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B & B Review: The Everyday Scrapper

Posted on 10/28/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Every Thursday, I will post a review of either a scrapbooking related blog or book. Please comment below with suggestions for blogs and books I should review. Thanks for all of your suggestions!

The Everyday Scrapper lives up to its name. I reviewed their posts from September 25, 2010 to October 25, 2010. During this one month of time, they had 23 posts. They didn’t post everyday, but you rarely went more than a day between posts.

There was also only giveaway the entire month. I am a fan of fewer giveaways. What I see happen on giveaway-happy blogs is that one post is soliciting entries to the giveaway. The next is a post announcing the winner. If a blogger only posts three times a week, then two of the posts are about giveaways and the third post might actually have useful content. Again, the giveaways help keep the blog running, but giveaways must be balanced with content.

This blog is also for the everyday scrapper or special occasion scrapper. For me everyday scrapbooking has to do with scrapbooking the ordinary parts of life in addition to the extraordinary. On this blog, the focus is on making scrapbooking accessible to everyday people. For instance on Frugal Friday posts, Christine takes a product sold as scrapbook supplies and figures out a more affordable option. I can’t wait to try to make my own homemade transparencies.

The Everyday Scrapper is has several people providing content: seven contributors and five sketch team members. On their home page you can click on each contributors name to be taken to their personal blogs. And if they have personal blogs, guess what that means?!? The Everyday Scrapper is not all about them, but is actually about scrapbooking. I love my scrapbooking celebrities as much as the next person, but at some point they must start providing content about scrapbooking beyond their own products in order to keep me as a reader. There was only one post specifically about one of the contributors in the entire month. Occasionally, their personal lives will be discussed in a post but the post is rarely explicitly about their personal lives.

Each day of the week is devoted to a different task: Sketch Sunday, Funday Monday, Tutorial Tuesday, What’s Up Wednesday, Teaching Thursday, and Frugal Friday. Saturday does not seem to have a specific theme. With each day having a theme, you quickly know whether or not you might want to visit the blog on that day. Personally, I am a big fan of Frugal Friday. The other days have good content, too, but if I only have time to visit once a week, I would definitely make it Friday.

My main criticism of The Everyday Scrapper is that most of the tutorials were about how to make flowers. Granted they were cute flowers and were made in ways I had never imagined. My problem is that I am kind of sick of flowers. If every scrapbook page has a flower on it, what makes it special? My other criticism is that they do not have a collective about page. To learn more about the women behind the blog requires the reader to visit each contributor’s personal blog and dig through the content there to find out what makes this particular women qualified to contribute to this blog. This is a minor detail, but one I think they should correct.

Overall, most scrapbookers would find useful material on The Everyday Scrapper.

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Posted in B&B Review | Tagged B&B Review | 2 Comments

The Sample: Industry Workers

Posted on 10/27/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

The story that my dissertation tells about scrapbooking is about how scrapbooking is a way to both view the world and communicate that one’s life has value. Most scrapbookers come to view the world through the eyes of a member of the scrapbooking subculture (or thought community). Scrapbooking becomes a structure through which people live their lives.
For those of you really interested in all the nitty-gritty details of my dissertation, please email me at stephaniemedleyrath at gmail dot com and I will email you a pdf of my dissertation. In my dissertation, I have a whole chapter devoted to theory—the theoretical framework for my dissertation. My guess is that most of my blog readers are not all that interested in the theoretical background so I will not bore you with the details here.

I will tell you about my sample today. I interviewed 59 people. Eleven of my respondents worked in the scrapbook industry (industry workers). Actually, today I will just tell you about the industry workers. Industry workers worked in the industry from 2-12 years. Industry workers worked at local scrapbook stores, were scrapbooking educators, owned their own scrapbooking businesses (local scrapbook stores and kit clubs), and worked as direct sellers.
Only three industry workers worked in the industry full-time. The rest had other full-time employment or were full-time students. This is important. Most industry workers were not in the industry to support themselves or their families. Don’t get me wrong, their families may have depended on their income, but most industry workers are do not earn enough to completely support their family. Many industry workers work in the industry for extra spending money, for a discount on scrapbook supplies, or both. Most work in the industry because they love scrapbooking. They don’t do it for the money.

