What Is So Great About Scrapbooking?
What’s so great about scrapbooking anyway? What has propelled this activity to the point where millions are practically addicted? Surprisingly, guilt may be a primary motivation for starting a scrapbook. But there are loftier emotions working as well, like the desire to preserve family memories. Finally, scrapbooking satisfies our innate desire to create.
Many people report that one reason they started scrapbooking was that they felt guilty for having boxes and boxes of unorganized photographs. When we are experiencing a birthday, anniversary, vacation or any other personal or family event, it’s difficult to imagine ever forgetting it. We record the day with photos and go home with a sense of fulfillment and joy. But life begins to take over and photos get stored in boxes, and eventually our life is defined by a closet full of odd-sized boxes. Scrapbooking lets us reopen our memories and give them a place of higher honor in the daylight, where everyone can share in them.
But there’s more to scrapbooking than just the need to organize. Many scrappers are all about preserving family memories. It seems that times just get tougher for families. The structure of families is constantly changing. We rarely live with extended family anymore and end up missing the reminiscing of our grandparents. And, today’s families are more mobile, moving to new homes and new cities much more often than ever before. Scrapbooks give us a link to our past. They let us look back in time and see the flow of our lives, and maybe even help us make sense of it all.
Scrapbooks allow us to be creative. By combining photographs, physical objects and text in an album, we can be as creative as we desire. Almost anything goes inside a scrapbook, from ticket stubs to newspaper clippings to hair clippings! These scraps of our lives can then be embellished with ribbons, fabric, artwork and graphics.
There are lots of great reasons to become a scrapbook addict. But this is an addiction that will enrich your life and the lives of those you love.
