Weight Loss + Scrapbooking = Creativity with a Purpose

I am a scrapbooker and I have been for several years, even before my daughter was born.  I got into because a dear friend of mine was a scrapbooker and because I wanted an excuse to use all the pretty patterned paper that I would see at Michael's.  Well, roughly 1000 sheets of patterned paper later, I am addicted.  I'll admit that I love collecting all of the bits and bobs involved in the hobby, but I do love the art of it. Yes, I think of it as an art.  It may not be as "cool" as other art forms, but I love being able to tell a story through photos, paper, and embellishments.  I'm not the most creative person ever, but scrapbooking and related arts, make me feel creative.  It's also a great stress relief for me. 

So, as I was wandering through Michael's the other day, I found a Smash Book.  This product came out a few months ago and took the scrapbooking world by storm.  It would sell out immediately online.  It took forever for the big box stores to get it in stock.  Basically it's a spiral bound notebook with patterned paper.  There are various embellishments you can buy for it as well.  It's a really cool product. 

I was trying to think of a way to both document and inspire my journey.  I wanted a physical reminder of my goals and my reasons for doing this.  I love writing my thoughts in a blog format, but I felt the need to do something *more*. 

So, I pulled out my paper and glue and sundry other supplies and got to work.  I'm only a few pages in, but I'm really liking it so far.  I feel energized and really creative after working on it. 




This is the title page -- you can't tell, but the word "fat" is glitter letters

Another shot of the cover page.  The word "project" is comprised of fuzzy felt letters.

The first two pages.  The one on the left was just a plain green page, but I added patterned paper to jazz it up and made a pocket to hide some journaling. 


The "here's the story" embellishment is a transparancy that I glued to the inside of the pocket. The sheet of paper in the pocket is kind of a summary of my life as a fat girl and why I'm changing, now. Since it's fairly personal, I wanted to keep the journaling hidden.




I found it really ironic that the first page had a graphic that said "we baked you a cake." So, I added a little WW humor. I also had the tickets in my stash and when I saw them, I couldn't get the phrase "I Love You like a Fat Kid Loves Cake" out of my head. So I went with it.