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Post by carolynhasacat on Jul 16, 2016 11:49:52 GMT
nicolep started a thread on favorite older lines which got me thinking about the first project I made using 'modern' scrapbooking products - a wedding mini made with Basic Grey Sweetpea papers. I picked it up as a kit at my LSS. I had gone into the store for some gift wrap or stationery or something and saw a kit that the LSS had put together for a class. I immediately fell in love with the BG papers in the kit, and ask for help in the store finding the tools I needed to make the class kit. I had no idea what a paper trimmer was! I still love that mini, even though I never got around to doing the journaling! It was the first time I used modern scrap tools, printed photos in any other size other than 4x6 or 3.5x5, looked up quotes to make my own phrase 'stickers', inked paper, or used brads. It was such a delightful experience putting it together! What was your first project or product line?
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nicolep
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Posts: 7,080
Jan 26, 2016 16:10:43 GMT
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Post by nicolep on Jul 16, 2016 12:04:50 GMT
That is awesome carolynhasacat! Isn't it neat how just seeing those BG papers inspired your creative side?! I love it! The first thing I ever scrapped was my XH and I's vacation to Siesta Key, FL in 2004. My SIL had been scrapping for some time and I honestly thought it was such a waste of time, lol. She was big into Creative Memories and I thought it was so expensive and silly. Then I came back from vacation and she kept telling me with how much I loved Siesta Key that I should document it...and that was it. Like carolynhasacat, it was such a delightful experience and after that I was absolutely hooked! 12 years later it is still my passion, my creative outlet and one of the many things in life that make me feel fantastic doing! We should all dig up our first projects! Thanks for the fun thread carolynhasacat!
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Post by freeatlast on Jul 16, 2016 12:36:34 GMT
My first stamping project..........oh, the thought of it brings back so much frustration!
Wandering the aisles at Pat Catan's, I spotted a cute dog stamp that looked just like my pup. So I put that into my cart and then decided I would make place cards for the small Thanksgiving meal I was hosting. Another cute cornucopia stamp jumped into my cart along with embossing ink, embossing powder, a heat gun, a small set of markers and a pre-cut pack of 20 place cards.
I came home and put the dog stamp on my desk where I could admire its cuteness and proceeded to start making the 5 place cards I needed. If anyone here has been stamping for a long time, you may remember a pink goopy embossing ink pad. Well, it didn't work well at all and between that, the black embossing powder that was leaving tiny specs all over my place cards and my total lack of knowledge and skill, it took the entire pack of 20 to get 5 usable ones. All the while cursing at myself for not having stopped at just buying the dog stamp!
It was quite a while before I picked up a stamp again. The next time was at a class at JoAnn's where I learned all I did wrong in my first attempt. The rest, as they say, is history.
And those place cards? Oh, they hit the trash can a long time ago!
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Post by dulcemama on Jul 16, 2016 12:54:54 GMT
My first scrapping project happened before I really knew anything about scrapping or even had a word for it.
When DD was a baby, we used to get up in the morning and I would nurse her and then DH would get her dressed for the day. One day we were going through our usual routine when DH stopped and said, "you know, I get her dressed every morning and it's so nice but she will not even remember that I did that for her."
Father's day was coming up and I thought I would make a little book for DH about our morning routine because it was clearly important to him and he could share it with DD one day. I got one of those bare books that they make for kids to make their own books with and went to Hobby Lobby and bought a bunch of stickers and a cheap scrap kit. I didn't know at all what I was doing, had not had any really contact with the scrapping world. That little book is full of sticker sneeze and very poor lettering but DH treasures it. And DD knows that every morning, Daddy got her dressed and ready for her day.
And I was hooked.
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Post by myboysnme on Jul 16, 2016 13:08:43 GMT
This is easy! I wanted to scrapbook but no way could I afford CM, so my husband bought me a scrapbook kit from KMart for Christmas, it could have been maybe 1998. It came with a white post bound album with maybe 5 white pieces of cardstock held directly into the album; no protectors. It also had a shape template, some deco scissors and a pen. I believe there were white photo squares and maybe some red and blue cardstock.
I decided because the papers were patriotic I would start on my Air Force photos. It also came with a thin (maybe 3-4 pages) idea book from Memory Makers and it showed a few layouts.
