Why do you scrapbook?

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Christina, I am so glad you and the kids are safe now, both physically and emotionally. You have walked a hard road in past years... I do not know how you felt, as I only walked it from the outside as we watched my older sister live it until she finally was free of her abusive ex. It is understandable that you did not want to take photos of that time, but you can still redeem the good parts. In another thread, on scrapping without photos, you mentioned scrapping your favourite Scripture verses to hang on the wall. This is a good place to start. Think of the good things during those years - things you and the kids did, special people who ministered to you, special things your kids said or learned, the day you and the kids realized life was good again. Journal your thoughts, hopes, dreams, and prayers. Use these journalings and scrap them. Since there are no photos of those days, the kids will have huge gaps in their memories of good things from that time as they grow older. Give them the pleasure of reading about the happy memories that were tucked in the bad years so they don't think it was all bad. This will help you in future years as well. As our memories begin to fade, sometime we remember a "general" tone of the times, rather than all the specific moments. Your ex stole a lot from you during that time. Please do not let him steal the good times that were scattered in the midst of the bad.

smiley Such a wonderful thread. Wow, amazing stories. smiley smiley

My main reason is memory keeping and saving pieces of our lives. Photos have always helped me best when it came to remember things, people, events, stories. But pics without journaling only take my mind so far when it comes to memory keeping, so I do have an emphasis on journaling.

I have resorted to making double pagers a lot, on one page I go to town scrapbooking, or what I think that means, and on the 2nd page I write down the story. I also love paper. When we used to go to the mall after school I was the one who checked out the office supplies when every other gal would check make up, jewelry or clothes.

The often cited 'legacy for generations to come' is not my main motivation tho it might end up being some sort of side effect I would not object to... I also love to play, possibly all day and all night.... so that is another reason, playing with the pretty goodies as a sidekick to work ... and not having to physically deal with them, like storing and hauling them around. When I need a break I sit down on the deck and make a page and then I print it and glue it in a book. smiley I am always trying to get a daily page and I have checked out many apps that would do just that, I played with the moleskin app and found it too slow for me to have fun with. I have resorted to making rather uniformly designed daily pages and then have books printed from them. I have been pleased with these books and the way they really tell the stories that are happening in and around my life.

Thanks everyone for sharing your reasons. It's been really great to hear! This clears up a lot for me, clearly we are all scrapbooking because we just love doing it, and other reasons are just kind of bonuses. I don't know why this is a surprise to me, it makes perfect sense that you're only going to spend the time and effort it takes to scrapbook if you really love it. But it's good to know because people are always confessing their scrapbook guilt to me, when they find out what I do, so now I can put their minds at rest smiley

I recently told my sister about someone I saw on Instagram who just prints out photos and keeps them in a box, because they like rifling through the box. She was into it and now has a box of her own. You just have to find what works for you!

I scrap because...I love the pretty things!!! smiley smiley smiley ...adding photos is the cherry on top! I can't believe how many hours I can do it for...& removing the background & extracting & saving the image as a .png is soooooooooo very therepeutic, I find!

Me, too! Me too! My family thinks I do it for them. Ok, I kinda do. But ultimately, it's for me. Just like Sonya, it's my "me" time. I totally destress and just let life's stresses go by me. I can get lost in the memory I'm trying to preserve, whether it's an event I want to remember or an emotion I want to save forever. I enjoy it. The fact that I end up with books full of memories for my family is nice side benefit! smiley

This is such a simple question which is so complicated an answer for many. I've enjoyed reading everyone's replies and learning their stories.
For me, it is therapeutic to design and journal experiences. I am not one to chat about feelings really, so with the journaling part of it, I get to design and make themes that reflect my mood and put words down where they can be stored and processed rather than bottling up. The photo part is always good to look back on in time smiley

I agree--it's about storytelling, it's about the creative process, it's about genealogy and getting those inherited photos into books, it's therapeutic. I was given up at birth and later adopted. At the age of 34, I started searching for my birth family's medical history, which is to be included in Texas adoptions, but my file was empty. Later on, a clerk at the courthouse took pity on me and sent me the unredacted decree of adoption, and this contained the first clue to my former life--my birth name. My original birth certificate only listed my birth mother, and so I began searching for birth family. To me, one's history and heritage is so important and is lost to many adoptees, and so this is one of the main reasons I scrap--to record my son's history and heritage as best I can.

@Sondra: I recently had a DNA test done which was extra interesting because my mother was also adopted, so her heritage has always been a mystery.

