Yeah but why scrapbook?

why did i one day start to scrapbook...why in January 2006 say .. hey i think i will stick photo's on a page with pretty papers and see what happens? well i think it just evolved.. my youngest daughter came into our family in 2003 through the process of intercountry adoption. one of the criteria we had to complete was a book called the life story book and this was to show her how she came to be in our family. i guess the scrapbooking was a flow on from this book which was a 3 ring binder which contained photos and memorabilia of our journey through the adoption process. i started scrapping with photos of nisha, but soon began to scrap photos of other family members. Nisha came into our family at the age of 2 years and one month. this layout called "when you were 2" is another favorite layout of mine.this page was done mid 2006.  the layout may be simple, but the photo evokes such emotion within me as i remember seeing her for the first time and bringing her  into our hearts and home and how this little girl has blessed my life..and that emotion fuels my scrapbooking.. and that is how i began to scrap............

just believe in yourself..

a good way i found to develop myself in the area of scrapbooking was to be challenged to try something new. this came in the way of doing a challenge pack from my local scrap store which was terrifying at first as i thought i just didn't have enough skill or know how. but to my big surprise i actually won the first challenge i entered. the idea of the challenge was to use only the materials in the pack, but you could add rub-ons, stamped images on the papers, or paint, and even stitching in a color that matched the papers in the pack..i think the title of the layout speaks to me even now and i still love this layout, it will be an eternal favorite i think.. the title is simply.." BELIEVE.". i used a photo of my gorgeous daughter Hannah, and i drew and cut out all the leaves and flowers by hand as i didn't even own a punch of any description.. and i say to you... just believe... believe in yourself, you can create a beautiful layout to look back on and remember the moments frozen in time by the power of photography..

if you could do it all again, would you change anything?

In October 2009, i was part of a challenge which asked us to take our first scrap layout and re-do it. this is my redone layout using the photos from my first scrap page. Of course my ability had improved because i now had punches and materials and experience  i didn't have in 2006. i don't think i changed the essence of the first layout but only enhanced it, for example i hope i highlighted the joy and excitement on the face of my youngest daughter as she commenced another year with a sparkler and photos.
the age old question of would you like to go back and change the past and what would you do has re-surfaced for me today as i went to a funeral of a very lovely man. but i think i am who i am today because of yesterday. and i don't think i would like to go back. and that is a reason i love scrapbooking. it is to create a layout that captures a moment, a moment from the past, to be reminded of today.
so i think that makes every layout we do something special. because it is created by our hands and our hearts at THAT moment of time, no matter how long or how new we are at  scrapbooking.
i hope you have had special moments in your day today....

where do you start?

well here i go! into a new world of blogging...where does one start? perhaps at the beginning? or just continue from where i am now? i dont know! it seems like such a long time ago i declared i was going to 'scrapbook'. i officially bought a 'scrapbook' album from Big W and some papers and began... and i have my 'first' official layout here.. i was happy with it. and it brings happy memories.. so from here.. in January 2006.. it began..