Older Pages: To Fix or Not to Fix

Chippi

Those chicken nuggets are just waiting to attack
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We all have those pages that we did when we first started digi-scrapping. Some are good, some are great and some are terrible... What do you do with the not so great ones?

Generally speaking, unless it is an absolutely horrid, embarrassing attempt at digi-scrapping I will just include it in my album because we all started somewhere, and it is fun to see and appreciate how much you have grown. But sometimes I'm not sure if I should keep a page, fix it a bit or re-do it completely with all the awesomeness we have at our fingertips now, even if it is just to go back and fix up the shadows (or serious lack of shadows)

Here are a few of examples I'm trying to figure out:

1. You have a page you did in 2008 (woah 8 years ago!) and opposite that will be the page you are doing right now. You can use a similar kit/colours, but the technique and quality will be vastly different.
2. The page is great and you loved it when you made it but you have a kit now that would be even better.
3. The two pages opposite each other don't match at all, think pale blues and yellows on one and vibrant orange and purple on the other.

There are a few that I know for sure I will redo, but would you go back and 'fix' pages or just leave them be?
 
1) I would probably re do if I'm adamant that they're going next to each other in the album. I don't actually put my album in chronological order, because I've just not gotten around to it after printing all the single pages and sliding into protective sleeves. I'm satisfied they are in sleeves for now, and will run into that problem later if I ever get around to it.

2) I typically do a second layout, and perhaps alter the story I'm telling... different point of view, or more details or less details... Sometimes I don't even do that. I think I have one photo I've used 2 or 3 times telling the same story. :giggle

Scenario 3) this is me... completely. As I mentioned above, my pages are not in an order, so I've given up keeping track of two page spreads, mostly. There are a few I've gone back and wanted to add to, so I usually go and use the same kit I used before, even if it's old. :)

I have only been REALLY scrapping for the past year-ish. I had about 30 layouts (or less) over the span of 2011-14. I've re done one of those, and the rest, I love, still. :)
 
oh I ponder this often! But then I realize, I can do that later...now is happening!
I have 3 years of digital pages done on Power point! UGleee. What is a shadow, oh it is a dark mess of yuck! everything is boxy and the wildest background is a gradient (I thought I was oh so clever).
I think I may redo them one day, but after I scan my regular photos in and finish those albums!
 
1) I would probably re do if I'm adamant that they're going next to each other in the album. I don't actually put my album in chronological order, because I've just not gotten around to it after printing all the single pages and sliding into protective sleeves. I'm satisfied they are in sleeves for now, and will run into that problem later if I ever get around to it.

2) I typically do a second layout, and perhaps alter the story I'm telling... different point of view, or more details or less details... Sometimes I don't even do that. I think I have one photo I've used 2 or 3 times telling the same story. :giggle

Scenario 3) this is me... completely. As I mentioned above, my pages are not in an order, so I've given up keeping track of two page spreads, mostly. There are a few I've gone back and wanted to add to, so I usually go and use the same kit I used before, even if it's old. :)

I have only been REALLY scrapping for the past year-ish. I had about 30 layouts (or less) over the span of 2011-14. I've re done one of those, and the rest, I love, still. :)

1. I am a chronological album-er, but not a chronological scrapper at all. I have a spreadsheet with each page's photos planned and as much as I can I make the spreads match (or do double pages). I haven't printed many, but even the 15 that I have are in chronological order, lol!!
2. Me too!! Mine were totally by accident. I hadn't updated my spreadsheet and so I did the exact same photos again, lol! I loved them both so much that I decided to flip a coin and one would go on the wall and one would go in the album.
3. Me too again. I tend to only scrap for challenges, so a lot of my photos are sitting waiting for me to get around to using that old kit that I used for the opposite page.
Thanks for your feedback Kristina!

oh I ponder this often! But then I realize, I can do that later...now is happening!
I have 3 years of digital pages done on Power point! UGleee. What is a shadow, oh it is a dark mess of yuck! everything is boxy and the wildest background is a gradient (I thought I was oh so clever).
I think I may redo them one day, but after I scan my regular photos in and finish those albums!

