Origin Stories: A Blog Link Up
I'm trying something a little new today. I was feeling a little uninspired in my blog writing, but luckily for me I don't write here in a vacuum and I thought it would be more fun to invite some of you to play along! And I know I'm not the only one looking for blogging inspiration, so I figured we could all help each other out.
Plus everyone likes a good origin story.
I'm going to tell a little story about how I got started scrapbooking, and then I'd love for you to do the same on your blogs and link them up below in the special widget. If everyone has a fun time, maybe we'll do this again. If you don't, well, we'll do something else ;)
I've shared a lot of this story before I think, but I don't think I've shared it all at once, and certainly not in it's own dedicated blog post.
In the early days of scrapbooking, my parents had some friends who opened a scrapbooking store. My parents knew I had a crafty side, lots of photos and lots of spare time, so they took me over to the store to get an introduction and basically that's my story. Since that moment, I never really stopped scrapping.
Of course, even before the store, my mother had my sister and I making trip journal/scrapbooks for different trips we took, so even when I walked into that store for the first time it was not all the surprising.
Fast forward ten years or so and you'll find me in Korea. Scrapbooking was certainly something I loved, but it most definitely did not fit my lifestyle. I had only been able to practice it in the summers when my family was in the States, and then I became an adult and continued to live places without scrapbook stores. Actually, Korea had a pretty good stationery store situation, but I had a lot of free time at my teaching job and found myself wishing I could be scrapbooking. In the back of my mind the term "digital scrapbooking" was floating around and during one long afternoon I finally gave it a Google. The rest, as they say, is history.
My story, is of course old news to me, so I'm really looking forward to hearing your own origin story, your reasons for getting started, who showed you the ropes, etc.
Blog By
About Me
Hi There! I’m Marisa Lerin and you’ll see me around at DigitalScrapbook.com a lot. I started this site in 2010 soon after I discovered a new love in digital scrapbooking. DigitalScrapbook.com has gone through some significant changes since that time and it’s grown into this lovely community site you are seeing now. I am daily surprised by the turn of life’s events that has led me down this path. If you're new to the site, welcome! Here are a few tidbits about me that I hope will help you get to know me better!
I’m originally from Minnesota, USA, but spent a good chunk of my childhood living abroad (in Bolivia and Hong Kong). I returned to Minnesota to attend university, got married and then moved overseas again (Korea, then Jordan and 1 year of traveling). My designs are heavily influenced by these many nomadic years. I am currently back in the USA, now living in the great state of Oregon!
I have no official training for what I’m doing, since I decided very wisely (haha) to study physics in university. I am always learning new things about digital scrapbooking, and this community has been immensely helpful for that!
If I manage to stop digital scrapbooking you will probably find me watching TV, reading or baking. I also enjoy writing for the blog here at DigitalScrapbook.com where I talk about whatever happens to be catching my fancy at the moment.
Monthly archive
- November 2012 (9)
- December 2012 (37)
- January 2013 (17)
- February 2013 (13)
- March 2013 (20)
- April 2013 (26)
- May 2013 (29)
- June 2013 (9)
- July 2013 (8)
- August 2013 (13)
- September 2013 (16)
- October 2013 (14)
- November 2013 (16)
- December 2013 (12)
- January 2014 (15)
- February 2014 (9)
- March 2014 (15)
- April 2014 (11)
- May 2014 (4)
- June 2014 (9)
- July 2014 (8)
- August 2014 (7)
- September 2014 (8)
- October 2014 (13)
- November 2014 (6)
- December 2014 (3)
- January 2015 (13)
- February 2015 (14)
- March 2015 (14)
- April 2015 (13)
- May 2015 (12)
- June 2015 (11)
- July 2015 (10)
- August 2015 (8)
- September 2015 (7)
- October 2015 (10)
- November 2015 (8)
- December 2015 (10)
- January 2016 (7)
- February 2016 (6)
