WHY do you scrap? What is Your Motivation?-PP 3/4

[EllenT]

Scrapping is my creative outlet. I started out as a paper scrapper, but it was really hybrid because I used CK Creative Clips. Printed out all these cute elements and used plastic templates that looked like today's pocket templates. But the books got so thick. I always loved working on computers, so digi scrapping was the next best thing.

 

[QuiltyMom]

1). It's stress relief. I sit down to do a page and I just relax. Unless I can't figure out what to do, but that's a whole different animal.

2). To give my children a visual record of their lives, the special things, so they can remember their time with their friends and extended family, especially those who aren't with us any longer.

 

[cookingmylife]

@AnneofAlamo I do wonder how you have had time to raise that flock of yours too! Woman, when did you sleep???

I do it because it's fun and it was something I could do that used my computer skills but also engaged the dormant right side of my brain. I used to create by cooking (messin' with the recipe) but scrapping has no calories!

In addition, look at the wonderful world of other people digi scrapping opens for us!

 

[AnneofAlamo]

I do wonder how you have had time to raise that flock of yours too! Woman, when did you sleep???

so funny!I actually used to only sleep 4 hours a night! lol I think it was my change of life...I am back to a lovely 7-8 hours now. (thank you Jesus)
I have our homeschool set up in my office or office in the homeschool room, and I teach lesson, they work under my watchful eye and I scrap! lol
I didn't have 100 at the same time!! lol, just that many over an expanse of time. Most I had at one time was 28, and it was chaos!
I love the MUST scrap deadling CTing brings. I use it to push myself to finish pages! The MOC is actually the pace I try and do every month! lol

 

[sberkan]

Honestly... to release my photos from their digital prison and have them in a format that can be enjoyed.

Some of my fondest memories growing up are about photos.... my dad's slide shows or paging through albums at my grandmother's house. Since going digital, I found that I really missed having photos in that shareable format. Since focusing more on that over the past three years, I have printed hundreds of pages as photo books. I love to pick them up and page through them. My in-laws always ask if there are any new books each time their over, they both love to look through them.

Second is to tell the stories... or at least get things labeled. The amount of things that I have forgotten is astounding!

Third is a creative outlet. I'm not terribly creative, but I still need an outlet. I'm also a horribly practical person at times, and this is a hobby with purpose for me!

Wow! You pretty much took the words right out of my mouth. I feel sad that my kids don't get to experience slideshows or photo albums of themselves.

I tried paper scrapping once and that is all. I couldn't get anything to line up properly when I went to glue so that was it. In digital, I love that I can line everything up perfectly and it stays there...I have that organized, particular part to me, too.

 

[Sharon Evans]

I wrote this on a layout back in 2009, and I don't think it's changed much at all!
I don't scrap so that future generations will know who I was - I hope I can rely on a little more than my scrapbooks for eternity. I don't scrap to preserve memories - I'm happy to remember what I remember, and forget what I forget. I don't scrap for my children and grandchildren - they will likewise remember the things they need to remember and forget the things they need to forget. I don't scrap to document everything that happens in our lives - I don't honestly believe that it is all worth documenting. I do admire people who scrap for all these selfless reasons - but I can't honestly lay claim to any of them. I don't even scrap so that others will admire my work - I rarely get around to printing layouts and I only post some of them. I scrap for the pure unadulterated pleasure it gives me. I don't take photos because I'm trying to record all the happenings of my life - I take photos because I'm looking for that 'perfect' image - I scrap because I love the buzz I get from looking at a piece of artwork that has just come together beautifully. I sometimes scrap because it gives me the chance to 'debrief' a bad day - more often I scrap because it gives me a way to forget a bad day. I scrap to express myself to no-one but myself, I scrap to fulfill a very basic need to create something beautiful (and scrapping's a lot quicker than quilting!). I'm very happy if my scrapping occasionally gives pleasure to others, but I can't claim it to be anything but a completely selfish past time. It's for me - it's all for me!

 

[IntenseMagic]

Until I started digiscrapping, I honestly never considered myself even remotely creative! I never paper scrapped and don't to this day because I just can't handle the mess. I have done quite a few hybrid things, but even that makes me twitchy if I can't do it and get it cleaned up quickly! So, I would say that my main motivation is having that feeling of creativity in my life. I was horrible in art classes in school and can't draw a stick man to save my life, so this gives me a way to feel like I can make pretty things, too I also do it for the memories. Like Lorry said, I could do that in other ways, but now I feel like I can get those photos out of boxes, tell the story, and do something creative all at the same time

 

[AnneofAlamo]

and I honestly get "irked" (that's really too strong of a word) when I see pages made from photos that aren't their own.

