Hi Scrapbookers have a question..more of a curiosity really...I overheard a discussion in a scrapbooking store about someone 'keeping current' - comment was "whats the point if you can't keep current"...I thought this was kinda bogus...! I use my old and new stuff...I do what I want. What's the deal with 'keeping current'! It is not the first time I've heard that. What do ya all think? Sharon in TO...
Well, here's my immediate and off-the-cuff response to anyone who tells me I need to "keep current":
TTHHPPPPPP!!!!! (Huge RAZ-berry!)
How can anyone possibly "keep current"? I must have at least a thousand photos and slides just inherited from my parents alone, not to mention all the photos in those old, magnet albums that need to be removed and re-archived. I have scrapped both ways -- chronologically and by subject/event. And I like both. So once in a while I'll do a "current" album -- a calendar album, if you will -- but most of my scrapping is done according to whim, and by event. I don't scrap because it's an obligation; I do it because it's an addiction. So I don't worry about "keeping current."
Yep. Majorly!
Long life, prosperity and chocolate, Raz
"keeping current"
What a laugh. Not all of us have money for all the new "toys" that hit the scrapbooking/card making market.
I'm just happy that I have refills for my Xyron 500/150 and enough glue sticks to fill in the blanks.
For me, keeping current means that I just finished scrapping my niece's ultrasound pictures for her album and she is turning 1 in 2 months.
I'm with Raz, Scrapping isn't an obligation it is an addiction that actually is politically correct. LOL
Kate
Well, maybe I'm crazy...well, I'm definitely crazy but that's not the point....
There are times when I LIKE doing it the old fashioned way. I got into this in the beginning because I love to handle the paper, I love to MAKE things with. I really don't want to buy a lot of embellishments. I enjoy making them MORE than I enjoy making the pages themselves. I can't afford the latest and greatest, either, but it really doesn't bother me at all.
Give me lots of paper and I'm good.
Hugs,Rach
Oh I always think someday I'll keep current. Bwahhahahaha I love to scrapbook and reminisce with my photos. If I never get caught up it won't break my heart. It might be one of those pie in the sky ideas that can never be acheived.... like when I say "when I get skinny...." :)
Lynne
Welcome to RCS Sharon. I almost was current last year, just one event away. Then I couldn't get inspired and now I'm over a year behind now. That's until I get the scans of my husband's family pictures and copies of my family's pictures. Then boy will I be far from current then. :-) As far as the tool and stuff, I buy what I like, not just because it is current or new.
Teresa in MD
You gotta look at it this way...whatever DOES get done, doesn't count against you in the pile of what is NOT done...and ANY effort to preserve a memory or create a labor of love for someone is never a waste of time.
As far as current on the 'new toys'...maybe these people have husbands who LOVE to spend time alone, an unlimited budget to spend on the latest "new thing" and some sort of dysfunctional diva mentality that prevents them from truly enjoying what was "sooooo last year". If this is true then they'll eventually drive themselves insane trying to keep their kids in the latest fashions, photograph them, scrap them, and be braced for the next season's fads....and we can all watch them from the sidelines with big bowls of popcorn, diet coke, and our 5 year old scissors.....woohoooo!
And Teresa...now that you are a slacker again like the rest of us...you can only be "current" until you wake up the next day anyway!!!
Yeah I agree on being kinda bogus on that too!!! Sounds like a case of "keeping up with the Joneses" LOL I only started scrapping like a little over two years ago. My oldest child is 17, and there is NO way I will ever be current. I am a wife, a mother of two, and I work full time! I like to scrap for the fun of it! It is my creative outlet, and I might scrap something from an event last month, or maybe it was 2 years ago, or I might just make a card or two, or work on a current swap or challenge.... whatever mood strikes me that day is what I do! I do like to see the new stuff (and drool over it) and hear what everyone is doing with it, but to keep current...BAH..WHATEVER! LOL Just do what you like and what you can afford and whatever makes you happy!
Linda
Keeping current to me means I keep scraping events before the next event come..... I start with New Years and then do each event throughout the year. I only have Christmas left to scrap from 2005. In between the current years layouts I go back and do layouts from years gone by.
Sounds like an excuse to me. I think most people scrap because they enjoy it not because it's an obligation. Old or new I use what I like and what inspires me.
I'm with you Cathy. I scrap mostly for the fun, more often as a gift for others. It is a way to express myself and how I feel about the people that I love and the beauty that sourrounds me. I am definitely not current either in products or in scrapping the events in my life. I wish I were, but I'm not about to stress over it. I use both old and new products and these days I try to stay away from spending sprees though I did buy a whole lot of chatterbox stull last week.
