Book of Me - May 16-31

[Janet]

Challenge for this time is to use one of Samara's Kits (http://store.digitalscrapbookplace.com/index.php?manufacturers_id=48&main_page=index) - if you want to get the bonus I hear she's got for you!

This time, if you haven't already done this one (was a Birthday Week Challenge), tell the story of your birth. If you have siblings, and know their birth story, tell those as well.

and/or

Tell about a favorite childhood toy or stuffed animal, or blanket and any memories you have of it/them -- if you get going on this, tell about the other toys of your childhood and the memories associated with them.

And, if you haven't got your Memory List (Memory Bank?) going...start one. This is a list of other memories that come to mind as you work on others. They DO start to tumble out. You want to jot a note or two that will remind you of the memory so you will have a bunch to pull from when you're not sure what to do for a layout.

Post a link to your layout in this thread! And, if it's not for another challenge, then post in the Book of Me Gallery (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=551). Otherwise, just post a link here. :)

[Janet]

OH - another twist on this is to do your spouse's memories as well. I've been wanting to do a scrapbook of our lives before we met and then bring it up to our life after we met/married. ;)

[twinkerbell]

This sounds so much fun! I'll have to see if I can dig up some pictures of my blanky. Hey, I still have it; I guess I could take some pictures!

[Suza]

That sounds interesting.....
i have my old teddy ...and this cat....i have to check the fotos...

but i have a question ...can you help me, please...what is or what are SIBLINGS?
i don´t find this word in my old dictionary....

thanks :-) - even if i think i won´t have siblings ....

suza

edit: at least...i found out...siblings are brothers and sisters...correct???

[sandygb]

Suza - siblings are brothers or sisters.

[Janet]

Yep - you've got it. :)

And this brings up another aspect of doing this type of "Book of Me" - your family members that see/read your pages may have opposing memories or just tell you you're wrong. This happens with me. ;) Now, I'm the youngest and honestly, I don't remember everything as clearly with some things. And we've had some great discussions on exactly what DID happen. Eventually we either come up with a common agreement or we don't - and just accept that each of us could be right or wrong.

Some family members just INSIST that their version is the correct one. In that case, you could do a 'he said, she said' type version of the page and leave it there. Or just tuck that one away.

The funny thing is that sometimes it seems that my sister and I grew up in different families! And in a way, we did! :) We were doing different things as a family when my sister was four as when I was four. And, each of us focuses on different things. Sort of how my sister focuses on street names when driving, and I focus on landmarks (which means I usually circle in on my destination at times and she goes a more direct route! LOL!). Both are fine, both work, but they are different.

I love the extras that come out after I do a page of memories - makes the whole story of our family much richer in the end - even if we don't remember things exactly the same. ;)

[Stacey42]

I'd love to do the birth story one, but my mom was under twilight sleep (common in 1967 in our area) and has no clue about anything about it. I'm going to see her this weekend & try & prod some memories out of her. This gives me a good excuse to bring it up. :)

[Janet]

Well, you could shift it a bit and do it around her thoughts of being pregnant - when she discovered you were on the way, etc. :)

[Elisabeth]

Good challenge, Janet - I bet I can do mine and my husband's on this one. He is a twin, and his brother had a birth defect (although he is fine now) so I'm sure there is a story there.
My dad named me while my mom was still asleep (probably the twilight stuff as well, Stacey) and didn't go with any of the names they had discussed! Hee.

[ScrapMel]

Here is my layout (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=98555&nocache=1). I couldn't wait to use this kit of Samara's so I posted without the picture. My mom is looking for it now!

