Scrapbooking Ideas for Getting Your Story Told with Selfies

Set yourself a challenge this month to take a photo of yourself–a “selfie”–and use it to tell your story. See the photograph and story angles our team and MSD teachers have taken in the scrapbook layouts here. A great resource and inspiration for taking a self-portrait is the “Getting Over Ourselves”episode of The Digi Show.

Michelle Houghton says, “I used my phone to take these photos and turned the lens around so I could see the shot as I was framing it.The page is really about the story I wanted to tell in my journaling.  I talk about the fact that I have always been considered a little different and how a friend put a name to that stand-out uniqueness.  I wanted to include current photos of myself and thought it would be fun to add lots of purples and blues for a real “Gonzo” effect.  Instead of trying to turn myself a different shade I converted the photos to black and white, hand-colored the eyes, and did a bold mixed media background to include the purples and blues.” 

Celeste Smith  says, “I tried taking photos with a timer on a little gorilla pod as well as with long arm reach. The gorilla pod photos came out a little better. I cropped this one tight so you couldn’t see the lighter or the whole of my face! First I thought about the fact that it was my birthday and I thought what story could I tell? Then I realized that my wish was very different from the past 13 or so years. The past 13 years I’ve always wished for my boys – their health and happiness. Year 43 for me was a trial of health problems. My wish was selfish – a self wish. So I ran with that.”

Marcia Fortunato says, “One of the photos was taken by my friend Emily on her smartphone, and the other was taken by me on my phone. I highlighted her photo since the quality was much better but also included mine as support. I ‘met’ Emily Pitts online about a year ago, as she was one of the teachers for the Get It Scrapped Guided Design Workshops I participated in. I was excited to meet her in person recently when I was in her area for a wedding. Being scrapbookers, we of course took pictures (selfies), which worked perfectly on this layout about our meeting.” 

Terry Billman says, “Several months ago, I was putting my ‘face on’ when my husband snapped this photo. I have no idea what possessed him to take the photograph. He was probably acting silly. However, it was perfect for telling the story of my mother telling me from the time I was a teenager to put my ‘face on’ first thing every morning. She said it determined what my attitude would be for the remainder of the day.” 

Katie Scott says, “I took this selfie photo with my Canon point-and-shoot in a bathroom mirror.  I’ve been a bit self-critical lately and I came across this DCWV paper with the sentiment ‘Be the type of person you want to meet’ which I figured was great for a selfie page. I created a pocket page and tucked in my selfie photo along with lots of different types of resolution- and goal-type notes to myself.”

Tara McKernin says, “This photo was taken using my DSLR on a tripod paired with a remote trigger and the timer feature.  So I had time to set the timer while already on the floor and lose the trigger before the image was captuered.  One of my classes in my last semester of college was all about personal wellness.  As a part of that process we journaled, did inner reflection work and made contracts to focus on two areas of health in our lives.  Yoga was for my mental health, and it helped me through the last few months of school.  I kept the journaling simple, clean and clear just like yoga.”

Debbie Hodge says, “Just a few months ago, my youngest son was still in middle school and on a long bus route so I often picked him up, sitting in my van on the curve near the wing of the school he exited. My camera was on a mount suctioned to the window and I set it up to get a shot of him leaving — but then with the camera turned around, I saw that I could get a shot of myself. The light was good, and I snapped it and recorded the details of that moment. I’m so glad I did because now that he’s in high school, he’s loving his bus or riding with his brother and that era of my life is . . . gone!”

Emily Pitts wanted to make a page about herself that was hopeful and playful to convey the fact that she’s been seeing good changes in her life lately. She says, “I started with the product on this page: the metal feather was my jumping-off point. I found a quote that I liked and then went from there, using the bird cages to support the feather idea.” (Emily shared this page as a part of her teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Design in the Tension class.)

Dina Wakley used a “selfie” taken with her computer webcam. She says, “This page is about my 2013 goals–things I want to do better! The journaling reads, “Be healthy, read more books, keep up with scriptures, be better organized, be at home.” (Dina shared this page as a part of her teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Design in the Tension class.)

Corrie Jones scrapbooks a self-portrait every month. Of this one, Corrie says, “I took down my thoughts of this moment as I was sitting in the parking lot before the first day of a photography class I am taking. It was an exciting but nervous moment for me, and just waiting for the class to start made all these doubting feeling come bubbling up. When going to create the page later on, I really enjoyed making it just for me.” (Corrie shared this page as a part of her teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Design in the Oomph & Polish class.)

Anna Aspnes took this shot with camera phone mounted in her car and used it to document herself having fun with fashion in Autumn 2012.  She says, “During this time I was experimenting a little, switching up my style, adding a few new interesting pieces here and there to my wardrobe.  I wanted the layout design to represent the same edgy style demonstrated in both the clothing and what I was feeling at that time.  I achieved this through the combination of bold, bright colors and an outside-the-box design concept.” (Anna shared this page as a part of her teaching at Masterful Scrapbook Design in the Tension class.)