Scrapbooking Has Become My Life...Welcome To It!

By:Kathy J.

Little did I know that when my sister-in-law Renee showed me her scrapbook paraphenelia and took me to her favorite scrapbooking store, All My Memories, in Littleton, Colorado that in just a short time I would be hooked. Okay, hooked is putting it mildly...I admit I'm a scrapaholic in every sense of the word. But what a lovely "disease" to have!
I've always enjoyed taking pictures of my friends and family. I tried to be good and make sure the pictures went into albums, but what usually happened is the pictures stayed in their packages and found a home in numerous boxes around my house. If the pictures were really special they were elevated to the home of the lovely wicker basket in our computer room.
Scrapbooking has given me and my pictures a purpose! Think of it, me...a creatively challenged person... scrapbooking. I began with a multitude of pictures from over the years, one scrapbook friendly album (Creative Memories), a few stickers and pieces of paper, 4 zig pens, and was ready to begin. I became well known on ebay, racking up "wins" for every scrapbooking thing imaginable. At dmarie, I quickly bought enough to get to the most points allowable before trading them in for a coupon. Now my scrapbooking supplies are threatening to overtake our computer room.
As I began putting pages together I found that I too had "groupies" just like a famous musician. My "groupies" were my nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, mom and dad, and yes my husband too!(I am not fortunate to have children of my own). I don't live close to any of my family so they don't have the opportunity of seeing the progression of my albums from day to day. Because scrapbooking is such a life time memory book I have been working on a major project whereby each niece and nephew will someday have his or her own scrapbook done by me. There's always a great deal of excitement when I go to visit and my family gets to see the pages I worked on for them.
Last summer when I was visiting my sister and her husband in Minneapolis, I brought pictures, blank scrapbook pages, page protectors, and my entourage of scrapbooking materials. (To give you an idea, I have one CIS Binder of just 12 x 12 paper, one CIS Binder of stickers and die cuts, one portfolio of 8 x 10 paper, and an extra bag of paper, die cuts, and stickers because my binders are stuffed full!) Three of my four nephews designed pages for their scrapbooks and did their own thing. Boy did they have fun with the stickers and punches and paper! (Not to mention, the pictures of course). My youngest nephew who is 6 even decided he wanted to do a 5 x 7 scrapbook of the County Fair that we went to. While at the fair he even convinced some of the owners of the horses, which he loves, to open up the stalls so I could take a good picture of the horse for his album. The day I was leaving, he made sure my sister got a list from me of what he needed to start his own scrapbook. I plan on visiting again in March and have a little surprise for him: along with all the photos of his trip to the fair, I have a 5 x 7 celebration album from CM and some stickers of animals for him to use.
I always have several projects going on at once, but my favorite one right now is the album I'm putting together for my parents of their grandchildren. I have devoted four pages for each grandchild with pictures of them over the years. I can't wait to see their faces as they look at the pictures of their grandchildren "growing up" right before their eyes!
I find that scrapbooking has touched so many of the loves (my family and friends) of my life. Every Wednesday I get together with a group of friends to scrapbook and share supplies, but mostly pictures and stories. It's somewhat of a good natured joke for my friends to see me coming with all my scrapbooking goodies. At times I surprise the group with things like PP Great Backgrounds 12 x 12 Paper Kit, Tapestry in Time's journaling template, and various paper. We have a good time using my numerous punches and personal power punch. When a new product such as the oval cropper or the doodle cutter come out, my friends look forward to trying mine out (it's almost a foregone conclusion that I will have one).
This year, our school (I am a school counselor for students in grades 7 - 12) is undergoing renovations. I have been taking pictures of the process in the school counseling area and offices. The construction workers (who are in some of the pictures) are looking forward to seeing the pictures. Wait until they get the added surprise of seeing them in scrapbook form!
Scrapbooking is so many things: stress-reducing, invigorating, joyous, tearful, funny, creative, long- lasting... It's hard to describe the warmth I feel when I show my pages to others, but you can see it on the faces of my mom and dad who are 70 and 71 and my twin nephews Stephen and Ryan who are only 2. Believe me, it's the best feeling going. But sometimes you just can't please everyone as my 6 year old niece Mary let me know at Christmas time. She had just finished looking at about 15 new pages in an album when she said, "Aunt Kathy, this is boring. There's not enough pictures of me." I quickly remedied this disaster by taking lots of pictures of her during the holidays. I'm sure when she sees the new pages next summer she won't be bored!


Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: Scrapbooking is..., by Janine E.