I scrapped this weekend!
I created 2 layouts and I love them to pieces!
I'm almost certain that, were I to put them online, someone would balk at my use of older Chatterbox/Foofala/3Bugs papers, metal hinges, eyelets and die cut swirls.
I really don't give a hairy rats behind either!
There is nothing more laughable to me than to hear people criticize layouts for utilizing older product. When scrapbooking got it's start, the idea of trends and such nonsense were non existent. Why? Because scrapbooking was a personal thing, a soul searching record of memories and events. Today it's become just another main stream trend that offers potential financial growth for anyone who dares to exploit it.
Buy this! You have to have this! This is the latest craze! Take your craft to the next level with this! Ride this wave! Jump on that roller coaster! Buy! Buy!
Well, with all of this buying and trend watching... who has time to scrap with that kind of product influx! When we (the scrapper) finally come to are senses and stop stock shopping, we are faced with product that became outdated a week after we bought it! Somebody has to use it!
Is there really such a thing as outdated product in scrapbooking? When you think about the history of scrapbooking and the basis on which this craft/hobby was founded, one would be hard pressed to see the concept of outdated product as more than a marketing ploy to convince the overladen scrapper that she needed to keep buying! It's all about the dollar isn't it? If use of vintage (i.e. any paper greater than a month old) product were sanctioned by the industry it would be equated to chopping off a limb, so I'm not going to hold my breath for any sensible revelation out of that particular peanut gallery. Mags often provide articles about using your old stash...nestled neatly amidst 100 pages of trend watch articles and advertisements for the latest and greatest. Which message do you think is going to get the consumer vote?
The really sad thing is that the industry's pimping of products has changed the mindset of the scrapbooker in a not so good way. Take a look at insults that are slung at scrappers who dare to be different; Suzy has been told to go back to her room and play with her decorative scissors and stickers...Pages that fail to showcase the latest trends/product offerings are labeled 'boring', 'beginner', and 'CM style'. Just last week there was discussion on a critic/critique blog about the Pea Garden being inundated with boring "Suzy" layouts that didn't carry much aesthetic worth with 'seasoned' scrappers! Yes, a lot of people jumped in and defended the right of all skill levels of scrappers to post their layouts in the gallery...but amidst those voices of reasoned protest rang a shouts of elitist agreement. Comments were made about how they (Suzy and her posse) need to stop putting those ugly, outdated layouts in the gallery! Some scrapbookers were called praise whores for daring to post the layouts and expect praise, and what praise was given was devalidated and discarded. It seemed that the argument that everyone has a right to scrap the way that they want to scrap, was lost on those who were campaigning for a Stepford gallery.
Alas...I digress...
Just as you are only as old as you feel, your product is only as outdated as you allow yourself to think it is. I have some 1500 sheets of patterned paper and almost as much card stock, I can't afford for it to be outdated! I completed those 2 pages while consciously forcing myself to ignore the little voice that was telling me when I bought each element I tacked on the page. Tonight, I am going to go through some of my older magazine's and look for layouts to breath stale life into with my older stash. I plan to keep on scrapping this way until I've diminished my stash significantly. I'm not going to buy anything new until I do. I haven't purchased scrapping supplies (outside of basic tools) since November and I don't feel the urge to now that I've found a way to squeeze scrapping back into my life. Hopefully, but the time I get around to shopping for paper again the industry will, hopefully, have gotten over itself and started to present products that every scrapper can make use of... not just those that reside out of their boxes or on some artistic island fringe. I'm not going to lie, my moratorium is made that much easier by the industry's current offerings and the pretentiousness that is running rampant. I'm making my scrapping all about me and what I like...outdated or not.
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12 comments:
lol, I think you just hit on the glorious hypocrisy running rampant in the online communities. Everyone calls for new ways to use their stash (aka older product) and yet you're so right - so much of the praising that you see goes to layouts using the hot, new and trendy product. I personally don't care if layouts are posted using older product - I like that it reminds me that I have it and like it and should definitely use it at some point.
