I was just reading THIS POST at 2peas, called “Maybe it’s because I’ve never been to a crop …” The poster, Jessica, goes on to state:
But I really don’t see the benefit… if peopl spend weeks getting ready for an all day crop then wouldn’t you have been able to do all those layouts before instead of putting together all these page kits? Is it more for the socializing? I just think that all the time I would spend gettin ready for a crop + the time I would spend at the crop I could get more stuff just doing it at home.
Then many Peas chimed in either to agree with her, or to explain why they do attend crops and retreats. Here is one such answer, from Renee:
The benefit is a big chunk of uninterrupted time to work on projects. No where to go, nothing to do, and no one calling for mom.
Yep, ^^^^THAT^^^^ would be me, LOL. That’s certainly why I go to crops. I don’t get anything done at home. Srsly. I hardly ever scrap at home anymore. And I figured it out.
I’m a People Pleaser.
I *should* be able to sit at my scrap desk, tune out all the distractions, and tell my kids and husband to leave me the heck alone. I should be able to focus, and daze off into Scrappy La La Creative Land.
But I just can’t.
Say I’m sitting at my desk scrapping. I hear one of the kids looking for a permission slip or piece of schoolwork, I jump up and help them. I hear the hubs starting to make dinner or do the dishes, I jump up and help him. My family starts watching a movie together, and I don’t want to miss out so I join them … and make the popcorn, then do the dishes after. When the dryer buzzes, I go fold and put away the laundry, and start another load. And when that dryer buzzes, I do it again. Lather rinse repeat. When the phone rings, even if I’m successful in ignoring it, when DH says it’s for me, I take the call (aren’t I within my rights to say, “Tell them I’m busy and I’ll call them back”? That’s what a sane scrapper would do).
When I’m working from home, I manage to tune everything out, to resist family movies, to let these capable human beings fend for themselves. But for some reason, I can’t seem to do it in defense of my scrapbooking time. I guess the difference is that, when I’m working, I’m People Pleasing my clients (since they ARE paying me, after all, lol).
Maybe it’s because I *do* work so much … that I feel like when I’m home and NOT working, I should be spending every spare moment housekeeping or doing things with my family. So maybe stay-at-home moms don’t stuggle with this, I don’t know. I would love to hear from you SAHM’s … are you able to scrap at home? It seems like most of the popular scrapbook bloggers are SAHMs; I can’t think of any who work full-time (at a non-scrapbooking job, I mean).
Maybe the successful at-home scrappers create when the kids are in bed for the night? Unfortunately, I’m either working again or too tired at that point. Oh how I WISH I could scrap late at night. I used to, when I worked part-time and didn’t have to be up early the next day to put in a full day’s work. Ah, the good old days!
So. I go to crops and retreats. Like someone said in the 2peas thread, I get more pages done at my annual weekend retreat than I do the entire rest of the year. Sad but true.
Coincidentally, that retreat time is almost upon me! I’ll soon be going away for the weekend ~ a Friday through Sunday in March ~ to adjoining condos at a nearby lake, to scrap, scrap, scrap. There will be eight of us and we’ll take turns doing meals, so the only time I’ll be tied up is making dinner on Saturday night. But I hope to pre-flight something and just warm it up at the condos.
Matter of fact, I think I’ll write another blog entry before then about how I pack for a crop. I’ll try to take photos of the process and then explain what I pack and why.
How about you? Do you crop mostly at home or mostly away? Are you a People Pleaser or can you focus and block out all distractions?
11 Comments
I work part time, in the evenings, and I have 2 kids who are both at school, so I tend to do most of my scrapping during the day. I try to get the housework out of the way in the morning, then spend a couple of hours after lunch in my room working on stuff. I do like going to crops, and I get stuff done there too, but I don’t need to go to a crop to get pages done.
