I have enjoyed looking at everyone's firsts layouts - see this thread by @cinna. I started as a paper scrapbooker so my first layouts were super traditional paper looking. I dabbled with artsy and even now, don't feel like it's my authentic voice. I always use One little bird's shadow styles and still love a neutral background, often kraft or woodgrain and multi-photos. I would like to become more adventurous with paper layers and colours in the next year.
I have changed too in style & skills.. while I can do most of the styles, I really love blending now First: Current: Thanks for this look back, Stefanie! @StefanieS
I'm not sure if my style has changed. I've grown in my skills and expanded the range of and type of products I used. I've discovered daily/weekly scrapping and Document Your December - those were new to me and I discovered them here at the Lilypad.
What a great question, Stefanie! I have definitely changed. I started in paper. Very traditional, many photos, double layouts, only scrapbook book pages. Then in digital, I tried that way early on too. I TRIED to include all the layers/ellies, - but it still wasn't as full as everyone else's pages. It took me years to realize that I didn't need to compare myself and realize it was ok to scrap that way. This is my trying to be all layery, and filled. I would so tweak this, lol! Take out so much stuff, and I'm definitely less bold in my BG's now. lol! Many of my really old pages trying to be all layery and super filled are not in this gallery - pre-2012. This is still clean, and from 2015. I have evolved to a tell a glimpse of what I think/feel, scrap what I like, single pages, and to get my creativity out. I do like photoless pages. I like to add the date and location at least.
I also started in paper. When I started digi-scrapping, I was drawn to Liz's templates because they were so paper style. My focus was always to tell the story and usually included more than 1 photo. The beginning layouts were more paper focused with very few elements aka simple. And, today... I still prefer simple layouts although I do now include clusters on them. I have done more elaborate pages if I feel the photo(s) can shine on the page. I've experimented (thru MOC) with artsy pages, blending and other styles but they just aren't "me". Even looking through my gallery, there isn't a lot of variation from my first layout in 2016 to now.
I began digital scrapbooking after I read a magazine article about it in June 2006. I'm sharing my VERY FIRST attempt at digital scrapbooking (not linked - I used a product called Photo Explosion Deluxe and everything came from the software.) I was totally thrilled with it!!! Below it is another layout, a bit more recent (from the 2021 MOC), showing one of the same photos of my mom in it. I definitely love the artsy, shabby style:
And some things never change... I do enjoy photos to be large. And apparently, I like to crop photos of me. On the left is one of me from the 2016 MOC and on the right one of me from 2024:
A few other observations about my style. I started out deciding on 8.5x11 for my format, probably because page protectors were inexpensive, and I could print layouts myself without a large format printer. That hasn't changed. I still am happy with the rectangular approach. Heritage photos became my first love. Back in 2006, I was knee-deep in my family's old photos and albums. I scanned, I made layouts, I shared with relatives. Art journaling came into play when I discovered Tangie Baxter & belonged to her Art Journal Caravan, then Art Journal Emporium group. I decided that I like to play with my pages. I love paint, I love ephemera, I love collage, all digital. It really wasn't until I joined up with TLP that I began using current photos for my work. I had never thought to document the everyday... Oh, and while I love it when other artists angle their photos, I just can't do it, other than when forced. I know it is supposed to add a bit of flair to your page, but I must be obsessive-compulsive, because I much prefer to have my photos straight and not crooked. LOL.
I love that you got into your own style re size wise and also that you print them all magazine style too... Your pages are amazing, Marilyn! I love looking at all, from AJ to Heritage and everything in between!
My style was always whatever I felt like doing. But I do find my pages are much better now, after so many TLP challenges, MOCs, gallery inspiration, a few CT positions. Can't wait for the new year for new challenges! I sometimes feel I need them to get a page started!
I still have two styles really - multi-photo event or travel photobook pages with minimal embellishment OR artsy 'moment' pages. The latter have definitely got a bit more collage/mixed media style over the years, but definitely feels like a 'gentle evolution' if you know what I mean! Here's my first Lilypad page: And here's my most recent:
I too started as a paper scrapper, then dabbled in a similar style in digi. This was my first layout here in early 2012 - I'd been digi for about 5 years at this point. While my roots are still very much paper scrapping driven I'm now branching out way more. I often think of my style now as either traditional paper scrapping or clean & simple with an artsy edge. I do sometimes dabble in a bit of art journaling - something I never would have done pre digi
I've been scrapping since the mid-1980's when I was not quite a teenager yet. My first scrapbook is a spiral bound thing with pages and pockets. I glued memorabilia down or tucked it in the pockets. For the rest of the last century, my photos went into albums (mostly those horrible sticky ones and few with plastic pocket pages) and I made scrapbooks with memorabilia out of 3 ring binders and colorful paper, lots tape and stickers, and colorful pens. When my family got a computer and the software Broderbund's Print Shop, I printed out things, especially calendars, and added those. So I could pull out my 1990's scrapbook and tell you what I did on many random dates! As soon as the paper scrapbook industry began to become a thing in the late 1990's, I started collecting things in the scrapbook aisles of Michaels. I made a few paper scrapbook albums, including my first child's baby book (they were born in 2001). But after having a couple of children, I found it harder to find time to scrap and so when I came across the idea of digital scrapbooking in a magazine in 2005, I said, hey, what a great idea! So easy to keep out of the reach of little fingers! Like others have mentioned, my earliest pages, too, where very much like paper pages, but part of that is because that's all we had back then. I remember when it was so exciting and new to be able to blend and clip papers to elements and change colors and so on. One of the biggest changes over the last decade has been moving from 12x12" scrapping to 8.5x11". I have a lot of 8x8 freebie albums from Shutterfly, from my early days of digiscrapping and 13 12x12 albums. Then, early this decade, I realized I don't want to keep accumulating those big heavy albums. Plus, the more economical magazine format at Blurb fits my financial situation better. I haven't felt limited at all by the size change. In fact, I often do 2 page spreads, which actually gives me more area than a 12x12 page (187 square inches vs 144). As far as clean&simple, filled, pocket, artsy, etc., I've done it all. Until a few years ago, my priority on every page was photos and journaling. That has changed since I became consistent at using my digital Day One Journal in 2018. Now the important thing about scrapping for me is getting prints of a good representation of my many photos I take throughout the year. Another change was that I preferred to fill my pages long ago, and abhorred clean & simple, which (especially in a 12x12 album, seems like such a lost opportunity to include more photos or journaling!) But now that I have less time to scrap, I've become ok with much fewer embellishments. Did anyone actually read this? That's okay. I enjoyed writing it. I looked through my scrapbook files and considered showing some old pages, but how about this. Look! I was already extracting in 2006. I did this for a few years around then. Another year I placed my family amongst lions in Africa, another year my kids held up a globe, and, I think my first such attempt, I put us all in a sleigh after photographing us in chairs in our driveway. This one is my favorite though.
I truly believe that's me too, if nothing else I feel more confident in my abilities & style than I ever did either as a paper scrapper or early on as a digi scrapper
Yep! 100% I play more and am not afraid of paint and messiness! I also don't think templates are cheating as I did when I first started digi scrapping. It was very brief thought once I joined TLP and started doing the monthly challenges. Plus SWL and FDD had great templates!! I love templates now!
One of my favourite things about digital scrapping is the ability to undo, ctrl-z. And to walk away from a work in progress and have there be no mess left on the desk. Thanks for sharing your stories and layouts. I have also loved watching co-scrappers children grow up through the years, get married and have their own kids. So many wonderful memories captured.
