BlogHer - Scrap Booking. Why?? - Comments

Why?

JenCushman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:06:26 -0500

Debra,

I found this thread because I've just discovered blogHer. Thank you so much for bringing up this topic in a curious and respectful way. It's true that a lot of people look at scrapbooking and think "why?" Has scrapbooking as an industry gone a little nutty? Sure. Are there some "fringe" scrappers who take this hobby a little too seriously, definitely! But there are thousands of women (mostly, though some men do scrap) who have found the act of documenting their lives and the lives of loved ones to be a fulfilling and artistic hobby.

In this sense, scrapbooking as a craft is no different than knitting or quilting or sewing. It's the act of making something with your own hands that adds a creative dimension to one's life.

I'm writing a book about scrapbooking and what it means to me and the artists whom I've met through this craft. Alas, I'm in the process of writing the book so it's seems impossible for me to give you the sound bite as to why I scrap, but I feel compelled to answer your question.

The short answer is that I'm a trained journalist. I worked in newspapers for 8 years and have spent the last 10 years as an independent writer. I found scrapbooking when my son was born and I traded a successful newspaper career for motherhood.

It's taken me 9 years to realize I scrap because it is my very personal and artistic way of being the journalist of my own life. In every indigenous culture storytellers were revered. Long before television and the internet, a tribe's entertainment was to listen to the stories of their elders. We learn through stories. We connect through stories. We are human because of our stories.

I believe many women understand this instinctually and that is why scrapbooking has become what is has. At its essence, scrapbooking is storytelling. Plain and simple. You can understand it and connect with it, or you can "not get it". Either answer is OK by me. I scrap to learn about myself and figure out my way in the world. I scrap because I love to take pictures of the people I love. I scrapbook as my personal art form. I scrapbook and make art for my soul.

Again, thanks for opening the discussion. It's been wonderful to read what others have written.

Jen Cushman (www.getealscrapbooking.com)

Why I love scrapping?

SoleilAnn — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:39:53 -0500

I love to scrap because it gives me freedom to be creative in my own way. It also gives me a chance to tell a story using my loved ones' pictures and memorabilia. I made a blog of the joys of scrapbooking. click http://mompopson.blogspot.com/2007/09/joys-of-scrapbooking.html to read about it.

the truth comes out!

charchar — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:08:07 -0500

I agree with your comments re the cultural, gender, sexual orientation, race, class issues which scrapbooking seem to DEFINE AND DEFINE AND DEFINE..all for themselves; what if you don't have kids (if one selects not to have kids, radical as that may be); is not a couple with 2 kids and 1 dog in a middle class home? is perhaps a PERSON/WOYmN OF COLOR from another nation, ethnicity? I have been a part of the H Swapp's Big Picture S....this year and I have had to use the calendar for my own purposes and not be defined EACH WEEK BY HER STANDARDS OF COLOR, TEXTURE, PICTURES, CUTE, PLAY, ETC. I actually love Ali Edwards design as a "life artist" in which you discover your own talents under all the "status quo" reinforcers that others seem to love with other types of sb. So time to break out of the norm and BE WHO YOU WANT TO BE and not follow the masses. Thanks for your insight and thnking about this topic and not just reacting to others view of craft/art/play

why...

tracykuethe — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 18:36:15 -0500