@Marisa: I'm not sure if anyone thinks about the descendants of the adoptee, that they're missing out on their heritage too. I hope you were able to find the answers you wanted. That is so fantastic--to learn that information and where you came from. I believe that's a basic need of everyone. I've purchased one of the kits to track my heritage, since my birth mother would have nothing to do with me and would not disclose my birth father. So half of my heritage is all still a mystery to me! smiley

Wow, so many stories why people have started scrapbooking... it's amazing you can find something to get your mind off the daily struggles and problems and just be creative. That's what 'art' is for ya know.. to make you feel better, to express yourself and to find a way to deal with daily life.

I have many, many hobbies, to do just that ^, I love to design jewellery and I've done that since 2003, although it's always been in phases. From when I was a child I loved to draw and paint and last year I've started to take that more seriously again and I love it. I also used to 'scrapbook' my photoalbums when I was younger, just not in the way it's known in America. Over here in The Netherlands it's not as big. Digital scrapbooking came in 2008, it started with a new computer and my new Photoshop Elements and Paint Shop Pro. I started with tutorials and reading more and more about it online, and that's how it began. It became a way to cherish my favorite photographs of my son (he lives with his father since our divorce in 2013, but thankfully he's with me a lot as well, it worked out in the end, we're all really happy now smiley ). I love scrapping pictures of him, to watch him grow.. since I do not get to do that every day in real life. I'm proud of the work I've already done, but also fear the work that still has to be done, with years of photo's left, haha! Anyway, it's a nice way to be busy, to not think about the stuff going on in your life all the time and just treasure the good moments.

@Sondra: It was interesting to get the results back, nothing too unexpected. The site I used also says I have some relatives also on the site, which could either be people I know, or people I don't! It's a little too crazy to think about, so I haven't connected to that part of the site. I'm not sure if my mother has thought through that all either. She's never been particularly interested in tracking down her birth family, and now it could be as easy as my clicking a button! It definitely adds a dramatic side to the DNA testing that not everyone gets.

@Marisa: That "click of a button" blows my mind! I was searching when it was "go down to the courthouse" and find a document, which leads to the next document, then off to the library, etc. It is mind boggling to think that all this DNA testing seems to make locating family so much easier now. Wow!

@Sondra: I know! It seems like maybe it's a bit too easy now!

Marisa, I know this is an old thread - but my mother was also adopted and last year (2018) she did a DNA test and we found some relatives. Both of her biological parents have passed. She never met them, nor has she met her half siblings. In fact, they dont yet know about her, but she has met several new cousins from both sides of the family.

I never did the paper scrapbooking - it was always too messy for me.

But digital scrapping is just perfect. I just discovered it last year but never really had a reason to get into it until my mothers new relatives started showing up. NOW I have a reason to be the family memory keeper and journal (record) my mothers journey to finding her family.

I also plan to journal my own life and we can add in my fathers ancestry and as my siblings and neices and nephews as well.

For me scrapbooking is a passion: a day without a scrapbooking is a lost day :))))

I have made several attempts to attend college to gain qualifications in graphic design, since the late 90s when I discovered tagging but my mental health disagrees with my educational desires, so I'm self-taught.

Tagging introduced me to the nuance of intellectual properly law, realistic shadowing, an obscene love of fonts & plugins and made me responsible for my local scooter club's flyers for meets & events.

I was introduced to digiscrap through a blog train link shared in a tagging group on Yahoo about 10 years ago and I've been scrapping & designing in between hiatuses since.

@Robynne: Thanks for the story! I still haven't turned on my relations finding on the website. Working up to it!

I feel I am exactly like you in regards to why I scrap!

I have all my life known I was artistic in some way...And it took me 45 years to discover "the way"

I can draw to some degree, however to do that as a hobby doesn't really interest me.
I would like to think I can paint, but I had a certain degree of...I can't be bothered!
Doing things like craft, bored me after an initial interest.

But then I was introduced to a scrap book, which had been printed and looked so professional and neat....well, I never looked back.

I must admit I was terrible to start, I learned from my mistakes and got better and better at it, and I realized that when i created a book to print, that I made it completely different as I would to a scrap page I make to advertise a kit, like when I was on a CT team.

That to me made me realize, I do this for the creativity and not for the memories.

That is why I love to scrap.

Being an avid journaler, I will tell the story behind the photo if the photo doesn't tell the story itself. I started out by paper scrapbooking my wedding album in 2000, but led to digi scrapping in 2007. I take so many photos of everything I do and everyone who is a part of my life. It is a way to share with my friends and family how I see them and see the world. Now that I do digital, I put all of my pages on my facebook and tag those in the pages. I get many reminiscent comments and thank-yous for sharing it. Also, it is my hobby- something that is an outlet for me to do with my friends and get away from things.

Lastly. . . scrapbooking reminds us life has been great. I have a t-shirt that says that and it is my new motto.

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