So never having 'learned' I set about trying to copy what I thought I had seen in a CM book at a craft fair and the Memory Makers idea sheet.
So that is the first scrapbook product I ever owned. All of it but the scissors has been in the trash for like 15 years. I think the scissors are shoved someplace in a box or drawer.
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Post by lostwithout2peas on Jul 16, 2016 15:13:33 GMT
I had just had my son, and was going a bit stir crazy from being home home all day with a newborn, and my husband suggested I get out for a bit. I decided to walk around Michaels, always having loved crafting. I was walking down an isle and saw this really cute baby paper set that was for pictures and it was by Frances Meyer. I bought it with some glue and scissors and that was the beginning of my Sons baby book and how I started scrapbooking! I didn't even know what scrapbooking was until then. And I bought so many of those Frances Meyer kits, just about every one that she made! It was 1997.
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Jun 2, 2024 6:06:19 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2016 15:19:41 GMT
In 1999, after I left Jo Ann's and came home and googled "scrapbooking", I picked up some cardstock and glue in a clearance bin somewhere. I overheard 2 ladies discussing the word and I didn't know what it was, but I knew I wanted to do it. I had no clue how to get started, but soon after, I found Creating Keepsakes.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 16, 2016 15:22:12 GMT
My very first scrapping projects were probably page layout samples for my store. Ha ha, looking back at them now they are SO bad, with the wonky tilted photos, or photos cut into circles or hearts! Way back in about 1997 or so, Provo Craft and Keeping Memories Alive were probably the first companies out there offering patterned papers and I ordered them for the store. I needed sample projects to promote and sell them. I remember doing letter sized pages of my mom's 70th birthday photos and putting them in a tapestry fabric covered 3-ring binder. Another early project was a small Hero Arts cardstock mini album that had corrugated paper over the spine and the pages were tied together with ribbon. I had pics of my DH waterskiing and tubing in that one. The most profound shift over that time period was in how I took photos. It was hard scrapping the printed photos I had at the time because so many of them were just scenery of places we'd vacationed or pics of DH from a million miles away where he was a tiny dot in the middle of scenery, LOL. It was after I tried scrapping those horrible photos that I figured out that the most important thing in most pictures really ought to be the people (or pets, as the case may be). Scenic photos can be nice, but the people in the pics is what makes them interesting to me. After that, I really started getting in close to my subjects and the result was much better photos.
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Post by refugeepea on Jul 16, 2016 15:27:58 GMT
I was in high school and did it for a church project. There were certain goals we had to do in categories like divine nature, integrity... For one of those goals, I chose to scrapbook my childhood. This was in Utah where scrapbook stores started. There was no 12x12 paper, no thick cardstock either. Lots of stickers, giant cheesy die cuts, and shaped scissors. I made at least 5 albums and the pages were mostly atrocious! I remember loving these books that had clip art in them. You would copy one of the clip art items in the book. Then you colored them and glued them to your page. It was also a giant PITA because scan/copy/printers were not a normal thing. You had to go to a copy store. I recently saw a bunch at a yard sale! Once I discovered the catalog from the Keeping Memories Alive store with more amazing scrapbook items, I was hooked!
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Post by justjac on Jul 16, 2016 15:39:31 GMT
My first scrapbook was from a kit my mom got me for Christmas from Superstore. I had worked at a school where some of the teachers scrapbooked with Creative Memories. When a teacher left the school everybody made them a scrapbook page. My first kit had a three ring album, adhesive, card stock, some stickers, and some deco scissors. I don't even know if it had patterned paper. I started using this as the equivalent of a photo album and scrapped all my pictures chronologically. I got the Creative Memories cutting system soon after, so my album is full of circle and oval pictures. I never did buy their albums, though.
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hutchfan
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Jul 6, 2016 16:42:12 GMT
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Post by hutchfan on Jul 16, 2016 16:28:24 GMT
My sister in law got me hooked back around 1999 and my first ever project was a 12x12 double page of my daughter in first grade getting student of the month. Lots of MAMBI stickers on that page. Now my pages are more artsy love mist, paint and embellishments.
