artbabe
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,407 
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Post by artbabe on Oct 14, 2023 16:06:41 GMT
One of the teacher's at my school found a milk crate and a fabric sticker binder (what were they called?) in their back storeroom. She doesn't know where it came from so she brought it to me.
Wow, what a trip down memory lane. I've been going through it and looking at what people scrapped with back in the day.
First of all, all of the papers are one sided and thin. A lot of them didn't have brands on them but I saw some K & Co, Making Memories, and Creative Memories.
There were also a lot of Creative Memories paper shapes. I can understand the borders but what were people supposed to do with the triangles?
There was vellum (yay!). That was pretty much the only thing in the paper crate that I was really excited about and will keep. There was also some corrugated paper that are keepers. Everything else will be going in the collage pile in my art room.
I was really glad that the crate had those 12x12 plastic dividers with tabs that Totally Tiffany makes. Those things are expensive and I'll definitely use them.
The sticker binder was amazing. So much Creative Memories and Mrs. Grossman. There isn't much I can use now but I'm keeping the stickers for no other reason than nostalgia. I threw out used up sheets and the truly ugly but the other stickers are so much fun.
Everything is so flat, but that is obviously the Creative Memories influence. Even 20 years ago I used embellishments that weren't flat. I was an early adopter of metal and buttons.
Anyone else find some treasures recently? Were you a Creative Memories scrapper? Do you still have 20 year old things in your stash?
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Post by grammadee on Oct 14, 2023 16:24:27 GMT
When I started scrapbooking, CM was the main source of my supplies. The papers could be thin b/c they were supposed to be adhered to each side of the heavy album pages. I struggled to find glue that would (a) hold material to the pages and (b) not cause the pp or photos to wrinkle and warp. My solution was brads. But then I had to be super aware of what was going on the back of that page. I also struggled keeping everything in the proper order in the strap bound books. When I discovered 3-ring albums with page protectors, I jumped on that system and left the CM books behind.
Stickers were the usual embellishment. That and the CM mats and journaling cards. Pages were pretty flat. I created all kinds of embellishments out of package backing cardboard. Drew them, cut them with an Xcto knife. I also used the Xacto to cut stencils from that material, and used that for embossing with a stylus. Some of my early pages have texture from old fabric. I was making 3'D elements before they were a thing, but when those became available for purchase, I jumped at the chance to set down that knife. Fun times.
Titles were created with letter stickers. That is one thing I have carried forward to today. And I still usually mat at least some of the photos on my page.
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Post by Linda on Oct 14, 2023 17:15:29 GMT
How fun artbabe I started scrapping in 2002 - never actually encountered Creative Memories except through message board posts talking about them. I had barely enough money to print photos so my very early layouts are primarily cardstock with the occasional patterned paper, diecut (the ones made at the LSS), or sticker. I've always done 8.5x11 using office supply page protectors and for years my albums were regular binders. I started using photo-safe gluesticks but quickly switched to photo squares. I did do some stamping on pages early on and paper piecing using colouring book images. I had stencils for making titles (flip over, trace the shape, and then painstakingly cut out) As for recent treasures -DH bought me three Michaels cubes (the ones with the shelves) and they were jam packed with paper - some I recognised, some I didn't but mainly from 2004-2008 I think I can understand the borders but what were people supposed to do with the triangles? I remember putting triangles at the corners of photos (sometimes decorated with a sticker) and also at corners of the page - again sometimes decorated. |
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Post by BSnyder on Oct 14, 2023 17:23:18 GMT
I didn't start with Creative Memories, but in the late 90s Keeping Memories Alive was my go to source. The pattern paper was thick from them, but most embellishments were paper based cuttables and shapes. I cut lots of things out and used my computer to print titles and images. The old-school die cuts, with the large wooden dies was also a go to. Embossing into the paper with a stylus or brass stencils was big as were stamping supplies and techniques, as stamping was advanced compared to scrapbooking back then. Then hand lettering (Becky Higgins style) came on the scene and different coloring materials came into fashion, but flat was predominant. I remember early Making Memories being some of the first dimensional embellishments and bit was there controversy around that! Then we never looked back.
I still have my stylus and brass stencils. I purged my KMA papers a few years ago. I have quite a few of the paper dolls and cuttable images from the late 90s, early 2000s. They will work for going back to some of my kids' pages from when they were little. The style fits the time. My Zig markers are still hanging around and my back in the day font stencils and page templates, as well. Tools, I keep. I believe that scrapbooking supplies may continue to wane and some of these supplies may become needed again. And, they don't take up much space in comparison to today's supplies.
