I've been wanting to write this post for a very long time. :-)
I know a lot of you guys come here and think "so what's with the scrapbooking she talks about"... like, "where did that start?" Ok, maybe you don't think that. But I do realize a lot of you crafters, lovers of vintage, DIY queens and whoever else comes to visit my blog (for whatever reason) might not be that into scrapbooking. I think it's one of the few crafts that has yet to permeate the DIY community as something that's cool. Maybe I'm wrong and maybe I'm out of touch, but since I feel somewhat "in tune" with the craft/DIY community (as much as I can be at least) I do feel that scrapbooking, in it's "cool" permutation doesn't have the exposure as a craft like embroidery (for example) has.
I think for a long time embroidery had that "granny" label that so many people couldn't shake, but then Jenny Hart came along and you know.. well, the rest is history. :-) Embroidery is cool again. So is cross-stitch. I mean, cross-stitch was one of the most granny, uncool hobbies ever. Seriously. I remember doing it myself when I was in elementary school and the designs were just... awful. At least to us now. Now look at the amazing patterns out there.
So I thought I'd share where the scrapbooking theme comes from on my blog and how I came to design digital scrapbooking kits. Some of you have been reading my blog from "way back when", so you remember my scrapbooking days.. and I have to say, BLESS YOU for staying with me this long! ;-)
This is an excerpt from an interview I did with The Daily Digi in May.
I first started scrapbooking in 2003 when Cooper was born so that I could document our memories with him. I was a paper scrapper and I totally fell in love with it. It was so fun to have a creative outlet again, my first really since college.
I soon picked up my first scrapbooking magazine, and then I was truly hooked. I could not believe the art that people were creating just for their scrapbooks! It wasn't just stickers, photos and puff paint like you used in high school. People were creating well designed pages. It was right up my alley as a graphic designer. I could apply the same design "tricks" to my pages.
I got bit by the publishing bug (I thought "hey! I can do that too!" when I started reading those mags) and my scrapbooking took a more serious and professional turn when I started creating artwork for various publications and books. I continued to create artwork for publication for a good two years. My work definitely turned into more of a creative outlet, than the job of family historian. Which was okay with me because it was still fulfilling. I still used photos of my family, but didn't focus so much on the storytelling part. It was all about creating art for me.
I went through my artwork and picked out some of my favs. This artwork was probably created sometime in 2006... and several were published in such magazines as Creating Keepsakes & Memory Makers and Autumn Leaves books...
(Notice how little Cooper is? :-) We often joke that poor Campbell is going to think I didn't love him as much as Cooper because I have a half-zillion scrap pages documenting him, and ZERO of Campbell. I literally quit scrapbooking BECAUSE of Campbell. ha! Who would have time to scrapbook with a newborn, right? ;-)
By the time I became pregnant with Campbell in 2006, I was truly burned out and wasn't enjoying it so much anymore. I wasn't really documenting my family's life, and even the "creating" part wasn't fun anymore because I was having to force it for paid assignments. This is when I realized how MUCH I admire and respect artists that make a living creating their art. I wasn't doing it "for a living" so much as I was paid peanuts (if I'm honest) but it sure felt like a job. It was totally time consuming. On top of my part-time graphic design job that I had.
And I knew I couldn't keep up that schedule anymore with a baby on the way (um, it took me like 5 hours on average to complete one layout! Just not practical!) I would also say that the clutter, expense and waste of paper scrapping really turned me off after a while and I just totally and completely stopped doing it, and haven't created a paper scrapbook page since.
Getting into digital designing was really a fluke for me, and not that interesting of a story, but I have to say that I'm very, very grateful to be creating digital scrapbook kits. It is something I never imagined I would end up doing, but one thing led to another and here I am! And I love it.
"So, what's your point?" you might ask? That scrapbooking is cool.
If you strip it of the word "scrapbooking" which I think still has a lot of negative connotations, it's essentially CREATING ART. And even better? You can create art but also document your family memories at the same time.
Whether you're a paper scrapper or digital scrapper, it's a super-cool hobby. And I just wanted you to know that... if you didn't already. :-)
I wanted to share some other scrapbook artists with you. Now, I have to warn you, to be in the digital scrapbooking business, I'm pretty out of the loop on the who's-who of fabulous scrapbook artists out there right now. So I'll share with you who I know and LOVE. :-)A few of my favorite paper-scrapping artists with artwork examples:
See more work here
see more of her work here
see more work here
Debee also creates her own line of paper-crafting supplies in her Etsy shop. Beautiful stuff.
Some favorite digital scrappers with artwork examples:
see more of her work here
see more of her work here
Chelsea also designs her own digital scrapbooking supplies that are insanely unique & creative...
I LOVE HER WORK. (fan? yeh.)
see more of her work here
Find her digital designs here
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So now I have my *own* little giveaway I want to do with this post!
I have 7 Autumn Leaves books that I've been wanting to get off my hands for a VERY long time. A few years to be exact. That said, even though they are a few years old, they are gorgeous, gorgeous books. And I'm not just saying that because I'm in several of them (haha, i joke). When I first started being published in scrapbooking magazines and books, my sort of "dream" of that time was to be an Autumn Leaves artist, and the day I got "the email" from their art director, was a very cool day for me. I really enjoyed working for this company and the books do not dissapoint. From a graphic designer's point of view, they were the most beautifully designed scrapbooking books back then. I'm not sure if they are still making new books (as I know that the economy took a big hit on publications and magazines) and I'm not even sure if these books are still being printed. You can find some used ones on Amazon for sure.
SO, that said...
You can win SEVEN Autumn Leaves books from me if you leave a comment with your email address included. Bonus points if you leave us a link to your favorite scrapooker's online gallery. Preferably some "new" artists! I need to be "in the know". haha. So if you do have a link to a fav or inspiring scrapbooker, leave that link in a SEPARATE comment. Then you'll double your chance of winning.
The titles are below: Designing with Details, Designing with Simplicity, The Look Book, Designing with Greetings, Designing with Type, Designing with Paper & Freestyle.
