Proud to be a scrapbooker

The online crop this weekend started with a note from Shimelle about being proud to scrapbook.

Funnily enough, yesterday I was in the shop and noticed an old page of mine on the wall called 'Why I scrap'. I think it must have been from around 2007, shortly after I began scrapbooking, and it was full of the stock answers you might expect about taking photos and telling my story and liking pretty papers.

In a way, none of that has changed. I still love taking photographs (and hopefully improving all the time), and I still love pretty papers (although I make more of an effort now to actually cut them up and use them). And I still want to tell my story in my pages.

Some things have changed, though. I used to tell people about scrapbooking slightly apologetically "...I spend my spare time putting my photos in albums with pretty paper". As though I knew I should be doing something more important with my time, like oh, watching reality TV? Or that it was silly to want to preserve my stories, because it's not like I've climbed Everest or done anything truly amazing. But as I've been looking back at some older pages, I've realised just how important this hobby is. There are people in my scrapbooks who aren't in my life now, for a variety of reasons. Some of them I wish I'd scrapbooked more. Some of them I wish I'd used cheaper products on. And actually my life is amazing. My adventures might not be ones that everyone would choose, but they are mine and the story of how I've come through them is something I am very proud of.

Since I made my first scrapbook pages in 2006, I have changed and grown so much and really the only way that is recorded is through my photos and scrapbook pages. Lots of people scrapbook their children and their growth, but we don't stop changing as we grow up. It just becomes more subtle, and about personality and character, not how tall we are or class projects (although I still scrapbook my studying, because it's a massive part of my life). And amongst all the really hard parts of growth, there have been some amazing things that I don't want to forget, either.

If I did that 'Why I scrap' page again (and I think I just might), some of the reasons would be the same. But ultimately, I scrapbook because I love my life and I want to record it for when I'm old and forgetful. And that's why I am proud to be a scrapbooker.