So, I got an email over the weekend from Matthew Sloan, the Executive Editor for Healthy Years, a publication by UCLA Health—Matthew has been researching scrapbooking due to the fact that it has been shown to be a meaningful and helpful pursuit, especially for those in the early stages of Alzheimer's or dementia. Matthew sent me some of his notes—essentially a draft of his article—to (I suppose) check his information with someone who scrapbooks and has promoted scrapbooking to others. After responding to Matthew's email, I Googled, "What is Scrapbooking" just to see what came up. As you might guess, there were over 10 million results that popped up in less than 6 seconds (Go Google), but like you, I rarely venture beyond the first page, so I was primarily interested in the first few. Number one, is this ...

The second link is to Paper Wishes, by Hot Off The Press, and the third link is the Wikipedia page. I personally didn't find any of these top three sources very satisfying. No offense to HOTP or Wikipedia, as both serve a purpose. But, going back to the fact that I scrapbook and have eagerly prompted scrapbooking to others—I'd love to curate a definition for stacyjulian.com AND I'd love to get your help. I was ready for bed (read exhausted) on Sunday night when I finally replied to Matthew's email and wrote this definition ...

Scrapbooking is a creative exercise that involves pairing photos with words and stories. These elements are combined to document memories—specific events or even just moments in time that have meaning for someone. Scrapbook pages are often designed around a theme and can feature decorative embellishments. 

As I read this today, I have some other things that I would add, but I really want to hear from YOU first. What is your definition of scrapbooking, or what would you add to mine? If you'll take a few minutes to share, I'll compile a permanent page on my blog dedicated to the definition, purpose and importance of scrapbooking. I'd also like to collect helpful resources for someone who is new to our industry — perhaps a list of both commercial and non-product promoting sites, videos, etc. If you have something for either of those lists, leave me a comment and let me know. 

Thank YOU!

By the way, I found this definition, via the Images search that pops up right under Wikipedia. I followed it to Allison Walken's blog, which is beautiful. Just wanted to give her a shout out for the kind of representation that makes me happy to call myself a scrapbooker! Oddly enough, Allison's post is similar to mine in that she (back in November) elicited feedback from friends and readers. I LOVE that.