Hobbies are a must for a college student. It can’t be all work and no play! Elizabethtown College has a variety of clubs and groups to join, but sometimes group activities aren’t as nice as having alone time and tucking into a hobby. So that’s why I suggest picking up scrapbooking when you have free time.
Scrapbooking can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be—it’s an entirely personal activity. For me, I use a scrapbook I received as a gift and polaroids dating as far back as 2020. The scrapbook I have includes paper inserts for the photos to go in. The supplies I use are double sided tape and stickers, which are easy to obtain from craft stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby or Five Below.
To start off, make sure the photos are laid out how you want them to be on the page. Once you have the photos organized as you want, use the double-sided tape to secure the photos to the page. Lastly, you can decorate the page however you want, whether you use stickers, buttons or any kind of embellishment.
That’s the gist of scrapbooking, which is what I do because I have just started scrapbooking. But there’s so many ways to scrapbook and decorate it that I didn’t mention above. I’ll list some other interesting scrapbooking methods I’ve seen from friends and others.
A coworker of mine used to scrapbook using trash they found on the street and whatever craft supplies they had. They would acquire a scrapbook that had inserts and began collecting trash they found on their walks through Lancaster city. As unappealing as this may come off, it has its own merit and character. For one, it helps clean up litter along the streets, which is inherently a good thing to do. And surprisingly, the trash they found was often more meaningful than you’d expect. They had collected grocery lists, notes, cards, photos and more. These all once belonged to people and my coworker saw that and immortalized it.
Another scrapbooking method I’ve seen is from social media, where someone acquires a notebook of some kind and decorates the pages. Often the pages have a theme and are very well put together. These individuals have a collection of supplies to use, like markers, beads, lace and twine. I always like to watch these videos for scrapbook inspiration, since they are very talented at what they do. I’ve seen scrapbook pages based on my favorite shows and games, as well as the colors of the rainbow. This is more advanced scrapbooking, but fun to watch, nonetheless.
Hopefully this has helped interest you in the art of scrapbooking, since it can be a fantastic hobby to pass time. It can also be a good way to memorialize, like my coworker and I have done. Scrapbooking is a relaxing and personal hobby that you can make fit your schedule and interests, so why not try it out?
