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May 1, 2024 0:16:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 1, 2017 15:26:00 GMT
I wanted to share how I got into this hobby. Would love to read your story too.
I think it was about 6 years ago my now husband and I had been together for a couple of years and we had been doing fun things and taken lots of pictures. I had looked around a little online, but nothing serious. We were at Costco and they had a bag filled with supplies. It was like a starter set. DH bought it for me. I started playing with it and did a couple of layouts, but did not care for them. Looked around online and saw all this great stuff and mine did not compare. I thought I needed more stuff to choose from. I bought a Cricut so I could cut what I needed. Made a few more layouts, but still nothing that I loved.
i have always known that I was more of a math brain that a creative brain (give me an excel workbook and I will knock your socks off), but I knew that I should be able to do something that I liked. Archiver's was a mile from my job, so I was over there weekly buying stuff. I even went to their Scrapfest one year. Once that closed, I tried several kit clubs and online shopped. My job became increasingly more stressful and shopping became my therapy. Then I had this hoard of supplies and nothing to show from it.
Last fall, I took a few classes. Learned how to use my silhouette and read some blogs about design. I started scraplifting and getting layouts that I liked. I saw somewhere to use wax paper for stickers so I could play with placement. (That was a duh moment for me). All this energized me. I have since found my style and figured out what method works for me to get layouts done. I know I will never be creative enough on my own, but that is ok. I also no longer hesitate to cut into a paper or use an embellishment. I was always wanting to save it for when I could do a better layout. Not anymore. Sometimes I still catch myself and then tell myself use it-They will make a million more heart embellishments. In the last 6 months I have made about 50 to 60 layouts. In the previous years of collecting, I made less than 10.
Sorry if if this was a little self gratuitous, but maybe it will help someone stuck in their scrapbooking.
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Post by Linda on Feb 1, 2017 15:44:07 GMT
good for you! Finding your own style really makes a difference, I think
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Post by LisaDV on Feb 1, 2017 16:05:16 GMT
seveerb, that's a great story especially the part about making 50-60 layouts! Way to go! and i have always known that I was more of a math brain that a creative brain (give me an excel workbook and I will knock your socks off), but I knew that I should be able to do something that I liked. I'm more math/science brained as well. But I've always thought those type of brains make the best artists! Although it did not come intuitively, to make pages I liked I had to learn the design principles and spent so much time on this hobby that it's insane.
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Post by scrapaddict702 on Feb 1, 2017 16:05:23 GMT
I use sketches for 12x12 layouts almost exclusively. I don't have design sense (rather, I can see what other people have in front of them in process videos and think up a design in my head, but when faced with my own supplies, I can't do the same) so I can relate to not being able to be completely creative without help, haha! I'm also a math/linear thinker so the creative flow for me isn't as natural for me as I would like it to be, but having a creative outlet is so important for me! This could be why organizing things is a huge joy for me and something that I often spend more time on than actually crafting, lol. I started just about 6 years ago. My oldest was 4 months old and I wanted to make a baby book. But the premade ones where you fill in stats and toss in pictures didn't work for me. They had indexes and page numbers...so I couldn't just rip out the birth announcement pages even though we didn't send them and I didn't like the idea of having empty pages. So, I joined up at a Joann's class and was taught a variety of things for a few weeks and then walked through a layout in the last class (this started my love for sketches). During that course, I stumbled upon a site called babysteals.com and while looking around the site, I found scrapbooksteals.com and almost immediately started shopping with them. They did weekly sketch challenges (which was perfect for me) and every Wednesday when the new sketch went up, they offered beautiful kits full of stuff for amazing prices. They didn't have an archive or combined shipping, so I had 3-5 boxes coming from them every week. I was constantly trying out new kits and having a lot of fun. My layouts were and still are pretty simple, but I've definitely noticed a bit of an evolution where I've gotten better at certain things and the process is more enjoyable to me. Scrapbook steals doesn't have the community that it once had, but I credit the encouraging people there as well as the weekly sketches for keeping me involved and not giving up. While I may not be super creative like many out there, it's an outlet that helps keep me sane.  |
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Post by mikklynn on Feb 1, 2017 16:10:06 GMT
I blame it on my niece! She wanted a gift card to Archiver's for Christmas, so I stopped in. Prior to that, I thought they just sold fancy photo albums. OMG. I felt like I found my place and my people.