All of the industry workers were heterosexual women. One was black; the remaining ten were white. Eight were married, the other three were single. Six had children. All industry workers had at least a Bachelor’s degree except for the two workers who were currently enrolled in a Bachelor’s degree program (and have since earned their degrees).

Next Wednesday I will tell you about my sample of scrapbookers.

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How to Select a Scrapbook Album: Hardware

Posted on 10/26/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Today I am going to talk to you about the different styles of scrapbook albums. In particular, the focus is on the hardware the album uses: strap-hinge, post-bound, 3-ring, or slip-in. It can be overwhelming going to a craft superstore and wondering what the advantages and disadvantages of each album type might be.

Strap-Hinge Albums

Strap-hinge albums are the style favored by Creative Memories. I have a love/hate relationship with strap-hinge albums.
Advantages:
&#8226Sturdy: Your page protectors are not going to fall out of the album.
&#8226The pages turn easily. The pages do not get hung up on the hardware holding them in the album making for an easy viewing experience.
&#8226Your album is never too big or too small. The strap-hinge system allows you to tighten up the whole album to the number of pages in the album. Keep in mind, however, that the album does have its limits. You can not place unlimited number of pages in the album.
&#8226Difficult for children to figure out. If you have children, especially young, curious children, the strap-hinge album is difficult for a child to figure out. You will be less likely to walk into the room and see all of your page protectors across the living room floor compared to using other types of albums.
&#8226You do not have to use page protectors. There are scrapbookers out there who dislike page protectors. If you fall into this camp, then a strap-hinge album would work nicely for you. I do not fall into this camp. I use just enough adhesive to keep everything on the page until it gets into the page protector (the protector helps hold it altogether). I also strongly dislike fingerprints on my photographs. The page protector makes it impossible to get new fingerprints on photographs. You also must consider your pages sticking together or getting caught on one another without the page protector. Feel free to not use page protectors, but I think you should wait to do this until you are a slightly more experienced scrapbooker.

Disadvantages:
&#8226They are challenging to use if you scrapbook out of order. I scrapbook whatever I feel like and then put in an album. This means I might scrapbook something that happened yesterday today and tomorrow I might scrapbook pages about Easter. I find it difficult to do this using strap-hinge albums.

Post-Bound Albums

I almost always use post-bound albums. If you buy a post-bound album, make sure it has three posts instead of only two. In general, more inexpensive albums only include two posts. This is just not sturdy enough. Pay extra to have three posts. You will be glad you did.

Advantages:
&#8226Similar to strap-hinge albums, post-bound albums are more difficult for children to open up. I like the security of the post-bound album, while still keeping some of the flexibility you get with a 3-ring album.
&#8226There is a wide selection of albums made by several manufacturers. You will be able to find an album that suits you and your needs with a post-bound album.

Disadvantages:
&#8226Your scrapbook pages will not lay flat. This one is kind of hard to explain unless you have actually seen complete albums of the various types.
&#8226I like to put a bunch of page protectors in the album and then slide my completed scrapbook pages into the protectors as I complete them. I jump around to approximate the order the pages will be in once the album is complete. Sometimes I am off. It usually takes several tries to sort the pages once the album is mostly completely. If you then have to add more page protectors, you have to take all of them out to put it in the place you want it (similar to strap-hinge albums).
&#8226You can’t change the size of the posts real easily. Most post-bound albums come with very short posts. The page protector refills will come with additional posts to lengthen the original posts. The problem then is the post is composed of smaller posts. I prefer to change these out with a one longer post. This is much sturdier. This works as long as you have enough page protectors to cover up the new post. Sometimes you do not have enough pages to do this so you can not change the shorter posts out for longer posts.
3-Ring Albums

I have never used a 3-ring album. I most likely will begin using 3-ring albums once I run through my stash of post-bound and strap-hinge albums.

