagine not wanting to scrap, and those days that I do find the time to make a spread or two, it really makes me feel creatively fulfilled. So I’ve mapped out a plan for making more time for it in my life.
Making Time for Scrapbooking | 3 Ways
1. Purge and Organise
I don’t know about you but I can’t scrap if I can’t find the things I want to use. Or if I am searching through so many supplies, that I can’t decide what paper, or embellishment to choose. I went through a definite period of being a scrap hoarder, but I learned that that didn’t served me, and just caused me to be overwhelmed. So about a month ago, I did a major purge of my supplies. I only kept the things I truly loved, and I reorganised my office so that everything fit basically along one wall.
Now I can easily put my hands on my few cherished supplies, so when do I find some time to scrap I can actually spend time working on a project instead of just hunting things down.
2. Be Constantly Documenting
Scrapbooking is a form of story telling, so why not tell the stories before you even get to your scrap table? With the advance of smartphones and social media today it’s pretty simple to have stories documented that you can then go back to when you’re ready to stick photos to paper. Maybe you don’t have the time right now to do the entire process of printing photos, choosing papers and embellishments, and putting it all together with journaling, but you can post a photo on Instagram or Facebook with a descriptive caption, that you can then go back to later when you have time. If you blog, you can capture an entire event in one blog post, and then convert that to a scrapbook page at a later time. I’ve found that if I am tired I can more easily whip out a blog post than a scrap page.
Then, when I have time later, I can quickly pull a layout together.
3. Break Things Up
If you’re a busy creative woman, it’s not always possible to have large stretches of time for scrapping or crafting. But we do find spots of “free time: during the day that we can use. With a simplified and organised scraproom, it’s easier to use these bits of time wisely.
If you have five minutes you can:
- Edit a photo or
- Print a photo or
- Print out Journaling cards or
- Cut out embellishments or
- Choose what to use on your next project
If you have 15 minutes you can:
- Write journaling or
- Sketch out a page idea or
- Pull together a “kit” from your supplies
If you have half an hour you can:
- Whip out a quick page or at least start one
- Edit and print a big batch of photos
- Do some deeper journaling
- Make notes in your memory planner
If you have an hour you can:
- Make a page or two (especially if you’ve been writing blog posts like above!)
- Work on a mini album
- Batch some “kits” for future projects
The key is to use the small pockets of time you have and build on them.
Of course I do highly recommend carving out some dedicated time for scrapping at least once a month. We creative peeps need our crafty time to keep our souls fed!
How do you find time for doing the crafts you love?
Great suggestions! It always feels so difficult to catch up when you fall behind, but this list will help with that.
Glad to hear it Sarah!
I love digital scrapbooking myself, but it does seem like something that always goes on the backburner. Thanks for your ideas for how to use short amounts of time wisely! The next time I have 15 minutes free, maybe I won’t spend them checking Facebook and work on scrapbooking instead!
LOL yes, the dreaded pull of Facebook! Hope these tips do come in handy for you.
Great reminder of how to include scrapbooking into a busy schedule. Thanks for the inspiration!
You;re welcome CJ!