Until I started doing ART journaling I had this same feeling, but I have sat and just wanted to scrap for scraping sake, so have done it...lol

I'd like to have a record of the journey but I might have to borrow more pictures (for the mental stuff)

Go FOR it!!!

Scrapping is my creative outlet

and you are one of my heros I have been on a few teams with you, and I look at your page and think? did we have the same kit!?? bhahha

It's stress relief. I sit down to do a page and I just relax.

YES........I admit to burning a few things, cause I was so into a page! eep!

I couldn't get anything to line up properly when I went to glue so that was it.

paper scrapping seriously made me hyperventilate. I could not cut the photo...or paper...

I scrap because I love the buzz I get from looking at a piece of artwork that has just come together beautifully

I love that buzz! YOU so captured the right word for the emotional high I get creating on the computer

I honestly never considered myself even remotely creative!

I want to be creative, but I until computer I couldn't pull what was in my head to paper...digi I love you!

 

[AnneofAlamo]

I do THIS because it's fun.

you know, your pages feel like you have fun making them!!

And Tangie Baxter? Oh wow.

it was a whirlwind 2 years of learning so much and having to push my mouth shut as I was in jaw dropping awe of her for so long! She is nothing short of amazing!! She is the one that told me to come to the Lily Pad...She said, the Pad is where she goes to scrap memories (this is before art journaling exploded all over digi)

I guess that's why I'm here at TLP, so I can create and get and give love!

to release my photos from their digital prison

this makes my heart beat a little bit faster in happiness!

I am driven to create

driven...what a wonderful way to be!!

You were a CT hoarder, weren't you?!

bad, it was bad, and so were my pages lol and so were some of the designers..bhahhahah

I am digital because I can't make paper look the way I envision it in my head

YES! YES! YES!

I found love here.

oh Jess, I am so so glad you stayed!!

I scrap because I can't sing

me either!! bhahahhaha

Learning how to use drop shadows was THE most exciting thing back then.

I have a few years NO shadows, I think I need to redo them and make a year book correct! lol

It has got me over a very hard time in my life, as it has given me a focus outside of the current traumas I have faced and let me concentrate on happier times.

I got such a lump of heart ache reading this, and that this little hobby can help get over hard times, makes me smile and still wanna give you a hug!

My photos suck.

bhahhahah...oh Mary! YOU are the most original and down to earth woman EVAH, you make me smile!

We're on the same wavelength, from different parts of the country! What alien race is taking over our brains?!

mind melding with TREEcity...lol

 

[michelepixels]

I am compelled to record my life. I have been since longer than I can remember. I don't remember choosing to start, but I acquired a little green diary in 3rd grade and it's filled with short entries scrawled in childish print like, "Today we played kickball and my team won!"

In 6th grade, though I don't recall thinking about it, I began collecting mementos in a scrapbook. Only its existence provides proof I did it; I honestly don't remember the actua making of it. There is a pizza restaurant menu, drawings, school award certificates, that kind of thing.

I continued keeping a diary too, and by high school I was writing so much I filled spiral notebooks every 3 months. I still have all of these, in 2 cardboard boxes. Also I high school I began asking my mom for copies of some of the photos she took and collected them in those awful sticky albums. I would write captions on the backs or on strips of paper I'd add to the album pages. And I collected mementos in 3 ring binders.

All of that was before paper scrapbook supplies began to appear at my local craft store, Michael's. You can imagine how exciting that was for me. My first paper scrapbook was of my honeymoon in 1996. Digital scrapbooking appeared almost perfectly timed for me, when I was giving birth to my children. Scrapbooking without having to clean up or worry about babies getting into supplies was fantastic!

I'm in a rambling mood apparently. The point is that I scrap because I want to record my life. And when I look at my recorded memories later I often find evidence of something I'd completely forgotten. I love that scrapping, memory-keeping of any form, makes it possible to hold on to pieces of my life that otherwise no longer exist and may even have been forgotten.

My distant second reason is the joy of creating something.

Now I feel like turning this post and my last one (about connections to places) into scrapbook pages! Alas, my computer is in the repair shop and I have no interest in trying to scrap on my phone. But I'll come back and copy these another day. Thanks for the inspiration. I'm loving TLP more every day!

 

[michelepixels]

It's fun.
I do love that I'm recording memories, but I wouldn't HAVE to scrap to do that. I could have my pictures autofilled into QPs, or just print them in a grid, or whatever. I do THIS because it's fun. I like the creative outlet and the introspection and reflection and learning and growing and making pretty things and being a part of the community.