I love going to crops. I get more done at home but crops are my time to socialize and see what people are making. I love teaching others so I tend to help more than worm on my stuff. I usually have kits ready to go because I package my scrapbook papers when as I purchase them sonpackingnis not a problem. I have a piece of all the ribbon and a handful of my buttons In my xxl tote ( just in case I need it.). I usually take extra card stock and embellishments , you never know where a flower is needed. Lol. And I always have my page maps with me. I do not take my silloutte or my big shot with me any more. I took it to one people were just rude. It is more of a distraction to me. So I do that stuff at home. Crops are fun I really do kot exepect to get anything done. I just. Go to have fun with people who enjoy doing what I do.
At this point, I scrap more at a weekend than at home. I’ve been busy lately!
I am with you sista.
Even when nothing is happening, I don’t want to be alone, so end up checking on the family, teehee.
I am a SAHM but I am also a WAHM.
This year my goal is to create everyday, even if it is just thinking about it.
I have gone to a couple crops and hate to pack.
Erika, I have the same problem! I can’t sit down in my scrap area without having a million interruptions, and I feel guilty if I don’t attend to everyone’s needs. I guess I can’t justify my hobby taking precedence over my family’s needs, and I realize that’s a problem in my own brain! So, going to crops is the only way I will ever get anything done.
I don’t do too much prep in advance, but instead, I just keep a bag packed and ready to go. Whenever I go to a crop, I just pick up where I left off at the last one. Right now, I am focused on my daughter’s baby book, so I have all the baby girl-themed paper, stickers, etc., all gathered together, along with the appropriate photos, and I can just pick up my bag and go.
Of course, there is a social component, too. I do enjoy sitting down with other women who enjoy the same hobby, because we can share ideas, commiserate about our lack of time, celebrate our progress, etc. For me, a crop is a nice chunk of guilt-free time to focus on doing something I love.
I too have problems scrapping at home but mostly after an 8+ hr day (non-craft/scrapping job), I’m pooped. It is enough just to get my e-mail cleaned out on a fairly daily basis and then go to bed! And when I don’t, it’s even a later night than before. I go to crops on a quarterly basis. April, July and November. I try to “power page” but I’m doing good if I can just get my materials for the theme project I’m working on packed. All this and I have no kids at home any more but feel like I should be spending time with retired hubby who cooks for me! Alas, what to do?
Crops- I definately get a bunch of scrapbooking done at a retreat! I average 50-75 pages in three days. Plus you learn new techniquest from other people, see new gadgets and get ideas from other’s layouts. I’m going to a retreat in March as well
I work full-time and have a very busy after work life, so scrapping time is limited. I do have a wall in my room that is dedicated to scrapping, so my work is there ready to continue when I have a few minutes, but when I have people home, my daughter and soon to be husband….I tend to spend it with them. That’s one reason I love crops/retreats, the time set aside just to scrap. It’s been forever though since I’ve been to a crop….hmm, I need to fix that problem soon!! Your retreat sounds like a blast!!
Completely the same as you. The benefit of a crop is no “where is. .” or “I need. .. ” or “what are you doing? . . and that’s my SO. The teenager will often work on her own jewelry making and keep me motivated. But yeah, I decide I should do laundry. Then I decide I need a snack. Then there is letting the dogs in and out. and a billion other things. If I schedule time out of the house I can crank stuff out.
But I don’t take a bunch of time to plan out what I’m making. I usually just grab a big stack of cardstock and a book of papers and a couple things of embellishments and go. And let the inspiration hit me to make pages when I’m there. But I often use that time to make pre-made pages I sell. Or it’s good if I’m working on a custom album order, then I bring all their pics and the coordinating items I’ve bought for that album and work away!
I’m going to have to stop reading your blog! I stopped scrapbooking because of the time and expense (plus I really wasn’t that good at it.) Reading your post brought back a lot of memories of going to all day (or all night) crops!
For me, committing to a crop meant I would commit to getting some pages done. I also had a great time talking to friends and getting inspiration from everyone.
sigh – I miss it!!
So if I was going to start back (and that’s a big “if”) where would I start with Memory Works products? I would be scrapping kids and maybe some romantic stuff for DH (our 25th is coming up in less than two months.) Feel free to email me if you’d rather not talk here. I feel a project coming on!