Firstly, when I say Scrapbook I real mean be a memory documenter. Now you might say that you are documenting memories – Facebook, Insta, all those fun forms of social media.

But how do you share your memories with those that aren’t on those platforms? For example my children are too little for social media, but they still love to see their photos.

How do you preserve our memories for the generations to come? When the “normal” platforms of social media of now are outdated and replaced by other things.

So there are lots of ways you can document memories. The quickest and most simplest way is to do photo books. There are so many apps and programs out there online that you can use to do this.

I choose to scrapbook mine because I choose to add memorabilia, my handwriting etc. But also because the physical act of the “cut and stick” aspect of scrapbooking is totally cheaper than therapy to me. It is my time out and stress release.

Scrapbooking for me is a very social activity. Don’t get me wrong – I do scrapbook a lot at home by myself. But a lot of the time I do it with others. These people often start out as my customers with my CTMH business. But over time, as we’ve talk, looked at each others photos we’ve become friends. Others that were already my friends have got into scrapbooking because they see how much I enjoy.

During these “crafty” sessions we are always talking. Here is where it truely becomes cheaper than therapy. The women, and occasionally men, that I craft with are a huge sounding board for me. They come from lots of different walks of life, cultural backgrounds and generally all different life experiences. Someone will always have advice or just a sympathetic ear.

Only the other weekend my best friend decided to scrapbook about a crappy experience she’d had. She made an “arty layout”, so no photos, that expressed how she felt about the event. And then on the back, where no-one will see it, she wrote the entire story out. This layout may or may not stay in her album. But it certainly made her feel better.

I personally see my Scrapbooks as a Celebration of life’s achievements. The good and the bad. I’ve scrapbooked my miscarriages, the death of family and friends, weddings, births, and general day to day activities.

Later on when my great great grandchild looks at my albums they will be able to see all the details about my life, read all the important stories, and see all the “old fashioned” things we had “back then”.

Yes there is always the chance that my family later on, after I pass away, may decide not to keep my albums. But that is there choice. After all, I’ll be gone and won’t know.

The biggest thing is that I feel it is my responsibility to give them that choice. Because if I don’t document the memories now they will be lost forever once my memory is gone.

How ever you decide to document your memories, please I beg you, please get your photographs off your digital devices and into some sort of album, book, even a photo frame. Whilst we think digital devices are the be all and end all, they can fail, be lost, the file formats change and even deteriorate. Things just happen.

Plus once out in physical hard copy they are there to enjoy more often for everyone.