In a nutshell, because I value my story. I value all the little things that make my family tick, and all the big things too. Although written in a more quirky style than typical for me, this little blurb below won me a prize at www.twopeasinabucket.com. A HUGE scrapbooking site, where you could spend hours learning why, seeing why, people scrapbook. As for getting caught up in the paper, the design, the products, the industry related blogs...all of those things have enriched my life. I have been touched by stories and learned so much that it has made my home a better place, and certainly taken my photography, as a bi-product, to a whole new level. Here is my essay:
Journaling reads: Once upon a time there were two young girls who lived together in a nice but not lavish home. The youngest, was prone to screaming and fit throwing, she exclaimed, *I hung-y mommy* nearly 100 times per day and rarely slept a night through in her own bed, preferring the coziness of the spot directly between her Mommy and Daddy. This young girl, sometimes called *Sug-ee* by her older sister also had the sweetest smile and large brown eyes. She had the most endearing way of saying *lello* instead of yellow. She was learning to count and recognize shapes, colors and letters. Her mother was sure she was brilliant. The oldest daughter, while born a beauty, had a distinct off-beat style about how her hair should be worn and what pieces of clothing should be worn together. Her Mother, a person who enjoyed clothing that matched, had for the most part given up on fighting these battles. This daughter, while perfectly capable, often preferred assistance in eating, teeth brushing and even personal hygiene. On certain days, this willfulness all but drove the Mother crazy. However, *yee-a*, as her younger sister pronounced her name, was also attending a fine school where she was playing well with her peers, riding the bus and learning to read, an accomplishment that made the Mother proud and boastful. In the next day, or month, or decade these fine details of living might be lost in the sheer hustle and bustle of living. Yet these two sisters were blessed with far more than smarts and sassiness, they had a Mother whose passion was this thing called Scrapbooking. It involved pictures, papers, cameras, computers*shopping for far more than the Mother*s heart could desire or pocket book could endure. However, the future holds a happy ending because sometimes with meager tools, sometimes with magnificent ones, this Mother was telling the story her little family, which happily did include a Daddy by the way. The details ranged from small, special moments, the ones easily forgotten yet the sweetest when remembered to large milestones and accomplishments, the kind worthy of framed pictures and certificates of merit. So many years from now there may not be riches, but there will be a treasure. A treasure which the Mother had planned and lovingly began to create even before these sisters were born. The story of this family, and the Mother's dream to enrich and document it is what the *Happily Ever Afters* are all about.

And here is the layout:
http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1066131

And my little, ol blog:
http://tracykuethe.blogspot.com/

This is why.

LivE — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:08:25 -0500

Why do I scrapbook?

Why do musicians put down into melodies what they can easily say in plain words? Because it’s a much happier way to express what you need to say. (If you have a fretful sleepy child, try saying “Lullaby and good night” and then try singing it, and then tell me which was more effective in getting those eyes to droop contentedly). I scrapbook because it makes me happy. I scrapbook because it’s a much nicer way for me to express what I want to say, even if what I celebrate on a layout is actually the most mundane event of the day. It helps me to see the world with a singing heart.

Why do historians write history? Everyone wants to understand what happens around them. And having understood, they want to pass on the insights they’ve gained. Scrapbooking allows me to do that for my children, to leave them with a lasting legacy of my view of our lives as well as lessons learned. Scrapbooking allows me to write my own history, to record what is important to me, for myself and for the generations that will come after me. Others may easily say But who’s going to care in a million years? My answer: who can tell that they wouldn’t? We can convince ourselves that it’s a silly and sentimental trip, but really, if Anne Frank had said Who would care whether I put my thoughts down in this little tattered but highly treasured notebook?, would we have had a wonderful glimpse into the poignant life of this little girl living in the midst of a very real and terrifying war?

Why do authors write? Everyone likes to listen to stories. Everyone likes to tell stories. I scrapbook to tell stories. My scrapbooks are my way of passing on to my children (and perhaps they will want to pass on to their children) my life, their lives, our family’s lives, the little ordinary things that, taken altogether, make up a genuine uniqueness that can never be duplicated elsewhere. It is my way of making sure my story and their stories get told. It is my way of ensuring that they will always have visual evidence of how much those whom I love mean to me. My mother passed away when I was eight, and though I know instinctively that she loved me as any mother would her child, I had nothing written down, no letter, no note, nothing visual that I could go back on during those times when memory just failed and there was a need to at least read that she loved me, since I could no longer hear it. I want to make sure when my kids have to go through that, they will have something to hold in their hands, a powerful visual message made of photos and my own words, to tell them over and over again, as often as they care to look at the pages, how much I truly love them.

