"Bubbles!" is a reflection on bath time featuring our daughter, Cheo. The concept lent itself to a digital layout perfectly.

Serious scrapbooking

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I connected with a few colleagues at a bar on Geary Street. They spoke of their photojournalism work -- travels to disaster-struck areas, ongoing work on a book about a woman's struggle with Lou Gehrig's disease. We were like mynah birds in a tree, chatting excitedly after a day of dodging speeding cars, unleashed pets and sticky-faced children.

Eventually, the conversation turned to me -- "So. What projects are you working on now?"

I told them I had just published a three-year-long photo story involving a female prison inmate in the process of turning her life around, described possible future projects and then confessed with a sheepish grin, "I also spend a lot of time scrapbooking."

Eyes widened. Like a choir in unison they asked, "YOU scrapbook?"

"I know. I know. I'm a dork," I answered. I could tell they were envisioning me cutting photos into stars and hearts with decorative scissors.

But as I explained my passion for this addictive hobby -- the largest growing craft industry in the United States -- they began to nod, their curiosity piqued. Questions flowed and I happily answered.

As a child, I was forever drawing or painting in books of paper my mother had stapled together. I obsessively collected anything small and cute and even knew how to craft felt pants for those 2-inch plastic trolls that were then all the rage.

As I got older, my love for art became more sophisticated, and at the age of 12 -- after much begging -- I received my first camera on Christmas Day, a 35-mm single-lens reflex Nikon FM with a 50-mm lens.

"She Wore Fruit": While photographing an Easter assignment for the Star-Bulletin at Arcadia Retirement Residence, I came across this theatrical head piece that was stuffed in a display. I had to wear it. This digital composite was made using royalty-free images from Morguefile.com and created with Adobe Photoshop software.

In college, I worked on photo stories and helped design the layouts for publication. Later, my adventures traveling and living in foreign climes were documented in altered diaries stuffed with ephemera, photos, drawings and journalizing. I also began chronicling my family's history through interviews recorded on countless note pads and yards of audiotape.

When I discovered scrapbooking two years ago, I found the perfect medium to incorporate all my evolving interests. My love for art, collecting, crafting, journalizing, family history, design and photography could all be showcased in a way that will leave a memorable legacy for our precious daughter, Cheo, and generations to come.

The layouts on this page were created both on paper and with digital software. Unlike most scrapbookers, I don't make a distinction between the two. I float between the two media, depending on the concept, time and supplies available.

As we say at the online scrapbook community I belong to, "TFL ... Thanks for looking!"

"A Life. A Journey. Side by Side.": This paper layout dedicated to my mother and grandmother includes a hidden magnetic journal within the canvas frame. The women's portrait was taken by Craig T. Kojima.

"Squirrel Girl": This is my sister Leilani feeding squirrels at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The layout uses royalty-free images from Morguefile.com, clip art, dingbats and was created in Adobe Photoshop.

"Joy": This is one of my favorite layouts, featuring our daughter, Cheo. Many of the embellishments were made from dingbats and digital brushes. Layout created with Adobe Photoshop.