At some point along the way, someone invited me to a scrapbooking party. This was back when Creative Memories was becoming a thing. My oldest was maybe 18 months old, and I thought:

“This is great. I can preserve our memories. I can do something meaningful with all these pictures.”

So I went to the party.

I bought the starter set.
The cutter.
The shapes.

I made the sample pages during the class.

And then I went home, put everything away, and never touched it again.

Because here’s the truth:

I am not naturally crafty.

I’m a words person.
A writer.
A communicator.

Give me a blank page and I’ll write all day.
Give me decorative paper and scissors and suddenly I’m paralyzed.

And life didn’t slow down.

More kids came.
More pictures.
More everything.

Later, I got invited to another event—this time with Close to My Heart.

And this one was different. We made a calendar. A start-to-finish project.

Two hours. Done. Finished product in hand.

That I could do.

So naturally, I bought more supplies.

Organized them beautifully.

Put them in a box.

And… didn’t use them.

Because life kept moving.

And somewhere along the way, I got invited to a scrapbook retreat.

People would ask, “Oh, you’re a scrapbooker?”

And I would stare at them, asking myself, “Am I?” (knowing the answer)

I knew scrapbookers and called them friends.

They had systems.
They had rooms.
They had albums (plural).

I had… photos. And supplies. And hesitation.

So I went to the retreat, thinking maybe someone would teach me what to do with all of it.

I hauled all my stuff down a very steep set of stairs, got set up at my table…

…and realized I forgot the pictures.

The actual pictures.

Which, it turns out, are key to productive scrapbooking.

So I sat there.

Watched.
Learned.
Tried to not feel completely out of place.

And then someone introduced me to digital scrapbooking software.

And suddenly… something clicked.

I could upload photos.
Organize them.
Move things around without ruining anything.

No permanent mistakes.

No fear of messing it up.

And I remember thinking:

Maybe I’m not a scrapbooker.

Maybe I’m… something else.

A memory keeper.
A photo organizer.
A story holder.

Still figuring it out…

and since 2008, my system is not perfect or consistent, but I always come back to it. Because it matters to me. And it works.

The shape it has taken is fun and I’m excited to share this simpler, more flexible, and honestly… more doable approach to memory management.

If you would like to see what that looks like now, I’m hosting a short, 30-minute virtual gathering tonight, Monday, March 23, 2026.

You’re welcome to come take a look.