Scrapbooks as Time Capsules

I have always been fond of making scrapbooks because they do keep memories alive. It's a cliche, but who keeps albums these days? It's also a way to release the artist in you.


Art will always be a part of me, so is being creative, both of which are very innate. As a child, I have always loved anything artsy. My first cabinet had 2 drawers full of crayons, water color, poster paints, colored pens, and a lot more. At a point in time, I actually imitated Art Attack (that's what's good about our generation! we had time to play with our imagination). I made "Happy Easter" greeting cards (using pad paper with those red and blue lines) when I was around 4-5 years old, which I thoughtfully gave to my entire family, including my aunts & uncles. My room is until now full of my art "projects." Plus, I felt the need to stick colored posters & magazine cut outs to make my white painted room lively. I have a corner in my room with debut souvenirs neatly arranged & I tend to keep "scrap" with sentimental value. Oh, and I have tons of magazines hidden somewhere, which I use for cut outs & an organizer full of the cut outs. So you get it ;-)

I wasn't gifted with special skills on painting & sketching though. I can sketch, by imitating a picture, but it will take me a long time to finish. I can paint, but not as good as 'real' painters. So, I've found my "talent" - scrapbook making :)

It's easy & fun, but not as easy as you think because it's very time consuming. Sticking photos for the sake is not my thing. I enjoy colors & I make sure each page or section has a unique background design, which I personally make from colored paper. Scrap book making though, is a fun way of killing time & preserving memories, the exact way you want it. During the time when scrapbooks were too costly or can be hardly found in bookstores, I used sturdy sketch pads (they have thick & quality paper) & cover them with an artsy gift wrapper. But nowadays, the real scrapbooks have become affordable & can be purchased from any National Bookstore outlet & they do come in all sizes. I'm not fond of the brown papered scrapbook though, it's hard to blend colors with it.

My mom knows me too well that she bought these scrapbook materials. Of course seeing

those colored papers was a delight! Photo below: best colored paper there is:)

After choosing photos to print (also time consuming because it's hard to decide what to print and what not to), it's then time to conceptualize how to make the front and back covers appealing. It's the first thing I do. Usually takes a day - seriously. Then I start designing my background for each page, this takes forever just because I'm a neat freak. Haha. Usually, I also run out of ideas towards the end that in some cases, I repeat my previous designs. And the best part - sticking and arranging photos & scrap.

This is my very first scrapbook, which I made summer of 2nd year high school. I loved my section too much that I wanted to keep the memories intact. My 1-K classmates will forever be dearly to me because we've gone through a lot - mostly good & some rough times, and of course we went through the "firsts" of high school together. (We change classmates yearly in CSA, that's why. Imagine having 11 sets of classmates through grade school & high school)

Don't mind the details too much. haha! On the Right, is a poem made by one of my close friends in HS, Babs Garcia:)



Moving on, I originally wanted to make a scrapbook for each of my high school years, however, I think I became preoccupied during summer. Good thing, one of my college professors, required us to make a scrapbook. She gave us topics to cover, which brings you to my next vibrant creation.

For my solo shot on the right upper corner, that's a designed card from a magazine or from somewhere. I placed my photo and some glitters, to cover the text originally found there. I have the tendency to collect colored papers / cards / flyers / brochures, which I think I could use for scrapbook making, and they're all hidden in one of my art drawers. It's a skill - collecting scrap. haha!

On the left: The actual surprise birthday card my high school friends gave me:) Aren't they the sweetest?:) On the right: more birthday greeting cards / letters from my dear friends:) 

On the left: yes, I saved my McDonald's apple pie carton wrapr & my DQ receipt. On the right: that's the original cover of our props during our Senior Year Cheering Competition. We lost to the juniors, nonetheless, the defeat made our batch closer in heart;-) Who could have thought that the macho men (lifters, pep squad, band, etc) of our batch would break down in tears! (In CSA, cheering competition is a huge thing which highlights the school year. It's a tradition only Augustinians understand. haha) 

The following scrapbooks (3) are requirements for a minor subject during 4th year college (my course is Nursing by the way). Why? to make our lives in UST much harder than it already is:) haha! But on a brighter note, I appreciate the fact that we were required to make scrapbooks. However, not the thought that we had dead lines to meet along with our real requirements (2 sets of thesis, OR cases, etc.). I hated myself though for being such a perfectionist in this field at least. haha. I swear, this took away a lot of my sleeping time back then.

Scary transformation over there! Even though I wasn't able to fulfill my original plans of making scrapbooks for each of my high school years, I still managed to dedicate an entire page for each of them. I can't include everything here though, because there are just so many pages.

Here's the lamest scrapbook I've made because it was mostly words. As you can see, the title is "My Future Family Development Plan," which includes my own version of the ff: Family Rules, middle life plans, old age / retirement, Last Will & Testament (I can die now), my epitaph (what you want written on your grave stone - I told you I can die now. haha), wedding invitation, wedding plans & dream house - including blue prints. Which of course I just got from google. Never thought we will be doing this at an early age! Too time consuming and stressful - especially thinking of things (like death / marriage) that you're totally clueless on.

Lastly, a scrapbook about my family & my parents' love story - which I didn't bother getting the details of. I simply indulged in family photos - the hassle of scanning each one using a scanner, because photos were shot via film camera, was wild. It was crazy having to look through a huge pile of albums. Would've been fun if senior year wasn't stressful enough - but it is! So that's the reason I had to use the smallest size of scrapbook available, and also I had to make use of pre-designed paper craft to speed things up. Though I still couldn't help making the backgrounds myself. haha!

Scrapbook making is really fun, especially when you look at it after a few years later. It's like an "auto play," that brings a lot of memories back in an instant. :) It takes time though to be able to make one and you'd have to consciously collect sentimental scrap. Doesn't matter what it is. I collect everything, from important receipts, notes, cinema tickets, gift and food wrappers, etc. And of course, I try to label them with dates and a short description just so I wouldn't forget. Hopefully, I could make another one to add up to my collection:)


Try making one!:) Scrapbooks are indeed a good time capsule:)