As My Scrapping World Turns: Episode Four

Scrapbooking was new to me. It was fresh. It was different. And it was so much fun. Plus it was much cheaper than stamping and that got me off the hook with my hubby. I could get lots of paper for the price of a wood mounted rubber stamp. In fact, at one point I figured out that I could EBay my stamps and have money to spend on scrapbooking supplies, and did. I sold off hundreds of rubber stamps. As I did, my stack of patterned paper started growing and growing and growing. I scrapped and scrapped and scrapped. With each turning page I got better and better. When I saw my nephew’s reaction as he opened up his gift and began flipping the pages I realized that scrapbooking was just what I needed. Wow! For me, scrapbooking was far more satisfying than creating cards and boxes.

OK so this is where I get sappy:

Scrapbooking was a process of stirring emotions, reviving memories, sharing a legacy for generations to come. I found great joy in preserving my heritage and telling our family story. That, for me, was far more meaningful. I was also learning about myself in the process. I was embracing my family, cherishing them and caring for them like I had never done before; caring enough to tell their story. I was keeping the images of my family right before my eyes. I was attending more events so I could take more pictures to scrap. I was looking at my kids, really looking at them. Studying their faces, expressions and features and planning the perfect shot of the perfect smile so that I would never forget. I was sitting with them and sharing memories and telling them stories of what they were like when they were babies. When the pages were complete I would slide them into their albums so that the kids and I could look at them together, over and over. I am getting choked up just thinking about it.

At the end of 2003 we moved again, this time into a five-bedroom house here in town. I staked out one of the rooms to be my new “Scrap Room”. No longer was it the Stamp Room. My small 10 x 10 room would now be filled with scrapbooking papers, embellishments, flowers and albums. This was my sanctuary. I had gotten rid of most of my stamps and surely this would be enough space. It would be my little niche, my carved out space.

But I overlooked one very important fact. Scrapbooking is different than stamping. Scrapbooking is a very social activity, where as stamping tends to be more reclusive. My analysis shows that scrappers love to get together in groups and crop and chat and share and ooh and ah and chat and laugh and socialize (oh and don't forget all the yummy snacks too; you can't do that when you are stamping because you hands are always inked up), where as, in my experience, stampers tend to create alone. They pour themselves privately into a project, retreating into their creative cocoons often till the wee hours of the mornings. Only to emerge with arms out-stretched bearing a mini monument of perfection.

“THIS is my creation”

“THIS is my art piece.”

“It is PERFECT”.

“It is ARTISTIC”

“It is FINE ART”

“REALLY IT IS…NO REALLY”

All the while under their breath saying:

“I have no idea what I am going to do with this, maybe I can make money by selling these things.”

HA!!

Disclaimer: I realized that there are many stampers that ARE talented artists. They create lovely art pieces. I am not referring to you. I don’t mean to offend. But c’mon guys, you know who I am talking about. Really.

Anyhoo, being the social activity that scrapping is I needed space in my “Scrap Room” for more than one person. I needed another workstation; or maybe two so that I could have mini crops with my scrappin’ buds. The 10 x 10 room just wasn’t big enough. With two people in my 10 x 10 room it felt like we were in a shoe box and that sucked the creativity straight from my soul.

“I need more scrapping space,” I proclaimed one day to my husband. “You know honey, we have this great game room up stairs, and um, there is plenty of room in there” “And um, I know it has the big screen TV in it and couches and chairs and games and toys, an all but um…what do you think?”

Stay tuned to see what happens on the final episode of As My Scrapping World Turns