What's your scrapping story?

I have scrapbooked pretty much since I was little- my mom would do big photo albums & I always saved all the ticket stubs, postcards, etc from our vacations and daily activities. In college, I didn't have time (or money!) to do much, but my last year of dental hygiene school we had a requirement to prove our certifications- so mine was a big three ring binder scrapbook style. It's super fun to look back on! After college, I paper scrapped for a long time. There was a great store close to where we lived that I LOVED! Fast forward to our daughter being born and then my time was not my own as well as I couldn't leave stuff out everywhere when she was a baby. I kind of fell into a digi-scrapping hole when I was looking for her 1st birthday invites and realized I could make them myself! My computer at the time had came with PSE (5 or 7?) preloaded- so I was off. I fell victim to the download-all-the-freebies spiral and the rest is history! She just turned 17 so I've been digiscrapping for 16+ years! I do still have a lot of my paper supplies, as I like to make homemade paper cards, but rarely do I make a paper scrapbook layout anymore.

 

I started paper scrapping in about 2000 with Creative Memories. Then I saw a layout in a scrapbooking magazine or book in about 2006 that had water droplets on it. I thought they were stickers so I searched for the credit listed and stumbled on a digital site. The rest is history. Other than hybrid stuff I never made another paper page again.

It was perfect timing too since I just had my 2nd baby and had no time to haul out all the paper supplies, but I could sneak on the computer during naptime and get a little done each day.

 

LOL ... I still love CM's strips and triangles!

I have a couple of scrapbooks from high school ... one is a "typical" scrapbook of that period with the covers and pages attached by a "string." Similar to this one:



The other was a spiral bound Hallmark scrapbook. They are filled with bits and pieces from my teenage life ... including a full set of notes that my then boyfriend wrote to me.

I didn't scrapbook as a mom, just put our photos (mostly) into different types of photo albums ... oh how I regret those magnetic albums I used in 1973-1975.

Around 2000 I was introduced to CM, was a CMC for five years (hobbyist), and at some point I discovered digital scrapping. My first digital LO was done using Word. I played around a bit with PSE ... had a copy of PSE 6 (2007) that was included with a how to digi-scrap tutorial. I never did get the hang of using PSE. When CM released their Storybook Creator software I jumped in with both feet. I currently use Artisan 6 ... the big brother of SBC.

 

Yep, pasted stuff in, or for photos I used those black "lick em, stick em" photo corners. My son's baby photos are still in their magnetic albums. At some point I need to get the photos out, but I need to find the time to do it all at once. I'm thinking of gently heating the pages, then using dental floss if needed. I've used Un-du in the past to remove photos from other scrapbooks, probably should get a bottle of that just in case.

My retirement "to do" list is enormous!

 

That's it... I used Un-du, not Goo Be Gone. My grandpa let me go through his photo albums and take any photos I wanted around 1993. I didn't know about Un-du or using dental floss then so there were a couple of photos that didn't come out cleanly. But most of them did. There were a lot of empty spots when I gave them back to him. After he died in 1995, my uncle went through the books and wondered why there were so many spots. I kept my mouth shut. So I have photos of extended family that would have probably been pitched by my uncle.

 

I never paper scrapped. I started digital scrapbooking in 2011 when I won a free copy of MyMemories. Later my older sister convinced me to use Gimp so I switched & still use Gimp today.

 

I found scrapbooking 21 years ago and was totally hooked. It married my love of memory keeping and photography and I found myself, my creativity and passion. I taught paper scrapbooking from home for a few years. Always encouraging the ladies to write more. I know when my kids read my books it's the journaling they migrate to. I started digi when I wanted to add some butterfly wings to a photo of my daughter and I took online classes to learn photoshop elements. I scored some creative teams posts and haven't looked back.

 

xo my dear friend!

 

I was in Customer Service as well in a call center and found after taking that amount of calls and sometimes more than 60, scrapping a page or two gave me some relaxation.. I actually spent most of my time scrapping before work with my coffee, which even though retired, when I am sitting enjoying coffee I am scrapping

 

I started with Stampin' Up way back when - 1995ish. I made seat cards, thank yous, little gift bags for my wedding. I continued on and had A LOT of supplies over the years. I held classes with friends and we had a blast.

Then over time, and when I was pregnant, digi was starting, and I wanted to try. I tried SU's software, didn't like it, tried PSE, and didn't like it... and jumped fully into Photoshop! That was about 2004/05. I made my son's announcements, Christmas cards and calendars. I dabbled in hybrid, but I liked one of the other, not both combined. Plus, digi was easy with little kids. I could bring it with me where ever I went!

After my second, I was digi full time and started with the freebies that many of us started with. I found my first CT with Cheryl (FDD) at The Digichick. I worked with so many wonderful designers there. When TDC closed, I was around for 9th & Bloom, Designer Digitals, Scrap Orchard, and ScrapMatters among others. I was bouncing around and having a blast. I worked for the sites at SO, SM, and then landed here at TLP.