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paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 7,118
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
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Post by paget on Oct 14, 2023 17:45:13 GMT
I have my own box of pp from 20 years ago! Since I took such a long break from scrapping but kept my supplies since I knew I’d come back to it, I have a real before and after situation now with my stuff. It’s true, all my pp is thin and one sided from the old days. I also have a lot of metal embellishments from making memories and the colorful acrylic doodlebug circle alphabets. I absolutely hoarded those and have a lot. I need to find a way to use some! I also have So.many.punches. And in the punches I have that whole paperkins set of paper dolls and clothes and hair. I did use that last year on a dd page and was quite proud! Lol ETA: I also have a big bin of plastic alphabet stencils- mostly from pebbles! My God. I used to cut out whole titles with those AND back them in another color and cut again! No wonder it took me forever to do a page. I was never a creative memories scrapper. My intro to scrapping was finding a CK magazine while shopping for stamps in Impress.  I dropped stamping like a hot potato and went all in with scrapping. However, I now have a billion stamps I use for scrapping so my hobby kinda went full circle |
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Post by lostwithout2peas on Oct 14, 2023 19:46:00 GMT
I started laughing out loud when I read your post cause I still have my very own, crop in style paper sticker binder, filled with stickers from when I started scrapbooking 26 years ago!
Unlike many people, I did not start with creative memories when I first started scrapbooking. I stumbled upon a Francis Meyer kit in the isles at Michael's and never got into CM or CTMH. So all of my stickers are Mrs. Grossman, Francis Meyer, and an assortment of others. I was lucky when I started that there was a scrapbook store in my town that had all the latest stuff and actually had Mrs Grossman come and teach a class! I can still picture the rows and rows of stickers on rolls on the wall that were perforated, and you would tear off as many as you want. Ahhhh... the good ole days! 😂
I somehow just could never bring myself to get rid of the binder or the contents. It has survived many moves and purges. I just now thought that maybe in a few years I will give it to my Grandson to play with the stickers and bring him some enjoyment and me a full circle moment of having purchased them to have scrapbooked his dad and now is using them. 😊
Thanks for the memories and inspiring the possible idea of what to do with them!
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PaperAngel
Prolific Pea
Posts: 8,012
Jun 27, 2014 23:04:06 GMT
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Post by PaperAngel on Oct 14, 2023 22:23:58 GMT
I wasn't introduced to the hobby via Creative Memories (or other MLM scrapbook/stamping companies) & never attended a party or bought/used any of its products. I don't search for older products, since I'm grateful to still have supplies from defunct manufacturers (e.g. Chatterbox, KI Memories) in my inventory. I find them more creative/diverse/versatile/usable & less themed/repetitive than recent releases. Hope you (& your students) enjoy the found treasures!
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Post by ScrapbookMyLife on Oct 14, 2023 23:58:25 GMT
I've never done Creative Memories.
I have product in my stash from the beginning days through now.
Some products purchased back then and some through the years.
Some old products, purchased on ebay in recent years, thanks to former scrapbookers getting rid of stuff.
With seasonal products, I follow the theory of "buy it when I see, before it sells out or is discontinued". If I wait on it, then want it....there's usually none left.
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scrapnnana
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,451
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Post by scrapnnana on Oct 15, 2023 16:15:12 GMT
My former DSIL got me interested in scrapbooking back in 1996. She had been a Creative Memories rep, but her albums were beautiful, not the typical triangles and stickers. She stamped on her pages, and that appealed to me since I had been stamping and making my own cards for ten years. My first page was stamped. However, she also taught me to cut photos with decorative scissors, something that makes me cringe now when I look at those pages. I don’t have time to redo them, though.
I didn’t stay with CM for long. I liked some of their tools, but scrapbook stores offered so much more than CM, and most of the CM reps and community make me unwelcome because I didn’t limit myself to CM. I was ostracized at a crop because I was obviously not in sync with their way of scrapbooking, and I never went back.
Do I still have those tools, and a binder of stickers? Yes. The stickers are grandkid pleasers, and I still occasionally use the tools for card making. Triangle and other shaped die cut papers can be repurposed and cut up for card making, although I need to remember to use them more to free up storage. Those items were tailored to creating simple, fast pages, which works for some scrapbookers, but it wasn’t my style.
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craftymom101
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,798
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Post by craftymom101 on Oct 16, 2023 13:09:20 GMT
I went to a Creative Memories party 20 years ago, and the demonstrator lectured me about the non-CM products I was using, refused to let us eat our pizza until we were done scrapbooking completely (fear of spilling on our pages), and told us that bumpy elements would ruin our pages. That was the last CM event I went to.
I remember the corrugated paper! I think I had some, along with all the colors of vellum. Your find is definitely a trip down memory lane!
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Post by lisacharlotte on Oct 16, 2023 14:42:53 GMT
I actually have a paper crimper to make corrugated paper. I think it was made by Fiskars.
