Digiscrap

Pocket Scrapping Really Isn’t All That #megsboringlife

February 26, 2014 by Meg Bateman 4 Comments

Hey there! This site is no longer being updated. I'm leaving some of the content up just because. If you'd like to follow what I'm currently up to, please head over to my new site. Thanks! – Meg.

After I blogged about my issue with wanting to “pocket” scrap but not ever being able to bring myself to stick with it, I made a page. I uploaded it to facebook — it wasn’t much to look at, it was really a whole bunch of my instagram photos thrown on to the page with some journaling cards.

But, I was surprised… I had a lot of friends chime in with their own reasons about why pocket scrapping doesn’t work for them, it really is a “mom with young kids” kind of niche that one feels they have to conform to.

It’s kind of ironic how pocket scrapping is marketed as being the SOLUTION TO ONES PROBLEMS when it comes to scrapping, when it really creates more problems for a majority of us. Like those of us who don’t have kids, and their jobs are super confidential… so there isn’t much to share daily aside from food and pets. Then there’s those with busy lives and teenagers, who really aren’t as interesting as young grade school kids. Then there’s the empty nester.

Also, another “unspoken” rule to pocket scrapping is that it needs to follow the calendar in some sort of way — daily, weekly, monthly.

But with regular scrapping, all of us find ourselves able to express things without a problem, with no need to conform to a timeline structure. What is it about pocket scrapping that makes us lock up and feel boring??

I think it’s the fact that it’s *too* simple. It also doesn’t really allow one to express themselves through art, like we do on our usual layouts. It’s also designed really to have a week on a double paged layout, and for people like us… we can easily fit two weeks on one page.

Which is exactly what I ended up doing…

… And then I did another random selection of dates, also using the February Storyteller kit & templates from Just Jaimee…

Kit: Candid by Mommyish and Just Jaimee; Template: Project Grids V 2 by Amy Martin

… and then I had so much to show and say for a single day, that I just threw that on a page!

It was surprisingly liberating to get rid of that preconceived notion that I needed to follow a calendar to share my life. One of my friends pointed out that as soon as she decided to just do her own thing, and not follow the “standards” of pocket scrapping — it came easy to her.

It’s so true, at least for me too. Of course I have only done a few layouts so far, but I plan on scrapping some more once I finish my products that are on a deadline. It’s fun to see all my instagram photos on a page like that.

I decided to use the hashtag “megsboringlife” when posting things to instagram that I want to pocket scrap later. Since I embraced this idea of non-conformity pocket scrapping, I’m finding myself to actually be more interesting than I thought.

Go figure.

Give it a try yourself, ditch conformity. No two people or families are the same, you’ve got plenty to share about your life — just don’t let it be restricted by the somewhat unspoken rules of pocket scrapping. I know I’m most definitely not the only digiscrapper who has tried pocket scrapping their life, only to fail epically and just have a few pages and a giant stash of products to show for it. Use that pocket scrapping stash — just throw out everything else you know about pocket scrapping and do your own thing!

To Pocket Scrap or Not…?

February 17, 2014 by Meg Bateman 3 Comments

I’m super tempted to start weekly pocket scrapping again, or just P52-like scrapping, but I feel like the results would be pretty lame. It’s just like how I have 100+ unfinished blog post drafts, I end up not following through because I feel lame.

My life doesn’t have much variety anymore, Jeff and I work all day long… I take a lot of pictures of the dogs and my food… and then the week starts over again. We hardly ever travel anymore because of the cost and lack of time. We don’t have kids, and have no desire to have kids. Our work lives are almost completely confidential, so I can’t include any of that…

But, I also feel like that sort of project would force me to get out of the ruts I’m constantly finding myself in. For example, right now I’m in another lack-of-motivation-to-exercise rut. Maybe scrapping each week about my activities will force me to be less pathetic.

It would also help me to use all the scrap stuff I keep buying.