[Elina]

I love everything about this chalenge...I was able to scan some photo in today that were the center of my layout, I will be working on the page that will go with this one. Its a birth announcement that my grandmother sent to my great grandmother. One thing that I say thanks for everyday is for my Nannie {great grandmother} saved every letter, note or funny comment and every year would make a scrapbooks for us. I am living up to that tradition with making scrapbooks of my own...but know in a high tech kinda of way.

here mine http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=98585&cat=500&ppuser=34079


oh if anyone know how to link it without seeing all that ..I have seen other linking to the title instead of the long link...just wondering.

ok i just finished this one http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=98709&cat=2457

[kinderkim]

I did another page for this challenge. It's more stuff from Germany, since I did get a few pictures from my parents. They're still looking for the first memory pic.
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=98794&cat=500&ppuser=50442

I'll see if I can get them to send me some of my newborn pics while I get started on this latest assignment. This is turning out to be such a fun challenge! :)

[MaureenH]

I really wanted to make a layout with another of Samara's beautiful kits, but I had already done a layout of my birth (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=40015&nocache=1) and matching second page (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=40014&cat=2436&ppuser=4243).

I've also done a layout of my favorite toy. (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=88443&cat=2436&ppuser=4243)

But I wanted to participate in this challenge and started thinking about favorite things as a child and remembered how much all the kids loved the monthly get togethers of the country women's Good Will Club (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=98937&nocache=1).

[jestep]

thanks to sandy for posting this thread, tho janet, i guess you were on it and it was done..ha...love it, anyway, i am posting this now just so i dont loose this thread. i still get lost in this place all the time. well, i will get a layout done and be back to post before month end. will be fun to collect a kit of samaras, because i have been wanting to do that and this is a good excuse.

[Janet]

So glad you just moved on to another memory - thats what it's about. :) Getting the memories down!

[bugletmom]

i have a question for you all--or rather, i want to talk about a problem i am encountering or expect to encounter.

my childhood was less than perfect. i was not abused or anything, but there was a lot of drama, etc. i want to write about it--i want to scrap about it, but i know there are people still alive who won't agree with my truth or will be hurt by my truth because it involves them and things they do not want to acknowledge or take responsiblity for (my mother, for one)...how are you guys dealing with this, if it is an issue for you?

i want to be authentic in this book of me. i want my children to really know me and hopefully understand why i am who i am. i refuse to write a revisionist history of my life or a history that is watered down...i don't know... i am rambling, and bless you if you have gotten this far.

[bugletmom]

another question for those of you who have a blog--

where do you go to blog? where are some sites? i want to do one, but i have no idea where to go...

thanks.

[MaureenH]

My sisters and I have debated this issue. Some only want to scrap good things and each of us has a different experience of our family life. I believe reality is important to future generations to know who we are and why. I guess our compromise is to include difficult things but in a gentle way, for example a journaling excerpt: "Maureen doesn't look too happy in this photo. These were some tough years for the family and for Maureen as Dad's stress often resulted in her getting yelled at and criticized. Maureen says that seeing her expression in this picture reminds her that we all shared both good and bad times together."

[twinkerbell]

bugletmom, I would suggest keeping a separate private journal that is only read by people who are invited by you to read. Of course, when you pass on it will be there for all future generations to read. If you feel you need to scrap it, then do it, but keep it private and share it with those you feel need to read it, when you feel it's the right time.

[webfrau]

My first reaction was "be true to yourself" - if you want to tell YOUR story to YOUR children then you need to be recording what YOU actually remember and felt not what someone else thinks you should. As Twinkerbell said just don't let the people you think might get upset see it. Let's face it if an independent person talked individually to each family member about an incident they'd probably get a different story each time - this is no different except that you are setting it down on "paper".

As for blogs I keep two blogs
One on blogger (www.blogger.com) - this was very easy to set up, good choice of templates for appearance, pretty easy to use. I use this for my craft blog because I don't care who reads this. As far as I can work out there are no privacy options on blogger.

I have my more personal journal at Livejournal (www.livejournal.com) - again easy to set up, more difficult to customise unless you have a paid account but there are limited templates (increasing in number) available. The thing about this that I like is that you can customise each post to being public, friends only or private. It aggregates all your LJ friends entries on one page. Comments can be emailed to you and if you reply to a comment that gets emailed back to the LJ user that commented so you can have a "thread" of sorts. My journal here is mainly "friends only" posts.

