What do you miss about scrapping's heyday?

I miss having 3 stores in town to shop from. They were each about 4 miles from my house. I did lots of shopping there! I worked a block from Michaels. Now I just order online when I need something. Even then I think I should be ok for a good amount of time. I have everything under the sun.

All of that. As well as the closing of B&M shops (not that there may in the UK to start with) and the loss of the associated monthly crops and opportunity to meet people IRL.

Also in the UK we had a, well convention style thing I suppose, called Bonanza. It was huge (for us) and was where manufacturers and stores held workshops and there was a shopping area too. It was a weekend thing and lots of people who were friends online at UK Scrappers used the event as a way to meet up. I remember having classes with Tim Holtz just at the outset of him becoming the big thing he is now. It only ran for a couple of years but I loved the few I managed to get to. There is nothing else really to compare. There is a Hobby and Craft show but, from what I gather, scrapbooking supplies are not the mainstay there.

I loved the magazines, all the local scrapbook stores, all my favorite scrappers that were on 2peas always posting layouts (2003-2006). I also miss having scrapbook get togethers in the neighborhood (that also changed because our kids went from being babies/toddlers/little kids to school aged kids that kept us busy all the time). I love my digital camera, but I miss having my film camera, getting my pictures developed and choosing from a manageable 27 pictures instead of 400 pictures from an event!

Not meaning to hijack this thread, but this always annoys me. I mean, everyone chooses how they want to spend their free time. What business is it of anyone else's what any of us choose? As long as we're meeting the responsibilities of our lives, and as long as what we're choosing to do is legal (lol) then who cares? 

Yeah, one of my pet peeves. I like to play a computer game and I've had more than one person say to me "I don't have time for things like that". I feel like replying "yes you do, if you choose to. But instead you choose to watch TV or whatever." grrr

Lol. 

As for the original question....I guess I miss the crops I used to go to at my CM consultant's house. She had a fabulous setup and in the later years she allowed all sorts of non-CM stuff as long as you bought something from her every once in awhile.

I am in a northern burb of the Twin Cities. Depending on the time of year, I might be interested. October through March I have to stick pretty close to home.

1. Tons of local scrapbook stores. Now Columbus area is down to one, Scrapbook Art at Polaris. I thought I'd give it a plug since it is still really good. Archivers closing has helped my budget but I miss my happy place. 

2. Scrapbook magazines! Oh my gosh, I loved all of those magazines. They used to be really thick, too. On line just isn't the same as curling up with a Scrapbooks, etc.

3. Scrapbook celebrities. I know a lot of people didn't like that aspect to it but I always enjoyed it. 

4. Lots of choices of crops.

5. How fast 2peas message board went. It was crazy.

6. Knowing lots of people who scrapbook. I still have my group that I go on a weekend retreat with once or twice a year but besides that so many people have dropped out.

7. Paper companies. I loved Cosmo Cricket, Sassafras, Scenic Route, Rusty Pickle, Hambly, Making Memories, etc. So many choices.

Just so many things...

 I also miss the magazines.

I'm fortunate that I have a group of about 12 ladies that have been scrapping together weekly for about 14 years now.  We also do yearly vacations together and travel to different events.

I miss all the store-fronts. We had them all close around here so a friend and I started out own online store. It helps me get my shopping fix.
It's Canadian if anyone is looking for a shopping spot. It's called Scrapbook Nerd.

(I'm assuming it's OK to post this here since this site isn't affiliated with any retail business!)

1. LSSs. I miss my favorites and I miss traveling and hitting up all the various ones in those cities, too. In 2002-2005, I traveled a TON for my job, mostly to the west coast. It was kind of lonely in the evenings so I would pop in a store or two into my GPS and go hunt them down. It was fun! The Phoenix area was my favorite to store-hop. There were a million there! When DH and I were there about two years ago for his work thing, only one was left and it was 1/2 fabric. Crazy.

2. Teaching at my LSS.

3. The excitement surrounding CHA. I felt like this year's winter show was barely a blip on the radar. Part of that was 2peas and their lack of promotion…

4. Crops, especially when we lived in a city that had LSSs and an Archivers. There was ALWAYS a crop on Friday and Saturday nights. I didn't even mind going by myself.

5. Lots of new companies coming out at CHA time. I loved seeing what was new and exciting. Rarely do you hear a of a new great company these days.

I miss looking at the magazines, I don't miss feeling like I needed to scrap to get published. We still have a decent number of LSS's in my area.

I miss going to crops the most.  Next I miss the magazines and the stores and all my real life friends who no longer scrapbook.

A big fat CK magazine, that could take days to go read it from cover to cover; their special edition magazines; CKU; Scrapbook Expo which seems to be getting smaller and smaller each year;3-4 lss (now maybe 1);the excitement of new products and so much more!

which burb?  I used to live in Plymouth and then moved to Andover for a few years. 

My next two retreats are scheduled October 24-26 and April 24-26. I'm about 4 hours from the cities.

 Reading the magazines from cover to cover when came. Feeling I'm at home when I walked through the door at my hometown, little LSS. Having the feeling of instant kinship when I found out someone scrapped. I hardly ever meet a scrapper anymore.  

Yea, now that our LSS is gone and I'm not close to any big-box stores (nearest Michaels is 45 minutes away) the chance of standing next to a complete stranger and connecting over paper-fondeling has pretty much evaporated.