When I was younger, I thought scrapbooking meant literally putting scraps of paper into a book.
In the last few years, I’ve come to think of it as more of a cheesy American thing and all about having notebooks full of stuff and making the pages look fancy and sticking lots of things in them- not just scraps of paper. You can buy kits and everything, to help you scrapbook. This seemed a bit over the top to me and never really appealed; however, I liked the idea of making notebooks or journals for other people to scrapbook in.
I thought I’d start off by doing a bit of research into scrapbooking and the kind of notebooks and papers people wanted to use for it. Inevitably, on my Google travels, a Wikipedia entry popped up and caught my eye.
And ohmyword did it make me want to start scrapbooking. All I had to read was this paragraph and I was HOOKED:
Friendship scrapbook example from approximately 1795 – 1834
The following photographs show some of the pages from a “Memorial of Friendship” scrapbook kept by Anne Wagner, a British woman, between 1795 and 1834. She belonged to the same social circle as the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Anne Wagner’s scrapbook includes pages she created, as well as contributions from friends and relatives. The scrapbook contains handwritten poems, notes left by friends and relatives, and decoupage ephemera like locks of hair, decorative paper clippings, ribbons, and detailed watercolour sketches.
*Squeek!* these pictures make me go all fluttery:
I have come to the realisation that scrapbooking is something that has been missing in my life. I always keep ticket stubs, bits of printed info, articles I find interesting- they’re all in a magazine file, gathering dust. They need a home. They need a scrapbook.
The idea of having friends and relatives contribute I really do like- I can’t think of anything better than having a notebook full of sketches, doodles, pictures, poems and writing from people I know and love. Those who know me be warned!
