Hello, my name is Stephanie...
...and I'm a scrap-a-holic. It has been 2 days since I last cropped.
So, this weekend on my retreat, I did what I went to do--scrapbook like a mad woman. For some, that might mean getting 10-15 pages done. For me, that means THREE. I don't care. I'm not into this for the productivity of it. It is my artsy outlet. And before blogging, it was my ONLY creative activity, so it is really important to me.
But, I also know this makes me the subject of much fodder and snickering at times. You see, it's not politically correct to be a scrapbooker nowadays. A few years back, a lot of articles were written about scrapbooking clubs being the modern-day version of the old quilting bee. And I think it truly is. When I'm working on pages with a group of friends, we often talk about our lives, what we remember from our pictures and albums, and bond. It's really neat.
But, lately, there's been an anti-scrap sentiment I have picked up on in a lot of circles. Much like the blog-blasting that is going on across the country in highly-read newspapers and magazines, scrapbooking is to a lot of people, well, annoying. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because those of us who are into it are REALLY into it. We love talking about our latest tools or paper finds, conventions or classes we've taken, etc. I guess this gets old for people who aren't into these things.
Case in point, after the night of wine and karaoke, we had a progressive dinner the final night of our retreat. As we're all sitting around, we were chatting and a newer member of the group was teasing another new member about being so organized. I piped in and with a knowing smile said, "Oh, you're an organizer too?" (This was an attempt at bonding for me, over finding someone who shared my own neurotic nature.)
The lady immediately got this look of "oh no" on her face and said, "Well, I'm organized, but...um...I mean it's not like I'm into SCRAPBOOKING or anything!" She and several other ladies shared knowing glances after that and nodded.
Rude, yes. It stung a bit when she said it, especially because this was my partner from the karaoking the night before and I genuinely like and respect the woman.
But, after I got past the sting, I realized that there's this bizarre stigma now on me because I scrapbook. Worst than any "goody two shoes" label I might have gotten being a teachers' daughter in a small town growing up, this woman looked at me like I had some kind of leprosy.
I wanted to blurt out--YES, I am a scrapper, damn it! What do you MEAN by that? But, I didn't. Through my red face, I chuckled light-heartedly and made some comment about scrapbooking having nothing to do with being an organized person and let it go.
So, I'm sitting up here IN MY SCRAPBOOKING NOOK (yes, I created a whole sanctuary for myself in my weirdness) and I'm wondering why this has such a bad stigma. What is so bad about preserving your family's history and your memories? I have no choice in being this way. I found scrapbooks I did dating all the way back to elementary school. I'd paste in my postcards from Sesame Street (I got for writing in), do pages with all my classmates little wallet-sized photos for that year, put all my track ribbons from the annual field day at our school. I'm also a former journalism major who LOVES to write and loves writing and reading memoirs and historically based books.
Basically, I'm a lost cause. I can only hope that my cool and hip friends forgive me. Oh, and the next time they want to walk down memory lane, I guess they know who to call!
So, this weekend on my retreat, I did what I went to do--scrapbook like a mad woman. For some, that might mean getting 10-15 pages done. For me, that means THREE. I don't care. I'm not into this for the productivity of it. It is my artsy outlet. And before blogging, it was my ONLY creative activity, so it is really important to me.
But, I also know this makes me the subject of much fodder and snickering at times. You see, it's not politically correct to be a scrapbooker nowadays. A few years back, a lot of articles were written about scrapbooking clubs being the modern-day version of the old quilting bee. And I think it truly is. When I'm working on pages with a group of friends, we often talk about our lives, what we remember from our pictures and albums, and bond. It's really neat.
But, lately, there's been an anti-scrap sentiment I have picked up on in a lot of circles. Much like the blog-blasting that is going on across the country in highly-read newspapers and magazines, scrapbooking is to a lot of people, well, annoying. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because those of us who are into it are REALLY into it. We love talking about our latest tools or paper finds, conventions or classes we've taken, etc. I guess this gets old for people who aren't into these things.
Case in point, after the night of wine and karaoke, we had a progressive dinner the final night of our retreat. As we're all sitting around, we were chatting and a newer member of the group was teasing another new member about being so organized. I piped in and with a knowing smile said, "Oh, you're an organizer too?" (This was an attempt at bonding for me, over finding someone who shared my own neurotic nature.)
The lady immediately got this look of "oh no" on her face and said, "Well, I'm organized, but...um...I mean it's not like I'm into SCRAPBOOKING or anything!" She and several other ladies shared knowing glances after that and nodded.
Rude, yes. It stung a bit when she said it, especially because this was my partner from the karaoking the night before and I genuinely like and respect the woman.
But, after I got past the sting, I realized that there's this bizarre stigma now on me because I scrapbook. Worst than any "goody two shoes" label I might have gotten being a teachers' daughter in a small town growing up, this woman looked at me like I had some kind of leprosy.
I wanted to blurt out--YES, I am a scrapper, damn it! What do you MEAN by that? But, I didn't. Through my red face, I chuckled light-heartedly and made some comment about scrapbooking having nothing to do with being an organized person and let it go.
So, I'm sitting up here IN MY SCRAPBOOKING NOOK (yes, I created a whole sanctuary for myself in my weirdness) and I'm wondering why this has such a bad stigma. What is so bad about preserving your family's history and your memories? I have no choice in being this way. I found scrapbooks I did dating all the way back to elementary school. I'd paste in my postcards from Sesame Street (I got for writing in), do pages with all my classmates little wallet-sized photos for that year, put all my track ribbons from the annual field day at our school. I'm also a former journalism major who LOVES to write and loves writing and reading memoirs and historically based books.
Basically, I'm a lost cause. I can only hope that my cool and hip friends forgive me. Oh, and the next time they want to walk down memory lane, I guess they know who to call!
posted by Crazy MomCat @ 10:34 PM
3 Comments:
I think people are just jealous... just like they were with Martha Stewart. But deep down, we all wished we had a little bit of Martha within us (insert prison joke here) ;)
BTW, I'd love to have the patience and talent for that. Maybe you can get me started once your kids are full-time in school!
There are actually people who are professional scrapbooking consultants. They either help people organize and plan their albums or they will DO the album for you. Hmm...maybe I have found my future career!
P.S. I'm NO Martha Stewart, but thank you. Unlike some people, I think that's kind of a compliment!
Actually, Steph, that's a great future-career idea -- Tam has a friend from her yoga-mom group who makes scrapbooks for people -- also homemade greeting cards! I'll bet you didn't know Tamara was mildly into scrapbooking, did you? ;)
I've always thought it was a really cool idea, but I can't even manage to get film developed, so my odds of ever achieving scrapper status are low...
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