Disappearing Scrapbookers

I've never really been one to follow scrapbook stars but I do agree fullheartedly with this quote

I don't really care about or miss professional scrapbookers. I do miss my friends and meeting up on Friday nights or Saturdays at a LSS.

Good question! My first thought was Michelle Gerbrandt from Memory Makers. What happened to her? Where did she go?
What about the girl from Junkitz?

I also miss having an LSS with a big crop space and regular crops. I liked stopping in after work to see what I wanted.

Surprised to see Tracie on the list as to me she is still too much one of us and not one of them, as much as she purports to be.

There was another Michelle at Memory Makers I believe it was that magazine, I am thinking her name was Michelle Minkin(not sure of the last name), I loved her layouts. I have searched but can't find anything about her.

There were lots of people whose work I enjoyed seeing back in the day. They crafted for the love of crafting, and I have no problem saying that I followed them. For whatever reason there is such a negative connotation to being a fan and admiring people's work which results in lots of people saying they didn't follow scrap celebrities like it is a badge of honor. To me that comes from the notion that people who did start out as just crafters started to shill products because they thought it would make them a lot of money. That kind of make money attitude left a bad taste in people's mouths, I suppose.

Personally I loved Cindy Liebel, Stephanie Howell, Davinie Fiero and Keisha Campbell. I wish scrapbooking still had so many crafty devotees!!

On her blog she stated that she was doing one last class with SC before she hung up her hat. And I can't remember where else but I read it that other than the occasional TN pages she was pretty sure she was done with traditional pages.

Is Jill Sprott still around? Her work with multiple photos was a refreshing change/

I can't speak for others, but I'm just not one to follow celebrities in general - not actors, not musicians, not clothing designers, not scrapbookers - I just can't match names to work or style.

it may just be me, I don't have a good memory and I don't think in pictures/images. I scrapbook because it helps me remember the past in a way my memory doesn't - DH can quote what someone said 25 years ago word for word and can remember every single detail....I can look through scrapbooks from 5 years ago and realise that I have NO memory of some events.

Interesting thoughts contributed so far! I do miss Jenni Bowlin...I loved her products.

I agree that the economic downturn contributed to a slump in scrapbooking, but I also think that the rise of social media, digital photography, and smartphones (which more or less happened around the same time as the recession) were and are a huge...yuge!...reason that people no longer do as much physical memory keeping. Much easier and cheaper to just either keep it all on your hard drive/phone/Facebook page or just make a Shutterfly photo book when you'd like physical copies. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just saying that I think that's where a lot of the downturn has stemmed from.

I agree that part of the change of the scrapbook industry has to do with taking into account the millenials. This generation is starting to get mortgages, get married, have babies and does not seem very interested in doing a lot of hands-on crafting for memory-keeping. Considering the student debt the younger folks are carrying in the US and the surge of democratisation of easy and cheaper travel, it looks like the historical core basis of scrapbooking is going to lose a big percentage of its average public. Photo books are enoough. Younger women are likely not going to stay at home with their children for longer stretches of time either. The simplification of memory-keeping is a necessary shift.
I say this as a millenial with a tiny stash and around half of my memory-keeping done in simple photo books, not scrapbooks.

However, that doesn't explain the current situation. There's much more to it. When you can buy a similar die on AliExpress for literally 10% (shipping included) of the in-store US price (which is even higher for us international scrapbookers), there's too big a difference in pricing and something needs to be done to bring the expensive price tags down. In just the span of a few years, I've seen prices for certain items double where I live. I can't purchase a set of chipboard stickers when they're 10€ (US$11). That's far too much. I don't have this kind of budget for filling up albums with photos. American Crafts own most of the market nowadays and they're not afraid to use this monopole to increase their profit margins. But it's driving some of us younger folks away after having only started scrapbooking a few years back. A reality check is needed for the scrapbook industry.

ETA: sorry for going slightly off-topic, all5ofme .

I think ordinary people are still scrapbooking. We're talking about people who do it publicly for pay (or more likely product). Scrapping for yourself is one thing. You can take a break when you're not feeling inspired. Tell the stories you want to tell using the products you want to use. Once it becomes a business, things become a little less fun. Now you're scrapping to please others and doing it on their timeline with their products and directed subjects. You're having to keep a blog, Instagram, make process videos on top of producing layouts. I know I couldn't do it.

Scrappy Jedi.

I didn't know Jenni was out of scrapbooking. I loved her lines. Whatever she is going on too I know it will be beautiful. Jenni I will miss you. Thank you for all the beautiful things you gave us.

I think scrapbooking is transitioning. Let's face it scrapbooking has been a bit old fashion and out of reach for most people the past few years. Even when the over embellished pages were out it was still something that was pretty but not trendy. A girlfriend told me one time that rich girls scrapbook because they can afford all those things to put on their pages. Real people couldn't afford it. It was like looking at couture clothes. Very pretty but your shopping at Ross in reality. I know some of you reading that are screaming "That is not true!" It is kind of true. I am a frugal scrapbooker but even us frugal scrapbooker's have some of those things in our room that were not frugal to buy but where are they now in our scrapbooking realm. Xyron Printer I am looking at you.

I think Project Life changed up scrapbooking, even though Project Life is not a new concept.

I know when scrapbooking was at it's peak a few years back I didn't like it very much. I wanted to put my photo's in books and call it a day. I felt like I had to scrapbook. So many of us have known each other for so many years. You all know I had three jobs then- gaming illustrator, storm chaser, freelance work for companies doing their computer security. I had a sick child too with a lot of problems. I was so tired and stressed I hardly could take photo's let alone do a LO. I write all of this because I think this is the new normal for a lot of people.

When Project Life came out I started to love scrapbooking again. I did it my style. I loved Midori's came in fashion again and journaling. I think Smash Booking also sparked a different form of keeping memories. All these things became less expensive and more attainable to new memory keepers.

I think Generational's do want to keep memories more than ever. They don't want a large 12x12 scrapbook taking up their space. I told my husband a couple of days ago that Instagram is the new scrapbook albums. You can upload your pictures on Instagram, if you want to print one out you can get out your cute little printer and go. Then you can put your picture in your Midori, or journal. It is so much fun now and so relaxing. I know I love it. I don't have to pull out most of my room to make a page. I am back to scissors and tape again. I feel more creative.

The new trendy Memory keepers are into the cute new printed die cuts on the market, especially from the Etsy sellers. We love our dies from Ebay & AliExpress. I loved the concept of thin rule dies. I am not spending $20-$50 on a set of dies. I bought a couple of expensive sets and they didn't cut right.

I do hope the former "stars" in this industry enjoy their journey's in their new chapters of their lives. I will be ornery and hope a few find their karma.

I don't think anybody is disappearing. It is just changing. I look forward to the new "stars" Even though I hope they drop that star thing. I know it really does bug me and makes me growl, lol. I would like to see ladies who want to be proud of their work and their accomplishments. I am tired of look at me accolades.