Sunday, May 27, 2001    

 

I Am a

By:bennie, Murray, UT

About 6 years ago I bought my first scrapbook. I went to a creative memories open house for a friend of my sister’s and was convinced I must have an album to document the remodeling of my newly purchased home. The house had been condemned, you see, and my husband and I had high hopes of making something beautiful out of it. I had never thought to take pictures and write the stories of what we endured with our home until I attended that open house, and boy did that change my life. One step into the scrapbooking world and I was hooked. Now scrapbooking is such a part of my life I call myself a “scrapper” and will ask new acquaintances “do you scrap?” assuming they know exactly what I am referring too. There are other ways it has changed my life; first, helped me preserve my memories, second, it has given me a new hobby that I enjoy and third, it has filled a lot of space in my life.

First of all, I know without a doubt that had I not begun to scrapbook, my precious memories and photos would have been lost to time, endless neglect and certainly damage. I would never have written down precious stories that I have journalled in my albums. My photos would have been lucky to have been stored in one box or container, more likely to have been tossed here and there or shelved at the top of a closet gathering dust. I am ashamed to admit I had to rescue my wedding photos from the attic of a condemned home, but I did. Beginning to scrap and continuing to scrap has helped me to safely store and preserve such precious memories. Now I know the value of writing one’s history. My albums are enjoyed by many family members and friends, all because I began to get into scrapbooking.

I love scrapbooking, I really do. I love to walk into a scrapbook or craft store and see what’s new. I enjoy going to classes to learn a new skill or technique to improve the quality and creativity of my albums. I deeply treasure the friendships I have gained through attending scrapbook workshops, classes, retreats, crops and surfing online. I have found a little niche- something I can thoroughly enjoy and collect and spend time doing that is of value to myself and to others. I love the feeling of accomplishment I get in completing pages and forever documenting our cherished memories. As I alluded to in the first paragraph, scrapbooking has become so much a part of me that I refer to myself with the title “scrapbooker” or “scrapper”. That is how much it has meant to me.

Finally, scrapbooking has filled a lot of space in my life. It has filled up a full closet, and hopefully someday I will have my own scrap/craft room. (Then it will fill a whole room!) It takes up space in my checkbook and credit card statements. It fills up my previously empty Friday nights once a month. It takes away from those lonely days with no one to talk to because I have found so many friends by scrapbooking. It has filled the need I have to be artistic and create something new. It fills up my albums and fills up my camera and fills up the kitchen table on occasion. But it also empties—it empties ink from my pens, it empties my adhesives, my magnetic albums and most importantly it empties those sad pathetic boxes I tossed all my photos into before I realized their value. The space that it empties I gladly give up for the space that it fills.

In conclusion, scrapbooking has enriched, fulfilled and changed my life, and I believe in a very positive way. It has transformed boxes of unappreciated paper, trinkets and photographs into a treasure of memories to enjoy. It has given me a hobby that has enriched my life and helped me to become and feel accomplished. And finally, scrapbooking has filled a lot of space, both physically in my home and emotionally in my heart. I mentioned earlier that my husband and I bought a condemned home, and that is what sparked the fire in me to scrap. It is so fun to show the album of our remodel, complete with all the before and after shots, all the stories that weren’t so funny then that have us rolling on the floor with laughter now and all those little things that we would have surely forgotten. Just as my old condemned house was changed into a beautiful home, scrapbooking has changed me into a scrapper. I am delighted with the change.


Tomorrow at dMarie Daily: Scrapbooking.....an obsession, by Jeannie Wrench


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