Yes, absolutely!!! Isn't it funny how we cringe at the amazing things we used to do. My husband has a scrapbook album that his Grandfather printed out pages from floppy disk images using DOS and one of those printers with the paper with holes up the sides!! It is horrendous and so SO special at the same time!
My mum has just finished scanning in almost 20 years of photos. It is quite a task, she is very grateful for digital photos, lol!
I do try to keep moving forward with my scrapping, and not dwell on the old ones, but it's hard!
Thanks Anne <3
 
If I haven't printed the pages yet, I would probably go back and twiddle with the old one so that it coordinated better with the facing page. But I'm OCD about things like that. :)
 
If I haven't printed the pages yet, I would probably go back and twiddle with the old one so that it coordinated better with the facing page. But I'm OCD about things like that. :)

Yes, I agree. I think when I am ready to print I will quickly fix some up a bit because I do like things to match.
Thanks Judy!
 
I will redo. For example, there were days back when I scrapped without purpose. I was CT'ing a bit and just picked photos that would "go", not an album that I was currently working on ('cause there wasn't one). Now, for example, I'm getting ready to do DS#2's baby book. There are pages that fit in this timeline from likely 7 years ago. They no longer fit my style or quality of my work. I will redo them for this book but I am also considering taking all those old pages and printing them in a book of their own...just a random pages I've done so that I have a record of them, too.
 
I don't' re ' do. It is like saying history is not good enough.
What I am tempted to do is look at the photo itself and decide that 5 or 8 or whatever number of them are really important for that time, and then do a yearbook type of page just with the photos.
 
@sberkan That is a great idea. A CT album!

@Nemla I totally understand, and that's sort of how I feel too. I do a lot of blocked pages with a bunch of photos because I can't just use one or two, lol!
 
I very rarely re-do, unless it's immediate and then I usually delete the one I don't like. @Nemla, I agree. The past is over, complete. It is whatever it was so to speak. I can also look back and see how far I've come. I do sometimes do a whole new page with a photo I've used before for many various reasons, but that's as close as I ever come to Re-do, unless it's a challenge to scraplift myself.
 
I do, from time to time, go back and scrap a photo that I've already used in a page. I started scrapping in 2006, and some of my pages from that time are hilarious. I went through this weird "bevel everything" phase and it makes me giggle (and cringe a little) to look back on those pages, but I will keep them. I don't think my kids will care that the shadows are wonky or wonder why I beveled a bow LOL. I'm not a chronological scrapper, mostly because I have about 15 years worth of my older kids lives to catch up on. So one of these days when I have the time to actually sit down and put the pages in chronological order and see them together I might feel the need to re-do a few of them...some only because I want to tell more of the story. But with probably well over 3000 pages now, that will have to wait for retirement haha.
 
I'm so behind my scrapping that I really don't have the time - or the inclination to do my past pages. Don't get me wrong - I would love to redo them - but like you said , I love to see how far I've come and how my style is evolving. The only time I do make an exception is during MOC when there is a redo your old page challenge :) then I love picking up the page that bothers me the most and take it apart but by bit and pour all my love into my new page :)
 
#1: Hmm. I don't think I've had this happen. But if I LOVED the old page then I'd keep it. If I thought to myself "This page doesn't represent my scrapping anymore," then I'd redo it. But that's less to do with overall style and more to do with my personal feelings, ykwim?

As for #2, yes. Yes, of course I'll buy a kit and make another page because I'm obsessed with scrapping! LOL. And making a new page doesn't negate the awesomeness of the first.

For #3, I'm not a timeline scrapper (I scrap pics that grab me, or a kit grabs me so I find pics to go with it lol), so matching across 2 pages never bothers me mostly cuz IDK which pages will go by which (I do try to put scrapbooks together in a rough timeline even if I don't scrap that way). Plus, my kids will be looking at it and I don't think they'll look at it like an art history prof might: "No, those colors don't match. What was she thinking?!" I hope they'll be kinder to me than that. :)
 
When I asked this question a few years ago, this was the response I got:

Keep the pages, unless you totally cringe when you see them - then remake them. Why? It is the way you scrapped back then. Call it part of your scrapping history. And do you really have the time to rescrap things? My answer is always no, because I'm literally 5+ years behind in my scrapping.

