In the many years that I have been scrapbooking, I have been asked more than once, my reasons for scrapbooking. While my main reasons haven’t ever changed, my goals and layouts and what they reflect have changed. Most people scrapbook to preserve their memories. Some people scrapbook because it is a creative outlet that allows them to be artistic and utilize photographs in the process. While both of these hold true for me, there is a deeper meaning for me, and I hope that my real life scrapbooking will make you reconsider your own layouts and moments that you choose to capture.
Nobody in life has peaches and cream, or roses and daisies all the time. Often we are left standing with molded food and wilted flowers. It is a true part of life. So why is it that scrapbooker’s always choose to scrapbook the happy times. Is it because we live in a society where those tragic events should be hidden and locked away? Or is it because we live in fear of the discovery by others that we are not perfect? No matter what the reason, scrapbooking happy events is just part of the normal aspect of scrapbooking.
Except what about all those memories that are locked away? Or those secret photographs we took that we want nobody to see? Or those moments in time where we feel like the world has fallen apart, and we see no way out? Those moments need to be remembered too. These moments can be passed along to others and a lesson can be learned. Strength can be found in others painful events, and life’s struggles.
Somewhere in that stash of photographs you have, is a photograph that I hope is calling your name. It is a photograph that you have never placed on a layout, in hopes that the moment would be forgotten. I hope that it is calling to you, begging you to tell its story. Show that we are all human, that we all make mistakes, or we have moments that seem hopeless. You don’t have to scrapbook the memory in a negative light, in fact giving hope to someone is exactly the purpose of scrapbooking these events.
A few ideas to get you started:
- accidents - surgeries - injuries - divorce - bad marriage - tickets - court battles - death - health battles - pills you take each day and why - medical conditions you live with - depression - a life altering event - job loss - a negative relationship - the road to forgiveness
Hopefully these will get you thinking about what you could include in your albums. Remember that hidden journaling is okay to do, and you could even create one album with all the tragic stuff in there.
Just don’t forget that we are all human, we all make mistakes and we can all learn from each other.
Nicole Humphrey writes articles for the Scrapbooking Blog and for the Frugal Blog. She also guest blogs on a variety of topics. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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