If I were to ask, whose is the face of scrapbooking? I imagine I would get the names of well-known, published, scrappers, who have their own product line.While these are creative men and women, who have brought scrapbooking into the twenty first century, I would like to propose that the face of scrapbooking is…..YOU!
You are the face of scrapbooking to your friends and family, who have never even heard of scrapbooking or any of its denizens. You are the expert to these people, and, let’s face it; you do an awesome job, amazing them with your great accomplishment. So don’t be shy about your design techniques or your color choices, you are the expert on what best fits your history. It’s your story and you can tell it better then all the designers and scrapbooking gurus in the business. One such expert is Dessie Henry of Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Dessie is an 86 year old great-grandmother who started scrapping in 2004 to record her first-ever cruise. She started with paper, stickers, a black journaling pen, and her photos; the end result was a great story full of excitement and adventure. Her family enjoyed it so much that they encouraged her to do more and she was off-and-running. She has completed nine albums over the last two years, which include a family reunion album, an album detailingher and her husband’s trip to Europe for the 50th anniversary of D-Day (an event in which he participated), and a life-journey album starting with the early years of her marriage. This last album is jam-packed with ephemera from World War II, and letter’s that Dessie’s husband, Albert, wrote to his family back home. This album, while perhaps not a graphic designer’s dream, is the epitome of true scrapbooking.It illustrates the story of a family, and is a real slice-of-life from the 1940’s. Congratulations, Dessie, on being a true scrapper. Keep telling your story as only you can.