Advantages:
&#8226It is easy to scrapbook out of order. You do not have to remove all of your pages to insert one more page protector. You simply open up the album and place the page protector exactly where you want it.
&#8226You can shop the office supply aisle. If you make pages that are 8.5×11, you can buy a regular 3-ring notebook. This can make scrapbooking more affordable for scrapbookers on a budget or looking to be more frugal. If you scrapbook in the 12×12 size (which is what I almost always do), you will have to shop the scrapbook aisle for your albums.

Disadvantages:
&#8226It is easy for a kid to open up the album and pull out your pages.
&#8226There is no adjusting the size of the album. Use 3-ring albums only if you can fill the album.

Slip-In Albums

I have one slip-in album.

Advantages:
&#8226Easy. You do not have to add page protectors because they are already part of the album.

Disadvantages:
&#8226You can not add pages to the album.
&#8226In order to rearrange your pages, you will have to remove the scrapbook pages from the page protectors and rearrange instead of just moving page protectors around.

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The Everyday is Scrapworthy

Posted on 10/25/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Many people begin scrapbooking to document life changing events in their life (e.g., marriage, birth of a child, retirement, death of a loved one, wedding anniversary, an important trip). Some of these people become scrapbookers and some of these people never scrapbook again. Eventually they run out of life changing events to scrapbook. We are caught up. This works well for many people. They want to document the big events in their life. This is why they scrapbook. There are other scrapbookers, however, that scrapbook simply because they enjoy scrapbooking. Don’t get me wrong, they want to document their life and the lives of their loved ones, too, but they derive great joy out of the craft. I fall into this group of scrapbookers.

I created my first scrapbook in 2001. I was the secretary for student group on my college campus and was in charge of preserving the history of the group. Each year the secretary included photographs in a scrapbook of sorts for the group. After I completed this task, I went to Europe for the first time as part of a study-abroad trip. I created a scrapbook of this trip. As luck would have it, I managed to go Europe for a second time in one year (unfortunately, I have not been back since 2002). I created a scrapbook about that trip, too. When I went to buy a scrapbook album from the craft superstore near my home, I saw a sign for as scrapbook store. I ended up buying an album at that store and joined their mailing list. A couple of months later they had an advertisement for a job. I applied. I was in graduate school at the time and the advertised hours would fit into my schedule perfectly. I was hired to work at this store in 2003. I didn’t really consider myself a scrapbooker at the time. I made scrapbooks for trips but that was it. Well with this job came a sweet employee discount. Perfect! I set about putting a lifetime’s worth of photographs and memorabilia into scrapbooks. I was hooked!

The longer I worked in the industry the more my scrapbooking changed. I became an everyday scrapbooker. I scrapbook the special occasions but now I also scrapbook the everyday. I am just as likely to take a photograph of my garden as I am a wedding. This brings me to a post by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (and blog of the same name). In May, she wrote a post about how routines in her life contributed to her and her family’s happiness. This reminded me a lot of everyday scrapbooking. Taking photographs, collecting memorabilia, buying scrapbook supplies, and using all three elements to create scrapbooks makes me happy. Some scrapbookers have given everyday scrapbooking a whole new meaning. Becky Higgins has Project Life, where the goal is to take a photograph every single day and compile them into one scrapbook. Each year Ali Edwards leads readers of her blog on her journey of creating a scrapbook documenting one week in her life. At this point in my life I don’t quite take photographs everyday or make any attempts to document everyday in a week, month, or year, but I do strive to document the everyday and ordinary aspects of my life and the life of my family. Now if I combine the two practices (photograph/scrapbook page a day and recognizing what makes one happy), it provides me with new perspective on what I might consider to be scrapworthy. I have made two albums for my daughter that are “day in the life” albums (I did these digitally). Perhaps I should occasionally do this for myself or at least focus on the whole family.

