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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Completing a Puzzle

My name is Eric and I’m a picture-aholic.

Everyone together: “Hi Eric”

See, I take a LOT of pictures. An average vacation typically results in around 1,000 photographic reminders – and that’s not even including the sub-par pictures I delete from the camera on the spot. Even at a small party, I may come away with 100 digital shots.

When thinking about the New Year over the past couple weeks, I thought perhaps I could change my picture taking habits.

Now, I don’t normally make New Year’s resolutions because mine are rarely successful. However, to start out a new decade, I thought I would also start with a new plan for my pictures. Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not going to vow to take fewer photos…that’s plain silly talk.

Rather, my resolution regards when and where I’ll be taking pictures.

While I do take a lot of photos at life’s big events like birthdays, holidays and weddings – I take fewer pictures commemorating life’s little moments. I admire those scrapbookers who create layouts memorializing a random afternoon or commemorating someone’s smile.

I decided to make a layout doing just that. I gathered up the few photos I have from some less monumental moments in my life – and as it turns out, I only had a few.

I found an old chipboard puzzle embellishment I purchased a few years ago and it turned out to be a perfect fit for this page.


I used Xyron adhesive to stick the pictures to the chipboard puzzle pieces and covered them with Mod Podge to give them the look of an actual preserved puzzle.

SEI’s En Route paper offered a beautiful background for the layout.

While scrapbooking this page, I was reminded at why I love to scrapbook so much. Creating a layout is like reliving a memory. It is certainly important to preserve and remember life’s major moments – anniversaries and holidays. However no one lives a life that is 100 percent full of major events. I bet even the biggest celebrities have an occasional day when a trip to the mailbox brings the most excitement.

So, it seems by only scrapbooking the big events in my life, I’m leaving out a lot of other important moments…a Tuesday dinner, chance reunions with old friends or curling up on the couch for a Sunday TV movie. Sometimes, those casual moments can instigate louder laughter and more smiles than even the most elaborate event.

Life really is a little like a large puzzle…to complete it, you’ll need pieces for every planned party as well as every insignificant afternoon.

Since no one wants a puzzle with half the pieces missing, my New Year’s resolution is to scrapbook more inconsequential occasions from my life.

That said, I feel I should put my friends and family on notice…plan to have your picture taken a LOT more in 2010!!

When 2010 comes to a close in a year, my name will still be Eric and I’m sure I will still be a picture-aholic.

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