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Why Scrapbooking?
Author: Heather Slee
Okay, some people believe you're either born a scrapbooker or you're not. I was not. Just the term "scrapbooking" made me think of a knitting circle or making tissue cozies out of yarn and macaroni. I was too cool for crafts…until I actually gave it a try.
I was sort of thrown begrudgingly into the situation, but when I emerged I had a beautiful album. It was of my trip to Ireland. Instead of all my photos crammed in wrinkled envelopes or stuffed in a shoebox in some cluttered closet, all my beautiful photos and memories were displayed in a book. Photos, brief jottings of places and people and stories, a coaster from an interesting pub, ticket stubs from the symphony. I fell in love.
The next project was tackled by my sister and me. Our family photos were all located in a large Xerox box. Just piles and piles of pictures, no order, no rhyme or reason, and no idea where to start. But we plugged away - first organizing as best we could into a million piles (holidays, the lake place, Grandma and Grandpa, so-and-so's wedding, etc.), then cropping out unnecessary parts of the photos, then just putting them in album pages - page after page after page. When we were done, we had two bulging, beautiful albums to present to my parents at Christmas. It was one of the only times in my life I'd seen my father cry.
So now, as a rabid scrapbooker, I want you to imagine something. Imagine you found an old album and cracked it open. Inside were hundreds of pictures of your great grandparents, their house, their wedding photo. Your grandparents as teenagers dressed up for the holidays, or washing their 1948 Cadillac, or holding your parents as babies. Pictures of your parents' first day of school. With all those pictures, someone took the time to write down names of people and places, and a few stories and memories. This album might be priceless to you. Your family history would never disappear, because it was written down and photos were preserved and labeled, instead of going nameless and forgotten.
You can give this gift to your children now. I'm not going to lie to you - if none of your photos are printed or organized, or you aren't even sure where they all are, getting started may be tough. I highly recommend going to a local scrapbooking store for a getting started guide or advice from an employee. There are also numerous websites out there that can give you ideas on how to tackle the daunting project. There's even a company called Creative Memories that has direct selling consultants (like Avon or Mary Kay) that can show you one-on-one how to create an album that your grandchildren will one day cherish.
Before you start thinking about how little time you have to do this, start thinking about how important it is to leave a family history for your future generations. You don't have to get into the stickers and paper and ribbons and buttons and all that jazz if you don't want to; if you're not crafty, that's not the part your children will pour over. It's the stories and the images of their history. So carve out a little time in your schedule for scrapbooking. You may even love it!
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