Regardless, I think it is important as a scrapbooker to sit back and think about why you are scrapbooking. What do you get out scrapbook? Please share in the comments section why you scrapbook. Or, why you don’t scrapbook. I find it funny to hear other people who scrapbook talk about how they “are so far behind” or “are all caught up in their scrapbooking.” I encourage scrapbookers to banish this kind of thinking from their life. You are not behind just like you are not fat or you are not a bad mother. To me it is just another way that women in particular denigrate themselves and compete with one another. We have to stop doing that! I may have a couple of years worth of photographs to still scrapbook before I could be considered “caught up” but what would I do then?

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Scrapweb October 22, 2010 Edition

Posted on 10/22/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Ali Edwards is giving away a digital element on her blog.

Becky Higgins talks about her picture-a-day philosophy on her blog a couple of weeks ago. Wow, a picture every day! I don’t know if I am up for that challenge. I am an everyday scrapbooker but take most of my photographs on special occasions. For instance, there were hundreds of photographs from my daughter’s second birthday (thanks to her aunt, who I gave my camera to and said take pictures). I think approaching life from a picture-a-day mindset would reduce the number of special occasion photographs and increase the everyday pictures. Which tells the more complete story of me and my family?

Celebrate Life is challenging scrapbookers to use old photographs. In this post, the photo in question came out of picture frame that had been displayed for quite some time. I liked this post because many scrapbookers are fearful of being behind in their scrapbooking. Just remember, whenever you do scrapbook something, your memory of the moment is never going to be exactly like it was when the moment happened. Just go with it.

Get It Scrapped! has a post about using color. Debbie Hodge poses five questions to consider when choosing colors for your scrapbook pages. My number one “rule” is that the colors should be pulled from the photographs. Hodge lists this second! Her first “rule” is to think about the emotions you want to evoke. Great point! Now dear readers, how to you go about selecting colors for your scrapbook pages?

If a photo-a-day is an easy challenge, head on over to Lain Ehmann’s blog, Layout a Day, for tips from guest blogger Jennifer S. Wilson to make it easier to accomplish.

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B & B Review: Cathy Zielske’s Blog

Posted on 10/21/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

This entry is part 2 of 45 in the series Books & Blogs Review

This is the first installment of the B & B Reviews.

I have been following Cathy Zielske’s Blog for a few months now, but have been familiar with her as a scrapbooking celebrity for a few years. I remember browsing her books while an employee at my local scrapbook store. I chose her blog to review first because her scrapbooking is probably the least like my own scrapbooking style. Zielske’s focus is digital and hybrid scrapbooking. I do some digital scrapbooking but mainly create traditional or conventional scrapbooks.

I reviewed her posts from September 15 – October 15, 2010—one month. I settled on a month’s worth of posts because I thought this would best represent the author. One week might not work if I happen to chose a week the blogger is on vacation. A month illustrates more fully what the whole blog is potentially about. Even this has its limitations as a writer’s style and focus may shift over time. I suppose this means that I will just have to re-review blogs in the future. Anyway, on to the review!

Cathy Zielske’s Blog is not just about scrapbooking. She also writes about her new year’s goal of “moving more, and eating less.” With this in mind, she shares with her readers some of her weight loss strategies (she is also a runner and a cyclist). I really like how she stresses the moving part over the eating part, thought she does sometimes talk about the eating part. Her family has also recently undertaken a home remodeling project, which she shares with her readers on her blog.

Now, you may be thinking “what about scrapbooking?” There is plenty of that, too. In fact, her “moving more, eating less” progress has been chronicled in her scrapbooking. She also shares layouts as way to educate readers. Zielske is a trained graphic designer before becoming a scrapbooker in 2001. She has her own line of digital products from Designer Digitals available for purchase and she occasionally gives away digital goodies, too. In October, she began a series of posts called “Make a Page Mondays” in order to show her readers the pages she is making and how to use some of her digital products. She goes step by step through the process making even the most digital-phobic scrapbooker want to try it out.
Most of Zielske’s posts include photographs of herself, her family, or other items to illustrate her posts (e.g., a photograph of her running shoes). This makes it easy to see right away if the post is something you want to finish reading. You see the photograph and instantly want to know the story behind the photograph (isn’t that what scrapbooking is all about?).

