Documenting Our Family: First Scrapbooks

Before I even knew there was a 'scrapbooking industry' I made scrapbooks. They were acid or lignin free- and I don't care (I still don't care). And they didn't have posh paper and embellishments but they did what is at the core of scrapbooking the most valuable thing- they put words and pictures together to tell stories and capture memories!

Merenia's first scrapbook with her Birth announcements, email and snail mail.

The newspaper from the day she was born.

All the cards we got with the wrapping paper used as a background.

A Christmas card (I send the kids one each year generally homemade lately)
And the story about how we moved back to New Zealand after our posting to Nowra.

One of Kieran's later scrapbooks. (That's his 5th birthday invite).

First day at school. (You can see the 'posh' 'real' scrapbooking stuff is starting to sneak at this point.... stuff I now wouldn't touch unless someone paid me to! It's all part of the learning curve.

And a story about some socks. Which is worth reading....

Bits and pieces from birthday pressies.

A letter to the tooth fairy when the first tooth was completely lost... we think he swallowed it.

More from Merenia's... she attended the Sydney Olympic torch relay when she was just a few weeks (or maybe days) old.

Oooooohh!! Look some even more 'flash' stuff... I remember thinking how expensive it was and how I'd not buy 'too much' or get into buying stuff in a 'big way'... whaaaaaa hahahahahahaha!

This one is about Kieran's Class' assembly at the full school assembly when he was a Year one- they did the story of Tane Mahuta, Kieran was a kea.

Scrapbooking like this is a very good option for the budget concious and the relaxed scrapper- someone that wants to document their family life without becoming 'A Scrapbooker'... simply a story teller. No, it's not archivally safe, no it won't last forever but I am willing to bet it will last quite a lot longer than you think and I believe it will last as long as those who will enjoy what's inside those pages. the 'scrapbooks' I used atre just those $2.50 get them from paper plus or warehouse stationery types that the kids use for school I covered them in wrapping paper and cool bags from the zoo shop and I used what was on hand and most free or cheap until those later stages when NZ Scrapbook opened up down the road and the beginning of my current universe loomed up on the road!

The thing that you notice most about these early scrapbooks is that they are about events- birthdays, big days at school and things that were happening that were out of the ordinary. This is all fine, but these days I have a more balanced approach between this and looking at the everyday stuff and the little things and also the reflective stuff like just thinking about what sort of a person each of the kids is at this point in their lives and what we love and what drives us nuts. I still do the event stuff... but it's a lot more balanced because life isn't all birthdays, assemblies and school productions. It's also reading stories everyday and doing the school run and supermarket shopping and petrol prices, and it's frustration and joy and heartbreak and hope and personality quirks and grumpy days... and that stuff should be in there too... it's what says; we lived, we are, and in our case: We are Stockleys!

♥