How Scrapbooking has changed my life!!!

By:Karyn Gardner, Elk Grove, CA

I think I have basically scrapbooked all of my life but, of course in not-so-safe albums. I've saved lots of memorabilia which have also gone in these albums and I would write catchy little titles and phrases around the pictures on scratch paper or whatever I could find to write one...just to get them in an album. THEN, I got married, that cut my time in half and doubled my pictures.l..THEN, I had a baby girl, which really cut down "my" time and really added to my pictures...THEN, I had another baby girl, and you what that meant!!! Then about two years ago, a mutual friend of mine and my mom's invited us over to a scrapbook party and they said bring 9 pictures; well of course I showed up with a large container of pictures (and those were the most recent)! We had a great time and I fell in love with scrapbooking! I, with limited funds, purchased a package of pages and page protectors, a safe pencil and photo splits so I could get started! My mom, of course going overboard, ordered an album and some tape and some stickers. She then set them aside, while I was busy filling up those pages I had! Finally, one day she said that I could have some of the pages out of her album because she had yet to start it, THEN she gave me that album about a year later and I booked my own party and the rest is history (or mystory)! I then found the local scrapbook stores, then discovered the internet and THEN (and most important) dMarie! Everyone that I've met here on the bulletin boards have made such a positive impact on my life that I could never thank anyone enough! Even if I don't join in a conversation topic, you follow it as if you were right there! Reading through on a Monday morning can brighten anyone's day! Then I always head over to layout central to see what ideas will spark from seeing someone else's layout! Now, both of my wonderful daughters share a love for scrapbooking with me! We have a great time putting together our layouts; they each have their own cameras now and their own scrapbooks!!! What could be more special than sharing a favorite pastime with your children!!! It has brought us so much closer over the last year that I could never put on paper how thankful I am for that closeness! Of course, we love scrapbook shopping almost as much as scrapbooking itself!!!

Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: A Life of New Possibilities . . ., by Retta, Indiana