Scrapbooking

Traci Kenworth

I had them tucked away among forgotten things, or at least, things that I knew were there, just relegated to the background. But now I’ve opened them up. And you know what? I’ve discovered how insightful and fun scrapbooking can be. I had every intention years ago to start them, in fact, I did two. But the divorce, life, and raising two kids alone made their importance to me slip.

Yesterday, for some odd reason, I thought of them and how great it would be to pull everything out. Wow, did I get surprised at how much had accumulated. I went through my wedding album (yeah, for some reason never got around to pitching it) and it was like a release of part of me to take out the relevant ones (childhood pics and the kids as babies) and toss the rest. Now some of you may be wondering why it took me so long to do so, or if it was fair to the kids to do so, but the truths may surprise you.

First, I suppose like I said above, life got in the way. Maybe, too, I didn’t want to look at that failure for what it was. Second, the kids helped me to pitch the ones of my ex. He’d been such a cruel, miserable person in their life, they wanted no reminders of him or his relatives. Now, I know some of you may say that’ll change with time, but I don’t think so. It was sort of a therapy for them to drop them in the garbage. And they were happier for doing so.

That’s what matters.

But back to the scrapbooking. I was surprised and delighted to go through the memories of the children from various ages, how much they’ve grown. It was a reward in itself to do that. I found my old markers, oil crayons, ink pad, and stamps to help decorate the pages. Yes, they still worked. Too well as I still have stains on my fingers to attest. Lol.

My mom made each of her children a scrapbook of their lives. I intend to do the same. I want it to be a journey through everything, remembrance of the good, healing of the bad. If I can do that, it will be a great gift to pass onto them when they graduate.

What are some of your tips on scrapbooking? Your secrets to getting the pages, just right? Do you do digital scrapbooking? What are the benefits of this versus the pysical book?