I had scrapbooked in the past with the old albums with black pages. I love saving ephemera to place in the scrapbooks.
About the time I visited Archiver's that first time, my first grandchild came along. It's like the stars aligned and I've been scrapbooking ever since. Granddaughter is 13 now.
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Post by grammadee on Feb 1, 2017 16:48:54 GMT
Good to see everyone's stories. I think we all "grow into" our style, and when we find a process we enjoy that helps us create pages and cards and whatever else we love, that is magic! I fell into this hobby by accident over 15 years ago. justjac hosted a CM party in the college staff residence where she lived and I stayed one or two nights a week. My youngest of 4 had just left home for University and I guess I needed something to fill all those empty hours ahead of me after almost 30 years of total immersion into the working mom role. But my Mom role was still pretty strong, so my first project in scrapbooking was to create an album for each of those 4 "kids". I booked my own CM party so I could get a discount on a few tools plus 4 9x12 albums with inserts and stickers, rescued and scanned my kids' childhood photos from the magnetic albums, and got busy. There was no such thing as "embellishments" at the time--or at least none that I had access to. I learned how to emboss with a stylus and some templates, designed and hand cut my own doll figures with movable arms and legs so I could illustrate various sports and activities. Took me a long time to find a glue that didn't either not stick or else ruined the photos. I was terrified to use anything that was not CM because the rep had me convinced anything else would eat up my photos. Fortunately I discovered brads: they held my stuff in place, and worked wonders with those movable limbs! In a year, I had all 4 books completed. And thought I was done with this little adventure. But I had a couple of grandkids... And I started taking lots of photos of them. (I had noticed that there were lots of their parents' lives that had absolutely no photo documentation)... And I had this STUFF left over from my scrapping binge: tools, and cs, and stickers and... So I started a "Grandkids" album. This one was 12x12 and 3-ring so I could be more flexible in the order in which I scrapped my photos. And I could use brads more easily, since I didn't have to worry about what was on the back of my page like in CM. When I retired, I got to choose a retirement gift, and I chose a Wishblade (the grandpappy of Silhouette). I had to special order it from the US, but I was determined; no more hand cutting embellishments for me! Then a friend of mine became a CTMH rep. And she set up a "Ten for Ten" club. Each month we attended a class where she taught technique and page design, and we each committed to purchasing at least $50 worth of product. I learned to ink edges and (shudder!!!) tear them! And I discovered stamps and inks and ribbons and pretty 2 sided papers... And LSS's started popping up. I remember my first foray into one: it was scarey with all those choices! I was used to CTMH and HOTP kits, all matched up for me. Even the Big Box stores felt more safe. I picked up kits and paper pads from Costco and WM and Zellers (like Target). I found a few sites on line, but they kept mentioning product by name brand, and I remember rolling my eyes and thinking "Why is it so important that this is THAT brand of paper? Isn't it all the same?" When the stores started hosting crops, there I could see what people were doing with those name brand supplies. And I met more crafty people... And I bought a lot of product that I loved... And learned new tricks of the trade I wanted to try, and... And of course I learned about all kinds of other crafty techniques and tools on line as well. Met some great on line friends. Learned about all that totally cool stuff I NEEDED to try... And over the years, I have had a really GOOD TIME! And 16 years out of active parenthood, I have learned that it is perfectly okay for me to do stuff simply because I LOVE DOING IT! I love to create. I love to relive memories of time spent with grandkids. I love to play with new things (and old ones). Being with the dgk's is fun. Being at a crop or crafting with a friend is exhilarating. Being in my scraproom alone with those photos and my papers and tools is relaxing. And when the dgk's get excited over the pages I have created for and about them? That is MAGIC!!! |
