How did you become interested in scrapbooking?

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How did you become interested in scrapbooking?

Hey folks, I was just curious how everyone became interested in scrapbooking? And which type of scrapbooking do you prefer.

I currently have no preference. I like to experiment with both digital and paper and combine them both. I suppose I got interested in scrapbooking after I made a couple as gifts but I also love the creative aspect of it. smiley

I got interested in it when I was little my grandfather showed me a book my grandmother made when she was a kid. I love both kinds of scrapbooking, right now I am doing digital because I have 3 kids and the youngest always tries to help when I take my stuff out I try to get him to do his own books but he wont do it he just wants to help me and I am pretty particular how I want something.

I took my first plane trip (went to Oceanside, CA) about 10 years ago and had to scrapbook that. Then we built a house and it just snowballed from that point. Not so much a scrapbooker anymore, but I do love paper crafting (cards, 3D SVG cuts, etc). Hubby says his only salvation will be if he dies before I do so he won't have to deal with doling out all my scrapbook and papercrafting stuff! smiley

I got into scrapbooking around '97 or '98. I think I originally saw something on TV like an infomercial or maybe a program about it. I was in the military at that time and I was going to school in California where there were entire stores dedicated to supplies. But remember the year... It was all stickers and cutesy printed papers without any kind of distressing or depth.

I did paper for years, shifted into digi while the minions were little, and then once they got older and stopped eating my paint I shifted again into paper art journaling. Now I'm doing a bit of a hybrid mix between using art apps on my iPad and using Photoshop on my laptop. Still focused on art journaling rather than traditional scrapbooks, but it's all memory keeping and satisfies the urge to create.

When I do work with my paper supplies I'm really into creating mini books in sort of a Smash style. I have a couple of Smash books too, incidentally. I just find them too precious to mess up with my memories. Probably one of the things I love most about digital is that a mistake can be fixed with the click of the undo button.

I got interested in Digital Scrapbooking around 2002. My mother had just passed away, and my husband of 20 years left me shorty thereafter for a woman 15 years younger than I. It was a rather stressful time in my life. My friends - and thank God for women friends - kept trying to get me out of the house, and involved in activities including paper scrapbooking. I tagged along to their scrapbooking events, but I just hated the space it took to store paper scrap supplies, and the clutter it created when I worked with them. So, I started seeing what other people were doing with digital scrapping, and it made so much more sense to me - working with digital supplies, sharing the end products, and retaining precious genealogy records. It was SO COOL! Now I use digital scrapping for multiple things, including publishing the family cookbook, genealogy family trees, and just about any desktop publishing item you can think of. Business logos letterhead, presentations, menus, announcements, agendas, calenders and screensavers. Yeah!

When I took my first big trip, with my mother to Disney World, I was 7, my Mom had us working on a scrapbook. We actually did it while we were traveling. I made several similar scrapbooks as a child during family vacations. When I was a bit older scrapbooking became more of a "thing." There were stores, etc. So I got more involved. Eventually, my nomadic lifestyle led me to digital scrapbooking, where I remain! Although I'm looking forward to doing some paper crafts of some kind in the future.

@Marisa: Are there scrapbook stores in Aman? Or you will need to import everything? Here in Brazil there are few, on the richest cities, and the prizes are really really high, in a way only people with a very good budget can afford it.

I started with digi scrapping just after I got married. I was googling ways to display my wedding pictures in an album (haven't finish my wedding album by the way and that was 9 years ago) when I stumbled upon digital scrapbooking. I was instantly hooked. Up until that point, I didn't think I would ever find a hobby that I would enjoy more than knitting or sewing, but it took over. I started designing a little while after that, but then I sort of lost my steam. I was in a really bad job that sucked the life out of me, but I though I need something to burn off the stress. So I started back into digital or rather more hybrid, and then more paper scrapbooking and then stamping and card making. Then I found digital stamps and started using those more than my stamps and that brought me back to digital scrapbooking again. I love the designing aspect of it and I have all these ideas running around in my head and its so much fun to see them come alive on the screen.

