Teaching teens to scrapbook

Today was my first experiment in teaching a scrapbooking workshop.  My husband has been nagging me to teach a scrapbooking workshop for soooo long.  And so many people suggested it to me.  However, I’ve been putting it off since I’m not really one for teaching the how-to’s of scrapbooking.

I’m the type who can tell you little tips and tricks of the trade.  Or what’s trendy, what’s in and what’s out.  I can tell you why it’s soooo important to use photo-safe materials.  I can tell you all about Cheryl Lightle (of Creative Memories) and how she pioneered the entire scrapbooking hobby.  I can tell you which products are a good value for your money and which are a waste of time.  I can tell you anything you need/want to know about the scrapbooking industry.  But teach you how to actual put together a book?  How to create amazing layouts?  Forget about it!

But a mother in the neighborhood heard I am importing scrapbook supplies from the States, since photo-safe supplies can’t really be found in any stores in Israel.  And the websites that sell it are all in Hebrew (which doesn’t really work for the English speaking communities).  Anyway, this mother discovered what I’m doing and told me that her daughter LOVES scrapbooking and that I should teach it to teens for a couple hours one Sunday morning or afternoon.

Today was that day.  I spent days preparing my “lesson plan.”  I spent hours last night reviewing Becky’s sketches (Becky Higgins of Creating Keepsakes) and designing pages according to her sketches.  All with the hopes of these excited girls learning about scrapbooking, the importance of photo-safe materials, and how to create amazing layouts.

The first 5 – 10 min. I spent explaining the acid-free stuff.  Nobody seemed to care.  The next 5 min. I showed them Becky’s sketches, passed out some sketches I photocopied from the Creating Keepsakes magazine, and then showed them samples of what a finished page looks like after following Becky’s sketches.

The next 2 hours were spent with girls ravaging through my supplies, cutting papers however they wanted, creating their own “masterpieces” and me running around the table to show them how to use the paper trimmer, or the punch, or which color paper would NOT clash with the background color they’ve chosen.

Then they tore through my inventory like a tornado, bought a bunch of stickers, paper and glue sticks and left.  My place looked like a hurricane blew through and I had to leave it all to pick up my kids from their respective play groups.

Will I do it again?  That’s such a good question.  In sales, I made a killing.  But the exhaustion of putting it all together was a bit more than what I think I want to handle in the future.  So what am I to do?  I think that workshops are a fantastic way to spread the scrapbooking hobby and to make more business. 

Are there lesson plans for how to give a workshop?  Perhaps it’s because I was teaching to teens.  Would an older audience be less of a storm?  All I know is, I’m exhausted.  I actually had a good time, but there’s got to be a better way to do this. 

Any pointers?  I’m happy to hear about them.

Happy Scrappin’!