- March 2016 (8)
- April 2016 (7)
- May 2016 (8)
- June 2016 (8)
- July 2016 (6)
- August 2016 (5)
- September 2016 (8)
- October 2016 (8)
- November 2016 (11)
- December 2016 (7)
- January 2017 (6)
- February 2017 (12)
- March 2017 (10)
- April 2017 (7)
- May 2017 (9)
- June 2017 (9)
- July 2017 (10)
- August 2017 (7)
- September 2017 (11)
- October 2017 (8)
- November 2017 (9)
- December 2017 (8)
- January 2018 (8)
- February 2018 (8)
- March 2018 (8)
- April 2018 (4)
- May 2018 (9)
- June 2018 (9)
- July 2018 (4)
- August 2018 (5)
- September 2018 (13)
- October 2018 (19)
- November 2018 (18)
- December 2018 (14)
- January 2019 (23)
- February 2019 (20)
- March 2019 (17)
- April 2019 (14)
- May 2019 (17)
- June 2019 (14)
- July 2019 (8)
- August 2019 (3)
- September 2019 (14)
- October 2019 (17)
- November 2019 (16)
- December 2019 (6)
- January 2020 (14)
- February 2020 (20)
- March 2020 (16)
- April 2020 (18)
- May 2020 (19)
- June 2020 (16)
- July 2020 (8)
- August 2020 (5)
- September 2020 (8)
- October 2020 (10)
- November 2020 (10)
- December 2020 (7)
- January 2021 (4)
- February 2021 (9)
- March 2021 (8)
- April 2021 (7)
- May 2021 (7)
- June 2021 (7)
- July 2021 (10)
- August 2021 (7)
- September 2021 (8)
- October 2021 (5)
- November 2021 (7)
- December 2021 (6)
- January 2022 (5)
- February 2022 (7)
- March 2022 (9)
- April 2022 (6)
- May 2022 (7)
- June 2022 (4)
- July 2022 (2)
- August 2022 (1)
- September 2022 (3)
- October 2022 (6)
- November 2022 (4)
- December 2022 (6)
- January 2023 (4)
- February 2023 (5)
- March 2023 (6)
- April 2023 (5)
- May 2023 (5)
- June 2023 (5)
- July 2023 (5)
- August 2023 (5)
- September 2023 (5)
- October 2023 (4)
- November 2023 (4)
- December 2023 (5)
- January 2024 (4)
- February 2024 (5)
- March 2024 (2)
Recent Comments
I love link ups, it gives me a reason to blog. So, nice to read the stories and get to know you all :)
I hope some more people add their stories to the link, it is great to find out where we all came from!
I added mine. Thanks for the invitation!
@Robyn: You can see that two people have added their links now, the little thumbnail images. You can click on them to read the stories.
Are these links going to show up somewhere, or do you have to have a blog to see them? (Just curious!)
When my daughter was going through a difficult time, the her counselor was a scrapbooker and used it as a tool. So I got interested in it. She's not into it so much but I continued. I moved to digital about 4 months ago or so. Looking at old memorabelia, i realized my mom did too. Although hers consisted of pasting stuff and writing in a plain paper notebook, a very simple scrapbook.
OK, it took me a while but I have written the post and added the link!
I don't have a blog, but I'll give you a short version of my story here in the comments! I started scrapping back in 6th grade. My Mom, sister & I would set up a table in the basement every winter and we'd scrapbook on those long winter evenings. When I got married I scrapped my wedding & honeymoon pics. After we had our first child I tried to keep up a book with pics for him. It worked until our second child came along. That is when I basically dropped scrapping. It was a big mess trying to do it with the children around. Last year my friend got me started with digital scrapbooking. I love it. My friends and I will get together to scrap and the only thing we have is our laptops. Not the big mess of papers and ect. I love it that I can keep our families memories alive thru scrapbooking.
I started putting together photo albums for my family while I was in grade school. I took the piles of family photos, put them in scrapbooks, and wrote down who, where, and when. I continued the practice with my own husband and kids. In 1995, I was introduced to Creative Memories scrapbooking and was captivated with the creative and journaling aspects of making albums. Then in 2008, I retired and my daughter introduced me to digital scrapbooking. Wow, so many ways to be creative and no need for piles of crafting materials! I was hooked and have continued to make many digital photo books, both of daily life and of special trips and occasions, as well as a couple family history books.
Sharon
Love this idea Marisa! I will get mine done soon.
Great Idea Marisa! I'm off to write mine now.