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Post by joblackford on Feb 1, 2017 17:26:46 GMT
I moved to Japan in 1998 after college, and suddenly had money for film and developing, as well as a zillion new things to document. An acquaintance (who is now my SIL) had used a sketchbook to put together an album of photos from her year in Japan that I got to see when someone decided to make a yearbook for out group (we were on the JET Programme). I started to experiment with different ways to put together albums of my photos. I didn't have an knowledge of or access to American-style scrapbooking supplies/designs (if such a thing existed then - I wouldn't even know). But my father had put together really great photo albums and his mother had been the old kind of scrapbooker - cutting out scraps and pictures to make albums for us grandkids, and keeping a commonplace book for herself with photos, drawings, and words. I ended up staying in Japan for 4 years and then moving to the US where I discovered rubber stamping and other crafts. I got some post bound albums and made pages, but I didn't like the patterned papers I had access to, hated that none of the embellishments expressed anything like what I wanted to say, and I couldn't get my head around only putting one picture on a page. I have maybe 150 pages from my Japan years and most have at least 6 pictures per page, if not more. I love to crop photos. If I did one photo per page I'd be drowning in albums! My goal was to take all the good photos I had developed and get them onto pages where I could enjoy them and see them tell a story. I don't make pages for artistic fulfillment. I meet that need elsewhere. In the early years (2002-2005) I experimented with all kinds of styles - printing journaling on the computer, pages on plain colored cardstock, with making my own paper designs with ink directly on the cardstock (ugh), stamping titles... BTW Do you know how quickly you run out of As and Os when you try to spell Japanese places names? Kumamoto + Kagoshima + Nagasaki and you've totally killed a sheet of letter stickers.  Anyway, somewhere along the way I discovered scrapbooking magazines, but I totally didn't get them. Always hated them. TBH I still don't really get a lot of what people make, but that's OK because they are doing what works for them. Obviously everyone should make pages that make them happy and meet their needs, and mine do, but they're nothing like what's in a scrapbooking magazine. I loved PL when that arrived on the scene, and I love photo books. I have reworked some of my old sketchbook albums into photo books (since they were all about the photos, no story or embellishment anyway). In many cases I added stories if I could remember them. I also made a massive photobook of my Japan layouts (photos of the pages + extra photos + stories) so I could finally share them with family overseas who had never seen them. I had sent them photos and letters over the years but the albums were far too massive to ever take home to show them. These days I make photobooks every year for my nephew (that acquaintance turned SIL's kid) and my friend's kid because their parents are not great about documenting and I love to share stories and words with family. I make a year in review for myself each year too, which is my Xmas gift to my parents and aunt. I have stopped PL because I don't have space for the albums, but I do a words and pictures journal in my hobonichi. I love to take photos and record stories, and seeing my 7 yo nephew go through his "yearbooks" and reminisce about his life makes my heart swell. |
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Post by katmandu on Feb 1, 2017 17:28:52 GMT
Thanks for sharing your story!
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Post by mikklynn on Feb 1, 2017 17:53:47 GMT
joblackford I make a photobook year in review, too. I make them of my grandchildren for my parents and my MIL for Christmas.
