The First Rule of Scrapbooking is that There are No Rules

Each Wednesday, I usually write a post from my dissertation.

Industry workers in particular emphasize that there are no rules of scrapbooking, which is something many scrapbookers find appealing about the hobby. Digging deeper, one quickly realizes, that there are no rules like there are in formal games like golf, but as one industry worker points out

there are easier ways, maybe and there are certainly good, the right kind of materials, but in terms of the outcome, you can’t do it wrong. You can’t make a mistake. It’s your world.

Moreover, respondents do mention “rules” regarding the materials and design used to create a scrapbook.

Though most respondents cannot readily articulate any rules of scrapbooking, all eventually identify some rules or at least guidelines that they follow and think others should follow. Consider guidelines surrounding archival quality of scrapbooking materials: an item might not be scrapworthy because it is not of archival quality but it is scrapworthy because it symbolizes an important memory. In this way an item can be both scrapworthy and not scrapworthy at the same time. Respondents regularly practice this kind of thinking in their scrapbooks, which is why it is so difficult for most to identify any strict rules regarding the hobby.

What are the rules of scrapbooking? Do rules exist? Is it more accurate to refer to guidelines of scrapbooking rather than rules of scrapbooking?