Over one month, Zielske posted 21 times and had five giveaways. I recommend reading her blog if you are interested in any self-improvement projects outside of scrapbooking or wondering how to incorporate self-improvement projects into your own scrapbooking. I also think she is a good source to look to if you are interested in digital scrapbooking or just using software programs to edit your photographs before using them in traditional scrapbooking. Zielske is a scrapbooking educator. She teaches online classes for Big Picture Classes and has published two books on scrapbooking, Clean and Simple Scrapbooking and Clean and Simple Scrapbooking — The Sequel. She has a positive attitude about life and it shows in her posts. For happy, scrapbooking-related reading, check out Cathy Zielske’s Blog!

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The Growth of Scrapbooking (or Should I Open a Scrapbook Store?)

Posted on 10/20/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

One reason I focused on scrapbooking for my dissertation research is because the industry grew so quickly in a short period of time. I began working in the industry in 2003, which is around the time the industry was peaking. In this post, I will discuss the growth of scrapbooking and a few reasons why you probably do not want to open a scrapbook store.
1. The scrapbook industry has peaked. The first scrapbooking store opened in Spanish Fork, UT in 1981^{1, 2} and later became the first online scrapbook store in 1996^{2, 3}. Scrapbooking grew from a nearly non-existent industry in 19951 to a $2.5 billion industry in 2003⁴. The Hobby Industry Association went from having zero booths devoted to scrapbooking product at their annual trade show in 1996 to 100 booths in 1997¹. Though the scrapbooking industry experienced a sharp increase in its early days, sales have declined since about 2004⁵. At its peak, scrapbooking was said to be more popular than golf. The pervasiveness of scrapbooking, however, is open to debate due to flawed industry sponsored marketing research (email stephaniemedleyrath at gmail dot com for a copy of my dissertation to get more details on this subject). Scrapbooking is not going away, but it probably will not be as big as it once was unless we take into account the number of people making photobooks. Kim Guymon posted on this very same topic this week (a complete coincidence as this was the next topic in my dissertation following my post last Wednesday). She raises several valid points as to why scrapbooking is experiencing a decline of sorts.
2. Lack of readily available and good market research. To my knowledge, no survey exists that accurately or even semi-accurately measures how many scrapbookers there are in the United States let alone the world. According to one allegedly nationally representative study, nearly 30 percent of U.S. households have at least one member who scrapbooks⁶. Another study found “that only 1.7 percent of the American population, or 4.5 percent of women between the ages of 16 and 64” scrapbook^{7, 8}. Finally, a third study suggests that 12 percent of households contain a scrapbooker⁹. I believe the truth lies somewhere in between. Part of the difficulty in assessing how many households or how many people scrapbook has to do with what counts as a scrapbook and the fact that many people may scrapbook but do not identify as a scrapbooker (more on this later posts). Part of it has to do with the motives of the data collectors. It is difficult to get the full details of any of these studies as the data are sold for marketing purposes rather than shared for free with anyone. Even less is known about how large the scrapbook industry is outside the U.S., but it is an international industry. For example, Creative Memories® has consultants in eight countries and its word stickers are available in English, French, and Spanish, suggesting a customer base outside of the United States strong enough to support the production of these items.
