by Stephanie Haefner

Created on: August 03, 2007   Last Updated: January 20, 2009

In recent years, with the popularity of digital photography, people started snapping more of their family memories with a camera. It became much easier to document life's wonderful moments. In the past, keeping up with family photo album meant purchasing film, taking the pictures, developing the film, tossing the blurred photos and shots with your thumb in them, and lastly organizing the best photos into albums. Nowadays, it is all much simpler! We snap, we upload. But what about the albums?

Scrapbooking emerged as a creative way to showcase photos and display them artfully while also telling a story. Our photos were no longer just flat reminders of the past. They were now a story; they were art! The spaciousness of a twelve by twelve inch page lends plenty of room to arrange photos and journal the who, what, where, when and why. Instead of ancient magnetic albums, we now have pieces of art to share with our family. And not just any art; art that features the moments of our life! What better way to celebrate our love of family and friends than by beautifully decorating photos of them?

Scrapbooking was a task I'd taken to quite naturally. Crafting had always been a part of who I am and when the popularity of scrapbooking rose, I had to see what it was all about. My creative world was expanded and a whole new way of preserving memories was opened to me. Scrapbooking became a way to showcase all the special moments and even the everyday little moments of my life. Instead of pages in an album of my daughter's birthday party, I created a two-page layout including only the best photos. I added colors and textures and told a beautiful story.

Scrabbooking can be an expensive hobby, but it doesn't have to be. The meaning of this art form is not balanced by how much money is put into the album, but the love and time. As with many things in life, society can put a price tag on it and deem it unfit if the price tag is small. Scrapbooking doesn't have to be ostentatious to be meaningful. All you need to do it put your heart and soul into it. The end result will be amazing, regardless if you add expensive embellishments or not.

I look forward to the day my children and grandchildren browse my books. I can already envision us sitting on the couch or spralled out on the floor, as I tell them stories. They'll instantly know the passion I put into each page, and therefore, how much love I had for each experience in my life. Life is so short and sometimes filled with unpleasant memories. We need to focus on the good experiences and what better way then to create something beautiful with them

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