Why do poets write verse instead of prose? I love to write, always have and always will. It is, to me, as essential as living. Writing allows me to tell my story in my own words; and who of us has no story to tell? Every day is a journey, and every journey is rife with stories waiting to be told. The cavemen passed on their stories by mouth–they too had that need. It’s primitive yet real. I scrapbook because I want to satisfy that same need that has existed since time began.

Why do photographers take photos, when every split second the scene changes and then it’s gone? Ah, but see, that is precisely why. Photographers and I, we love taking photos. We like to hold in our hands the power to capture a moment from our own viewpoint and preserve it forever on tangible paper. It’s freezing a moment in time so that you can come back to it again and again. It’s sort of like being able to bottle up happiness and being able to sniff a little of it every now and then, whether it’s because you need some upliftment or because you just want to float in its overflow.

Why do painters paint? Every artist wants to share with others his view of the world as he sees it. Painters have their own choices of media: brushes or fingers or palette knives, oil or water color, canvass or paper or walls. Scrapbookers have their choices: digital or paper, sweet or grungy: we all have different styles. And we all choose what fits us best in our quest to record our view of life. I scrapbook because I am an artist at heart. I love drawing, I love painting, I love creating. I love taking something and making something more out of it. It’s pretty much like my desire to leave this world a better place than when I came into it. It’s leaving my mark, my individual contribution to what is already there. Scrapbooking allows me to express myself and release my creative juices using brushes, paper, photos, my computer, my printer (oh yeah, technology works for me big-time!).

Why did Alexander Graham Bell invent the telephone? Why do we write letters or emails or telegrams? Our makeup as human beings dictates the need to reach out and touch someone instead of living on an island separate from the rest of creation. Scrapbookers are a wonderful community to move with. There is real support and real friendship, none of which requires parental consent and all only of the positive, clean, uplifting kind. To be sure, this can be found anywhere; it is not exclusive to this large group of people who go crazy about the latest brushes or papers or wordart or screws and brads. But it is wonderful to be a part of a larger, worldwide community whose bridges are built strong, transcending differences in race, color, creed and geography, because of a shared love and appreciation for what each of us holds dearest to our hearts, because of a certain courage that allows us to put our heart out on a piece of paper and trust that no one will trample over what we’ve just shared from the deepest recesses of our very being.

Why do I scrapbook? I have a passionate desire to express myself in a combination of words, art, and photos. I want to record my world the way I see it. It’s really a matter of self-expression. I am a living being and I want to celebrate life, mine as much as the lives that belong to those around me. I am a wife and a mother of five sons, and I treasure the look on my boys’ faces when they see me celebrate them through my scrapbook creations. I have struggles and triumphs and pains and joys, and putting them down in my choice of art form allows me to taste and savor these experiences over and over again, and perhaps learn a bit more each time.

Without scrapbooking, my life would be sorely lacking the beauty of art, the celebration of joy, the declarations of love, the amazement with the ordinary, the wisdom and insight gained as one gazes at past events, the poignant recall of memories, the release of pent-up emotions and creative rushes, the friendships that transcend all boundaries.

I scrapbook because I like to live, laugh, and love fully… and then be able to experience all that over and over again, alone or with those who matter, as we leaf through the pages of my creation.

This is why I scrapbook.

Roses in Winter (Why I Scrapbook)

magpie9759 — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 17:08:33 -0500

Here is an excerpt from a recent post on my blog (http://janconnair.wordpress.com), in which I explored one of the main reasons I scrapbook. The original post begins by introducing my friend Karen, and then moves on from there. Perhaps it will give you another way of looking at why scrapbooking is such a passion for many people.

"Karen’s been an avid scrapbooker for years, and after I got interested, we began getting together once a week to scrap together. She completes about 10 albums to every one I finish, but she doesn’t seem to be bothered by my idle chatter, while I plod along at a snail’s pace watching her whip out layout after layout.