I replied before reading anyone else's responses. This is a great point I rambled about why I record memories in general, and didn't actually answer specifically about scrapbooking. Maybe the creative element, creating something beautiful, plays a larger part for me than I realized.

 

[michelepixels]

...

I think all my pages have fulfilled one or both of these... and I honestly get "irked" (that's really too strong of a word) when I see pages made from photos that aren't their own. It has taken me a really long time to even think about the fact that they may do this hobby for other reasons so I definitely try to temper myself back a notch or two!

Is "confused" or "baffled" better? That's how I feel about pages that put more emphasis on the embellishments than the memory-keeping. I don't think that's wrong of course, but like you said, we have to remember there are other reasons to scrap. This thread is very interesting!

 

[scrapsandsass]

I think I've come to the realization that I scrap pages because I just want to create and it is the easiest/least messy way to do so. Because I sure as heck don't do much journaling on them and/or print them to keep for the future. Although my PL pages are definitely a little more about the memory-keeping aspect. I really loved art journaling for the simple fact I didn't have to use a photo because sometimes I feel like a phony for just plopping down any old picture that might possibly fit because I want to make a page.

And a couple of times I've used a stock photo when I don't have anything that fits and I want something specific for a page (like my love of the X-Files). I've found it weird when people always use stock photos or use the same picture 50 times, but then again, they may really have a desire to create a page so I have let that one go too. Or they could have a really crappy memory like me. I'll make a page using a photo I love, and then several months later, I can't remember that I already used it, so I'll use it again and kick myself when I'm scrolling through my gallery and see it again. LOL.

 

[Nemla]

I scrap because.....God knows. It used to just be a good way to learn different skills on the computer - still is in a way.
I enjoy it a lot, I like that it gives me time to spend just with my own thoughts moving towards something creative, or funny, or whatever is needed that day.
I like the joy making an album or a mini gives the person I do it for, rearly for mysef, but the happiness in their face is worth the 50 / 100 whatever hours it took to make..
I love the community of it all too, and reading and seeing other people's stories ,plus the camaraderie that comes with a shared hobby.
Enough already... I should just have said: It's Fun!

 

[Cath_]

So, over the past 8-9 years I have been over a 100 designer teams, at one point I had 28 designers all in different stores! CRAZY

wow, not even on one team here

why a do pages, right now i have no ideas why

 

[Lindzee]

It's fun.
I do love that I'm recording memories, but I wouldn't HAVE to scrap to do that. I could have my pictures autofilled into QPs, or just print them in a grid, or whatever. I do THIS because it's fun. I like the creative outlet and the introspection and reflection and learning and growing and making pretty things and being a part of the community.

Yes! This!

 

[Lindzee]

So, over the past 8-9 years I have been over a 100 designer teams, at one point I had 28 designers all in different stores! CRAZY
I was like a crazed CT hoarder!
Then I went to ONE! I was honored to actually work for Tangie Baxter as her assistant. But I did NOT scrap ONE page for almost 2 years! bhahhha

I set a three point reminder of why I scrap in these pages long ago:

It is still my mantra for making pages and being in the scrapworld on line.




I have watched HOURS of tutorials on YOutube and I have a bookcase full of Photoshop magazines and classroom books. I love to learn new techniques and warp them to my style.
THis is MY hobby! I love it! Being a CT, is fun and makes me push myself, but seriously, the process of making the page is almost as much JOY as the printed page is to my heart!

What makes you open that program and start a page again and again?

@AnneofAlamo i love these pages. I think I will print them and hang them in my office. They apply to life as much as scrapping.

 

[Lindzee]

I scrap for me. It's that simple.

 

[Pallavi01]

The idea that my son will see these one day - when he is all grown up and doesn't remember these small moments - that he will read my journaling and actually see what we were doing and what I was feeling when the photo was taken that's all the thought and happiness I need while starting and making the page.

CTs as you said are amazing to push my boundaries, sparky creativity, work with amazing people , be part of a fun team and just enjoy the community of loving a craft that we all love so dearly

 

[AnneofAlamo]

@AnneofAlamo i love these pages. I think I will print them and hang them in my office. They apply to life as much as scrapping.

oh wow! thank you! they sure help me remember why I do what I do! I love scrapping, but love words so much more! lol

The idea that my son will see these one day - when he is all grown up and doesn't remember these small moments

to watch my kids as they are learning to read, sound out the journaling on my pages brought me to tears!