Scrapbooks

As with most fads and phases, things that were once in, hot, to die for and popular 50 plus years ago seem to return decades later to rekindle that fad with a whole new generation.

Take scrapbooking. Back in the day, this included a large, sometimes themed book with lots of blank pages. Items were glued in or taped down after being torn, trimmed or pressed. Sometimes written entries would be made...the date, the event and who was there.

My first scrapbook was actually a large pad of plain ol' newsprint, bound on the side with some sort of graphic on the front cover. Inside were pictures from magazines and punch outs printed on card stock and glued in with old-fashioned library paste. My sisters and I would sit around the dining room table for hours, cutting and pasting just about anything that would fit!

Years later, in the late 60's, I received an over sized scrapbook with a leather-like cover in deep orange...my favorite color! Inside were 50 12" x 18" blank gray pages. It wasn't long before they were covered with pressed corsages, party invitations, bits of ribbon, little notes that had been passed in class, pep rally tags, football game news articles...you name it, it was all there. Then, one day, that album had reached its limit. Not one more page would fit.  Instead of buying another scrapbook, new treasures were safely stashed in envelopes and shoe boxes.
 

Fast forward to the mid-80's and scrapbooking came of age. A company called Creative Memories appeared on the horizon, totally by accident, and has become one of the leading scrapbooking companies in business today. Sold at home-party venues and followed up with hands-on workshops, these scrapbooks, now called Memory Albums, have raised the bar in scrapbook making. New ways to tell the stories....and the 'telling' oh-so important! Now called 'journaling', it has become key to include the 'who, what, where, when and how's' in one's own handwriting with the photos and embellishments.

With the new interest in scrapbooks, there are new 'rules'. Everything must be acid and lignin free. This includes album pages, decorative papers, stickers, embellishments, ephemera, doo-dads, ink and adhesives. This keeps the photos from being threatened by chemicals that can destroy the images. Today's scrapbook market is peppered with hundreds of companies offering all sorts of things to decorate the scrapbook pages by color, subject, theme and holiday. No longer do the photos and trinkets have to exist on a naked scrapbook page. It's like going from a black and white TV to one with color. Once you have the color, you can't go back!

A couple of months back, I decided that I needed some sort of scrapbook for the little things I had accumulated....ticket stubs, matchbook covers, labels and stickers, package tags, business cards, post cards and letters, tiny pieces of fabric, feathers, colorful paper clips, small photos, lists, coffee cup wrappers, cute sticky notes, doodles and sketches I had drawn....you know... stuff. I found a blank art book that was perfect. Black cover, spiral bound, clean, white pages...an empty and open canvas!

On my way home, I stopped at Target. After all, it was on the way home, I had the time...so why not stop and see what all was new?  In my browsing, I came across a neat storage box, complete with a lid...one that said it all: 

...for $6.99!  When I got home, I gathered the plethora of envelopes and Ziploc bags that held my treasures and stashed them in my new 'stuff'  box. Now organized, I have set up my project on the dining room table....scissors, adhesive, inks & rubber stamps, stains and colored pencils, patterned paper tape and handmade library pockets for little notes, tags and secrets.

Well, now...it seems I've gone full circle with this scrapbooking thing! I'm loving this free-form scrapbook. Its more of an art form and I'm having fun putting all those little treasures that are mine alone in a place where they will be for me to visit when the mood strikes!