My rookie era: scrapbooking is like creating my own sentimental time capsule

"I had always associated scrapbooking with grandmas and bored children, so, imagine my surprise when as a twentysomething with a Big Girl Job I found myself enamoured of printing, cutting, and sticking random bits and bobs into a book. If, like me, you've racked up a disconcerting amount of screen time, you may have stumbled across a multitude of craft-inspired social media posts made primarily by young women. Described as junk journalling, the hobby is distinguishable by an affinity with collecting and storing physical mementoes, such as tickets, receipts, packaging and Polaroids."

"Storing physical keepsakes in an age when every moment of our lives is catalogued digitally may seem redundant, but that's also what makes it so enchanting. Before dabbling in this world, I'd experimented with scrapbooking's less flashy cousin, journalling. But I found that writing sappy feelings, and reading them later, felt utterly humiliating. Why do all my sad thoughts read as melodramatic teen angst? Guardian Australia production assistant Eleanor Burnard cutting out images of garment items from a book. With scrapbooking I'm able to speak in a language only I can decipher.' But with scrapbooking, I am exploring how I'm feeling through glossy pictures and quirky miscellanea, like ribbon scraps, brand labels and gemstone stickers."

Scrapbooking, often called junk journalling, centers on collecting and arranging physical mementoes like tickets, receipts, packaging and Polaroids. Many younger adults are embracing the hobby as a tactile alternative to digital documentation and to conventional written journalling. The practice transforms images and ephemera into private, decipherable visual language that feels less embarrassing than confessional writing. Scrapbooking functions as a sentimental time capsule, a meditative craft and a low-skill creative outlet requiring only basic materials. The activity also provides a social, relaxing way to share time with friends while creating personal keepsakes that resist purely digital capture.

Read at www.theguardian.com