Thursday, April 30, 2009

What makes it a scrapbook

The other day I was reading one of the many scrapbooking forums (sorry could not find the forum) and a person started arguing with another poster that her digital scrapbooking layout collection couldnt be considered a scrapbook. After rolling my eyes at a person who was just making a mountain out of a mole hill, or is just closed minded to other possibilities, I started to think. What really is it that makes our collection of cherished memories a scrapbook. Now some dictionaries define a scrapbook as a book, similar to a notebook or journal, in which personal or family memorabilia and photos are collected and arrange. But really if you look at the history of the craft way before Utah, you will see that scrapbooks were products of the current technology

Now some historians say beginning in the 15th century, commonplace books, popular in England, emerged as a way to compile information that included recipes, quotes, letters, poems and more. Each commonplace book was unique to its creator's particular interests. Friendship albums became popular in the 16th century. These albums were used much like modern day yearbooks, where friends or patrons would enter their names, titles and short texts or illustrations at the request of the album's owner. These albums were often created as souvenirs of European tours and would contain local memorabilia including coats of arms or works of art commissioned by local artisans. Then in 1570, it became fashionable to add colored elements depicting popular scenes such as Venetian costumes or Carnival scenes. These provided affordable options as compared to original works and, as such, these items were not sold to commemorate or document a specific event but specifically as embellishments for albums. Later in 1826 with the development of modern photography created by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, came what was seen as the first permanent photograph . Photography became available to an ever-widening population with the invention of George Eastman's paper photographs in the late 1880s and the mass production of the Kodak Brownie, a camera designed to be simple (and inexpensive) enough for a child, in 1900. This allowed the average person to begin to incorporate photographs into their scrapbooks.

So as you can start to see what we now see as scrapbooks, photo books, and even photo albums, were just results of the technology that was made available to the average person. Now look around today at the average household. More and more people are moving away from paper items (books, newspapers, magazines, etc..) for several reason. Paper is getting more and more expensive, it takes up room, if not properly stored and treated it can fade or even deteriorate. So it stands to reason that people will move to a more technical solution to collect their sacred memories and mementos. In the 20th century and before paper was the gold standard there was nothing better, but now there is a choice, and as more people become better aquinted with technology, I see more people storing their scrapbooks electronically. Whether its a electronic frame, a slide show on their media PC, or its a online slide show, I really see this new presentation medium as an extension of what has come before for hundreds of years.

Now personally I prefer the idea of having a paper album with memories that you can thumb through, but really with my available time, and my skills with computer graphics, I have decided to do my layouts digitally. Does this mean all paper scrappers need to go digi? Heavens no. Its just there are many of us that are comfortable doing digital, just like there are many who only do paper. I think the future of the craft is a bridging of the two ideas Whether thats making designs digitally and printing it out using services like craftsassy.com or Photo Books {etc}. Or designing your projects with paper, verious tools and glues and scannig them, or maybe it will be a interactive technology we have only dreamed of. The bottom line is like any creative medium there are many variations out there, and we can all appreciate each others work and collectively say we all make scrapbooks.

Thanks for yor time

Jeff

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

New Template Products in the Shop

Hi all,

We just added some new goodies to the shop and members area. Check out these great new shape templates. Perfect for adding some distinct lines to your layout designs. Simply resize as needed then style or recolor them as needed even use the as a clipping mask.


We hope you enjoy them.

Jeff

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ready for NSD09???

Hi all,

Some of you might ask what is NSD09. Well NSD is short for National Scrapbooking Day. NSD was started in 1994 by the well-known album company Creative Memories. and is celebrated on the first Saturday each May. Thank you Creative Memories for giving us a day for our favorite hobby!
That means for this year NSD will be on May 02. So what will you be doing??

What you don't have plans.. hmmm how bout this. Here are a few ideas of what you can do.

1. Go out and attend a crop or scrapbooking party! Of course, this would be #1 on the list! There is nothing better, and more motivating, than to scrap with friends! If you didn't plan to attend a crop, be spontaneous and consider inviting some friends over!

2. Go shopping at your LSS (Local Scrapbook Store)! No scrapper can resist buying some new goodies! If you find that you are on more of a shoestring budget, set yourself a limit, say $5.00, and buy some new papers or some new stickers.

3. Scrap by family! We all do scrapbooking by ourselves from time to time, but what about with your kids. Share the creation of these magic moments with them. build the project together to make it more magical.

4. Learn a new technique! Even if you aren't signed up for your local scrapbook stores (LSS) classes, turn to the Internet to learn to learn a new technique for your pages. Visit your favorite search engine, and type in what you would like to learn about.

5. Join a new email list! There are literally hundreds of scrapbooking email lists on the Internet, so why not join a new one! Just visit sites such as http://groups.yahoo.com or http://www.topica.com and put the word "scrapbooking" into their search box. Even if you don't want the extra email, you can always read the messages on the web!

6. Submit your best layouts to magazines! If you find that you are home on NSD, why not submit some of your best layouts to magazines?

7. Organize! Is your scrapbook area getting a little cluttered? Spend some time organizing and decluttering it! While this may not sound like a fun thing to do, it is essential to have a neat scrapping space to create your masterpieces.

8. Copy And Steal Everything (CASE)! One of the best ways to get ideas for your own layouts is to see what other scrappers have created. Spend some time reviewing your favorite scrapping magazines or visit a site such as http://www.scrapbooking.com to be inspired.

9. Try something different! Have you always wanted to use your rubber stamps in your layout? Maybe you would like to try the use of wire, jute, buttons, or ribbon? If you have always thought of using something non-scrapbooking related in your album, spend some time doing just that!

10. Teach! I think one of the best way to spend NSD is to teach a non-scrapper your favorite hobby! Think of at least one friend or family member that doesn't scrapbook, invite them over (be sure to have them bring some photos), and let them use your supplies to create a few pages. Before you know it, you will have a new scrappin' buddy!

So get out and about this NSD09. Enjoy yourself. and have fun doing your favorite hobby.

Thanks for your time

Jeff

Free Mothersday Card on Scrapblog

Create multimedia digital scrapbooks for free at Scrapblog. Print your creations into high quality keepsake books, soft cover books, greeting cards, and post cards.

Hi all,

One of our favorite digi scrapbooking tools is Scrapblog.
Its and online program, its easy to use, and best of all its FREE!!! For those of you who have not seen Scrapblog before, here is a cool video from the folks at Life Time's The Balancing Act. The video will give you a quick run through of what Scrapblog has to offer.

Also in the video they mention a great offer Scrapblog is doing for Mother's Day. Simply go to Scrapblog's site and you will see an offer to design and have sent a free Mother's Day Card. So Go Check em out.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Our New Home for Rambling On!!!

Hi all,

I have finally updated our blog. We were using an old tool from our content site, but there are just too many cool add ons now that our old blog did not support. You can still read our old postings by going to: http://bwscrapbooking.com/modules.php?name=News

So tell us what you think. What types of digi, paper, or hybrid scrapbooking do you want to discuss?

We look forward to hearing from you.

Jeff
Owner
BWScrapbooking
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