3. Ability to break even let alone make a profit. Most of the merchandise in a scrapbook store is very low cost. Pattern paper and stickers can have a high profit-margin, but when you are selling items for less than a dollar or a couple of dollars, you will have to sell a lot of them to make any money at it. Some of the most popular scrapbooking items for sale are high-cost items. I remember when I entered the scrapbooking industry. No one used die-cuts—at least not the cool kids. How old-fashioned! What were we, elementary school teachers (my apologies to elementary school teachers)? Today, the most heavily marketed items are, you guessed it die-cutting machines. These items are high-cost and can be profitable—at least quite a bit more profitable than cardstock. The problem though is that you have to convince scrapbookers to layout an investment of anywhere from around $60-300 for the machine and then get them coming back to you to buy more dies or go through you to download die-cutting software. You know how many abc stickers I can buy for $300? You know how many font cartridges I can buy for $300? I am not completely opposed to personal die-cutting machines (I do own one of the lower-cost models), but I am a serious scrapbooker (which I will discuss in a later post) and I am not willing to invest several hundred dollars in glorified stickers (my guess is the major die-cutting machine manufacturers will not be advertising with me anytime soon).
4. Unreal expectations. There is also a segment of people out there that have unreal expectations about what running a scrapbook store will be like. There are those who believe they will now have more time to scrapbook. Not true. You will have less time to scrapbook but will have to help other people who do have time to scrapbook do it. There are those who believe it is the perfect job to balance work and family. Sort of. Yes, you can bring your kids with you to work. You are the boss after all, but how much work can you get done with your kids with you. But my community needs a scrapbook store. No it doesn’t. I can buy all of my scrapbook supplies online. I can even take scrapbooking classes online. I do not need a brick and mortar store to do those things. Do local scrapbook stores build community? Yes, of course, and I miss that dearly from the store I used to work for that is now closed, but, I can get community elsewhere. I can scrapbook with other people outside of a scrapbook store. A scrapbook store is a business like any other. Do your homework first before pursuing it as a career. If all you can think of are positive reasons to open a scrapbook store, rethink this path. Realize that if you want to be your own boss there are more profitable ventures than this one.
In conclusion, I would love nothing more than there to be a scrapbook store on every corner, but there are many reasons why you should not open a scrapbook store. That being said, maybe you will overcome the odds and you will be my new favorite scrapbook store! After all, most businesses fail and fail quickly, but many do succeed.
References
¹Davis, William A. 1997. “Just Mad About Scrapbooks Makers Go Over the Top with Backdrops for Family Memories.” Boston Globe, August 30, p. C1.
²Helfand, Jessica. 2008. Scrapbooks: An American History. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
³Scrapbook Classroom. 2008. “History of Keeping Memories Alive.” Retrieved March 14, 2010
(http://scrapbookclassroom.com/history-of-keeping-memories-alive/).
⁴Castleman, Lana. 2003. “Michaels Succombs to Scrapbook Fever.” Kidscreen, October 3. (Retrieved from LexisNexisTM Academic August 19, 2005.)
⁵Crow, Kelly. 2007. “Wanted: A Few Good Men (With Scissors); As Scrapbook Sales Slow, Industry Woos Males; Lug-Nut Stickers, $2.49” The Wall Street Journal, April 6. Retrieved February 16, 2010 (http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117581834237461642-0
bmDQEcs4PD3zksSTgEcdHO5_EHs_20070416.html?mod=msn_free).
⁶CK Media. 2007. 2007 National Survey of Scrapbooking in AmericaTM Executive Summary.
⁷Conforto, Dennis. 2007. “2007 Scrapbooking Consumer Trend Report.” Scrapbooking.com.
⁸Scrapbooking.com. 2010. 2010 Magazine Profile. Retrieved April 13, 2010
(http://scrapbooking.com/sales/files/MagazineProfile.pdf).
⁹Anonymous. 2007. “Scrap Mania; Hobbies. (launch of Martha Stewart-brand Scrapbook Supplies).” The Economist, May 26, pp. 73.

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Hoarding?

Posted on 10/19/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Erin Doland of Unclutterer had an interesting post raising the question about whether people preserve for posterity or are hoarding. Where does scrapbooking fit into this? I like to believe I am scrapbooking for posterity and am not hoarding, but where is the line? This summer I tossed nearly all of my photographs (probably 2,000 photographs) that I had decided were not scrapworthy. I literally put them in the trashcan. I resist hoarding but there is always that little voice in the back of my head telling me “you might need that some day.” Yeah, I might, but most likely I won’t. How do you draw the line to prevent hoarding? This kind of boils down to how do you decide if something is scrapworthy or trashworthy?