And I've never cared whether the two pages match. Hardly any of mine do, and I rarely scrap a two-page spread. Again, why? Because I take too many silly photos and if I did that, I'd have to print two-100 page storybooks per year (I print everything chronologically). It's part of the challenge- to scrap our year in one book, save for special events and vacations. They get their own book.
 
I think about this sometimes when I look through my older albums. I've been scrapbooking since 2008 but my albums go back to 2006. It always comes down to two things for me: 1) I actually like to see how much my scrapping and the kit designs have changed over the years, and 2) I don't want to spend time re-scrapping 8 or 10 year old pages when I have so much more current stuff to scrap.

So, I generally don't re-do pages. But that doesn't mean that I haven't redone any. I absolutely love the re-do page I made for MOC this year and it was a re-do of a 2006 layout. I plan on replacing the old one in my album - I don't care if it looks out of place. I have also redone a few pages prior to printing. There have been a few instances where I've struggled to scrap a layout, just thrown something together to get it done, and then find the perfect template or kit later so I tossed the original and started over. But that was only before printing.

I'm generally a chronological scrapper. I might be working on the current year and the previous year at the same time but everything goes into my albums chronologically. I have some double spreads, some coordinated singles, and some drastically different pages next to each other throughout my albums. I actually like the variety. You never know what's next until you turn the page.
 
Just as an aside, back when I was only paper scrapping, you could look through my albums for a precise history of when I bought a Sizzix and each new alpha set I bought, and then when I switched to a Cricut & each new cartridge that got bought. So there is something to be said for seeing the evolution of your scrapping style. :D
 
I love how every one has an ever-so-slightly different way than to do their albums and scrapping! We all just want to get those pages done for ourselves and our family. I love it so much!!!

@IntenseMagic LOL!! That is awesome, bevel everything!! I used to drop shadow everything in all different angles on one page. If the flower was pinned down at the bottom left, there was a shadow on the top right, if the paper holding down that flower didn't have anything pinning it down then the shadow might just be along the bottom edge! A little extra shadow can create a nice lifted look, but mine were full on drop shadow disasters!

@Lindzee and @Pallavi01 I do love watching my pages evolve, and the kits too! I was going through some old supplies from when I first started and the quality has increased so much since then!

@Tree City, haha!! I'm sure at least one of will have an art professor child who will scrutinize our work, lol, but you are very right for the most part the kids just LOVE looking at our lives. It's me that has the problem!

@QuiltyMom I love that. I am starting to re-think most of my re-scrap list, I am really beginning to love the whole scrapping history thing. There are still definitely a few that I will re-scrap. One in particular I am about ready to just give to someone else to scrap for me and be done with it, I have done it 3 times now and I have never been happy with it at all. Maybe I'll get my 7year old to scrap it.

@merank I think one of my problems is that I don't print my pages, so they are sitting there staring at me to be fixed. It's not because I don't want to print, we just have no budget for it unfortunately. I told my mum that anyone who wants to buy me a present this year for my birthday can buy me vouchers or send me money so I can print some! I think after they are printed I will be happier to leave them be.

@bonnenuit That is awesome!! I do love me a bit of paper scrapping here and there, and you can absolutely see how far I have come there too!

@lorryfach Oh those typos!!! I always post my pages on Facebook for my family to look at because we live far away from them but also to make sure I haven't made any big mistakes (namely my Aunt who is a great spell checker).
 
Redo? Nope. Life's too short to fiddle around that way. I don't let 'perfect' get in the way of good - and done!
 
I'm watching this topic with great interest. I haven't printed my pages from before 2009 and at some point I will print a book for 2008 and 2007 and I don't know whether I'll be able to print a photobook without tweaking those early pages a bit!
 
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