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Post by hoopsfn on Oct 16, 2023 14:49:24 GMT
Thanks for the trip down memory lane artbabe! I started sb-ing in 1999 when I wandered into my local Ben Franklin craft store and saw all the different patterned papers and wondered what they were used for. Later that year I went to a small convention in Charleston, SC (held by Memories Down South) and took a few classes, bought lots of Frances Meyer products (loved that company) and went home with a new hobby that has lasted all these years. Of course I bought all sorts of Mrs. Grossman stickers (still have lots of those) and remember buying her stickers (from rolls) for my son when he was little. I only went to 1 CM crop but could tell it wasn't going to be to my liking. I was never going to be organized enough to use those back-to-back pages. |
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Post by artisticscrapper on Oct 16, 2023 15:36:57 GMT
I started in 2000. I never bought from CM. All the pretty pattern paper and Bazzil cardstock was at the LSSs.
I had one of those sticker binders too. I had a ton of stickers due to the sticker sneeze fad.
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Post by wordyphotogbabe on Oct 16, 2023 15:53:05 GMT
I found Ali Edwards 20 years ago on 2Peas & she was digital scrapping.
It was just graphic word art in Photoshop. The first digital scrapping website, Scrapbook Bytes, was founded a month or two later. We didn't have any commercial supplies so everyone just did their best in their graphics program. Then it morphed into SBB hosted free supplies made by members on their website that could be downloaded. These were very small paper packs, a few elements, etc. because you couldn't download huge files off the Internet yet. Then a few women decided to become professional designers but you had to buy a CD from them with the designs on it that they would mail you. Everything was very flat and graphic-looking unless someone physically scanned something in to use.
It's come so far since then.
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frugalchick
Junior Member
Posts: 86
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Post by frugalchick on Oct 16, 2023 19:34:43 GMT
I lucked out and happened upon a BRAND NEW Creative Memories binder, with BRAND NEW still in plastic TONS OF STICKERS in it...it had never been used. I paid $10 for the entire thing. I bought it home....the stickers were still in great shape....every single slot in that binder was FULL. Talk about a goldmine! |
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Post by papersilly on Oct 16, 2023 20:39:47 GMT
AHHHH, the good old days of SBing. basic shapes, basic paper, and mrs grossman stickers. i remember those.
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Shakti
Pearl Clutcher
Troubled, complicated, and constant
Posts: 3,248
Oct 30, 2022 23:42:30 GMT
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Post by Shakti on Oct 17, 2023 9:33:03 GMT
I did scrapbook 20+ years ago. I honestly have no idea how it started. It ended with CM and a bunch of unfinished albums (which are still tucked away in the craft room closet). Somewhere in the middle there was an ill-fated subscription to CS and a brief period lurking on the original 2 Peas in a Bucket forum. It must have started with some other class somewhere, maybe while pregnant with my elder or when he was tiny (either condition would explain the lack of lucid memory). His (unfinished) album and stack of PP is neither CM nor CS, and there’s a Coluzzle cutting system in there.
At some point I will get brave enough and/or bored enough to get in there and if there’s anything worth finishing or at least saving.
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breetheflea
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,591
Location: PNW
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Post by breetheflea on Oct 17, 2023 14:29:44 GMT
I read the title of this thread and thought it didn't apply to me... but in 2004 I received a Susan Branch scrapbook kit with baby related papers and die cuts from my mother-in-law, which is pretty close to 20 years ago... It was 8.5 by 11 and came with really thin paper with cutesy animals and ribbons on it in pastel colors. The first page I actually scrapbooked was 2-page 12 by 12 Halloween layout, in 2005 or 2006. |
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Post by Mel on Oct 17, 2023 14:43:22 GMT
I went to a CM gathering at a Mommy & Me club in 1995ish. I thought it was a really cool hobby but there was NO way I could afford CM stuff, I always said when I got rich I'd start. LOL Thousands of dollars & 28 yrs later I have a Scrapbooking Shed in my side yard that is FULL of supplies & tools! LOL
I will say that my purchasing habits are WAY different from when I started. I would buy it as it came out back then. Now I buy it to fit certain pics/events/occassions... probably still over purchase... NAH!! LOL
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blemon
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,575
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Post by blemon on Oct 17, 2023 14:47:36 GMT
I didn't start with scrapbooking. I started with stamping and I had a LSS that was amazing. And I had a couple of friends (older than me) who were into it too and we would drive to Pittsburgh to a store up there sometimes.
I got lots of stuff at Michaels.
I still have a lot of my stamps, perfect pearls, so many brads and eyelets. All my stickers look vintage and distressed. I got rid of a bunch like 1 month before that look started getting popular again.
Some of my stamp pads are still going strong because I didn't use them for years. Some kinda fell apart, like the spongy thing disintegrated.
I did a LOT of paperkins too. I found where I had color photocopied a bunch I had made for a friend. Why did I do that?
