Other’s opinions about scrapping styles…

I agree, KikiPea , that we all have different reasons for scrapping and different ways to go about it. I am really inspired by seeing other people’s creations, and hope scrappers continue to share, whether they craft in my style or not.

Like you, I have been scrapping this way more than 20 years. If I have one photo I scrap it. If I have only memorabilia I scrap it. If I have 38 photos of DGD in a pink dress with a slightly different facial expression in each one I scrap them.

Now back when I used magnetic photo albums, I cropped my photos to fit 4 photos per page and kept going until the book was full. Memorabilia went into a scrapbook. I can see how non scrappers might think it doesn't make sense to have just one photo on a page. My mom's black page albums with white corners only had one photo if it was an 8x10.

I may have one photo and no story to tell. I am not a big journaller. I tend to use photos, paper and embellishments to tell the story. When DGD goes to gym each week and I take photos each week, what am I going to say?

Basically, I am cropping a whole lot with 90% CM scrappers these days for lack of any other crops, and I see circle cut photos in overdrive and the most basic pages. I have nothing to say anymore about any of it. I want to get my photos scrapped and so do they. If they don't want to but just want to play around, that's cool. Believe me I have no time or desire to pay attention to what they are doing and why.

KikiPea your layouts are awesome and you have a really great style, so with that said, don't waste any time or thought on those with a different view. At this point in the hobby, you are a leader, not a follower.

As for the trend of one photo, this was a thing in the early 2000's.  The focus on the face era.  What's old is new again.

The variety is part of the fun.
I like seeing different ways that people scrap.
Besides, if you all scrapped the way I did and liked what I like, then I wouldn’t be able to buy as much because it would all be sold out!!

I agree with you - everyone has their own style and their own reasons for scrapbooking. There's no one right way to do it.

It took me a long time to become comfortable sharing my layouts here because they are so simple compared to most that are shared but everyone is so kind and encouraging. I love looking at the arty and mixed media layouts and the pocket layouts and the TNs etc...but I'm not very creative and my goal is to focus on the photos - fancy photo albums in a sense.

Honestly I think this shows the lack of exposure to diverse people and ideas of the person who is criticizing. If you can't fathom people doing things, believing, living differently from you, you have missed a lot of learning opportunities and need to broaden your world.

Exactly. My style will always be basic and simple. I can glean ideas from people like Page Taylor Evans. Or from junk journalers who use mixed media. I'm not much of a card maker, but I can find ideas to incorporate into scrapping.

People are judgemental. Ignore them!

I scrapbook how I like. Stickers, mixed patterns, photos mounted, frames, bright bold colors, 8.5 x 11. 
My scrapbooks are only to please myself.
I don't worry about anyone else's opinion.

One of my favorite things about scrapbooking is that there is plenty of room to do this anyway anyone wants. Since how other people scrapbook has absolutely ZERO impact on someone else's life, they can keep their unsolicited opinions to themselves.

Those bitches criticizing how someone chooses to create are out there criticizing everything. Some people are just miserable. Screw them.

Well, is it possible they aren’t complaining about that as an over all style?

When scrolling thru YouTube or insta I might ‘complain’ about one photo layouts. At some times that’s all there is out there. One photo product heavy layouts. And sometimes it’s hard to find that one photo too. I get it, those people are paid to feature products on layouts not to write a novel.

I do one photo layouts, with both big & small photos, there isn’t anything wrong with it as a ‘style’, but we all like variety. I find way more inspiration from fellow peas than from the people who feature products on pages. And sometimes IG can be overwhelming with ‘sales’ pages. Even if I unfollow people who do that, I don’t follow a lot of people so IG just randomly gives me those anyway.

So if I complain about too much of whatever, and other than in discussion here I don’t think I have, it’s because I’m inundated with useless to me inspiration because IG or FB or YouTube has decided that’s what they are showing me.

I do get ‘tired’ of page upon page upon page of tiny photo and a billion products so I can barely find the photo. It can be like ‘sticker sneeze’ but product sneeze to get as much product as possible on that page sometimes. Then I know I need a break because it’s draining to imagine the costs of that and how I could never afford it. It’s just a buy lots of stuff page and I get that is their job and that’s my cue that I need to find inspiration else where because that is a me problem not a them problem. Other times I like to just scroll thru pretty things and don’t care.

Also, when the vibe in the industry is same same all over, it also stems from the lack of diversity in the professional scrapping industry, and that bothers people and they can’t always define it. So they will say I’m tired of... when really they want more diversity of mind/style/background everything.

Like I said I don’t ever say that on social media. I’ll say things like that here generically in a discussion. But I would never tell anyone any of that about their page. That’d be rude.

Plus, there are several valid reasons for removing the emphasis of your page from the story and/or the photo. For example, if it’s a difficult story or a personal story the person might not want the attention on the photo or the story, they might want that memory documented but not want it in their face every time they are in their books. Or they might want to do their job of scrapbooking but not tell all of us that particular story. Not our business.

There’s no wrong way to scrap. But it might not be my thing. It might not be my thing today. But if it’s your thing, do it. And if anyone says anything let us know we can hold your earrings or circle the wagons if necessary.

I agree generally there are no rules, but to pursue certain types of scrapping there may be a few rules. If you are really into photo preservation, there are archival considerations. One thing I personally find not good is to cut original photos taken before 1970, when the photo processes were different. I used to think wonky cropping was the way to scrap, until I realized I was mutilating one of a kind photos. Then the scrap instructors started encouraging people to make copies and scrap the copies. So you still end up with boxes of original photos.

I was looking through my son's elementary school scrapbook a few days ago and one year his teacher had given me a stack of photos of him through the year, and she had cut every one of them all crazy.  I'm not talking even circles or ovals. I'm talking about when we, some of us anyway, used to cut the photos into weird shapes, cutting out half a wall or cutting around the person in the photo. It made me sad because the things about his classroom and friends were basically cut away. So I always suggest not hacking up photos, but I don't go up to people and say it. I rarely wander around and look at people's pages but CMers love to hold up their completed pages. When someone looks at my pages, however, and they compliment or ask about them, I may throw in that I got my current style because I used to wonky cut and I regretted it so I went from there.

That is ALWAYS the line for me. Don't like/agree with one-photo layouts? Don't do them. Don't like/agree with homosexuality, don't be homosexual.

But when you start telling other people what THEY can/can't do (or legislating what they can/can't do as an extreme), you've crossed the line.

I think social media (and society in general) encourages the sharing of opinions (engagement -> time on site -> money to be made by someone...) but even here at 2Ps I am trying to train myself to ask if the comment is timely, necessary, and helpful in some way, or if it's better to just shrug and scroll on by...

Sometimes I just write it all out and then delete the parts that probably don't need to be said...

I struggle with multiple photo layouts, but it is a function of me just not taking a lot of photos. Many times I only have one photo of an event, so I scrapbook the heck out of it with all my beautiful supplies. That is what I have gotten used to. Other times I might have more than one photo and need to look to others who scrapbook differently for inspiration on multi-photo layouts. I don't understand the energy criticizing people for how they scrapbook. If it floats your boat, go for it. As hop2 said, it might not be my thing today. Tomorrow it might be. Things evolve, trends come and go, our needs change. It's good to have lots of different kinds of inspiration. If we didn't things would be so boring.