@Lorien: There is one scrapbooking store here in Amman, which I haven't been to because I assumed everything would be too expensive. In the future, I may be some where else, and can hopefully do something paper crafts.

I broke my leg about 12 years ago and my daughter brought over a bunch of papers and embellishments and said, "OK Mom, now you have time to do that heritage album you've been talking about with all those old pictures." Even at that time I did parts of it on the computer, but after about a year of being so sick of having to pick up the mess every time I was done for the day, I switched to all digital and have never looked back. I love it.

I started book binding to make myself a garden journal. pinterest inspiration of course and had to go to a scrapbook store to get some cool paper for it. Have never done traditional scrapbooking but really liking this digital stuff.

I've always liked the idea of scrapbooking and journaling, for keepsakes, because I wasn't able to keep things nice in my family home growing up, so having physical keepsakes is important to me. I also like the idea of heirlooms and things like that.

I did my first scrapbook when my best friend of over 16 yrs moved overseas, to remember me by. I'd saved so many cards and things from our friendship, so I thought it was a nice idea.

When I met my partner 3 and a half years ago I saved so many things from outings and dates, and even just bits and bobs that meant something to us, and ended up making the most elaborate (paper) scrapbook I've ever seen. It took a full week to compile, after months of careful planning and preparation. I like the idea of didgi scrapbooking but it seems pretty complicated to me. We did a didgi one for our wedding, and it took 2 months, it's just fiddly trying to get the colours right and the photo sizes for the paper. It took a while to figure out how it'd print up. Luckily, my husband is really good with computers though so it turned out really nice.

For now I'm just absorbing everyone's creativity until I find my own style. I really like paper scrapbooking because of the different textures and realistic 3d effect you can create. I also like the process of going over the things intended to fill the scrapbook, and searching for papers and embellishments. So far I've done about 5 scrapbooks in total.

Gosh! I was probably about 12 or 13, and I was at a friend's house. She & her mom were super-crafty, so I think they'd probably doing it for awhile. We were looking for things to do, and she asked if I wanted to scrapbook. I went home and grabbed some pictures, and she showed me what to do. I discovered I really enjoyed it, so I started buying supplies, etc.

I discovered digital scrapping...hm...well, I guess over a period of time. Not a single moment I can pinpoint like I can paper scrapping. I had asked for Photoshop Elements after we got married because while I loved my photographer, she didn't do any B/W shots. I wanted to play around with some nice B/W and maybe even some selected coloring. I had it for a few years but barely used it. I guess the idea first occurred to me when putting my wedding book together. At the time, the self-made publishing books were just okay, but I think they really blossomed/took off shortly thereafter. The idea was planted. I thought about trying digital scrapbooking for about 2 years but hesitated since I wasn't sure if I would miss certain aspects of the paper process. I finally bit the bullet when I realized that I already had a great tool in Photoshop Elements.

I jumped in last June, and I am SO GLAD! In 6 months I got caught up on over 2 years worth of scrapping, and I never would have done that with paper.

I only created one scrapbook which was of my first trip to Europe. Unfortunately, that scrapbook got lost in my last move and I can't find it. I most do greeting cards and rubber stamp art to decorate around the house, but I'm fascinated by the digital scrapbooking idea. I love playing with Photoshop and love this website. Do any of you take the elements from here and print them to use on "real" paper scrapbooking or crafting?

I started a blog and wanted to know how other blogs did those cute headers. As I began exploring, I bought Memory Mixer program. It soon became too limiting, so I got Photoshop Elements. I have always loved to create things, and this digital stuff required no shelves and drawers to store in and no cleanup. I started scanning and scrapping photos I had all the way back to the early 20th century. Then I discovered my extended family on FB and downloaded their pics and made annual scrapbooks for them. This is now my only hobby besides collecting recipes (digitally). I made one scrapbook as a teenager. Glue and scissors and I do not get along, so this digital magic is made for me!!

I've always been attracted and interested in digital graphics. I love the chance to be creative and preserve my memories creatively.