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Post by nancydrew on Jul 16, 2016 16:49:10 GMT
I had always loved taking and organizing my photos and I knew I'd love Scrapbooking since I loved doing most crafts but I didn't want to start since I just knew I'd immediately be obsessed. And that's exactly what happened. I went to a CM get together and started a vacation album for a trip we just took. Of course, it was 100% CM!
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Post by grammadee on Jul 16, 2016 17:11:45 GMT
I discovered scrapbooking when justjac had a CM party in the staff residence. I ended up booking a catalogue party and then buying an album for each of my adult kids. And a trimmer and a few tools. In 8 months, I finished all four albums. Scanned old photos onto my computer and printed them. Designed and cut most of the embellishments myself. And then I thought I was done. But I had tools. And some supplies left over. And I had grandkids... And so it all began!
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Post by cmpeter on Jul 16, 2016 18:14:25 GMT
1992 and I stumbled upon the Pebbles in My Pocket booth at the Quilted Bear craft mall in Salt Lake City. I was enamored by their clip art books, shape templates, Yes glue paste and three ring binders.
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Post by 950nancy on Jul 16, 2016 19:02:40 GMT
I made a Creative Memories 12 x 12 page that compared both of my boys doing the same thing at the same ages. It is done in primary colors and really simple, but I love the pictures and keep it on the wall with my boys' school pictures.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2016 19:58:53 GMT
Love this thread! I picked up a promotional leaflet in Hobbycraft for Smash books, then came home and typed 'Smash' into youtube to see what it was all about. I watched that promo video (with the 'More to Luv' soundtrack by Minnutes?) and just fell in love. It's been an obsession ever since... not so much the Smash thing, but that was definitely the starting point because it was so simple and so much fun.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 16, 2016 21:05:12 GMT
My first scrap project was a fugly scrapbook for my mom in 2000. She thought it was so amazing. I used what Walmart was calling "scrapbook supplies" on it and deco edged scissors which by the way I've noticed are trying sneak back into the popular club. Lol
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Post by carolynhasacat on Jul 16, 2016 21:07:47 GMT
These stories are so awesome, ladies! I'm loving reading them!
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Post by nitad on Jul 16, 2016 23:19:50 GMT
dulcemama That is the very sweetest story ever! I love that your husband cherished that time with your daughter and I'm so glad you documented it. My first true project was my family history albums I started after my father passed away. I ended up with all the pictures (thank goodness!) and knew I had to document something so my children would have at least a little of the family history to look back on.
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Chinagirl828
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Melbourne, Australia
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Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Jul 17, 2016 1:52:05 GMT
deco edged scissors which by the way I've noticed are trying sneak back into the popular club. I still use my scallop and mini scallop scissors. I last used them on a page earlier this week. My first foray into non CM scrapbooking products would have been my uni years album. These were in the days when pp choices were severely limited to a few patterns in half a dozen different single colours. Any my deco scissors
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scrapaddie
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Posts: 5,090
Jul 8, 2014 20:17:31 GMT
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Post by scrapaddie on Jul 17, 2016 2:26:20 GMT
It was 1998 and I was grabbing my daughters first varsity season as a lacrosse player. Back then, the only paper available was 8.5 x 11. Seldom did I see a 12 x 12 sheet. Are used a lot of decorative scissors and stencils to get a drawl directly on the layout or to trace a photo to cut it out into a shape. It is kind of funny to go back and look at those!
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Post by carolynhasacat on Jul 17, 2016 2:45:12 GMT
My very first scrapping projects were probably page layout samples for my store. Ha ha, looking back at them now they are SO bad, with the wonky tilted photos, or photos cut into circles or hearts! Way back in about 1997 or so, Provo Craft and Keeping Memories Alive were probably the first companies out there offering patterned papers and I ordered them for the store. I needed sample projects to promote and sell them. I remember doing letter sized pages of my mom's 70th birthday photos and putting them in a tapestry fabric covered 3-ring binder. Another early project was a small Hero Arts cardstock mini album that had corrugated paper over the spine and the pages were tied together with ribbon. I had pics of my DH waterskiing and tubing in that one. The most profound shift over that time period was in how I took photos. It was hard scrapping the printed photos I had at the time because so many of them were just scenery of places we'd vacationed or pics of DH from a million miles away where he was a tiny dot in the middle of scenery, LOL. It was after I tried scrapping those horrible photos that I figured out that the most important thing in most pictures really ought to be the people (or pets, as the case may be). Scenic photos can be nice, but the people in the pics is what makes them interesting to me. After that, I really started getting in close to my subjects and the result was much better photos. That is an excellent point. Scrapbooking really changed the way I take photos as well and I bet lots of us can relate. Tapestry-covered binder? Wow! Now I'm waiting for someone to bring that back in style.
