Why do I scrapbook?

I've been asked many times why I scrapbook. Why do I take perfectly good photos and cut them? Why do I spend whole Saturdays once every month or so sitting in a store piecing together things that I've just cut apart.

One reason is that I get to spend time with my friends while I'm scrapbooking. This is Jenny. She and I spent part of the day today scrapbooking. I have other friends (Betty, Tammarie, Denise, and Diana) that I scrapbook with also. Being busy mothers, there is seldom time when we can just sit and chat. Most of the time, there are many other things that need to be done. When we're scrapbooking, we can get caught up on each other's lives while we are accomplishing something. It's a great way to spend time with friends, getting to know them even better.

Who can resist all of these colors? I love to look at a photo and try to find papers that will enhance the photo. It's easy to overdue a page, to overpower the photo. I like to have very simple pages so that the main focus are the photos.

Once you've chosen the photos, there is an amazing variety of embelishments you can add. Some pages have just paper...some have brads, buttons, ribbon, stickers, die cuts, flowers...

...and some pages are lucky enough to have a little "bling."

I made an entire 8 x 8 album today of our family photo shoot. Kyla did such a wonderful job on the photos; I wanted the pages to be simple in order for the photos to be the focus.

Because I go scrapbooking just once a month, I'm usually due for a little "break" from the kids. What I love about scrapbooking is that most of the time, I'm scrapbooking photos of the kids. So, even though I'm enjoying a little time away, the kids and Bob are foremost on my mind. I find that, when I get home, I appreciate them all even more and look forward to another month of quality time. All of that quality time gives me lots of opportunity to take more photos...so I can scrapbook them. See...it's an endless circle! :)
I love it when I get home and either Bob or the kids ask to see the pages that I've worked on.

Every once in a while, one of us will pull a scrapbook off the shelf and look at it. Usually, one of the kids is called over to look at a photo of themselves. Then, another comes off the shelf and then another...until there's a mountain of memories piled on the living room floor.

For me, scrapbooking is a wonderful way to remember the past...to put a feeling with the photos, to record the memories of a special occasion or to document just how much fun running through the sprinkler can be. I'm so lucky because I have a husband who encourages my hobby...who wants me to have a little time to myself, to give me a chance to get a little bit of my sanity back. :)

That's why I scrapbook.