The Best of British Scrapbooking & Cardmaking

For Anne, getting connected to other scrapbookers came through a chance situation at work. She explains, "Just prior to discovering scrapbooking, I had been requested to do a picture for an officer at work. (Anne has been a police officer for the last 22 years.) Whilst we were waiting for the witness to arrive, we started chatting about all sorts of things, including art and cardmaking. A couple of weeks later when I was put in touch with a woman named Sarah on UKScrappers, I sent her a quick message explaining that I was new to scrapbooking and local to her, and perhaps we could meet up? Imagine my surprise when I received an email back from her asking whether I was the same Anne Parry that she had met a work a few weeks ago! It goes to show what a small world this is....."

Anne's current position is as a police artist. She lives with her partner, Roy and her fifteen year old daughter, Holly. For the last few years, most of Anne's spare time has been spent working on the house. Anne says, "I enjoy DIY / interior design and can always be found changing things at home. My first loves were art and photography; as a child I was always drawing faces. Then I discovered photography at about the age of ten. I have never lost my love of photography. I always carry a camera and the digital revolution has been amazing for me. Now I can take as many pictures as I like to find that 'perfect one.' Apart from this, I enjoy lots of crafts, in particular stained glass and mosaics. I love reading, walking and travelling."

Anne found scrapbooking quite by accident whilst looking on the Internet for eyelets back in February 2003. She joined UK Scrappers and was put in touch with Sarah (the scrapbooker mentioned previously) as she lived local to Anne and through Sarah met Sam Everett. Anne explains, "I think scrapbooking appealed to me because it combined both photography and art. I mostly do it for the creative element; the pages are for me, I'm not particularly concerned about the archival side, although I have just started looking at my grandparent's photos, so things might change! I love looking for items I might use on my pages, some of my favourite places are children's accessory shops, and I find earrings and other jewellery items make great charms."

Anne likes to try different things, and consequently doesn't have an all-time favourite technique. However, currently she's favouring the collage look as this reminds her of childhood scrapbooks and diaries. True to her roots as an artist, she says, "I like to include some art if I can; my first layout included a sketch of my daughter and I still try to include sketches, chalking or painting on pages. I have enjoyed the various circle journals I have been part of and am hoping to make an art journal next."

In fact, her Portrait of Me was originally made for a circle journal but Anne liked it so much that she thought that she would redo it as a LO. She likes the fact that it shows four generations of her family.

Scrapbooking is an important part of Anne's social life. She says, "I usually try and meet up fairly regularly with a group of friends to scrapbook or just for coffee and chat. My friend Sarah and I can often be found at our local Starbucks, supposedly working on our circle journals, but usually just chatting! I often call in at Sam's for coffee and to scrapbook, sometimes meeting up with up with Venessa Matthews there."

Sam and Venessa hold monthly crops in Ickenham which is great for catching up with those friends who live just that little further away. Generally Anne says that she talks more than she scraps. "In fact," she says, "Sarah now times just how long it takes me to sit down at my table and make a start!"

As for her scrapbooking routine, Anne doesn't work from album to album so much as printing out photos that inspire her and going from there to creating a page.

Anne's advice to want-to-be scrapbookers is: "Give it a go! It's a great way of combining art and photography but also of recording history. You don't need any skills to do this and in years to come, it will be nice to look back at your life and share it with your family, or just to reminisce. It's less intimate than a diary but you can still use your pages to record events, your thoughts and feelings as you go through your day-to-day life."