[sandygb]

I also set up a blog at blogger.com but have done little with it since I set it up several months ago. Seems I don't get much time to keep things like that up to date. My ISP is Verizon and they offer MSN Premium with their service. I typically use MSN's browser rather than Internet Explorer, because I like the graphical user interface. One of the features is "My Space" which is essentially a Blog. I'm not sure if anyone can sign up for a free "MY Space" on MSN, or if it restricted to members only. It was easy to setup and has several choices for customization. You can also set privacy parameters, set up photo albums, etc. Even so, I find it easier to keep my photo albums in my MSN Group page. Again, I'm not sure if this is free to the public or not. One of the things I love about uploading photos (and layouts) is that MSN handles the compression for me. I can upload a LARGE PSD file without needing to resize it and save it as a JPEG with a size limit. MSN takes care of that and the file uploads very quickly. On the other hand, if I want to upload the file in "photo quality" resolution, I can choose to do that as well. As far as how to scrap difficult memories, I think everyone has some of those events in their lives. I think that the solutions already mentioned above seem the best....keeping the journaling private from those who would be upset by it. If you want to print the layouts and put them into an album where they might be seen by these people, how about doing your journaling on a separate piece of paper (handwritten or computer-printed) and tuck it into an envelope that you attach to the back of the printed layout? Only YOU will know it is there, and you can share it with those you would like to.

Sandy

[ima]

another question for those of you who have a blog--

where do you go to blog? where are some sites? i want to do one, but i have no idea where to go...

thanks.

I have been blogging for years and have tried a lot of blogsites, such as blogger (http://www.blogger.com/start), Blogdrive (http://www.blogdrive.com/),Friendster (http://www.friendster.com/), etc.

Now, I have come to the conclusion that the best one is MULTIPLY (http://multiply.com/) for the following reasons:
you can post and share ANYTHING you like (journals, photos, recipes, agendas, products (for sale or purchase), songs, favorite links, movies and reviews)
Enable you building your own NETWORK
Every time you post something on your site, your network will receive notification on their Message Board about your new post, so your post will always be SEEN and VISITED. You will always receive RESPONSE from others (either they're your listed friends or just those who are blog-walking, depending on your preference setting).
You are able to find out who has visited your site regardless whether or not they leave a response to your post
You will be notified when you receive a new response to your post
Through Message Board, you will be notified when your friends in your network post a new entry


You can also do the followings:

block people
post a private entry which is accessible to your CHOSEN people ONLY.
Customize your site
Join a group of your interest such as photography, scrapbooking, cooking, knitting, etc.


Through this site, I found a lot of Indonesian friends all over the world because of its networking system. As a matter of fact, I found my long-lost old friend through this network! So, I keep MINE (http://imanyabob.multiply.com/) on this blogsite (although I don't update it very often, but at least I can 'visit' my friends there! :) )

Oops... do I sound like a salesman here? :D

Happy blogsite hunting, Elizabeth!!

[Janet]

i want to be authentic in this book of me. i want my children to really know me and hopefully understand why i am who i am. i refuse to write a revisionist history of my life or a history that is watered down...i don't know... i am rambling, and bless you if you have gotten this far.

You need to be authentic. You need to tell your story. But I also think you need to acknowledge the other versions. I'm not sure any of us ever really remember everything - and I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

We DO grow up in different families than our siblings...and our parents. An experience I wrote about in my blog recently (http://snowmoonis.blogspot.com - scroll down a bit) about Old Main blowing up in Fort Collins in 1970. My sister and I talked about this. I was five, almost six. My sister was seven, almost eight. She saw it as exciting. I saw it as terrifying. Both of us were right...for the ages we were. and for the people we were. Simply because of our age difference, and difference in personalities, the same experience was remembered vastly differently. What affects one deeply, is nothing to the other.

So, the way I look at it is that we both are correct with our own memories. Honor YOUR memories, but also honor those of the rest of your family. Some scrapbooks aren't for sharing widely. That's OK. :) It's important to get it down, though...however you do it.

