And the other reason I scrapbook...

Well, the other reason was actually the first reason - my girl friends. We wanted to have a reason to get together regularly. We chose scrapbooking partly by chance over six years ago and that, as they say, was that. (I said I was only going to do my wedding album, but that is a topic for another post.)

We still get together regularly on weeknights for a couple of hours. We do all day crops four or five times a year. We've even done a couple of weekends! I love the "me" time that this gives. I love the layouts I complete. I love the snacks we share. But those aren't the main reasons I make time for these girls and these events. I make time because of the connections we make and re-make over the scrap table.

While the people at the table change, the support doesn't. We've helped each other through births, deaths, job losses, disease, sleepless nights, potty training, first dates and so much more.People are often surprised when that we still get together regularly. But I know what drives us, and it is only partly related to pretty paper.

What about you? Why do you scrapbook?

Why I Scrapbook

Why this hobby? Why spend so much time - not to mention money - on this craft? How has this endeavor that started out as a night out turned into such a passion for me? In other words, why do I scrapbook?

I've thought a lot about this question in the last year or so. I am a high school teacher and I often write alongside my students. Earlier this year one class completed an expert project - writing about, researching and sharing something that each student knew a lot about. I chose to focus my project on scrapbooking (although other options on my list included keeping preschool age children entertained in the car and laundry.) My students were unimpressed when I told them I scrapbooked, but they were even less impressed with my other topics. There is nothing like a cool teenager to make a 30 something teacher question her motives! Between their skepticism and the writing prompts we completed, I discovered much about myself as a scrapbooker this fall and in true scrapper fashion, I turned some of those discoveries into layouts.

The journaling for this layout actually came from a writing prompt I completed for the expert project.