LORETTA COOPER

I am a storyteller and journalist by profession.  So it makes sense that documenting and preserving my own family history is a personal passion.

I began scrapping just after our first child was born, but quickly realized that this was a generational undertaking.  Both of my grandmothers kept scrapbooks and photo albums.    My books are just the latest editions in an ongoing story.

In my grandmothers’ scrapbooks I find the minutia and details of their lives both fascinating and surprising.  I try to keep this in mind as I create my own pages.

Sometimes I worry that this hobby is too self indulgent and sucks up too much of my time.  And then I realized that this undertaking reaches both forward and backward in time.  It provides a larger context for our understanding of ourselves and our families.  I read my grandmother’s thoughts about my father as a child, and I suddenly see traces of my own children.   I see my grandfather’s relentless entrepreneurial spirit, and I know where my drive comes from.

 

What is your favorite scrapbook item?
It would have to be paper!  Solid, print, bling, all of it! If my house ever catches on fire, the scrapbook room will be a total loss!
 

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What type of designer are you?
I guess you could say I am a “method” designer.  I start with a vague idea and then kinda follow along.
 

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What is your favorite thing to make?
Scrapbook pages for my family.
 

What page layout is a challenge for you?
Cleaning the ink out from under my fingernails!
 

If you were to write a book on scrapbooking, what would title would you use?
Well, if you asked my husband he'd say "How to Own More Supplies than Your LSS" . . .
 

What is your favorite color?
I bet you’d ask a mother to tell you which child she loved the best too!   I love them all, in different ways!
 

What type of snack do you eat when scrapbooking?
Mostly scrapping is a great distraction from the munchies.  But I do keep my Godiva chocolate stash in my scraproom.  And I always have my green tea at hand.