Part of it is I feel lame scrapping just pictures of the dogs resting, all the time. Like this photo from yesterday, they’re sunbathing in our empty garden beds… that are going to remain empty because of the drought.

But, the scrapping is for me. It could be all journaling and that would be meaningful. And since it’s for me, I honestly don’t have to worry about the pages being perfect and up to snuff for things like CT work…

It’s really all about recording the memories. Like me going on a 48+ hour sugar binge for Valentine’s Day and my father in law’s birthday… these cupcakes were amazing.

I think I’m going to give it a go. I tried doing PLL before, but sticking to the standard templates killed me. I have plenty more in my stash now, so we’ll see!

Poppy’s Answer to Prayer (& New Templates!)

May 27, 2013 by Meg Bateman 1 Comment

As you know, probably my largest passion in life is the fight to cure Parkinson’s. PD has always been a part of my life, my great grandma had it for three decades and now my grandpa has had it for seven years.

He’s been impossibly lucky — up until this last fall, he wasn’t experiencing much more than stiffness and some shuffling. Then he had an umbilical hernia… and everything else started happening. The freezing, unable to turn around… but thankfully, no real tremors or dyskinesia.

In seven years, he’s never been able to tolerate taking the synthetic dopamine that is the answer for most PD patients. He’s also never seen a PD specialist, there just aren’t any in the valley — even though we have the highest rates of PD in the country.

And then, we had a real answer to prayer — Dr. Dorsey at Johns Hopkins.

Wait, what??? We traveled across the country to see a PD specialist???

Nope 🙂 That’s the best part — Dr. Dorsey is seeing patients in a Facetime-like setting. He did an initial study where patients were surveyed and it was found their care and experience was much better than seeing a non-PD specialist in a regular office visit. That study earned him a $50,000 grant to see another 500 patients… and Poppy was one of them! And since then — Dr. Dorsey has received almost another 2 million dollars to keep up the program!!!

The downside? The law in the states limits him to only seeing patients in states where he has a medical license, and fortunately California is one of them. He can see anyone outside of the states though!

Anyway, back to Poppy & his levodopa tolerance problem — Dr. Dorsey immediately had a solution! And it’s working!!!! Poppy’s freezing indoors has almost disappeared, he’s able to turn around — it’s like night and day!

Template: Page For Pops by Our Misadventures (fan page freebie)
Frame: Wood Ya Wood Ya by The Edits
Kit: Wide World by The Edits

Before Dr. Dorsey, Poppy was considering not going on a free trip to see the Giants play from one of those awesome penthouse suites. He had also given up his major passion in life — fishing. Not anymore!!! He’s already planning fishing trips with Jeff this summer.

It’s making me cry with joy to think of how much his life has been renewed.

Unfortunately, Levodopa is not a cure.

There is no known cure for Parkinson’s.

Levodopa was first used for treating PD in 1967, and that’s the last time there has been a medication developed for the treatment of Parkinson’s. The only other development for treatment has been the Deep Brain Stimulation device, and that’s a last resort for many.

85% of clinical trials for Parkinson’s treatments and cures struggle to be completed because of lack of volunteers, they’re in need of both people with PD and without. You can make a difference in that by using the Fox Trial Finder to find trials to participate in — and not all are medication studies, there are simple genetic mapping ones too. If you don’t feel comfortable participating in any kind of trial, you can always make a contribution to organizations working to find the cure. Anyone can help find the cure!

I made the latest template set with Poppy in mind. It’s so important to remember the father figures in our lives, they shape who we are. With Memorial Day today, and Father’s Day coming up quickly — these templates will hopefully help you make a tribute page or two 🙂 You can grab them over in the Fan’s Only tab on the OMA Facebook page.

Once the OMA Facebook page hits 800 fans, I’ll be releasing another template set! I can’t wait, because I’m kind of really in love with the next set 🙂

Also, don’t forget the Get Real Challenge happening over at Real Life Scrapped — the Vibrant Life template set is the participation prize, and A Little Unusual is the Fan’s Only gift on their FB page!