Tips for Scrapbooking Tough Times – Coronavirus

Documenting how the pandemic of the Coronavirus affected you and your family is extremely important. But HOW do you scrapbook something like this? It’s hard for everyone because everyone on the planet has been affected differently by the Coronavirus.

To start, think about past major events in national and world history. Think of wars, epidemics, recessions, natural disasters, terrorist attacks. Honestly, how does anyone “scrapbook” these things? But then imagine that TODAY, you come across a scrapbook someone in your family hand-made – someone who lived before, during, and after one of those major historical events. What do you HOPE is included in this scrapbook? What do you HOPE the person journaled? What photos do you HOPE the person included?

Of course, your approach to this subject depends on HOW you personally have been affected by Coronavirus. Certainly if you or a family member has been fighting through the struggle of being tested positive for Coronavirus, your family is not going to be thinking about scrapbooking. During those challenging times, however, the act of journaling can be very cathartic whether or not you scrapbook. So I encourage you to dump all your thoughts, feelings, and emotions into a journal.

Scrapbookers sometimes forget that the journaling we do and all those layouts we make are REAL documentation of the family’s experience with the WORLD. And although we might have our own scrapbooking goals, like trying to complete a childhood album in nice consecutive order, we can’t forget the importance of WHY WE SCRAPBOOK. In fact, those scrapbooks ARE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY BOOKS.

Yes, you can create scrapbook layouts however you want. Each layout is an expression of your artistic freedom and no one can tell you how to scrapbook your experiences. So take these following “tips” merely as suggestions for scrapbooking your way through the Coronavirus pandemic (or any other significant life-changing event):

• Journal differently than you write Facebook posts. Sometimes we “post” with the mindset that people will be commenting, reacting and sharing in regard to what we say. But really allow yourself to open up in your scrapbook journaling. Scrapbook journaling is so crucial in layouts about life-changing events. And the journaling you include on a layout does NOT always have to end with a nicely-wrapped-up-happy-ending-sounding concluding sentence. There’s nothing wrong with truly expressing your honest thoughts and feelings, no matter what they are.

• In terms of scrapbook embellishments, keep “cute” where “cute” is appropriate. Layouts showing personal acts of kindness, smiling faces in photos, and of course baby and childhood layouts are all appropriate places for cute embellishements, stickers and die cuts. But, (and this may be obvious) be mindful of what you communicate when you pair cute “first aid” or “band-aid” stickers and embellishments on a more seriously-minded layout, especially with regard to how your family has been impacted personally by the virus.

• Document the cost of things in your community. Did you ever hear stories of how much a loaf of bread or a gallon of gas cost when your parents were young? Certainly the Coronavirus has had and will continue to have an effect on the economy. How do you scrapbook this? Save grocery receipts and include them in your layouts. Do you have WiFi in your home? Include a bill or statement to show how much you pay for the amount of bandwith you have. Document through photos, journaling and receipts just how the world has already changed as a result of the Coronavirus.

• Include LOTS of “then-and-now” layouts. Life will never be the same as it was before Coronavirus, and you may be inclined to take photos of your “new normal” as it unfolds. So, you will be very glad you scrapbooked photos of your everyday life while businesses and schools are closed and people work from home. But don’t forget to also include comparisons in these layouts of the way “things used to be”, because they most likely will never be the same. Compare everyday life before and during the Coronavirus pandemic. What was it like to go to the library then and now? Get a haircut? Go out to eat? Go to work? This is a great place to use old photos that “didn’t go with anything”. You honestly could make an entire album with just “then-and-now” layouts.

I want to encourage scrapbookers to prepare to create an entire album devoted to your personal experience through this pandemic. Document the little things, the everyday things. Journal. Take photos of your home, the inside of your cupboards and refrigerator, and family meals. Save grocery store receipts to include in layouts. Voice-record conversations over the dinner table or during a time playing board games with the family. Remember why you scrapbook, and capture this life-changing time as it unfolds. Your story (especially during this time) is important. Preserve it… your way, as only YOU can tell it.

Please and thank you for following the Sandpaper Road blog – a place for scrapbooking art and papercraft ideas and inspiration.