Scrapbooking: a hobby and a lifestyle
Gayle Taylor shows off an album from her great-great grandaughter’s birthday. (photo:Ben Pounds )
It was the city’s 18th Annual Memory Magic Scrapbooking event, drawing in hobbyists from nearby and other states.
Linda Garner, with Linda’s Scrapbooking, sold supplies at the event.
“I think it’s probably our creative genes,” she said. “You’re doing your own thing. It’s not right or wrong.”
Mary Innis, from Kits are My Specialty, expressed similar thoughts.
“You can’t mess up on anything because you can always make it into something else,” she said.
Scrapbooking can often lead people to get together at events like the one in Oak Ridge.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met a rude person in scrapbooking,” Innis said.
“I love the people that you meet; I think we’re a neat group,” said Leslie Heatherly, who was working on a scrapbook of her photos from Trail of Tears State Park in Missouri.
Rhonda Freeman came in from Spring City to work on greeting cards, and joined friends and family at her table.
“We enjoy coming to these events because it gives us a chance to get together,” she said.
Others, including Freeman’s mother Ginger McNally, spoke of the contents of their scrapbooks.
“We have memories that we make and keep recorded in our albums,” she said.
Gayle Taylor, a Kingston resident, came to put together a scrapbook about her great-great-granddaughter’s birthday, themed to the Disney film “Frozen.”
She said it was important to keep pictures for after people pass away.
“They don’t know it’s important until after they’re gone,” she said. “We want to keep things so we can look at the pictures and remember.”
She also praised the events for their social value.
“It’s just a good, wholesome atmosphere,” she said.
She spoke of the importance of physical photos and scrapbook albums rather than just digital photos.
“You can pick it up and put it down,” she said.
Stephanie Bond with Linda’s Scrapbooking said scrapbook projects are popular to share digitally on social media as well, specifically on Facebook and Instagram where the hobby seems to attract younger people as opposed to the in-person events, which skew older.
Garner recommended that people interested in the hobby should find others with more experience to give tips, possibly by joining groups.
“Get your basics and just go from there,” she said.