I've been looking at my scrapbooking before I was introduced to Stampin' Up! and I thought I might share a little here. Just a warning - this post does get quite personal, so if that makes you uncomfortable, stop reading now!
I started scrapbooking very briefly after my husband and I got married in 2006. I did a few wedding pages, some I kept and some I tore up - yep, I've always been like that! But even though I scrapped a few wedding pages, scrapbooking didn't become hugely personal to me until I started scrapping pages of my daughter. Olivia is 3 now.
This is the first page I did of Olivia. I think. I don't exactly remember, and I don't really remember doing the page. I'll explain all that in a minute.
This is one of Olivia's first photos, taken very shortly after her birth. I do remember that moment, when she looked at me so knowingly, as if she was saying "Oh, hello! It's you!".
The reason I don't remember scrapping this page, even though it's such a memorable moment for me, is that 6 weeks after Olivia was born, I was admitted to hospital (with Olivia) because I was suffering from Post Natal Depression. Within a few weeks of being admitted (I spent 3 and a half months in hospital), my status changed and I was categorised as having severe PND. And it wasn't responding to medication.
To cut a long story short, one of the treatments that I had has resulted in a substantial memory loss for me. About 5 and a half months. I don't remember from when Olivia was about 3 weeks till around 6 months. I'm not saying that my memories are fuzzy. They're... gone.
So how does that affect my pages? Well, I started scrapping when I was in hospital, during the time I had that treatment. So there are a lot of pages that I look at but don't remember much about. I don't remember putting the pages together, and there are a lot that I don't remember the photo even being taken. I'm still coming across photos and sections of video that I didn't know existed.
I do remember the above photo. It's another one from the day Olivia was born.
Another thing you might notice about these early pages is that there's no journalling. There's a reason for that too. I simply couldn't find the words to express what I was feeling... or more precisely, what I was supposed to be feeling. I thought I'd add journalling later, but I've changed my mind. I once read an article that claimed that a scrapbook without journalling is a waste. I disagree completely. To me, my lack of journalling, and the reason behind that, is just as important as anything I could write on the page.
These photos were taken at home when Olivia was about 2 weeks old. From what I've been told, I was showing signs of PND even then.
So there you have it. I'm sure I'll share more pre-Stampin' Up! pages soon.
