Putting The Scrap Back Into Scrapbook

Take a quick trip to any craft store, and you can see that people are spending big money in the Scrapbooking aisle.  Designer paper, stickers, stamps, rub-on text, themed embellishment packs and paper punchers in every shape and size imaginable are now available for the modern craft enthusiast.  It isn’t hard to drop some serious cash on the undeniably attractive bits and pieces that totally illustrate just how special your family vacation really was. 

Now wait a minute.  Before we go any further, let’s stop and think about what a scrapbook is, and what it is not.  A scrapbook is not a photo album.  It is not just a collection of photographs that prove you really did go to Hawaii and hug the fire-juggler guy at the hotel luau.  A scrapbook is not home decor.  It is not the framed print or funky throw pillows that make your houseguests gush about your color scheme and eye for detail.  A scrapbook is not your MySpace page or your Facebook wall or the wallpaper on your work computer.  A scrapbook is an opportunity for you to collect and keep the ephemera of your life and put it into context.  It is the haven of every pack rat who doesn’t know why they keep the ticket stubs, only that they must.  That’s why I’m a scrapbooker.  It pains me to throw away silly greeting cards, magazine ads with beautiful pictures, beer coasters and yes, ticket stubs.  All of these things are tied to a moment or a memory that I don’t want to forget.  So I keep them.  To maintain some semblance of sanity, I scrapbook them.  What better way to ensure that none of those memories gets lost?  Besides, if I didn’t do something with it, I’d be surrounded by boxes full of the stuff. 

Why spend money on mass-produced paper paw-prints and beads that spell out I-LUV-MY-DOG-! when you have his first set of tags, the tiny collar he wore before he broke 40lbs, or the adoption papers from the shelter?  In the posts to follow, I will share some examples of how I have tried to put the ’scrap’ back into scrapbooking and the tangential projects that come up along the way.