I had always associated scrapbooking with grandmas and bored children, so, imagine my surprise when – as a twentysomething with a Big Girl Job – I found myself enamoured of printing, cutting, and sticking random bits and bobs into a book.
If, like me, you’ve racked up a disconcerting amount of screen time, you may have stumbled across a multitude of craft-inspired social media posts made primarily by young women. Described as “junk journalling”, the hobby is distinguishable by an affinity with collecting and storing physical mementoes, such as tickets, receipts, packaging and Polaroids.
Storing physical keepsakes in an age when every moment of our lives is catalogued digitally may seem redundant, but that’s also what makes it so enchanting. Before dabbling in this world, I’d experimented with scrapbooking’s less flashy cousin, journalling. But I found that writing sappy feelings, and reading them later, felt utterly humiliating. Why do all my sad thoughts read as melodramatic teen angst?
But with scrapbooking, I am exploring how I’m feeling through glossy pictures and quirky miscellanea, like ribbon scraps, brand labels and gemstone stickers. I’m able to speak in a language only I can decipher.
Scrapbooking allows me to create a sentimental time capsule that I can peruse whenever I like.
The real fun of scrapbooking is you don’t need to be “good” at it – you just need scissors, glue, paper and the joie de vivre of a toddler.
If archaeologists stumbled across my scrapbook decades from now, they’d be puzzled by what the hell I was trying to say.
It’s an intimate, meditative and aesthetically pleasing pastime. Plus, it’s something I can do with friends.
I’ve wrangled plenty of mates into scrapbooking, and they say “this is a lot more fun than I thought” and “who knew this would be so relaxing?” Many have told me they’re keen to pick up the activity for themselves – music to my arty ears!
I highly doubt this hobby makes me look cool, but my scrapbook is now mammoth-sized, and I go through my fair share of glue and paper. So at least I can feel like a celebrity whenever I step into my local Officeworks.
