Scrapbooking club takes over Uniontown Library
When Carly Bricker’s daughter Torren was born, she created a wonderful scrapbook that traced the first year of the little girl’s life. There’s a page with photos of a pregnant Bricker surrounded by a paper cutout shirt that reads “Baby on Board.’
“That’s how we told everyone I was pregnant,’ said the Fairchance woman.
There are photos of the newborn with the identification card that was in Torren’s hospital bassinet. The pages show photos of the baby’s church dedication with a card from the pastor. Mealtime photos are on a page with labels from actual jars positioned on cutout baby jars of food. A paper bathtub holds photos of Torren’s early baths. Another page holds a paper Christmas tree surrounded by photos of Torren’s first Christmas while photographs of Torren dressed for winter are positioned on paper mittens. The scrapbook continues through her first birthday.
Compared to photographs in an album, Bricker believes the scrapbook is more personal.
“I think people enjoy looking at this, and my personality comes through,’ she said. “God forbid anything should ever happen to me, but if it did, my daughter would have this. It’s the work and vision of me.’
On this night at the Uniontown Public Library, Bricker is working on a second scrapbook. This one is for her daughter Taylor, who turned a year old Nov. 28. It also includes photos of Torren, who is now 3.
“I have photos of my daughters in jean outfits and I’m making this page look like a denim pocket and I’ll slide a photo in it and put photos around it,’ she said.
Bricker is one of several local residents participating in the Uniontown Public Library’s scrapbooking club. The next session is scheduled for Monday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and is being called a holiday scrapbooking session.
“We’re asking people to bring little books that they might use as a gift. They can be specialized, such as a new baby book for grandparents,’ said Dianne McFeaters, children’s librarian.
Scrapbooking started at the Uniontown library last spring, with classes led by consultant Patty Franks of Uniontown. They continued with scrapbook open houses in August, and the library began its club in September. Beginning in January, the scrapbook club will meet every third Monday of the month from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and the library staff is encouraging people to participate.
“We’d like people to realize we have the tools for them to come and do it,’ said Christy Fusco, head librarian.
“And at no charge to them – just bring your photos and a scrapbook,’ McFeaters added.
The scrapbook club gathers in a meeting room on the second floor where the library has provided background papers, stickers and cutting tools that allow participants to unleash their imagination.
Joi Martin, 11, a home-schooled sixth-grade student from New Salem, chose a background paper that featured hay for a page of photos from a horse show.
Joi was in the library with her younger brother, Samuel, her aunt Roxanne Reed, and cousins Summer and River Reed, also of New Salem. Although the boys do scrapbooking at home, on this night, they decided to enjoy the children’s library instead while the girls worked hard on their scrapbooks.
Summer, 9, a home-schooled fourth-grade student, has been doing scrapbooks for two years.
“I’m working on a picture of my singing recital, and I’m going to write here,’ she said, pointing to a paper circle in the center of the page where she positioned photographs of herself in a beautiful dress.
Summer has always written memories in her scrapbooks, and Roxanne Reed said they enjoy looking over her earliest pages. She noted the impressions the kids write help them better recall events.
Also using his imagination here on this night is Kevin Masek, 14, of Uniontown, a freshman at Laurel Highlands High School.
Kevin’s accompanied by his mother, Nancy, who noted her son “is very artistic and likes to do anything with his hands.’
“I like expressing myself in scrapbooks and making cool prints,’ said Kevin.
As an example, he showed the page he was working on: he cut his face from a photograph and placed it in the lens of a camera. The rest of the background includes a dark outdoor scene that features a haunted house. Kevin cut out the rest of the photo – himself now without a head, dressed in his outfit from the Laurel Highlands musical production of “Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors,’ with the director, who still has her head. He placed the photo alongside the haunted house.
“I’m the Headless Dude,’ he said. “Rather than just looking at a picture, it looks like you’re part of this (background).’
Kevin’s other scrapbook pages show his school photos from ninth, eighth and seventh grades, as well as photos featuring his dog Pebbles and him riding his friend’s motorcycle.
“This is lots of fun because I can express myself, and it tells the story of your life,’ he said.
His mother commented, “I like that the photos are out of the shoebox. They just sit there. You don’t look at them. But now, you can show them to other people and it’s a nice way to put them together.’
Bricker also noted that placing photos in a scrapbook preserves them for years to come: “They never yellow; they never fade.’
For more information on the scrapbook club, call the library at 724-437-1165.