By Stephanie Boyle
Scrapbooking, why do we do it? We all have different reasons as to why we scrapbook and what we get out of it. Your reason for scrapbooking is very personal. Here are a couple different reasons as to why people scrapbook and may even give you some ideas on different scrapbooks to start.
This is what started me in scrapbooking. I started a scrapbook for my grandparents 50th anniversary. So I was making the scrapbook as a gift to them. Gift albums have become very popular over the last few years as it is a very personal gift that you've worked very hard to make for the recipient. This is a very treasured gift that can be added on for different occassions that have come to pass.
This kinda ties in to how I started my scrapbooking as well. Many people do this to document a family history. Photos are a great way to document these events and keep them in an organized fashion as well as the journaling which talks about key points as to why this is important. Long after the people are gone, the scrapbook keeps their faces and words familiar for the entire family.
Many people enjoy scrapbooking to tell stories. All you have to do is record small bits of information which could be a joke, a part of a conversation or anything like that. Use those pieces of information in the hournaling and it will continue to tell your story long after the event has passed. Use the photos as your starting point, then fill in essential info such as when, where and why the picture was taken. Most of all in any scrapbooking, do not forget to write who is in the pictures.
Scrapbooking is a great way to get your photos organized. We all have boxes of photos that we haven't put in albums, haven't sorted out and most of all haven't looked at in years. This is a good reason to start scrapbooking. It will get you to sort through your photos and pick out your favorites to make scrapbook pages.
Another reason people have begun scrapbooking is to help heal themselves after a tragedy. A loss of a loved one, or a personal illness is hard for anyone. When the pain has passed or even to help you move on from the pain may be to start a scrapbook. Scrapbooking helps you to relive the good times shared, tell the stories of those times so everyone can remember the good times. This can be very therapeutic to help the healing process.
Many people start baby albums. We used to buy the premade books that our parents used to fill in for us. I'm sure we have all had one of those from our childhoods. The baby albums in scrapbooking are much better. You can input the information you want in it. Document your feelings and thoughts as the birth approached as well as post birth. These make great memorabilia albums for the future.
Whatever your reason for scrapbooking, it is a beautiful hobby to get into. This gives you a feeling of accomplishment as you work through the pages and tell the many stories.
By Stephanie Boyle
Here is a an example of a scrapbooking page I have done. As you see there is no scripting on this page, however it is very easy to see what I was remembering.
By using the hockey ticket as memorabilia, it showcases the date, time and even location of where I was so there was not much of a need for scripting.
As a tip you always want to have the date somewhere's on the page, so looking back you will be able to know when the day is you were trying to remember. Remember, you are making the page to singnify a special occassion, or something memorable to you. Everyone may have something different that they find meaningful, but what is important to you about the page is what you want to signify. The scrapbook is made up of your memories, not everyone elses.
This is another scrapbooking page I did. I actually have a full scrapbook dedicated to this trip as it was very important to me. I had never been on a plane before so these were the first photos I took while up in the air, and my airline tickets are placed here to show the date. This is the first page out of the scrapbook, so this is like the introduction page, explaining what is to come.
Remember, scrapbooking is telling a story. You want someone to be able to read, understand and follow through with everything even though you may not be there to explain this to them. I will give you some more tips and ideas in my later posts.