So This is Scrapbooking: Melissa

Hello! Today I'm delighted to be able to welcome you to the first chapter in So this is Scrapbooking. It's a whole new series which grew from a small thought: before I started scrapbooking I didn't know how to get my photos off my camera and onto my laptop. That was the start, the first thing I learned; and you'd laugh if I told you some of the others. But, eventually, it all brought me here - and that's something I wanted to celebrate. I thought I wouldn't be the only one who felt scrapbooking had brought more than an affinity with glue and a renewed love for cutting things up. And I was right. Lots of you have a story to tell! "What has scrapbooking done for you?" I asked and you have told me..

..so let's dive right in with my first special guest Melissa

How I Became a Coach in Finding Photo Freedom

Hi Everyone! Melissa Gross here. It is such an honour and a pleasure to share with you today about how scrapbooking led to my position as a coach in Stacey Julian's 2011 Finding Photo Freedom workshop over at Big Picture Classes.

I've scrapbooked pretty much all my life in one form or another, however I had fallen into a little slump back in 2008/2009. I was involved in a few Yahoo! Groups and occasionally would scrap a layout or create an embellishment for a swap, but I was a little overwhelmed with the number of photos I had that weren't yet scrapped or in an album of any sort. Plus, I had purchased my first digital camera in mid-2008 and had not yet developed a system for getting those printed. In all honesty, my photos were very well organized (i.e. I knew where they were, they were labeled, etc.), however I didn't have a system in place that made it easy for me to find photos to scrap when I was inspired.

In the fall of 2009, I read a post about Stacy Julian's book  PhotoFreedom, which describes her system of organizing photos and inspirational scrapbooking. She calls this system her Library of Memories (LOM). I didn't realize it at the time, but Stacy's book was out of print. Fortunately, Robbie was able to find a used copy for me. I devoured the book and immediately began setting up my own Library of Memories system.

Through the book, I discovered the Big Picture Classes website (it was still called Big Picture Scrapbooking at that time). I was thrilled to learn that a new class called A Library of Memories, based on the system in Stacy's book, was starting on February 3, 2010. I signed up and my addiction enjoyment in online classes began!

The four month long class truly revolutionized the way I scrapbooked! I reorganized my print photos, began using a digital workflow plan, started sharing my photos, stories & layouts on a blog, and changed from chronological to inspiring scrapbooking. I wrote a post explaining my new system here, however I still make changes and adjustments to the system as I find what works for me as new ideas or technologies come out. One of Stacy's philosophies about scrapbooking is that "it all counts" when we do something that helps us in recording and preserving our memories. So,now, whether I'm rating & tagging digital photos, writing a blog post, sorting memorabilia, or creating a layout, i realize...so this is scrapbooking, it all counts!

At the end of all that workshop back in the spring of 2010, I posted a question to Stacy asking how she had chosen the coaches who assisted her by answering questions and posting on a classroom blog. Here's a portion of her reply: Thus far, I have simply reached out to a students whom I know love LOM and who have continued to adapt it to their lives. I suppose an LOM coach needs to be articulate and patient and compassionate- most of all, they need to be willing to devote HOURS to the benefit of others and willing to learn themselves. I was intrigued with the idea of "working" in the scrapbooking field, something I consider a hobby. I filed Stacy's response away and continued enjoying my new LOM system. 

Late that year, I saw posts on Stacy's blog that she would be offering the LOM workshop again in the summer of 2011 and that the workshop name would be changed to Finding Photo Freedom (FPF). I simply reached out to her via email and expressed my interest in being a coach in that workshop. I then explained the reasons I felt I would be a great coach: (1) I understood the system, (2) I had adapted the system to fit my family & lifestlye, (3) I am a teacher by training & by passion, (4) I love helping others learn, and (5) I had plenty of time to devote to the message boards during the workshop.

And that's how it happened, really, that simple. Stacy was in the process of rewriting and updating the materials for the workshop, and she emailed me back to say that she would love to have me as a coach! Thus, I was one of three coaches to "work" in the FPF workshop in the summer of 2011. I put "work" in quotation marks because, I really, I enjoyed every minute of it. To get a paycheck at the end was like icing on the cake!

Thank you, Sian, for letting me share this story of how scrapbooking led to my position as a coach in the FPF workshop. I would like to end with two fun announcements:

(1) Stacy's book PhotoFreedom was just released as an eBook and is available from BPC here.

(2) The next Finding Photo Freedom workshop is scheduled to begin on February 7, 2013! More information can be found here.


Melissa Gross lives with her husband Robbie and her amazing collection of scrapbooks in the sunny state of Texas. She blogs regularly at Daily Life Bits and Pieces; and I'm a huge fan of her pages which continually inspire me to look through my own collection of ephemera and use what I've got. her enthusiasm is infectious - please do pay her a visit, say hello, meet a fellow scrapbooking fan. This is scrapbooking.

If you have a scrapbooking super-story to tell, please get in touch. What do you know now that you didn't know before? Is your hobby now your business? Has scrapbooking changed your life? Let's talk about it!