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Post by warrior1991 on Feb 1, 2017 19:54:12 GMT
I got into cards first. About 18 years ago, my sister-in-law showed me all her stuff and how she made cards. She only stamped and used a little bit of cardstock, no patterned paper. I went to a Stampin' Up party and placed a decent sized order. Was so excited when it arrived and I spent that evening in my living room cutting everything apart and assembling the stamps. The next day I packed them all up in a box and buried them in the back of my closet. (My hands hurt for days from cutting those apart.) 2 moves later and after my small card making stash was stored in a hot garage for 3 years, everything was ruined. So I moved on. In 2005 a friend invited me up to her house for a weekend to go to her lss for a Saturday night crop. Friday night she helped me sort my pictures that I brought and Saturday morning, we went shopping for my supplies at Michaels, JoAnns, and Archivers. The whole time she kept apologizing that she was "making" me do this and she didn't think I would like it. I said that my favorite store up until that point was an office supply store. I LOVE paper, notebooks, rulers, scissors, pens, markers, etc. I knew I would love scrapbooking. And she was not making me do any of it. I spend the $200 that weekend all on my own. lol Shortly after that, I discovered Close to My Heart and became a consultant. And that got me back into making cards. I didn't stay a consultant very long, but I have never looked back from scrapbooking and card making. When I look at my books from the beginning, I don't love the layouts now but I did at the time and they are my history. I will not change them. My style and methods have since changed a few times, but that is normal. One thing I learned back in 2005 when I was getting started on scrapbooking, was "there are no rules". {Except for the acid free rule}. I learned if you want to put 1 picture on a page, you can. If you want to put 18 pictures on a page, go for it. If you want to not put a picture at all on a page, why not. I love the freedom that scrapbooking allows. That works for me. I know other people have different styles, likes/dislikes, etc and that is what makes this world so great. |
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msliz
Drama Llama
The Procrastinator
Posts: 6,419
Jun 26, 2014 21:32:34 GMT
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Post by msliz on Feb 1, 2017 21:58:57 GMT
My first scrapbooking experience was actually at a huge crop. I had recently joined a Moms of Multiples club in the Boston area when I was still pregnant with my DDs. My friend told me about the crop and told me I should go, but she neglected to tell me anything about scrapbooking. I walked into a huge cafeteria (they rented space in a church with a school) and it was *packed* with women cutting their photos into circles with pinking shears."You didn't bring any photos? No, I'm just learning about it. "Well, have some paper. You can decorate a page and then put your photos on it later." They were so nice, and I got a pretty good idea about what scrapbooking was, but I didn't actually start until my girls were around 3yo. A neighbor of mine was showing me around her house and showed me the desk where she did her crafting and showed me her scrapbooks. I was sold. That was back around 2001 maybe? Then I found out that a couple more neighbors scrapped, so we'd get together regularly at each other's homes and open a bottle of wine. I miss those days!
Except for a few years here and there when we moved from place to place and my stuff was packed up, I've stayed at it. It's a nice escape for me.
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Post by joblackford on Feb 1, 2017 22:37:37 GMT
joblackford I make a photobook year in review, too. I make them of my grandchildren for my parents and my MIL for Christmas. Yay! It's the best thing I ever decided to do. As the years have gone on more people have expressed to me how much they appreciate them. I've seen them on their coffee tables, well thumbed through  And although they're a lot of work I would make them for myself anyway so it's really no extra effort. And they're a really affordable gift, especially for overseas family (7x7" albums - cheap to ship). |
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Post by myboysnme on Feb 1, 2017 23:45:39 GMT
Long!! As a child and young person I began to keep memorabilia scrapbooks, photo albums and diaries and I continued.
One day in maybe 1997 or '98 I stopped into a craft consignment shop and someone had a CM album on display with her business cards. I loved the concept of combining my photos, memorabilia and written memories into one book, but never called her. Then I went to a craft show in the fall and there was a consultant with some items on display and I learned about the prices. Now I had probably 30 magnetic albums and numerous memorabilia albums so I knew converting those to CM style scrapbooks was way out of my budget. I had no interest in just buying one - how would I ever choose what to put in it?
A few months later I saw a scrapbook kit by Frances Meyer at KMart and I asked my DH to buy it for me for Christmas. It had a shape template, white pages without page protectors, a marker, a pair of ruffle deco scissors and a little handout by Memory Makers with some basic ideas. **I just this weekend tossed the first page I did with that kit, having removed and rescrapped the photos some time ago.
We had no craft stores that sold any kind of dedicated 'scrapbook' supplies. Then a coworker told me we had a new Michaels and it had 2 aisles of scrapbook stuff - Paper Pizzaz and HOTP for the most part and I was in heaven with paper and some Sandylion stickers and punch out HOTP titles and 'diecuts.'
A commercial came on TV for a place called 'All About Scrapbooks.' I HAD TO GO! But there was no internet then and I didn't know the area where it was located about an hour away. We used atlases and street maps to find things. I decided to look in the new yellow pages and there was a scrapbook store listed in my own town!
