Have you been caught by the creative bug of scrap booking? Teresa Church, of Clinton Ontario is passionate about the world of preserving her memories through “Scrapp’n”. As crafting sections such as fabrics and yarns have depleted from the shelves at the stores, the scrap booking mania has expanded. After speaking to Church, her level of enthusiasm draws you in and you suddenly feel like you need to run out and buy up a storm of scrapping materials to be part of her energy wave.

It’s about telling the life story of a subject, person, or event that has happened. Photo albums are great; however, why not add some embellishments such as ribbons, stickers, or extra writing to explain the moment captured. It allows the scrapper to document who people are in the pictures and reduces figuring out who people are in the future to come. Scrapping solves some mysteries that may be left behind and is a wonderful reference resource to trigger memories that may have been forgotten.

Scrapp’n is art. The way you cut your materials, display the pictures or treasures you want to keep, and how you colour code your book is extremely personal. Church explains that it reveals the level of creativity along your scrapp’n journey. Looking at the first books and comparing to how much more creative you have become is satisfying to see your personal growth creativity wise while walking down memory lane.

Church even attends “Scrapp’n Retreats” for getting away and diving head first into her artistic getaway. Together with 20 – 25 people they scrap all weekend long. They share memories, trade tools, try interesting ideas, and leave with finished scrap books. It allows them to sit down and really think about their art. Think of it this way, she is preserving her memories and creating new memories at the retreat while she is making her books.

The appeal to scrapp’n is the inexpensive start up costs. You can start off with a few items and slowly build your collection of supplies over time. She’s a crafter at heart and like many of us will “Bee Line” directly to the crafting section before walking around the store. Church emphasizes that Canada seems to lack of the availability of finding supplies. She’s talking about large retailers that don’t change their products for lengthy periods of time. She finds herself ordering most of her stuff online from the United States to keep her books unique.

If you like to see your family and friends in pictures all around the house, than this craft is definitely for you. Enter the world of scrapp’n and see if this art is for you!

For more fabulous ideas on exploring your creativity, visit www.mikeyssmail.com.