This spring, she asked me to help her on a special project. One of the teachers at our local middle school was unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal cancer. Robyn was only 40 and had been feeling great, except for a nagging cough. When she got up one morning and noticed that the whites of her eyes seemed jaundiced, she went in for a checkup, only to find out that she had cancer throughout her body. Within a week or two of this diagnosis, Robyn passed away, leaving behind a husband and 5 young children.

Our community was stunned at the sudden loss of such a dynamic educator and all-around wonderful person. My own son Ryan remembered Robyn (who had taught the gifted classes at Ryan’s elementary school years ago) as one of his favorite teachers of all time. She was universally loved and admired by everyone she touched.

Someone who knew that Karen scrapped asked if she would put together a few pages, using photos that Robyn’s husband and sister would provide. Karen agreed, asked me to help, and we began trying to sort and group the photos, hoping to make at least a small album that Robyn’s kids could have to remember their mom by.

It’s actually fairly difficult to scrap another person’s photos, especially when you don’t really know the stories behind them. And we ended up with many more photos than we had anticipated. But Karen is not one to be discouraged by adversity, let me tell you! By the time the album was finished, it contained 50 (12″ x 12″) layouts, 4/5 of which were made by Karen in her spare time (you know, just the “extra” time she had between her full-time job as the school’s Media Specialist, planning her daughter’s wedding, and a few little things like that).

Last night we worked on the final page. No photos, just a quote that Karen found, which we both thought expressed the idea of the album perfectly: “Memory is the power to gather roses in the winter.” That’s what this album felt like to both of us. We know that for Robyn’s family, it’s going to be a long, long winter as they try to get through the days without her. But we hope that the album helps a little to heal their hearts. Robyn won’t be physically present to her children anymore to tell them she loves them. But she looks out from almost every page of this album, and that message shines in her face.

And that’s why Karen and I love scrapbooking: every album is really just a big love letter to the recipient from the maker. It preserves their stories, their memories, the evidence that they were here on this earth, and that they were loved. Behind every scrapbook is the message “Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed, because I will be your witness.” And what could be better than to be the hands through which that message is conveyed? Sure, I scrap because it’s fun to play with the papers and embellishments. But that’s secondary to the true reason I got started doing it: I’m really gathering roses for winter."

whY?

tarapollardpakosta — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:57:29 -0500

WHY do I scrapbook?

to tell our story, to re-live the moment
so I can remember just how they were at
each stage. I never want to forget, I want
them to understand who they were and
where they came from. I want to leave
a part of myself for my girls.
and also, it's my creative outlet, a time
to have for myself, something that's all mine
but also for them............
I don't want our stories to die with me,
I want them to go on for my grandchildren etc.
I wish I knew more about my past generations,
this is my way of changing that for my girls!
I think ali edwards does an amazing job of saying WHY>>>>>someone already gave you her linK!
tara pakosta

My 2 cents...

Jenn Bertsch — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:28:46 -0500

Well, first off I'm not a great writer so bare with me as I put my thoughts together. Jessica is a wonderful person and she is very elequant in her thoughts and they are spot on.

I love to scrapbook, basically it is fun! Plain and simple. It is a way to connect with your own life and a great way to connect with others. So many people nowadays are so removed from the people around them that when you actually scrapbbok with other people you are sharing your life with others, finding out that they're are others going through the same experiences as you- connecting! This can happen when you are at a crop or online. In my experience I have made some great and close friends through scrapbooking that without this original shared hobby I never would made. That goes for friends in my home town and the ones I've made online. Well enough on my sappy stuff.

The reason I think that many who are not in the craft don't "get it" is because of what they see online at blogs or scrapbooking websites and even scrap magazines. These places are selling scrapbooking so of course the pages will be product heavy and have perfect photos, that is what sells. Many of the popular blogs for scrapbooking are selling their brand- the individuals have a vested interest, i.e. books, products they produced, classes they are teaching, or the manufactuers they are currently working for. Not that that is bad but that is what is going on, IMO. I'm sure it works the same way in other crafts as well.
Most of what I have posted on line is work that I have done in the past for different manufactuers, it by no means represents what I have in my personal albums. Some stuff might be simple and quick and some might be extremely elaborate and there is certainly more stories included in my personal albums. I don't really care to put out a bunch of personal information, just me.