I went there and could not get over the patterned paper - now we would toss most of it in the trash - it was like the paper you use for your Christmas newsletter. But I was scrapping 8.5x11 and using document protectors. I was using photo squares and both sides of cheap cardstock. I signed up for a crop - it was so popular I had to wait 2 months to get in. It seems LSS popped up all over within a few months and by the end of the year, I think 2000, I knew of 5 or 6 LSS within an hour drive.
My LSS was looking to offer classes, and I offered to teach a class on old photos, because I had been collecting old photos for years and knew about preservation of them. I was just going to teach to get a discount to buy a Crop in Style Navigator. Then I started working there a few hours every other Sat - time went by and before I knew it I had been there almost 7 years. I should have left after I got the Navigator.
Maybe around 2001 I went to a scrapbook convention. I won a layout contest and won the brand new Sizzix machine and one die - a tree. I was cropping somewhere most weekends. I was collecting supplies. In 2001 I started doing 12x12 but I switched back to 8.5 x 11 for most layouts in maybe 2009?
Scrapbooking has been my primary interest and craft since I discovered it. I have scrapped well over 100 albums, I've lost count. Maybe 10 or so were for others but most for me. I developed a style I like in maybe 2005 - I don't know. I have held crops of all kinds, been to many conventions, taught classes, written articles, been published back in the day quite a few times, and love it as much today as I ever did.
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Deleted
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May 1, 2024 0:16:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 0:09:36 GMT
seveerb , that's a great story especially the part about making 50-60 layouts! Way to go! and i have always known that I was more of a math brain that a creative brain (give me an excel workbook and I will knock your socks off), but I knew that I should be able to do something that I liked. I'm more math/science brained as well. But I've always thought those type of brains make the best artists! Although it did not come intuitively, to make pages I liked I had to learn the design principles and spent so much time on this hobby that it's insane. Thanks! I feel like breaking it down into formula and having some guidelines helps too. |
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Post by mom on Feb 2, 2017 0:18:00 GMT
I started scrapbooking right after my daughter passed away in 2005. So, 12 years ago this month?
I just wanted a way to remember my daughter. Because she was premature, I didnt have many photos of her and I just wanted to treasure what I had.
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Deleted
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May 1, 2024 0:16:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 0:25:12 GMT
I love all these stories and hearing about how things were when everyone first started. This has been a fun read.
These stories are just fabulous!!!!
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Deleted
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May 1, 2024 0:16:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2017 0:26:47 GMT
I started scrapbooking right after my daughter passed away in 2005. So, 12 years ago this month? I just wanted a way to remember my daughter. Because she was premature, I didnt have many photos of her and I just wanted to treasure what I had. So sweet and so sorry about it your daughter. (Hugs) |
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Post by nancydrew on Feb 2, 2017 0:55:04 GMT
Every since I was young (about 8 years old), I have been an avid memory keeper and photo taker! When my daughter was young, I really loved the idea of "modern day" scrapbooking but didn't pursue it because I knew once I started, I would become obsessed. And that's exactly what happened. That was about 15 years ago. Since then, I have worked and taught classes in my LSS (which unfortunately has closed) and was a CTMH consultant (which was definately not my thing). But I continue to love this hobby and I know I will also be a memory keeper of some sort.
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Post by marmargirl on Feb 2, 2017 3:15:56 GMT
I started in 1999, doing a scrapbook of my wedding as my first project. I lived in a small town, and met some people through a Longaberger party who scrapbooked. It turned out that the woman who was the Longaberger rep had just opened a scrapbook store with her daughter.
They started hosting crops to raise money for breast cancer research and at that time, the hobby was really taking off. Those crops were so much fun! I became friends with the owners and started scrapping every weekend at the store with a group of regulars.
I moved to Oregon in 2005 and never really connected with a group of scrapers like that since, but I still scrap regularly. I don't have kids, but I do have a niece and nephews, but mostly scrap my dogs.
The store back home closed several years ago, as did almost all of the ones here. I do miss those fun times, connecting over a shared hobby.