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Post by justjac on Oct 17, 2023 14:58:19 GMT
I started scrapbooking in 2001. The previous year I had worked at a school where the older married teachers did Creative Memories (I was 23 at the time.) They never invited me to be involved, but I liked the idea of scrapbooking and put a kit on my Christmas list. My parents got me a kit from a department store and it had a three ring album, so I never did do the CM albums. Shortly after a friend became a CM consultant, so I did buy their cutting system and my early pages have a lot of circle and oval pictures. I matted my photos with cardstock and bought stickers from one of three! local scrapbook stores. Since I was scrapbooking ALL of my photos chronologically, they were pretty photo heavy pages.
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anniebeth24
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,780
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Post by anniebeth24 on Oct 17, 2023 16:06:47 GMT
I went to a CM gathering at a Mommy & Me club in 1995ish. I thought it was a really cool hobby but there was NO way I could afford CM stuff, I always said when I got rich I'd start. LOL Thousands of dollars & 28 yrs later I have a Scrapbooking Shed in my side yard that is FULL of supplies & tools! LOL I will say that my purchasing habits are WAY different from when I started. I would buy it as it came out back then. Now I buy it to fit certain pics/events/occassions... probably still over purchase... NAH!! LOL Ooh, would love to see pics of your shed! |
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Post by breakfastattiffanys on Oct 17, 2023 16:35:12 GMT
I think when I started about 20 years ago, my initial exposure was through a book about scrapbooking that I found in the library. I know it mentioned mini books, and my first project was a paper bag album. I graduated to 8x8 layouts with paper from Target.
I never used CM, I didn’t even know who they were at the time.
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Post by mikklynn on Oct 17, 2023 18:01:13 GMT
I started exactly 20 years ago this month when my first grandchild was born. I had no idea what Archiver's was until a niece asked for a gift card for Christmas. It was like I found my people! I always say the light shown down, the angels sang, and I was home. Ha ha.
I could never scrap with CM stuff only. It's like only shopping in one clothing store or only eating in one restaurant.
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Post by 950nancy on Oct 17, 2023 19:07:17 GMT
Our local second hand craft store has so much of this stuff. Ah ugh section of scrapbook items from the late 90's and early 2000's. I do find current stuff now and then (a $200 stash of Prima fall papers/embellishments for about $12). It is fun to look through it.
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Post by 950nancy on Oct 17, 2023 19:13:19 GMT
I started exactly 20 years ago this month when my first grandchild was born. I had no idea what Archiver's was until a niece asked for a gift card for Christmas. It was like I found my people! I always say the light shown down, the angels sang, and I was home. Ha ha. I could never scrap with CM stuff only. It's like only shopping in one clothing store or only eating in one restaurant. I feel this way about all of the MLM scrapbooking stuff. All of the colors seem muted and have too much white in them. While I like the layouts that people do on YouTube using some of the lines, when I see them in person, I always feel like colors just aren't right for me. |
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Shakti
Pearl Clutcher
Troubled, complicated, and constant
Posts: 3,248
Oct 30, 2022 23:42:30 GMT
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Post by Shakti on Oct 18, 2023 10:31:46 GMT
I went through two CM people before the second one “fired” me. Neither insisted on brand purity, so I always used a mix.
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Post by lanena on Oct 18, 2023 11:44:33 GMT
I went through two CM people before the second one “fired” me. Neither insisted on brand purity, so I always used a mix. I remember the days when you couldn't bring "contraband" into a CM crop! I'm embarrassed to say I stuck with mostly CM for a long time. I started scrapbooking around 1997, and I was drawn to the idea of journaling and photos. It took me awhile to find other products and techniques. Luckily, we still had a few local scrapbooking stores back in the day, and the school where I taught was near an Archiver's. And, of course, I discovered Two Peas, along with all of the great magazines we used to have. Also embarrassed to say I still have that PSB (Paper Sticker Binder) on my shelf. Why? |
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blemon
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,575
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Post by blemon on Oct 18, 2023 17:49:54 GMT
I have a cardboard magazine file full of Somerset Studio magazines from the early 2000s in my basement. Anybody want them?
They dusty.
I cannot wait until we move and I have the space to go through this stuff.
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Shakti
Pearl Clutcher
Troubled, complicated, and constant
Posts: 3,248
Oct 30, 2022 23:42:30 GMT
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Post by Shakti on Oct 18, 2023 18:27:52 GMT
I remember the days when you couldn't bring "contraband" into a CM crop! I didn't get fired for bringing contraband -- I got fired for shopping and shopping and never completing a project. That's right -- an MLM told me they felt bad taking my money! |
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I dropped stamping like a hot potato and went all in with scrapping. However, I now have a billion stamps I use for scrapping so my hobby kinda went full circle 