[byrd10is]

I had started already on a few pages about me but had never posted them so I'll just use them for this challenge. I really like Samara's kit and will buy it anyway.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99270&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99269&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99277&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99278&cat=2484

[kinderkim]

Elizabeth(bugletmom),

I too have lots of things to scrap that I'm sure will/would upset some of my family members, and I've decided that I'm just going to scrap them and make sure that people who would be upset by them don't see them. My childhood was also full of drama and dysfunction at many times, so I decided that I would scrap ALL the stories I want to, and just share certain ones with certain people. Not a perfect solution, really, but I think it will work for me, since I've already done some explaining to my kids about a few things now that they are older (14 and 13).

If your kids are still too young to explain some of the situations yet, I'd say just scrap what you want/need to scrap, and let them see the layouts later when they're older--when the time is right, they could be a great springboard for talking to them about your past, too.

[byrd10is]

A few more pages for A Book About Me

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99377&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99378&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99394&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99393&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99392&cat=2484
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99391&cat=2484

[webfrau]

I've done my birth story. I did a blue page for a girl baby!! shock horror!
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99420&cat=551

I've previously done a toy one for a heritage challenge of a teddy bear I still have.
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=73967&cat=500&ppuser=29334

I may try and do a doll LO if time permits, I had lots of thoughts about those recently and I still have a few I'm contemplating getting rid of so I should probably document them before I do.

[Janet]

LOL! Here I've planned to get a bunch of these challenges done myself, but I find I'm short on time to get pages done for my parent's 50th Anniversary. I'm working with them on much of the journaling. But taking a look at all you guys are creating, just makes me itch to get to my own stories!

My parent's 50th pages if you want to take a peek.
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=2019

[photobobbie]

Here's my layout. I only have one baby picture, so I am reusing it again.
I love this kit.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99759&cat=551&limit=recent

[paulaoneil]

Bugletmom (Elizabeth):

For what its worth, I'm opting in - I think most of the opinions already expressed pretty much cover it. You just have to decide now how you want to handle it. Be true to yourself - I don't think revisionist is what's called for here. But you don't want or need to cause problems over memories. These are YOUR memories, not fodder for an argument or public domain. No one can tell you how you experienced something. (My mother's 82, always right and still trying to tell me how I felt - what's that all about?) Just keep to the facts when you journal for your primary layouts (and believe me there are plenty of people who will argue about those too - like my mom!). Add a 3D fold out, under the primary journaling or slip something into an envelope, as has already been suggested, with your feelings about those facts. That preserves your memory. Getting it out, editing it and putting it down on paper can be remarkably cleansing and makes it worth doing. Hopefully, a few years from now you will re-visit them from a different perspective, it might be quite enlightening - who knows you may want to edit them yourself - that's the beauty of putting them on a separate sheet and tucking them in.

I can barely get through a chat so I can't help with the blog thing but there seems to be plenty of help already posted.

Good luck with your journaling.

Paula McCarthy

[Janet]

OK, I gotta brag on my Mom's story telling ability. ;) Dad's pretty good at it, too. Maybe this is why I love hearing everyone's stories - grew up with this type of thing from both sides of the family.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99785&cat=2019

[Suza]

Here is my favourite teddy.....
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=99858&cat=551

He was given to me as a present when my parents were divorced. So you can imagine: no perfect childhood too....
It is much more easier for me to scrap my memories and show them here in this place - because i can be sure: no one of my family will find me here :-)

For many years i was in trouble - because my mother was telling me different things like my father...and i thought i had to be silent...about all those things...not to hurt the feelings of my parents...I didn´t talk to my children - because i was afraid, they could think "bad" about grandma and grandpa...
But now, my thougths have changed...
i talk to my boys about things, that happend when i was younger...that didn´t sound good for grandma or grandpa....and that it is ok for me now----i wouldn´t do things in the way my parents did - but it was their live....they had to decide...not me...and: important for me - i am not the guilty one!
( I thought it ....many years....) so: even if some things went wrong when i was a child....i am the person i am - and i think, some people are happy with me :-)
So, what i want to say: things won´t sound nice if i talk about...but it helps me, to talk about. my children should learn: you can have a wonderful live - even if your childhood was not like a dream. i don´t want to hurt my parents when i am talking about things, which were hurting me. It is not like "deduction" and of course no revenge. it is my life - and i am not willing to tell a fairytale....if someone of my family disagrees - ok, it is his or hers decision...
and my mummy will even know better....:-)))

urgh....i hope, i wrote what i mean.......those things are difficult to talk about in german...and much more difficult in english ....so i you think: oh...that sounds nonsens....feel free to tell me - i would be thankful :-)

