My Scrapbook Haven-About Me

Okay, I have to admit it (but never out loud where the statement can be used against me) I'm obsessed with scrapbooking! Scrapbooking is my way of showing others I can be crafty too. I don't crochet, knit, sew, tole paint or any of the other crafty little things other women do. I do know how to "crop" though. In fact, I'm a crop-o-holic and I'm proud of it! My mother bought me my first scrapbook when I was 7 years old and helped me organize the memorabilia from the first years of my life in it. I'm sure she often wonders what she started because 30 years later I'm still scrapping. However, when I became acquainted with the words "acid free" my old scrapbooks had to be totally redone.

I'm the mother of the two handsome boys you see in the picture at the left. (And man is that photo out of date. Those handsome boys are 16 and 23 years old now. But I still love that picture.) They are the light of my life! I am currently in the process of trying to keep scrapbooks up to date for them. This is a never ending process because I love taking pictures of the different activities they are involved in. Aside from the obvious hobby of scrapbooking; I also enjoy reading, playing the piano, singing, surfing the Internet and any activity I can enjoy with my family.

Everyone has their own individual scrapbooking technique! You might not use the same products and techniques that I do to make your scrapbooks--but that doesn't mean that either one of us is using the wrong thing. The world wouldn't be very interesting if we all looked the same and did the very same things! My advice (for what its worth) do whatever you want just make sure you use "Acid-Free" products to put your keepsakes, photos and stories together.

Okay, now I'll get down off my soapbox and say that my current technique involves alot of designing on my computer for my layouts. I currently love to use Microsoft Publisher. If I had to choose just one program to work with I would choose Publisher. Because of the ruler guides in this program it is easy to measure where I want to put things on my page and then with a click of the mouse button print them there. I have an Epson Stylus Photo R1800 printer. I love it. It was a gift from my hubby. It doesn't use alot of ink (believe me this is nice when you print out as many pages as I do) and it prints great looking graphics. It has brought my 12 x 12 pages to a whole new level.

Whatever your technique is---the main thing is to get all of your photos organized and preserved so that you and generations to come will be able to enjoy looking at them!!!!