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shystad
New Member
Posts: 4
Jul 17, 2016 2:15:28 GMT
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Post by shystad on Jul 17, 2016 3:22:39 GMT
I remember it like it was yesterday. It was a 12 x 12 Creative Memories page of my daughter. I think it was around 1995. I had a star template and an oval template. I laugh when I look at the page now but it was the beginning of one of the best things that has happened to me!
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 17, 2016 3:35:58 GMT
That is an excellent point. Scrapbooking really changed the way I take photos as well and I bet lots of us can relate. Tapestry-covered binder? Wow! Now I'm waiting for someone to bring that back in style. LOL, I still have it too! I remember ordering them for the store and when they came I looked at it and thought to myself, "Hey, I could have made this myself!" It was a regular D-ring office type binder with a sewn tapestry slipcover on it.
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Post by iheartpaper on Jul 18, 2016 4:03:57 GMT
Loved reading all your stories, ladies! A friend of mine loved to have a craft day every week while our husbands were deployed. We made candles one day, some plastic spoon craft, but the one that really hit home for me was scrapbooking! I remember that my first supplies came from Walmart. It was a kit with an 8 1/2x11 album, papers, die cuts, scissors and glue. I have no idea what my first page was, but there are so many albums from that time frame. 1997 or 1998? My 19 year old daughter refuses to let me redo most of those pages, but we agreed on some that I could do "Throwback Thursday" on. I desperately wanted the stories I could still remember to be told. Sometimes we make it a challenge for me to use some of the supplies from the original page along with new goodies. I'm thankful that the friend, Wendy in Georgia, introduced me to what I now consider to be my therapy. I love getting stories that need to be told in my albums.
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Post by cupcakepeddler on Jul 18, 2016 8:39:08 GMT
It was 2002 and I had just broken up with my boyfriend and was spending time with some old friends when she showed me the album that she was working on for her Dads 50th birthday. Seeing that album was a light bulb moment, I had been "smashbooking and scrapbooking" for years and years and this was putting a name to something that I had been doing since I was a kid. My friend took me to my first scrapbook store and I bought some paper and glue to make my first layout, a 2 page 12x12 about my 18th birthday party featuring leopard print pattern paper and metallic Mrs Grossman balloon stickers, it is terrible and I had no idea what I was doing but it was the first and I got the hang of it pretty quickly.
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Post by woodysbetty on Jul 18, 2016 14:21:59 GMT
Ny first purchase was in 1999 a box with paper album and embellishments from QVC. I have long since used up the stuff but I still use the box for storage ....it was the beginning of my addiction. The funny part was although I love the box and the album was pretty, all the embellishments and extra stuff cured me of buying big collections...I found out early that my attention span for product is very short...I get tired of it quickly!!
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Jul 18, 2016 16:35:13 GMT
What was your first project or product line? I started when my dd2 was first born. My first layout was one of the wallet sized pics of her hospital photo on a lavender 8.5x11" cardstock paper. I used clear photo corners. I had bought a girl paper doll & a crib diecut as embellishments. And I wrote freehand for journaling. Very plain, very simple, but I still like it.
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Post by Linda on Jul 20, 2016 0:28:54 GMT
2002 - my best friend came to visit at Easter and she had recently discovered scrapbooking. She made me up an Easter basket with some basic supplies (photo squares, a pack of ass't cardstock, a trimmer, some stickers, deco scissors, and a kit with papers/diecuts and shape stencils. I was hooked
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amom23
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Jun 27, 2014 12:39:18 GMT
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Post by amom23 on Jul 20, 2016 1:05:23 GMT
I went to a Creative Memories class right before my 2nd child was born. I ended up buying an album, adhesive, a pen, etc. and went to work on making my 1st family album.
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