why do I scrapbook?

Every now and again I need to remind myself of why I scrapbook. Just my reasons. I get caught up in the need for lots of "enabling" comments in online galleries, and the desire to be published, and become despondent when these "goals" are not met. When I began scrapbooking, it was with the desire to record the stories of our photos, our family history. I have a terrible memory, and don't remember half of my past, and there are often huge gaps in what I do remember. With scrapbooking, I hoped to get these events on paper, recorded for my own future. And there was the hope that my children and grandchildren would take pleasure in a greater knowledge and understanding of me, the kind of memories I wish I had of my own parents and grandparents.

So for me, it is the story that is important. Remembering the moments. Preserving the emotions and tastes and sounds that make up our everyday and not-so-everyday experiences. So that is why my layouts now often only have one photo (that, and the fact that I scrap 8x8, and there ain't much room on this size page), and some words to capture a response to that photo. My scrapbooking is my time capsule. In thirty or forty years, I won't give a cracker for the embellishments, fonts, and doo-dads on the pages. Given the faddishness in the market-driven industry that scrapbooking has become, "the latest" techniques and embellishments are already "old". No, in forty years, it will be the photo and the story that will remain, and be cherished.

Sure, I enjoy the opportunity to be creative. But for me, that comes in the use of colour, and beautiful patterned papers arranged in a pleasing manner, a photograph that preserves a snapshot of time, and my voice on the page. I don't enjoy painting my own papers, or sewing, or opalling, or hand-cutting titles. I don't need to create my own papers or embellishments to feel creative. My creativity is using the wonderful elements created by talented designers to produce a page of memory for myself. No clutter, no mess - I have enough of that in my household of eight!

So clean and simple, and no more apologies. My style is okay for me, and that is who I scrap for. I like colour and papers, fonts, buttons and brads, stamps and stitching. These I will use. If my pages look samey, that is okay too. My goals do not include 1001 ways to make a scrapbook layout unique so that it gets a dozen comments in an online gallery.
My photos. My memories. My scrapbooks. My way.