I did some paper scrapping for years, but it got to be very expensive. I had never heard of digital scrapbooking, and then a few years ago a friend of mine asked me about creating a website that she could sell from. When we were going through the process of designing I saw her templates and thought that it was really cool. I got one, but had no idea how to get papers and embellishments, so I started out just using my supply of backgrounds and elements that I had for web design. It didn't turn out too bad. But then I did a search and found a site that had a free starter set and I was hooked.

@Lew: Yes you can! Our terms of use are here.

I started paper scrapping by accident when I was putting together our family tree books. I still do paper scrapping. I started in the digital realm when I wanted fairy graphics and didn't want to spend a fortune. I downloaded Daz Studio, started playing with tutorials about scrapping, and now I can make my own stuff and enjoy it very much

I was on an workshop learning addiction (still am). By chance the scrapbook material distributor had a club that was holding monthly meetings. I thought it was a simple thing, but I learned a lot of art techniques in just one afternoon. Stuff I could apply on mixed media and whatnot.
(I was informed that next week will be our last meeting. (sad) Theyre now focusing on mall tours and private requests.)

I don't do scrapbooking yet though I do make the odd photograph lay-out for calendars etc. and I do make photograph books of holidays. Mostly I make cards and I got into that from my son. When he was young (back in the '90s) we used to make cards and paper scrapbooks together and when he got too old to be interested I just had a ton of materials staring at me so I started using them. Digital/hybrid stuff sort of evolved as more and more of the photographs became digital.

@ Laura, sounds like a great family tradition. Have you ever made a page with you and your youngest?

This is amusing. 2 months ago I posted this and could not find this thread until today! WHOA! smiley LOL!

I started with card making then heard of scrapbooking and bought lots of supplies. Never actually got round to it. Then last year discovered digital scrapping.

I do both!........kinda

I have been doing the digital scrapbooks since my son was born. I decided that I would make digital pages up that I can save and print to keep in his books. That way if he ripped a page, or spilled something on them, I would have to go into "momma-meltdown mode" at the loss of something special and original and just be able to re-print a page. One day he may keep those as his personal books to show his own family one day, and I will get to keep the paper scrapbooks with all the original things tucked safetly inside.

Well, thats the plan. I have yet to complete much of the books I intend to keep, and his number of scrapbooks (in three years) is now 12! I have alot of catching up to do!!

My mom used to scrapbook - she made a massive book for me each school year. She tried to get me into it, but I HATED it. There weren't any papers or embellishments or anything pretty or fun. It was just slapping some pictures on blank album pages (the kind that's sticky on the back with a clear film that folds over) and writing something down about them. In my opinion, it was BOR-ING! (and I still don't particularly like looking in those books, but that is for personal reasons as well.)

When I first got engaged to the man who became my husband, my mother-in-law invited me to go to a Creative Memories scrapbooking group with her. It was very much our special bonding time, and it was fantastic! Up until that point, I had NO idea that scrapbooking could be graphic design (something I had discovered I loved). I just always thought it was the boring, lifeless way that my mom did it. I fell in love with it.

Eventually, I felt like I just didn't have anything worthwhile to scrap, and paper scrapping had a LOT of downfalls for me: it was too expensive (haha especially the Creative Memories way), took up space that I didn't have, took too much time to get out and put away, etc. So, I stopped doing it. I focused all my attention back on my drawing, which I had started doing in Photoshop with my Wacom tablet.

It wasn't until about a month ago that it clicked in my head that I could do scrapbooking in Photoshop, too. I mean, I had heard about digital scrapbooking before, but for some reason it just didn't appeal to me until about a month ago. And, then, a light lit up in my head. (This was also about the same time that I figured out how to use masks in Photoshop... which I am ashamed to admit took me about 8 years to discover. lol - now I NEVER use the eraser tool!)

And, now, I am actually hoarding more digital scrapbooking supplies than doing any actual scrapbooking. lol. But I have started working on making my own stuff, too, which has been fun. Once I feel like my messy collection is tidied up (haha and I can find things) then I'll probably start actually making pages. smiley

Around 1995 I got a computer that had....8 mgs ? of RAM and Windows something, an upgrade from my 40 mg hard drive and 1 mg of RAM dos machine. I bought a scanner, too. A graphics program came with that scanner, ImagePals2Go. Was not use friendly, at least to me, I had no clue, so put that away. Somehow I got a PrintArtist, maybe it came with the computer.. just toooo long ago to remember those details. I did love that program, and started making pages with pictures in them and adding the graphics that came with Print Artist. (Didn't know it was actually digital scrapbooking at the time) Could make little print out projects, too, and I did. I even used it to make wedding invitations for my son and now daughter-in-law.

