"Meditative. Healing. Communal. These are not words you would easily partner with a hobby that has sparked a three-billion-dollar industry. But there is so much more to this craft than acid-free paper and repositionable adhesive. Scrapbooking is a way of preserving family stories and legacies that goes far beyond a photograph album.
"While a photograph album holds pictures, a scrapbook attaches meaning to them. It expands the images to tell who, what, when, and where. Scrapbooks also reveal something about the creator of the page. Why did she take that picture? Why are these images important to her? How do they make her feel?
"Scrapbook pages are personal works of art — art infused with the vision, photography, and words of the scrapbooker. The term 'artist' may make you uncomfortable; it was difficult for me at first, too. Although I've always loved art of all types — dance, music, painting, sculpture, theater, poetry — I never saw myself as an artist. I thought of artists as free, unconventional people who were different from me. I was in the other category: pragmatic, conventional, secure, even boring at times. But the more scrapbooking has captivated me, the more I've realized that art flows in and around all of us. I've found art and artists surrounding me — and within me. We are all artists.
"But there is something deep within scrapbooking that fulfills us even beyond our artistic sensibilities. It stirs something in the soul. When I scrapbook, I feel empowered and connected and hopeful. I feel grateful and content and stimulated. In the process of scrapbooking, I feel the closest to my essential self, and to God."
