Right-brained Scrapper

For my birthday my friend Kristy gave me framed artwork and a written bit about "She Who Loves to Scrapbook". (I enjoyed that the lady in the artwork had crazy-ass hair like mine). This reminded me that I had been meaning to write a bit about scrapbooking for quite a while now and had never really gotten around to it.

I have been 'accused' of being a member of a scrapbooking club, which made me feel really weird. To my knowledge I am not in any kind of exclusive scrapbooking group. I actually scrapbook with several groups including, but not limited to, my high school friends (and their church friends), a few choir friends, some people who work at the University, one of my best friends and even by myself (if you've heard the voices in my head, you know that I qualify as a group). I find scrapbooking to be a very inclusive activity which you can be involved in to whatever degree you choose. Paul supports my hobby by 'Oohing' and 'Aaahing' appropriately when I show him a page that I'm particularly excited about and by not complaining too strenuously about the expense when I buy new scrapbooking toys (especially the "organizers", my absolute favorite).

I've been thinking about why people scrapbook, why it's become such a popular hobby lately, and I've come up with a few theories:
(1) Guilt - There are all those huge piles of photos sitting in that box in the closet. I can feel them staring at me.
(2) The increase in digital photography - No one can see my photos if they're all pent up on the computer, I want to show off those beauties
(3) Gifts - People like looking at themselves (especially when it's an old photo where they're all thin and young looking). That makes scrapbooks a fabulous personal gift. A lot of work goes into a scrapbook so it's a flattering gift to receive.
(4) Memory imprinting - To think about what they did/felt/though/saw at a particular event, especially for scrapbooks of travel, children and weddings.

I primarily scrapbook for reason number 4. When not scrapbooking, I am often thinking about scrapbooking or taking pictures for future use in scrapbooking (somewhat like a teenage boy's relationship with sex). When I was depressed last month, scrapbooking my wedding album was the only thing that I could muster the faintest bit of interest in. At a given event, I am generally thinking about how can I take photos that are representative of what happened and how I felt about what happened. While scrapbooking I am going over in my mind what happened and re-living all of the things that I enjoyed about the event. Too many people see scrapbooking as being about the final product where for me they are about the process and the changes caused within myself as I produce them (how touchy-feely of me).

One of my favorite aspects of the hobby is that I get to use my artistic side in a way that is structured enough for my science brain. If you have met me, or experienced one of my stick drawings, you will know that I am not in any way 'an artiste'. I do enjoy right brained activities though, like writing and photography, and scrapbooking allows me to use both of them in a more artsy way.

At first my scrapbooks were very linear and balanced and kind of boring. I was too structured and left-brained to take risks. Now I am starting to expand beyond my previous set borders. I have purchase papers in colors I would never have used before (including pink!). I have used buttons and ribbons and sewing to embellish my pages. I have cut crooked lines and even torn the edges of my photos for effect. No more linear science thinking here; I'm thinking in spirals and three-dimensions! Just try to stop me, you'll find out what a scrapper I am!