Hi Sharon. Thanks for the discussion question. I thought about it awhile and decided I am current. I work on whatever "currently strikes my fancy". So in January I worked on pics from feb 2005, Dec 2005 and April 2001. I used old and new techniques (well new to me). I follow a budget (yeah I know bad word for some) so have to choose my new supplies carefully. Although my budget is not as tight as it used to be so now I can experiment more. Some of the current things I like to look at and then adapt with things I already have. For instance I was recently reading about masks for LO' and saw some really cool LO's done using Heidi Swapp masks. Now I have not seen these in the stores here yet and don't think I would buy them But I liked the look of the technique soooo. I the near future I may experiment on my own.
If I'm not enjoying it I won't do it so I tend to ignore the sales pitches. When I hear you have to do it this way I usually do the opposite. My main rules are I am careful with acid free but even that not always (shame on me)
Hi - again, I like how you folks respond! Another question... How do you take pictures of your scrapbook pages for this site? Do you use a camera and just try to get a clear shot? Thanks - Peace, Sharon
I use my digital camera and upload them to my Webshots. Some use a scanner and photo editing software to 'stitch' the images together to show more detail on the pages.
Linda C
If you don't have a scanner, you can take your pages outside into natural light, stand them straight up, and get on eye level with your image and use your digital camera to get a good shot. I usually do it on a bright sunny day, but place my page and myself in the shade...but not DEEP shade so that I don't get any sun glare.
As another poster said, you can scan a large page twice (once for one side, once for the other) and if you use Photoshop, it has a stitch/merge feature that allows you to seamless combine both images and then save them as a jpg and then upload them.
Hi, scrappers. I'm delurking here to answer this one. First of all, thanks for the interesting ideas I've been getting from here for the last few weeks. I've been scrapbooking for about 8 years and I'll never be current. It doesn't bother me at all. I am an artistic person with no artistic talent. This is my creative outlet. My works of art (humble as they may be in comparison to the work of others) take time.
I can think of why people can stay current quite easily. They are people who no longer have little guys running around to catch in great poses or family vacations to go on or family occasions to record. My kids are now 17 + 18. Yes, I'm starting to catch up. I just finished an album for OS's trip to Korea last year. He will journal it when he's home from uni. Haven't finished 1999 yet, though!
I just had 672 photos printed from the last four years. I've printed some on my home printer from those batches to do special occasion albums, but there were a lot I hadn't looked at in years and now want to work on.
Viv
Welcome, Viv. "Caught Up" or "Current" is never going to happen to me. Scrapbooking is my hobby, my "get away from it all" release from stress. I don't scrap in order, nor do I work on albums. I scrap what I feel like working on at the time. I may decide to do Christmas and then work on that for three months doing 10 or 20 years worth. Then I may switch to one of my five children ( ages 30, 29, 22, 13 & 9) and work on their baby pictures or sports or school photos. Then I may work on pictures taken last month or one of my (currently 8) grandchildren. I love the memories working on scrapbooks gives me. From someone who never wants to be 'caught-up.' Sandy
Thanks for the welcome. I was over at my Creative Memories rep's house (she lives across the street and Close to My Heart rep is three down on this side!) this afternoon and we were talking about doing our taxes. She said that last year she threw all of her income and expense statements into a folder and now she has to sort it. (I am also self-employed and must admit to doing pretty much the same thing) This year, she decided to start the year right and keep track of it from day one. Now, the interesting part of this is she hasn't started to fix last year's yet. She knew that if she had to do last year's first, she'd be halfway through the year before she started on this year's.
We decided it's just like scrapbooking. We're trying to keep up with the current stuff and the past will take care of itself. Good thing we don't have an April deadline for our scrapbooking for last year, though!
Viv
Wow! To have both a CM and CTMH within walking distance would be both a blessing and a curse. It's bad enough for me to have CM and Stampin Up reps at the monthly crops. I know exactly what you mean. I'm self employed (in-home childcare) and everytime I get the two big manila envelopes out and look at them I put them away and do another family members taxes instead. April 15th is getting closer every day. I get out the boxes of old photos and go through them, re-arranging the envelopes or trading pictures between them and then put them away again. Once in a while I will actually take some out of the storage box and scrap an older LO. I just like to go through them. I keep the pictures from the past year on the table in a box and do more scrappin from them. I like to make page kits (photos, paper, embellishments & sketch of LO idea). That way when I go to a crop all I have to do is grab them and go (with my tool box). Right now I'm working on Halloween (several years worth) and a lunch pail.
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