Scrapbookers have also been sterotyped which is sad. We are all not lazy women who sit around with nothing better to do. And for most it is something that we do occasionally not 24 hours a day. When i began scrapbooking over 8 years ago I was a fulltime professional working for the Governor and frankly got a lot more done than I do now that I'm home with my children. I suppose for me it is like knitting for others when I have a few down moments I go and work on a few pages for my albums.

For the posters that mentioned that scrapbooking is a fad, I have to respectfully disagree. I work the Craft Industry trade shows and when 2/3 to 3/4 of the show floor is scrapbooking companies it may have some staying power.

Oh and one other thing, many people are probably drawn to it because there is really not a big learning curve. Like many have said all it really takes is some pictures, paper, pen and glue.

Well thanks for letting add my 2 cents, I hope it helps others to understand.
Thanks,
Jenn

Why I Scrap

memoriesofus — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 08:20:42 -0500

I scrap for me because I have always been extremely artistically challenged. I can draw silly fish and smiley faces and that is where it ends. I am a digital scrapbooker and what this has brought into my life is the ability to create my own art. It is an expression of who I am and my view of the world. This has been powerful.

I scrap for my family simply because when I share my pages with my children or another family member I get to have that all important conversation of "I loved you on this day because..." I know I won't have that worry-"Did they know I loved them? Did I say it enough? Did I show them enough? Did I make too many mistakes? Did I let them know that they were special? Do they know how much joy they created in my life?" They will know because I will tell them and they will know because it will be documented on a glorious 8 x 8 page that I created and printed all by myself!

Maybe the question should be why don't I scrap?

Why I Scrap . . .

bethyNixon — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 06:16:40 -0500

I did a layout about this not long ago:
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=205213&...

I scrap to make the photos and the memories MORE. The colors, the elements, the fonts I choose all work together to make the memories as real 10 years from now as they are right now. It's not just photos and cutsie elements but a complete memory, waiting to be re-lived anytime I want. The good, the bad, the everyday, the special moments. All there. Scrapped in a way I find artistically pleasing. In a way I want to remember them. It's a very powerful medium that I honestly didn't get 3 years ago and now I can't imagine not doing!

A lousy memory

Molly Irwin — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:42:54 -0500

There are only a couple of pages and projects in my arsenal as I write this, but I agree with many previous respondents that I see my pages as visual stories.

Pictures typically refered to as "less than perfect" are those that I find myself drawn to as a represenation of movement and life. I agree with you and like hand written things, little bits of articles, programs, etc. and intend to include that memorabilia though I have no examples of such just yet. I am a quiet, private layout person. I have seen the group crops and I know that women enjoy the commaraderie very much, but I get more satisfaction just doing my thing at home.

As the youngest of five, my siblings are always relating these great gems from our childhood that I would otherwise not recall. I think I was too busy somewhere in my imagination while growing up. So it helps to put things down to share them later. After completing a recent page about my small son I remarked that I don't think there a six pictures of my entire youth, let alone from one day.

Having a father and favorite aunt who have passed has also had an impact on my desire to document. I was feeling badly that the excuse of the so-called business of life had kept me from giving them any part of my mind lately. So during a trip to visit my mom, I dove into out old family albums - just photos for the most part and one "book of scraps." This helped me feel grounded, part of something bigger, it helped me remember little things and refocus. I used that as research to form guildlines for myself, and blogged about it here:

http://mollyirwin.typepad.com/mollysjournal/2007/08/learning-from-h.html

My layouts are an extension of my graphic design background, with myself as the client. While some off-the-shelf products are fun, I use them minimally, not only because they are costly, but because I want my memories to be the focus.