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Post by iheartpaper on Feb 2, 2017 5:35:42 GMT
Hugs mom! In 1997 when DD19 was a baby and DH was deployed a lot, another military wife would have me over to try a different craft once a week. We made a candle one week, something with plastic spoons, etc. The day we tried scrapbooking changed my life. I would go to Walmart and buy this kit they had that came with a 8 1/2x11 album, page protectors, paper...pretty much everything you needed. I must have bought 5-10 of those kits as I filled the albums. It was a treat to drive to Savannah and go to Michael's! Less than a year later, DH got out of the Army and we moved back home. All my supplies fit in a large Rubbermaid container that I carried in at the hotel we stayed at on the way home. I HAD to scrapbook in the middle of our move...lol. I can remember the progression of my hobby as we've moved throughout the years. From my supplies fitting in that Rubbermaid box to a FULL room that is getting reorganized this month because it's overflowing and exploding into different areas of the house...ooops! I have remained a prolific scrapbooker throughout these 19 years. I go through periods of time where I just can't find my creativity, but I always turn it around. I've made countless albums for myself and other family members. Scrapbooking brings me joy and has gotten me through some hard times in my life...I am truly thankful! |
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Post by JaneB on Feb 2, 2017 8:01:05 GMT
I started digital scrapbooking in 2006. My hobby before that was cross stitching and designing, and six months earlier I'd been told I had to stop, immediately, that day, because my right thumb joint is worn out. I was inconsolable. My right hand is the only one that reaches my face, and I was told I'd lose the use of it for blowing my nose, eating etc if I continued.
For using the computer I switched hands and use my left. A computer makes it a level playing field for me; I can do the stuff you do with your hands whereas I can't manage physical processes easily at all - only in small projects.
I don't consider myself naturally artistic; I think I might have made a good forger once upon a time. I can see something, ponder it and then work out how to make it in PSP.
The digital camera is also a game changer for me. I can't hold a camera to my eye, so I use tables or my knee to rest the camera and point in the general direction. Subject matter can be a challenge; no children, no pets and I don't get out much. However, daily life can be worth recording; I'm often fascinated by the everyday details from years gone by - from the cost of items to the carpet patterns to the size of old TV's etc.
I now make any pages around 7x5 inches to print as a photobook; it's a size I can handle. My husband loves the three I've made so far. I do like a bit of paper play, so the Silhouette Cameo is an essential tool. I don't think I could make a card simply from paper - I have to work it out on the computer first so I know what I'm doing.
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Post by myboysnme on Feb 2, 2017 12:50:52 GMT
Hugs mom ! In 1997 when DD19 was a baby and DH was deployed a lot, another military wife would have me over to try a different craft once a week. We made a candle one week, something with plastic spoons, etc. The day we tried scrapbooking changed my life. I would go to Walmart and buy this kit they had that came with a 8 1/2x11 album, page protectors, paper...pretty much everything you needed. I must have bought 5-10 of those kits as I filled the albums. It was a treat to drive to Savannah and go to Michael's! Less than a year later, DH got out of the Army and we moved back home. All my supplies fit in a large Rubbermaid container that I carried in at the hotel we stayed at on the way home. I HAD to scrapbook in the middle of our move...lol. I can remember the progression of my hobby as we've moved throughout the years. From my supplies fitting in that Rubbermaid box to a FULL room that is getting reorganized this month because it's overflowing and exploding into different areas of the house...ooops! I have remained a prolific scrapbooker throughout these 19 years. I go through periods of time where I just can't find my creativity, but I always turn it around. I've made countless albums for myself and other family members. Scrapbooking brings me joy and has gotten me through some hard times in my life...I am truly thankful! Your story sounds so much like mine! I too had everything in a Rubbermaid tote! The day I bought the green Cropper hopper tote with a coupon from Michaels was so good! I put everything in there, haha! |
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And although they're a lot of work I would make them for myself anyway so it's really no extra effort. And they're a really affordable gift, especially for overseas family (7x7" albums - cheap to ship). 
