What is Ethnic Scrapbooking?

Hola! I’m senorita Lisa Sanford and that is the extent of my Spanish. I’m thrilled to be part of a team that is dedicated to inspire. Inspire you to create, to be more creative in all aspects of your life. I made my first scrapbook in 1972 when I was in second grade. I’ve been passionate about creative scrapbooking for 12 years now. I’ve designed products and have been an advocate for diversity in the scrapbooking craft industry since the day I was introduced to Creative Memories.

After I did years of the chronological scrapbooking for five children, my sister asked me to do an album of her first trip to West Africa. While I was home having babies, my sister was travelling the world. I enjoyed her photos (by the thousands) and stories about cultures in lands far away. I quickly became enthralled with teaching my kids about other cultures through scrapbooking and that’s Ethnic Scrapbooking. I authored Ethnic Scrapbooking, not as a scrapbooking how-to-book, but a book about self-exploration…about connecting to your own culture as well as others.

My style of scrapbooking has varied over the years…right now I’m about quick and easy (because I work full-time) with a heavy dose of meaningful journaling with an emphasis on educating. Really, scrapbooking is a lifestyle for me. Being behind the lens has changed my perspective on many things…mostly about how I want to be remembered by my children (all five of them). I incorporate cultural learning into many areas of my life, from the foods we eat, the music we hear, the clothes we wear and the activities we partake in.

One of my favorite workshops that I teach is Kwanzaa Through the Year. It’s a class where you review the seven day ritual of Kwanzaa and reflect on the past year of photographs to find ones that represents the meaning of the principles. It’s a weeklong fun way to look back through your photographs and see your (or your family’s) growth throughout the year, to see how you can connect to a cultural tradition that may not be part of your heritage and document it through a mini album or a series of scrapbook pages. This method can also be adapted to other weeklong celebrations or series of principles or virtues such as the Beatitudes from the Holy Bible or various Jewish Holidays.

My challenge to you is to take more everyday photos of your daily life and to think out of the box and give “connecting to other cultures” a try.

Parts of this article are adapted from Ethnic Scrapbooking, pages 58 & 59.