You need to see Ali Edwards work. Her books and blog are not to be missed. I'm sure I won't be the only one to mention her. Also, see Jamie Waters work for a fresh, "get real" journaling approach. With examples such as these, I found there is a place for me in this hobby. Their blogs are here:

www.aliedwards.typepad.com
www.watersfive.tyepad.com

You have already quoted the other person that I would suggest:

http://spraguelab.squarespace.com/

I'm new to her work, but am so happy to have found her, as she offers some great practical advice.

Also, if you sincerely want to read/see more about why people scrap, one of the big sites, two peas in a bucket, ran a contest recently about the very subject. You can see the results here:

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/why_do_i_winners.asp

Thanks for an interesting discussion. I look forward to reading more and I'm glad to have discovered your site.

Thank you all!!

debra roby — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:41:32 -0500

Thank you all for registering and commenting here. I've got my work cut out for me this weekend checking out the blogs you listed and your own blogs!!

Debra
A Stitch In Time
Deb's Daily Distractions

for so many reasons

j-girl — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 18:10:54 -0500

I love to write, and journal and take photos and blog and remember little things. Scrapbooking means so many different things to me. The above are just five of many reasons I scrap.
Mainly the remembering. The perspective of watching my now 12 year old enter middle school, but the opportunity to flip open a book and see him 11 years ago and keep these fleeting years in perspective. To photo my now 3 year old pumping on a swing and recording her delight with her words and mine, or I will just plain forget how sweet, precious and simple that was in 4 years from now.
My mother can't share with me one of my birthdays...not because she is ill and too old, but she just does not take the time to remember...and I hate that. My girls (I have three of them) and my boy already almost weekly take time to pull out their books and look at them and ask questions and enjoy their story.
We all have a story. We all are incredible creations and we have important stories to remember and re-tell. My job as mom is to help my children remember their story during the days of their lives.
But it's more than that. I have thoughts, emotions and dilemmas too. To journal and photo through them can be healing. As well as a point in time that I can look back and and say, "hey, I HAVE matured a little, who knew?"
The fun embellishments that go with it can be over kill. Sometimes it is just a retail-racket. But as many have said before, I am not a clothes or shoe horse. I don't do every latest movie and eat out every week. I earn a small little income of my very own and I usually use that to add to my stash, which many times ends up being a gift album or sorts for someone else who appreciates the time and effort and creative manner in which i scrap.
I don't overwhelm my pages/stories with the latest ribbon or chipboard. But I do like to play with paper and elements that can add to the emotion of the story with my added additions. For me some of the best pages are those with the minimalist embellishme nt. As I continue to journey in this hobby, my pages show less and less embelly all the time.
Just like some people appreciate hiking, or quilting, or gardening, those of us who do scrap appreciate that and don't judge others who do not do the same.
So glad Jessica added her thoughts on here as she is so very well spoken. She also alluded to Ali E who is awesome at her art. (And yes, it is an art form, all things beautiful and telling can be art.)
Thanks for letting us share on your blog.

For me, this is "WHY?"

jillmarie7276 — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:24:05 -0500

"Do you scrap book every photo? Or just the best ones?" Just the best ones. Sometimes I take hundreds of pictures in a month...it would be impossible to scrap them all. Usually, it only takes a few good photos to tell a story.

"If only the best ones, then what happens to the less than best? Where can people find those?" Stored in regular photo albums in chronological order.

For me, this is "WHY?"
I began scrapping in 2002 shortly before the birth of my only daughter, Kaitlin, because I couldn't find a baby book that I liked.

I thought, "Well, I'll just make my own." Little did I know that making a baby book for her would turn into a HUGE OBSESSION...

I enjoy the whole process…taking pictures of the people and places that I love, finding new and beautiful product to showcase those photos, and preserving the stories and feelings behind the photos through journaling.

It makes me feel fulfilled that I am recording memories that I might have forgotten completely.
It makes me feel fulfilled that my daughter will have a better record of the portion of her childhood she is not old enough to remember for herself as well as a testament to how precious she is to me.

