Scrappy Ness - The Early Years

I have always loved making things and my Mum is an artist and art teacher so I was brought up in a very creative environment. In fact I scrapbooked before I could really write. Not scrapbooking as we now know it but in sugar-paper albums and mostly on holidays in the UK. I think it was Mum and Dad's couple of hours of peace and quite from me each night while I stuck down everything that I had collected throughout the day. In my earlier albums, Mum has actually done some of the writing for me as I was obviously too young to write in them.

I have cupboards full of these albums, which I couldn't bear to throw away. Most of them are full of old car park tickets (priced at 10p for the day!), mouldy looking flowers that I had picked and 'pressed' and of course the odd souvenir brochure from some day trip or another.

They are little time capsules from a life that I can't really remember and I suppose they are scrapbooking in its rawest state. They offer memories of places I visited and things I did that my own memory cannot recall. Maybe they are not the most gorgeous albums to look through and while I hope my presentation skills have improved since I was four they are so much fun to look through.

Now scrapbooking has taken off as a bonefide craft in the UK, I wonder if this innocent way of scrapbooking will get lost along the way....
I hope not.

This layout was created by me at the age of 4 years in 1971.