Who and/or What inspired you to start scrapbooking?

[Fortuosity]

I have been toying with the idea of learning to do scrapbooking for a couple years now, but haven't yet beyond doing some reading on the subject.

Over Thanksgiving I looked through a scrapbook album a relative is making and all I can say is WOW! She's a very creative person and any craft she attempts is always stunning. This is her first attempt at scrapbooking, but her pages look very, very professional.

I think I may now be inspired enough to seriously begin attacking my own boxed-up pictures and memorabilia. If my efforts turn out even half as good as hers, I'll be thrilled.

Who and/or What inspired you to start scrapbooking?

Was getting started difficult? Mostly I'm a bit intimidated and overwhelmed by all the supplies. I'm not sure what adhesives and other products to use. It seems there is so much out there to choose from!

 

[WDWMom]

My best friend got me hooked. She started with CM but I thought they were too costly and we had an LSS that was great so I started there. When I started my kids were 1, 2 and 6. They are now 8, 9 and 13. I started at the beginning with me as a baby and worked my way to the present. I have caught up ONCE, but now I am far behind. (Mind you "far behind" for me is a year) I am now working on my Mom's pictures which encompass 20 photo ablums (safe ones) and my own so I do not see an end in sight for a couple years, but I love the craft and the joy it gives me.

 

[DiznEeyore]

I've always kept scrapbooks, ever since I was about 7. Of course, they weren't the "safe" kind...just the fun kind with certificates, pictures, cards, etc.

Then about 10 or 11 years ago, when ds was a toddler, I was watching "Aleene's Creative Living" on TNN -- they were showing this cool new way to make decorative photo albums. Die cuts, stickers, etc.! I thought it was so awesome that I called my mom up and made her turn it on. She didn't get hooked, but I did. From there, I found a CMC, then the magazines started shortly thereafter .... it's been my favorite hobby ever since!

 

[Alice28]

I've always been intrigued with scrapbooks...I kept one in high school- just taping (eek) memorabilia, pictures, etc to an album I would get at the Hallmark store. In 1994 or so, my mom was a DOTS consultant for a short time and it was around that time that they introduced the Close to my Heart collection. I got married in 1/95, so I wanted to do a wedding album. I bought an album from Mom, got some supplies from a craft store and went to work. Now I cringe when I look at that album and all my decorative scissor edging, not a lot of journaling, etc. But, hey, it was a start. Then we went to Hawaii in 1/97 and I did an album of that. I got pregnant with my first son in March of 97 and have been doing yearly scrapbooks ever since. Now my hobby is such that I need two LARGE (12x12 with 45 pages in each album) CM albums per year to keep up with my volume of picture taking and my scrapping style. I converted to CM albums starting with my 2003 album and really prefer that style. I was a CMC for about 8 months and liked it enough, but selling stuff just isn't my forte. I have inspired my mom and a good friend of mine (along with some clients from my CMC days) to take up the hobby for life, and I feel good about that. I cannot ever, ever imagine not keeping up with it.

 

[bananiem]

I'm afraid some people find my reason morbid. A friend and co-worker died in her mid 30's of breast cancer. Seeing her 5 year old and 8 year old at the funeral got me to thinking. I knew I wanted to get at least the first year of each child's life down with my thoughts and feelings, so if anything ever happened to me they'd still have my thoughts in my words.
I'm not very creative and they aren't very fancy, but I really believe in the importance of journalling.

 

[Twigs]

I had always kept scrapbooks when I was younger by taping things into an album, I always saved things from events and vacations. I had always seen the beautiful layouts on some of the craft shows on TV, that were done around one picture, but I was never interested in scrapbooking because I don't have room for albums with only one picture to a page. A good friend of mine had a Creative Memories crop in her house and I went really just to have an evening out, but I did bring a few pictures along. I did a Disney layout and got 5 pictures on one page, by cropping them! I was hooked. Around that time I had just joined disboards and found this forum and learned about so many different techniques, and now I am addicted!

 

[mla973]

I first started scrapbooking when I started dating my now-husband. In other relationships, I had always kept a "box of stuff." Movie tickets, cards, etc. from that person.

Maybe I knew off the bat that this relationship would be different. I found a great kit and just started working on it. He sort of helped me at first, but I think I took over. Looking back on the book, it is definitely primitive and not very well done (And I wish I had done more journaling), but I won't ever forget the first movie we saw together or our first concert or our first wedding together (and what we wore) because I have it all in my scrapbook.

After that, I have been scrapbooking all of my photos, but my favorite is trips with DH to Disney World. I think because we are always so smiley. (DH works a lot, so to have 7 days straight to spend only with him is priceless.)

Okay, don't mean to be so sappy! Great thread!

 

[wtpclc]

I've always had a stack of newspapaer clipping and photos to eventually go int a scrap book. That stuff still has yet to be touched. Maybe I'll clean out my old closet at my parents house over Cristmas. Yikes!

Anyway, a very good friend introduce another friend an I to scrapbooking in 2001. She had recently become a CMC. I had a GREAT time, but I never took my stuff out unless i was visiting that friend. I got some great private lessons! By teh way, my pages consisted of 1 or 2 great lengths, one or two matted photos (or photos with a triangle under them) and soe stickers. Nothing fancy, but I loved them.

Two years ago, I had another friend over to scrap. As I was advising her on thigns, she asked me why I wasn't a CMC. "Because I only do this a couple times a year." I got a little better after that and did some stuff on my own.

This spring, I took the leap and became a CMC. Alll the new tools and stuff inspired me to get going on my albums. The more I did, the more I wanted to do. I am nowhere near caught up, but my fall vacation was scrapped within a month of getting home.

OK, so that's my long aanswer. My short answer is a friend and the sense of accomplishment after getting a few pages done.