It makes me feel fulfilled that one day her grandchildren will not have to wonder what their grandmother looked like or what her life was like as a child (as I do of my grandmothers). They will be able to relive it together through her scrapbooks…and maybe even learn a little bit about me, too, in the process.

{a lot of scrappin' and a sprinkling of other random things}

I do sorta agree about the

vexedangel — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:18:38 -0500

I do sorta agree about the playing with paper thing. :-) But I love it, and have no interest in digi-sbing, so oh, well. Like you said, do what you want with your money and time, right?

There are quite a few sbers who aren't doing the scrapbooking for Orlando and Bethany's gymnastic classes, I linked a few earlier, but there's plenty more... I'm one...

There's such a huge blogging and online presence of scrapbookers, that I forget there's still a lot of people who think sbing is still as you describe it. And of course, there's a huge contingency out there for whom it *is* that... but there's a large group of us who aren't doing that, and who scrap the negative crap, too... so maybe back off with the broad strokes.

Scrap Booking. Why??

debra roby — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 13:33:22 -0500

.I've been honest; I do not understand the craft of scrap booking. It baffles me to no end. What is the intent behind all the design elements used to create a page? All the different papers, frames, other design elements, special fonts, all for just one or two photos? So much time! So much money for superfluous supplies.

Do you scrap book every photo? Or just the best ones? If only the best ones, then what happens to the less than best? Where can people find those?

Most of my photos are found on my Flickr page and never printed out. All of my older (printed) photos are in a large basket from IKEA sitting ready for anything to look through. I am a "pile all the photos in a basket and just pull them out" kind of person. I will gladly tell you the story (out of sequence) of each one of several hundrend pictures I've got; however, the thought of spending time and money to put one or two photos on a decorated page? I will always have a better way to waste those hours.

I just don't "get" what the point is of making a scrap book page. But part of my role here means I need to cover scrap booking. So I went to the blogs in search of some understanding. I found only two blogs that ever wrote about the why.

First came Sprague Lab. Last June, she listened to Guy Kawasaki's Art of Innovation presentation, and related it scrap booking:

I talk a LOT about the WHY of scrapbooking, and what it does to change your life. Beyond the paper and pixels and Photoshop, more than ribbon and chipboard and die cuts, it’s about stories. It’s about telling your stories, telling the stories of the people you love, making a record that will last into the generations. It’s also about having a great time. And a large part of it, for me anyway, is about tasting life twice (remember that quote from Anais Nin? We write to taste life twice. Once in the moment and once in retrospection). I remember when I look through my photos, the day I was married. The day my children were born. And smaller stuff, too. I’m just nerdy enough to take pictures of great food I made (cause who knows when THAT is going to happen again), and of wonderful flowers, and of my kids drawing with sidewalk chalk. That is my good life, happening in ordinary moments.

Our product - our pages - is about who we are, and who we are trying to become. About remembering how GREAT our life experience is, and how deeply we love what we love, and how much we wish to celebrate good things.

Next, I found Tasra Dawson's Lessons from the Scrapbook Page. She and friend Rebeca Seitz had done an episode for deeper living which you can view. Part of the segment explains why scrapbooking for them "isn't a chore":

time with friends being creative;
capturing the family's legacy;
creative outlet.

Ok. I can understand creative time with friends. And, lord knows, I understand about creative outlets. Is it simply because I don't a family so I don't care about preserving any legacy? My stories will die with me (except for the small notes written on the back.) My scrap books would probably find a more unkind fate than the plain pile of photos.

Maybe it's that simple.

Lee i. not only explained why she loves scrapbooking, but she scrapped it.

Still my opinion of scrap booking tends to fall more in line with Jessica Helfand who wrote about scrap booking from the graphic designer side at Design Observer.

So I ask those of you who love this craft: Why? Tell me, so I can understand better. And if you know a scrap book blogger who writes particularly well about the process, please leave me a link.

Debra quilts, knits, crochets, felts and photographs, and blogs about it at A Stitch in Time. The rest of her life occasionally shows up at Deb's Daily Distractions .