[Janet]

Suza, your thoughts and ideas come through loud and clear! :)

And, you are so right! Nobody grows up in a perfect house as a child - that's life. My childhood was pretty darn good. I count it as a blessing. But there still are negative things there. My mom has such guilt over things she honestly didn't understand or know about when I was growing up. But those are the things that helped to shape me into who I am today. And I think it's that way for all of us.

Working through some of the early memories helps...and is hard. The ones I've worked through and chewed on for awhile are the ones that I found were holding me back in many ways. Once I could really see them from an adult perspective, it somehow made them OK...from being something big to something that just happened because life isn't perfect.

I am lucky that I have a family I can share a lot of this type of stuff with, but even if I didn't, I think it would still end up the same - me being OK with it. And I figure that's really all that matters.

With that story on my blog about Old Main exploding - it dawned on me that there's a HUGE connection between that and our evacuation for the Hayman Fire in 2002. Another layer peeled back. And armed with that knowledge, the inevitable upcoming fire season here is just that. A season. Somehow since I wrote that blog post, the fear of it has just disappeared. Awareness is still there, yeah, but the edge of it being fear is gone. I think there are four or five layouts to go with all that is brewing in me with that topic. Lots of writing to find it yet to do, though.

[MaureenH]

Janet, you are doing a wonderful job moderating this difficult topic. Very balanced, thoughtful advice.

Not wanting to bug anyone, but I'm wondering if I missed Samara's posting bonus. I sure wouldn't want to do that!

[sandygb]

Well -- Like Maureen, I wasn't sure whether to post my layout link here or in the main BOM thread. I decided here, bacause the main one is getting pretty long. LOL. I started my layout (one page...HAH) using Samara's Rasp. Vinaigrette, and switched to French Countryside. I have been wanting a chance to use this kit but it seems that I can't get any layouts done except for challenges, so this was the perfect chance! AND I ended up doing a 2-page layout....too much to say...

Page 1 (LEFT)

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=100624

Page 2 (RIGHT)

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=100623&cat=551

Sandy

[twinkerbell]

Oh my! I just realize that I've been working on a LO for this but just haven't finished it yet. I'm throwing a surprise party for dh tomorrow night so after that I should be able to concentrate on finishing my LO.

[Janet]

Thanks, Maureen - this can become a difficult subject, but it also can be very rewarding.

The bonuses will be given out on June first this time...may switch that though to get them to you when you post your layout link. :) And yes, post your layout links here in the current thread so they won't be missed.

[bugletmom]

here is mine--again, i went very simple...mainly because i don't have a scanner for my pics (next major investment! :) ).

my birth story (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=101209&cat=551)

[twinkerbell]

Here's mine finally. Blanket (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=101400&nocache=1)

I used Samara's Raspberry Vinaigrette Alphas.

[ScrapMel]

Okay, FINALLY got a picture for my layout! (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=98555&nocache=1) I also added the journaling in the notes section. We couldn't find the one of me sitting in her lap while she was wearing the smock, but I am the toddler in the background of the picture.
Enjoy!

[Sandersmr]

Well - I have another pictureless page - about Teddy. Once I get a picture (Teddy is currently in storage - yes I still have him), I will either re-work the page or make this a 2-page spread.


http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=101682&cat=500&ppuser=17705

[evee]

Hope this link to my LO on my baby sister works! No parents around any more to ask about my own birth but I have some memories - the earliest ones probably - of the time when my sister was born. I was 3 and a half at the time. We are both in our 50s now!
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=107660&cat=500&ppuser=47857