 

[JulianneP]

Ditto! I too always taped and decorated sticky albums in high school and college. When I started teaching a parent gave me the old CM wedding album for my wedding lots of supplies and a free class. I was hooked! Signed up to be a CM consultant after the first class. I'm no longer with CM or just stick to there supplies but I do scrap for hire now. I love it!! I think it is just a way of life now. I no longer take pictures the same way anymore. My kids have grown up playing under my scrap desk and I have even caught them sleeping with little baby albums.

 

[Timon]

Took hubby on his first trip to WDW in 1999 and I took over 50 rolls of film
We bought those neat WDW Photo Albums ( 5 of them!) and put our photos in there. Went again in 2000 but wanted to do something different with our photos soooooo....I popped on over here to the SB forum, read the FAQ and a few posts to get an idea of what scrapbooking was all about.
Went to Michaels and got some basic supplies and did my first SB album as soon as we got back from our trip. I didn't scrap again until the following year
after our first Disney Cruise and while scrapping that album, I totally fell in love with scrapbooking. I decided to do a chronological album of mine and hubby's life together which has kept me quite busy since...and broke!

 

[Fortuosity]

Thank you for sharing your "scrapbooking stories." I've really enjoyed reading them.

I guess now that I think of it, I *do* have a couple "scrapbooks" that I've made in the past, but I didn't consider them when posting because they are not "safe" and need to be redone.

Please pardon my ignorance, but what do the abbreviations CM, CMC and LSS mean? Also, what is a crop? Is it a get-together of people who do scrapbooking akin to people quilting as a group?

 

[Alice28]

Thank you for sharing your "scrapbooking stories." I've really enjoyed reading them.

I guess now that I think of it, I *do* have a couple "scrapbooks" that I've made in the past, but I didn't consider them when posting because they are not "safe" and need to be redone.

Please pardon my ignorance, but what do the abbreviations CM, CMC and LSS mean? Also, what is a crop? Is it a get-together of people who do scrapbooking akin to people quilting as a group?

CM- Creative Memories
CMC- Creative Memories Consultant
LSS- Local Scrapbook Store

And yes, a crop is a group getting together, working on their books.

 

[Fortuosity]

Thank you for explaining those for me Alice28.

 

[TonyS20]

If you can believe it, WDW sparked my scrapbooking interest. My DH and I took a trip in January, 2002 and decided to take another trip that December. After putting my pictures in an album, I realized that I wanted to showcase my December pictures in a different way. Hence, I decided I needed to put them in a scrapbook. The rest, as they say, is history!

 

[crazyforpooh]

I think this is a good post and needs to live on.

I started thinking about scrapping at a CM class a friend had but on my way to leave her home my truck broke down so I cancelled my order not knowing what the expense to fix the truck would be. I said I'd be back and eventually I did come back and got a boat load of stuff from CM and the LSS. I could probably open my own little shop like the rest of us here with all the stuff I now own.

It took a near tragedy almost lost my husband and at the time 10 year old dd's Daddy. I decided it was time to capture our happy days in a memorable way. Well it's been 6 almost 7 years since that horrible day and I am up to age 9 with of our families adventure of a life and sometimes its a pretty wild ride. And loving every minute of scrapping it.


Laura
A scrapaholic

 

[Disney Ontario]

I AM HOOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Both my sister-inlaws got me hooked. Then for christmas and my birthday I got two scrapbooking magazines. I have now got 5 different books on the go. But my youngest 12 DD helps to do hers. I am heading down to Florida in a month and can't waite to see what I can find on the way.

 

[pattyT]

After my trip to cancun in early 1999 I found scrapping softwear in my local staples. I still have those pages and it is funny - I did verything in the computer then printed the page - then cut the holes and put the pictures in it - wow... they don't look to bad though! LOL
Then a Mike's opened later that year in the neighborhood of my office (not good when you work for the HUGE newspaper and have full access to as many coupons as you want AND are in sales so you are in and out all day - I spent a small fortune! LOL
I am the opposite of a lot of people - I was not introduced to CM til a few years later - but I LOVE the quality of the albums of all of the ones I have tried!

 

[Spinning]

I think I have always scrapped in some way or another or I should say in Highschool. I first started just saving things, cards, tickets etc...and would put them in a book. With the first love of my life I made a scrap book of our monthly things. So funny now when I look at it. I kept everything! It is in one of those big yellow scrap books with the gold piping and string holding it together. Ialso made a few scrap books for my grandma. She went on a big trip with us each year. It was so nice to get those back.
I always put all of my pictures in albums some are still in the magnetic ones. But with it I would put in the back plane tickets, and other stuff.
Then I moved on to pocket albums. And would write in the cover.
Then when I had my DD I started to scrap. It was a 3 ring binder oh those pages! I used those sissors on everything!

But I made my first scrap books in the more "contempory fashion" when DD entered preschool. Then in Kindergarten DD teacher was a CMC. I went to her house and she got me started.

But my main reason for scrapping. I wanted the kids lives to be recorded. I wanted them to have something they could look back on and put a name to a face. I wanted a place for all of their school pictures, class pictures and awards to be.
Now of course I scrap everything! Family albums, trip albums, scouting....etc....

 

[pattyT]

Sondra i forgot to mention all those old magnetic albums with magine cut outs and notes from old boyfriends as well as ticket stubs and such - lol

 

[ksjayhawks]

I have always scrapbooked the "old way"--traditional book, glue stuff on pages, etc. When my daughter was born, I doctored up her baby book beyond the "norm". I was introduced to this method by a friend. I really like it. I have made many books for others and have let mine slide, but no more! My 2205 resolution is to work on mine first and fit others in if I can. That isn't selfish, is it???