While I don't scrap quite as much, or post my layouts as much, it's still a strong hobby for me (besides reading). I'm involved with the community, like to be active and have friends in my computer, lol! It just makes me happy.

 

I look forward to seeing your future designs! Sounds like you had a rough few years there, but hopefully that will be an inspiration, too.

 

I'm doing a bulletpointy version of this, so I can make a scrapbook page about it later.

My mom saved every ticket stub, newspaper clipping, report card, and ephemera from everything we ever did. She also never tossed out photos, even bad photos. Photos were in albums, with names and dates. No journaling. No ephemera. All separate, bus she saved freaking everything!!!!

In 1987, I came home from college, took my photo albums from her and made my first paper scrapbook. I tossed out all the bad photos. That's how I started paper scrapping, making my own tags and embellishments and adding ticket stubs etc. but in one of those "acidic" sticky scrapbooks.

1996, renewed interest in paper scrapbooking. Pulled apart my 1987 scrapbook to re-scrap with acid-free, lignin-free papers.

1996, got married. One of my gifts before the wedding was an envelope with all the photos I had thrown out in 1987. I'm sure she's laughing about this from her grave to this date. I threw them away again.

Mom didn't understand why I felt the need to scrapbook and add journaling and decorations, when I could just read the back of the photos. I couldn't understand why mom would only write the names of the people and the dates. What happened to them? How did they feel about it? To this day, I have photos from the late 1800's and early 1900's and I have no idea what these relatives were like, just pictures of them standing by a house or a car.

2000 - 2007 = heavy paper scrapping years and publications in Creating Keepsakes, Memory Makers, Paperkutz, etc. Runner up Making Memories Masters 2004. Somewhere in their Rhonna Farrer won Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame, which piqued my interest in digital scrapbooking. Not much, as I still loved playing with paper, cropping photos, etc.

2004, as my mom lay dying, she allowed me to read the 50th anniversary scrapbook I'd made of her marriage, to her. It was the only time, ever, that she appreciated my scrapbooking.

2009 - I wasn't using my craft room at all, because I couldn't leave my kids alone. Started digital scrapping about 50% of the time. Still designed for Boxer Scrapbooks (paper manufacturer) so alternated paper and digital.

2013 - Digital scrapping 75% of the time - another few "busy" years with lots of scrapbooking. Design teams for enKay Designs, Beckah E, Dianne Rigdon, LDrag, Gabs Art, and store CT for Scrappity Doo Dah

2015, Scrappity Doo Dah went out of business, found TLP

2016 - Digital scrapbooking was over 95% of my creative work.

2025 - my computer is getting full, and starting to die, so until I find a back-up solution and more space, I've slowed down digital a bit and have returned to paper crafting. Hoping to get a new computer before summer.

 

A few years ago I finally decluttered my hard drive of 99% of the freebies I collect way back when. Most of them I'd never used or they no longer appealed to me. I've learned that I'm a "kit scrapper" with the exception of general supplies (staples, stitching, graph/notebook papers). I just don't have the ability to mix and match stuff.

 

Growing up I was into music, poetry, writing...not really anything visual arts related. I did have an official scrapbook that my mom got me when I was in junior high school but I pretty much just shoved cards, newspaper clippings, etc into it without really doing "layouts".

Once I went to college and for 20 some years after, I did some music things and sporadically kept journals. In 2016 things in the U.S. went in a direction I didn't agree with and that felt rather ugly and dark to me. And I decided then that I was going to make pretty things to combat the darkness in the world. Sounds kind of pretentious lol but it was my way of coping with things.

I started out buying digital journal kits on Etsy that I would print out and use as my monthly calendars/journals. Found Ali Edwards and bought physical and digital kits from her and did pretty consistent "memory keeping" from 2019 - 2021. Took some of her classes on working in photoshop and photography and they helped me learn a lot. I kind of petered out on regular scrapbooking but kept up with making my monthly journals and got into using Procreate to make some of my own pages that I would print out for my journals.

I was looking for some layout ideas for my journals on Pinterest and from there stumbled across The Lilypad and Oscraps--and as many of you did, went down the rabbit hole of digital! I now mostly use Photoshop on the iPad which doesn't have full PS functionality but is convenient - and I can always jump on our Mac if I need to do something that the iPad version doesn't do. I do a variety of layout sizes because I plan to print some of them out for physical albums and I often print out smaller everyday life layouts in Travelers Notebook format for inclusion in my monthly journal. I really enjoy the combination of photography, collage, and storytelling that I can do with digital scrapbooking, and how I can also print things out to bring them into the physical world.

The Lilypad community is lovely and I'm enjoying getting to know everyone here!