I'm a Caveman...

When I was GiGi's age, my bestfriend and I made jewelry from macrame - she was 17, I was 14.  We would drive around town and place the jewelry in privately owned businesses to sell (something you can hardly find anywhere anymore - there will probably be a post about this subject later).  My favorite places to go were the Record/Head Shops (every record store was a combination Head Shop... it was the 70s).  I loved the record shops, not because they had the coolest pipes (and they did have some very groovy hookahs) but because of the albums... I could spend hours just flipping through those second-hand LPs.  Sometimes, we would take some of our own for trade - my brother was the best LP tradesman around even while still in junior high (we had junior highs, not middle schools).  NOTE:  If I found out GiGi had stepped foot in a head-shop, I would totally lose my mind! 
Vinyl record discs had been around for over 50 years at that time (my step-sister still owns some of the old Victrola albums that were handed down to her through the generations).   About 20 years later I woke up one day to find they were gone... disappeared... couldn't find one if it killed you... replaced with CDs.

Today there was a conversation in the car that reminded me of how much I loved albums.  I had gotten GiGi a Nook for her birthday (actually, I had gotten my mom one for her birthday in August and as part of a sale at BN, got a $50 gift certificate which I promptly used to get GiGi the super-duper one  and saved for her birthday in December).  So as we were talking about putting items in her calendar on her phone, I told her to remember the book report due in Feb.  As she had finished a book and turned in a report yesterday, I asked if she had decided what to read next.  Then I asked if she really liked reading on her Nook best.  Answer:  Absolutely.  And for the briefest moment I became more than a little nervous.
 By now, there are 3 Nook owners in the house... Gigi as well as my mom and dad who are both avid readers.   But I am a Book reader.  I am a Book collector.  Not only do I have enough books here to fill a personal library, I have also outfitted my brothers house with almost the same amount of books (on loan of course).  I love books... passionately.  I love the look of them, the smell of them, the feel of them.  (And I love magazines and have a pretty hearty stash of them as well - in fact I think I have every Creative Memories since 2004).  Oh my, with IPads and Nooks and Kindles so popular, are books going to go the way of LPs?!!! What a horrible thought!!!!!!!!

Maybe this is why I'm a scrapbooker... moreover, a collector of pretty paper.  I love the look of it, the smell of it, the feel of it.  I have more paper than I will ever use and yet I will not part with a single sheet (yes, I've weeded out the 'ugly' stuff) and only plan to add more and more.  Maybe this love of scrapbooking stems from the same love of books and of LPs.  Maybe the reason I loved flipping through those 'albums' (and collected oh so many) was as much because of the covers as the music... those cardboard/paper covers.  I loved the look of them, the smell of them, the feel of them.  And yes, I had started collecting books even then and my room looked quite like a store:  bookcases and bookcases filled with books and albums (but then I had an entire basement as my bedroom so my collection had space to grow).  Maybe that was a precursor to what was to come... I collect books and I collect scrapbook paper and I would still collect albums if they were readily available.  (I do not collect CDs and only own a handful - one of which is Carole King).
In my little 7x9 room, I have 3 bookcases packed with books - in fact I had to buy extra shelving for them because they only come with 5 - and there are more squeezed in with my dad's in his office/library and more waiting to be placed somewhere.  (I will not be without my books surrounding me; however, my magazines are still stored for the most part with only a crate here.) I also have an Ikea Expedit (only the 4x4 as that's all that I thought would fit in my space; regret is my middle name - I just know I could have managed to squeeze in that extra 16 inches) with thousands of sheets of pretty paper.  And while my brother has most of the albums we scored along the years, I recently bought GiGi a pristine Beatles album I had never seen before (really, and I thought I had them all at one time) that is awaiting a frame in her room - no, we don't have anything to play it on but that's okay, we love the cover. 

What's the moral of this story? Nothing... just an insight. I may not be a caveman, but I am among the ancients.  I truly believe that paper was the greatest invention in the history of mankind... really, who needed a wheel as long as we had horses, camels, mules.  But there is no substitute for paper. I prefer to doodle on packing-paper, what they called "newsprint" in my grade school.  I love parchment paper and keep it in my scrap room for various uses.  I love pretty wrapping paper and brown bag paper and adore wrapping gifts in lieu of using bags.  I love notebook paper and graph paper and always buy gobs and gobs too much for school; but that's okay, I use a fair share.  I even love photo paper for some reason.  I am in love with paper - all of it.  And I truly hope that we do not become a civilization whereby it becomes obsolete (also, as a result of this insight, I may never digitally scrapbook again :o ).

Now, what did I do with paper today (besides spend it!?!)?  Well, unfortunately, I haven't read anything today, although I did straighten up my books.  But I also created a Page with a few of my pretty papers (I may not have created paper or scrapbooking, but I can certainly play at it as long as I am physically able to sit up and use my hands).  I'm still cruising along with the Pretty Paper Party but I was only able to finish one layout today because I am having so very much trouble with my back and feet, but I'm happy to show you.  However, first I'll share something from the previous Prompts that I did on Wednesday night (or Thursday morning, who knows!):

Cardstock: The Paper Studio; Patterned Paper: Echo Park, My Minds Eye, Pink Paislee, Simple Stories; Stickers: American Crafts, October Afternoon; Twine: Doodle Bug; Punch: Martha Stewart; Pen: Sharpie; Ink: Ranger; Other: Buttons



And from Yesterday: 

Patterned Paper: American Crafts, Echo Park, Simple Stories; Flowers, Brads & Punch: The Paper Studio; Stickers:  American Crafts, Echo Park, Simple Stories; Twine: Doodlebug; and you know the rest

 

Patterned Paper:  The Paper Studio; Patterned Paper:  American Crafts, Simple Stories; Tape: Recollections, Love My Tapes; Stickers: American Crafts, Echo Park; Twine: Doodlebug; Brads: Hampton Arts; Punches:  EK Success; Flair: A Flair for Buttons: & so on and so forth

And today:

Cardstock: Paper Studio; Patterned Paper: Crate Paper, Echo Park; Stickers: American Crafts, Echo Park, October Afternoon; DieCut: Echo Park; Punches: Creative Memories, EK Success, Fiskars; Other: Pixlr; etc. etc. etc.

I know, I know... I'm supposed to be working on my project.  But with all these pretty papers it's just so much fun to add those lovely pictures of GiGi.  Besides, they were printed and right there by my table.  Maybe tomorrow I can get back on track. 

Well, that's what I've been thinking and doing.  What about you?

Cheerio!

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." - William Wordsworth