Once upon a time
How did I start scrapbooking? Well, the story of that is really the story of my journals...
I’ve kept a journal ever since I was in fourth grade – it started out as an exercise for English class. The teacher wanted us to write something, anything, every day but of course she would check it so it would need to be something not too personal. I soon forgot that and wrote about my life, my day, my hopes and my dreams. But I didn’t just write with blue pen on a plain journal: oh no! I used all the colors of the rainbow to write and covered my journal in fabric swatches, which I then covered in clear plastic for protection.
I really enjoyed the process so I kept going and when I completed one journal I would carry on with another. I wrote nearly every day, pages and pages, using all the colors I could lay my hands on and decorated the margins with a rainbow of doodling.
Fast forward a few years and now I’m in College. I’m still keeping my journal but not writing every day but still using all the colors I can find. But now, I find that I have photos that I want to keep, to illustrate the memories I’m collecting in my journal... so for a few months I added one or two photos occasionally to my journal entries. After a while I found that I had too many photos so I started a separate photo album.
This is the point where I can say I started scrapbooking - 1995. At the beginning I literally used scraps and photos and mementos, all “safely” tucked into magnetic albums (yikes!) I would use the occasional sticker as well, but mainly photos and memorabilia. I then spent a year working in the States as part of an international program run by Disney, where I met tons of people and had the best time. One of the traditions we had was to keep a “leaving book” which was basically a journal that you’d give to those about to leave. They would then sign it, add photos, drawings, whatever and it is a wonderful memento. This led me to visiting lots of stationery stores and little by little, I discovered Scrapbooking as an industry.
At this point my life became a bit more hectic with moving countries, getting married, etc. so my hobby got put to one side but I always, always, kept my journal and my photo albums.
I then moved to the UK and somehow re-discovered all about this hobby, the products available and the social opportunities this gave. I learned more about technique, suppliers, design, etc. and really fell in love with Scrapbooking as an industry. It allows me to keep my memories as well as use my artistic side and all the time enabling me to record our family history. What more could I ask for!
I’ve kept a journal ever since I was in fourth grade – it started out as an exercise for English class. The teacher wanted us to write something, anything, every day but of course she would check it so it would need to be something not too personal. I soon forgot that and wrote about my life, my day, my hopes and my dreams. But I didn’t just write with blue pen on a plain journal: oh no! I used all the colors of the rainbow to write and covered my journal in fabric swatches, which I then covered in clear plastic for protection.
I really enjoyed the process so I kept going and when I completed one journal I would carry on with another. I wrote nearly every day, pages and pages, using all the colors I could lay my hands on and decorated the margins with a rainbow of doodling.
Fast forward a few years and now I’m in College. I’m still keeping my journal but not writing every day but still using all the colors I can find. But now, I find that I have photos that I want to keep, to illustrate the memories I’m collecting in my journal... so for a few months I added one or two photos occasionally to my journal entries. After a while I found that I had too many photos so I started a separate photo album.
This is the point where I can say I started scrapbooking - 1995. At the beginning I literally used scraps and photos and mementos, all “safely” tucked into magnetic albums (yikes!) I would use the occasional sticker as well, but mainly photos and memorabilia. I then spent a year working in the States as part of an international program run by Disney, where I met tons of people and had the best time. One of the traditions we had was to keep a “leaving book” which was basically a journal that you’d give to those about to leave. They would then sign it, add photos, drawings, whatever and it is a wonderful memento. This led me to visiting lots of stationery stores and little by little, I discovered Scrapbooking as an industry.
At this point my life became a bit more hectic with moving countries, getting married, etc. so my hobby got put to one side but I always, always, kept my journal and my photo albums.
I then moved to the UK and somehow re-discovered all about this hobby, the products available and the social opportunities this gave. I learned more about technique, suppliers, design, etc. and really fell in love with Scrapbooking as an industry. It allows me to keep my memories as well as use my artistic side and all the time enabling me to record our family history. What more could I ask for!
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