First Appeared in the Barrie Advance
Sunday Aug 28, 2005

Take Some Low Tech Time in Your High Tech Life!
(Guest Column by Maureen Stoeken)

I am the ultimate ”techie”. I use my laptop for almost everything. I lose patience with writing longhand because my pen doesn’t seem to move as quickly as my brain. However, I have found that if I persevere, a calm comes over me and the creative side of my brain takes over. Now, in order to foster this creativity I have a favourite fountain pen that I reserve exclusively for my writing.

I’m told it’s the same thing with scrapbooking. Scrapbooking allows you to abandon the linear thinking required in daily life and to tap into your creative spirit. Scrapbooking isn’t just putting photos in an album (with its magnetic pages that will actually ruin your photos) nor is it banishing special memories to a life in the nether reaches of digital cameras or computers. By turning to scrapbooking you can actually preserve your memories and easily share them with others.

Scrapbooking allows you to bring that creative part of yourself to your scrapbook albums. This, in turn, transforms your albums from precious records of special memories (which is wonderful in itself) to family treasures because they are extensions of you. Having photos and stories together adds meaning and significance to each photo. Scrapbooks represent more than mere photos or words alone ever could. They are treasured gifts that reflect the real, artistic, emotional you.

Scrapbooking also represents a way of honouring the experiences and people in your life through your time and reflection, which, in turn, leads to a carefully thought-out representation of what it was like to be there. Scrapbooking is also very relaxing. The very act of remembering pleasurable events releases tension. It can also be very therapeutic. By creating a scrapbooking page about difficult times in your life, you can let go of some of your feelings of anger, sadness or frustration. Rummaging around old photos can provide an invaluable lesson in family heritage. Whether it was the tragedy of 9/11 or the fast-paced world in which we live, the need to feel close to family and friends has increased significantly. Scrapbooking fits right in with this need. Women and young people gather together in homes and scrapbooking stores both to socialize and to achieve a common goal, that being the preservation of family memories. In fact, scrapbooking has often been referred to as the “quilting bee” of the 21st century.

Scrapbooking is not limited to the older generation but is the fastest growing hobby for teenagers and young adults. While my generation used to press our prom corsages or save celebratory champagne corks, our youth now turns these items into scrapbook memory pages. “Scrapping”, as the kids call it, has greatly increased in popularity over the past four years because it allows them to express their creativity in many ways. Scrapbooks have come a favourite way for students to commemorate the departure of a teacher.

One of the greatest things about scrapbooking is that you can spend as much or as little time and money as you want. Whatever your reason for trying scrapbooking you will find that it may become addictive and extremely rewarding.

- 30 -