What does Scrapbookin mean to me?

By:Teresa J. VanHoose

Scrapbooking to me, it is a creative release, an expression of love and a way to preserve my family history.

I began to scrapbook as a way to preserve the pictures from when I was a little girl. But as I began to create more and more pages, I was able to use creativity to express myself as a crafter. I could take color, and shapes and bring out the best in the pictures at hand. With practice, I was able to use the pictures from events to tell the story of the day. From the christmas stories that we were telling over and over to the family outings that would show future generations how we all got along together.

With a large family of brothers, sisters, inlaws, parents and grandparents, I have always tried to keep track of birthdays, anniversarys and other mundane events in our extented family. With scrapbooking I have been able to put faces to the names going back at least four generations. Not only have I been able to go to the pictures of the past and tell a little story here and there about those family members that I know about, but I have been able to use scrapbooking to document the growth of our family. As each new member has been added over the past several years, Aunt Teresa has been there with camera in hand and notepad to document the scrapbook page. Not only has there been 3 new nieces and a new greatniece, but now a new nieceinlaw that will join the family.

Scrapbooking doesn't limit me to just family as well. I have enjoyed taking the pictures from my best friend's wedding last year and making her a scrapbook she cherished as much as her new husband. It allowed me to create a special gift for my coworkers by taking the pictures from a christmas party and creating a special scrapbook for them all. I was able to surprise my sisterinlaw when I used all the photos I could scan from her son and my motherinlaw to create a special scrapbook for her at a surprise anniversary party.

It has brought me closer to members of my family as I share each page with members. Wheither I keep the pages myself or give them to them for thier scrapbook. My mother even has gotten into the act on her own computer and is scrapping all the photos she has on the computer to share with us. It allowed me to take pictures from my motherinlaw, scan them, and find out more about her and my fatherinlaw from thier early days together in World War Two.

By scrapbooking family history and the children as they grow, I am able to give them a special piece of themselves when they graduate. For they receive from me a scrapbook of who family members are and the many different ages of themselves as they grew. I'm hoping that as I give my daughter her scrapbook at graduation this year, it will bring her a better understanding of where she comes from. Regardless of where she is going.

It has brought to me several friends over the internet with the chatrooms. I also have been able to go to scrapbook sessions at my local scrapbook store and not only get ideas from the owner freely, but also a shoulder to lean on in the past several months. I have found that most scrapbookers are not only friendly, but have a deep caring for one another. That makes a difference for anyone.

There a many reasons that scrapbooking is important to me, I have listed only a few. For the reasons grow with each page I put together. With each day that goes by and with each photo I take.

Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: Why I like Dmarie..., by By Loretta, Overland Park, KS