When I first took up paper scrapbooking, over 10 years ago, I was totally excited! Going to the local scrapbooking store was like going to the candy store for me! I enjoyed browsing through all the new papers, punches, adhesives, as well as being intrigued with different techniques such as chalking. I accumulated quite a stash of papers, punches, pens and other scrapbooking paraphernalia. Of course, books and magazines were also a must-have items!
Though I never took a scrapbooking class or even attended a "crop," I enjoyed exploring on my own through books and magazines on the topic. No technique was too hard for me . . . if I liked something, I dove right in! This included using an X-acto knife to cut out the spaces between a lattice background paper so it really looked like lattice as well as experimenting with vellum and other varied techniques. I completed a very nice wedding album for my parents with my new scrapbooking knowledge and was very pleased with my accomplishment!
After awhile, getting out all the supplies just to have to put them all away again because our dining room table was needed for such a mundane thing as EATING, my scrapbooking took a back seat to other pursuits.
Purchasing my first digital camera in 2000 and later joining a local camera club in 2003 when I bought my second digital camera firmly entrenched me in the digital world. From exploring the Internet, I learned about digital scrapbooking. Since I was already very knowledgeable in Photoshop, digital scrapbooking became the perfect fit for me! There was no mess to clean up so that our family could eat and digital meant never having to "mess up" a page because of that handy Undo button!
Unlike paper scrapbooking, I did take some courses in digital scrapbooking. Since books on digital were almost non-existent at the time, online classes were the way to go. I also completed a wealth of tutorials found at different digi sites and hung around the many digital scrapbooking forums to learn even more tips to improve my digital layouts. I have even attended a paper "crop" where I took my laptop, extra monitor, and EHD to scrap with, even though I was the only digital scrapper in attendance!
As I became more and more adept at digital layouts, I started teaching digital scrapbooking classes, in real life, through Continuing Education courses. Everyone I talked to and everywhere I went I promoted digital scrapbooking!
Just last September, I took the leap and became both an online store owner and a designer. This has been a very exciting and rewarding pursuit!
As I continued to pursue my love for digital scrapbooking, digital scrapbooking finally seemed to ARRIVE in the print world! More and more magazines carried articles on digital scrapbooking and even one magazine dedicated to digital scrapbooking arrived on the scene! It was interesting to see layouts in the magazine done by some of my fellow online scrappers!
Talking to paper scrapbooking store employees, several were now aware of digital scrapbooking. Eventually, with the help of CHA, digital scrapbooking really started to make an impact on scrapbooking store owners. For the first time, I started to see digital scrapbooking CDs and books arrive in the stores . . . and these contained more than just clip art!
Conversely, in the digital scrapbooking world, the newest trend seems to be toward Hybrid scrapbooking . . . the combination of both digital and paper scrapbooking techniques. The stores are overflowing now with Bracket and Luggage Tag albums (as well as many others) that are designed to be adhered to the Basic Grey or Maya Road chipboard albums using various adhesives. Real embellishments can also be adhered to these completed pages. As well, several other hybrid projects seem to abound.
So, it has taken such a long time for us digiscrappers to get digital scrapbooking recognized and yet now it seems that we are returning, at least somewhat, to paper scrapbooking! Is this a bad thing? I don't think so. Will I be returning to paper scrapbooking? I may dabble with various hybrid projects but my love for digi is a strong one so I feel that most of my scrapbooking will still be done on the computer. However, scrapbooking is a creative and rewarding hobby, no matter how you complete the pages so enjoy it!
I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject! Leave me a comment below.
2 comments:
I never have been a paper scrapper. I started right in with digital in 2001, starting with M/S Publisher, working my way through Picture It and DIP and finally ending with PS. I've taught classes, too, but perhaps was a bit premature in approaching birck and mortar stores because they saw digital as a threat - despite the fact that I was spending money there. LOL. I taught classes through the local community college, in local senior communities and also at RV rallies across the country. Due to back surgery in 2005, I've quit doing classes but am still available to my friends and neighbors for one on one sessions. I get a thrill out of someone coming to me after a class and saying, "Linda, look what I did."
I did a lot of crafts (which were hybrid) in the first few years I scrapped - primarily because I'd started using clip art from pcCrafter and hung out at their board well before digi boards appeared on the scene.
Will I return to hybrid? No, I kind of feel "been there done that" from the crafting I did the first few years. I could keep busy 8 hours a day just trying to scrap the photos I have and using the kits I've downloaded. So it's digi all the way for me.
Sounds like we have a lot in common, Sharpli!
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