Guest Designer Spotlight: Shannon Tidwell

I started scrapbooking the “real” way in the summer of 2000.  I’d always been a collector of memorabilia and photos… it was just displayed on my closet door as a teenager.   I discovered our hobby as I was waiting in the check out lane at Wal-Mart.  There was a special issue by Better Homes and Gardens of Scrapbooks Etc.  I dove in and didn’t look back.  I sought out any product and inspiration I could find.  I bought back issues of Creating Keepsakes and was consumed with soaking in as much information as I could.  My love of paper, pens, and stickers finally had a purpose!   That summer I also discovered www.twopeasinabucket.com and started posting every layout I made.  A year later I was asked to be a Garden Girl which has turned into an almost 12 year ride!

I do not record every moment.  When I first started scrapbooking I did… I was looking for things to scrapbook at that point.  Once the first kid came along I was stressing myself out.   Trying to get it all scrapped…deciding what album it should go in.. should I do duplicate pages??? That took the fun right out of scrapbooking for me.  I decided that I was going to just keep doing what I loved.  Making pages with photos I loved and the stories I wanted to remember.   I don’t worry now about what album or order, or even getting it all done.  There is no way!  I want to keep loving this hobby and for me that means just letting go and SCRAPBOOKING!