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Makers of Scrapbooks

Posted on 10/18/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

This post refers to my dissertation but is not really about my dissertation.

In my dissertation, I used the words artists, crafters, hobbyists, and handcrafters interchangeably when referring to scrapbookers. I found that scrapbookers consider their work to be both an art and a craft, which is consistent with previous research.¹ I also learned that not everyone who makes scrapbooks considers what they do to be scrapbooking or themselves to be scrapbookers. Scrapbooking is many things, which is why it is difficult to say definitively that it is art or it is a craft and so on. I would consider some of my own layouts as art (in my eyes…good enough to framed and hung up on a wall in my house). Some of my other layouts, well, they are done. They are scrapbook pages, but I would not consider them to be very artsy or artistic.

What do you think scrapbooking is? Is it art? Is it a craft? What is the difference between an art and a craft?

In Western Society, art is typically thought of as that which is exhibited and sold² and being housed in an art museum confirms its status as art.³ For the most part, scrapbooks are not exhibited or sold but that does not mean they are not a form of art. What do you think? Is scrapbooking art? Is all scrapbooking art?

Are we even scrapbooking? Is it more accurate to say we are album-making? In The Creative Memories Way, Cheryl Lightle and Rhonda Anderson encourage readers to refer to the activity as album-making because “scrapbooking is viewed as a hobby or a craft, while making keepsake albums is about building connections enriching our lives, and leaving a lasting family legacy” (p. 4).

A fellow scrapbook blogger had a related post about what to call people who scrapbook a couple of weeks ago. Load of Scrap debated the terms scrapbooker, cropper, crafter, and scrapbook artist. Despite scrapbooker not being a real world (or dictionary official) as pointed out on Load of Scrap, I say that is what we are. Scrapbooker is the word I will be using on this blog until someone convinces me that another word is more appropriate.

The Point is…

The terms are used inconsistently and different thought communities want to prevent these terms from being diluted by others. Leisure activities done predominantly by women, such as textile art (e.g., quilting, knitting, crocheting), are typically not elevated from crafts to art by outsiders.² Outsiders (and even insiders) may reflect this line of thinking with regards to scrapbooking. Others suggest that scrapbooking of the past may have been a craft, but today it is “a sophisticated art form.”⁴ In sum, there is a hierarchy with art at the top and craft at the bottom. If this is the reality, then I personally, would like more of us to consider our scrapbooking as art. The major downside of this is that many people get turned off of scrapbooking and never take it up because they do not have the time to create works of art or they do not believe they are creative enough to do art. Crafts on the other hand, are things most people regardless of creativity, can do. Maybe it doesn’t even matter. What do you think?

References

¹Kelley, Ryan E. and Charles M. Brown. 2005. “Cutting Up with the Girls: A Sociological Study of a Women’s Scrapbooking Club.” in The Eastern Sociological Society. Washington, D.C.

²Nelson, Nancy J. , Karen L. LaBat, and Gloria M. Williams. 2005. “More than ‘Just a Little Hobby’: Women and Textile Art in Ireland.” Women’s Studies International Forum 28(4):328-42.

³Peterson, Karin Elizabeth. 2003. “Discourse and Display: The Modern Eye, Entrepreneurship, and the Cultural Transformation of the Patchwork Quilt.” Sociological Perspectives 46(4):461-90.

⁴Fantin, Linda. 2010. “Scrapbooking: The Decade of Documenting.” The Salt Lake Tribune, January 8. Retrieved February 16, 2010 (http://www.sltrib.com/athome/ci_14143276).

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Scrapweb

Posted on 10/15/2010 by Stephanie Medley-Rath

Every Friday, I plan to post a few links to some of my favorite posts from other scrapbooking related blogs.

Posted in Scrapweb | Tagged Scrapweb | Comments Off