Why I Scrapbook...

Hi friends. Today I'm sharing a special weekend post. Its National Scrapbooking Day today and I wanted to be part of the celebration but in a different way. 

In this post, I'd like to share my "selfish" reasons for why I love what I do and what keeps me motivated to continue on preserving my family’s stories and memories. 

Before I run down through my list, let me talk about why I consider these reasons "selfish". I think with anything that you want to commit to and invest time and money on; you have to have deep rooted personal reasons on why you choose to spend your time on that specific thing. One wise woman once told me, "we all have 24 hours in a day; it just depends on how we use it that matters". So with that I don't feel guilty when I'd rather spend 2 hours in my craft room versus 2 hours working out. I know that physical activity is important but like what she said, we all have that time and we choose what we fill it up with. 

Although most of my scrapbooks are filled with stories of my children, I also need to have my own personal reasons on continuing these books otherwise I will feel burnt out and get to the point where I don't want to touch another piece of paper for the rest of my life.

In short....I scrapbook, first and foremost, because I WANT TO! That's the only way I can get through the challenges and commitment that these hobby/craft/art form asks of me. 

So with that let me run through my "selfish" reason on why I do what I do...

circa 2006

1. My mother was into genealogy at one point. She was doing really well finding some leads and names and then she hit a wall. Somebody told her that the only way she can continue is to actually go back to the Philippines and start scouring the records there. That's a tall order and sadly she had not been able to make big headways with that. On the other hand my father in law has compiled a good amount of names going up to the 1700's.  He put them together in a thick book and it’s sitting proudly on our book shelf.

I want to know my ancestors too but that's not happening right now so I told myself that the idea of not knowing the people that went before you will stop at my line. And that the family members that will go after me will not only know my name, where I was born and all that good stuff, but more importantly they will know who I loved, how I lived and what mattered most to me. That's all evident in every scrapbook page that I create. 

circa 2008

2. I love my children but with the challenges of raising two very different human beings sometimes I don't show that to them. I will be honest here and say i'm not one of those moms that can get her point across to the child in a "nice, calm tone". But when they look at the books and scrapbook pages that I had created for them, my hope is that they will know that despite mom's nagging or shouting (yes I do that occasionally)  that I loved them with all the fiber of my being. Through my scrapbooks they will know that someone was paying close attention to their lives and making sure that each detail was captured and preserved. 

circa 2010

3. Scrapbook/Paper Crafting is so much cheaper than therapy for me. We all have struggles in life and there are times when I feel like I can't take any more trial or set back. And in those days, the only way that can keep me from pulling my hair out (literally and figuratively) is if I quickly divert my attention to my papers, pictures and stories. Sometimes creating a simple card helps me through the day and then there are those moments when I seriously need to immerse myself in major paper projects so that I can feel the bright shine of hope again. I don't want to sound so sappy here but seriously, paper crafting has been my go-to for therapy and quiet time to gain the feelings of gratefulness and hope. 

circa 2012

4. I discovered many more interests and "talents" through my love of paper crafting. Scrapbooking for me has become a spring board for many other opportunities that I never have thought about until I started this craft. It rekindled my love for photography and capturing moments. I am able to decorate my home with handmade items that reflect my personality without breaking the bank. Scrapbooking have improved my writing and teaching skills. And the best part...I have many more friends now because of Paper crafting. My blog friends are from all over the world and I always feel giddy when I see my blog tracker show views from the Philippines, Israel and just today from Russia. How neat is that?!

circa 2013

5. President Thomas S. Monson (Latter day Prophet) said "Choose your love. Love your choice" and with that my last reason for scrapbooking is simply because I'm choosing to commit my time, talent and voice to the art of it. I'm choosing to spend my time on creating pages that I pray will be valued by my children, their children, their children's children and so on. 

I love my choice and in this National Scrapbook day I urge anyone that will be touched by this post and want to commit or recommit to scrapbooking to take that plunge and start today. If you need to know where to start...I'm just a comment or email away. I can help. :)

Thanks for stopping by. 

Till next time,

Grace