While I was a guide on AOL I met a person who told me about PhotoImpact, version 4 at the time, and I started using that. It was pretty neat... I liked it, still didn't know diddly, but I kept playing and when I found out I could make backgrounds in PhotoImpact and didn't have to use Print Artist for that, I just kinda merged on into PI and didn't look back. I used it for making graphics and images and stuffs for work, for the web pages I made at the university and for the guest speakers and page updates when I worked for Sage Online and Multex (both companies gone now) up until Sep 2001.

I did try some paper scrapping somewhere in those years after my niece got me a blank scrapbook, one of those old type huge things, larger than 12 x 12. 2 or 3 weeks of trying and getting 3 pages done and they looked really pathetic, I went back to making "picture pages" on my computer. 2002 or so, my friend, Jessie, tricked me into rubber stamping. It was all so innocent. First, she asked me if I wanted to join a card swap, told me what it was, etc, and I did. Only thing I had going for that was card stock. LOL But I got 10 cards made and sent them in and got 10 different cards back and was just amazed. and those people used rubber stamps for crying out loud! Then Jessie invited me to her house for a stamping party and we made... a scrapbook page with rubber stamps and stuff! Cool beans! So I started buying supplies. I still have supplies. I did paper scrapping for awhile, I was not good at it and still not, but they were MY pages. I also made pages for my work at the university, started keeping scrapbooks of daily life there. I worked at a residence hall for 3 years, loved it. Still was doing digital, as well, and I kinda just migrated over to digital from then, 2004, until now. Now I use PhotoImpact X3 mostly, but have started using PSE and PS as well. I figured I had best learn new programs since PI is no longer being updated after Corel bought it.

I send my pages up to WinkFlash to be printed and hard bound. I've given a couple of those as gifts and they were just loved and I was thrilled. LOL I still digital scrap, not as much as I used to, and I've made digital cards and print those out and then mount on cardstock and sometimes add extra embellishments. I am also a digital hoarder, whether graphics or books, my poor little computer and tablets are loaded.

WOA!!! :::ending book and running::::

When I became a mom, and got addicted with taking pictures of my little girls... I'm thinking of creative and cool things to do with their photos... and when I browse scrapbooks samples online, gosh! I got so excited to try to make one also for myself... and was so happy for the outcome, I used it in my daughter's baptism, as a dedication book smiley
So, until now I got hooked up with scrapbooking smiley

For my grandmother's 80th birthday, I decided to gather pictures and texts from all the members of our big family and to make an album. This is how I came to buy a few magazines, that were about paper scrapbooking, and found great inspiration to make a digital album with freebies grabbed on the net. When my mother visited me, she was really excited by the magazines so we decided to look for a place where scrapbooking stuff were sold. OH MY!!! I was like a kid in a candy store!!!!! I guess you understand that I started briefly as a digiscrapper (one month), switched to paper for more than 4 years and then came back to digital in 2010. That's how it all started!

Some years ago a scrapbooking shop opened up nearby my home and I drove past it most days to get to work wondering what on earth this scrapbooking thing was all about. Google helped out a bit there and I ended up taking a couple of classes but it was evident that a lot of money and clutter was going to be devoted to scrap booking stuff if I got into it too much.

Earlier this month I read on a blog about a lady who digiscraps her travel diaries and realised that is what I need to do to deal with the bits and bobs that I pick up on the way on our road trips or when we "do stuff".

For years I have saved a lot of things from travel and outings...also saved a bunch of the cards from flowers that my husband gave me along the way. I finally took all of those things and scrapbooks from growing up and scanned EVERYTHING. I am now able to put all of it onto digital pages to save forever! Much less dust is involved now because they are on disk. It was a great spring cleaning effort!

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