I'm with you on the shopping moritorium (other than the occassional hermafix refill, right?). I see nothing out there right now that's different enough from something I have to make it worth adding to the stash.
here here! Great entry CS. I agree with you as well. Although while reorganizing my space (yet again) I now have a BOX of stuff that I know I will never use. Things that I just HAD TO HAVE but in the 2 years they've cluttered my space they haven't made it out of the packaging. So I'm purging. It's not that I don't WANT to use it...but some of it was the latest and greatest and now I think..what was I thinking? Sad really...all that money...on what? A box to sell/give away. I still haven't bought anything new but I also realize that some of this stuff will sit regardless so I might as well get rid of the negativity it causes me just by looking at it. It's a vicious cycle that's for sure.
I tell you what, it was very liberating to use some of those die cut swirls! I was wondering why I even bought them, but since they were purchased 3 years ago when I was first accumulating my stash, I have managed to vindicate myself considerably!
The online hypocrisy is hilarious to me! WHile it does make some upset to have someone say that they shouldn't post layouts that aren't 'up to snuff' in the galleries, it's really laughable to me because they have only turned around and became the very elitists that they renounced to begin with. The sooner the industry re-emphasizes the importance of accepting instead of judging, the better off we will all be. Until then...I will just sit back with my popcorn and Aquafina and enjoy the show.
I personally don't really care what's out there. I buy what I buy because I like it. If it's newer that's great, but there are many many things that I have that are WAY old that I use. I am not scrapping for them, I'm scrapping for myself and that enjoyment....
Because of this mentality, I truly believe that I use what I use, have what I have and don't particularly care about posting my stuff if it's old... The older the better because as much as it isn't in "now" it once was and is still as cute as it ever was! I didn't back then and I won't now buy just cuase it's out there for sale. If I don't like it, I don't care how many people run out to buy it, I won't buy it.
Seems to work for me too, cause I've been pubbed, am on DT's, and manuf. DT's too!
I say stick with what works for you!! If it doesn't work for them who cares!!
While I agree there were several posts on the critique board about the quality of the layouts in the gallery a 2peas after the exit to the sis site, I don't think that was the opinion of the majority. I think most agreed that it was a refreshing change to see something besides doodled up hambly "artwork".
I agree that on one critique board there was some pretty firm opposition to the elitist views of the people who felt that the quality of the Pea Garden was somehow degraded by the prominence of 'non designer' layouts. However, the critique blog is merely the tip of the iceberg. There have been a plethora of comments (some subtle, some not so much) about What happened to the Garden? in more places than just one critic blog. There have been posts covering this same topic. My entry today is not about the critic blog, it's about something much larger than a single venue, I really hope that my mentioning one instance that validates the theme of today's topic doesn't lead anyone to think that I am pointedly attacking another blog.
I didn't think that AT all. In fact it didn't even cross my mind!!! It's not all about another blog or another board.. It's about products new or old!!!
You are so right !
That's one of the reasons why I have cancelled all of my SB subscriptions. I just wanted to go back to the basics of scrapbooking, enjoying the real fun of it. I am just so fed up with that boring "keeping up with the Jones" syndrom.... scrap pear pressure ?
Fashion, fads and trends are too lame for me.
And you know what ? ever since I left the scrap scene, I'm a happy scrapper once more !
6:05, I was initially amazed at how much better it felt to scrap again! I remember when I first started scrapping, I wasn't connected to the online community and page ideas would just pour out of my head when I sat down to scrap. There was no right or wrong and it was all about me. I have an entire album of pages that I made within a months time...way back then. Life was so much easier before I allowed myself to believe that there is such a thing as a standard for scrapping. If we could all get back to the feel good portion of scrapping, I think we'd all be better off!
1:41 I apologize if I've somehow offended you, that wasn't my intent. I misunderstood what you were trying to say in your previous post, obviously, but such is the case when conversations are had on a computer instead of face to face.
ONne of the good things about being human is we get to err, right?
Just so you know, you did not offend me at all. I was responding to the 10:23 response about offending anyone from another blog. I didn't think you offended anyone at all and stated that because this thread is about old/new products. I personally feel that many have lost what this hobby is truly about. So much time and energy is spent on the "new" and exciting stuff that one doesn't even have the time to stop and enjoy it. I liked all of your comments and did not feel in any way that you were attacking me or anyone else. :)
I just finished two mini-accordion albums -gifts for our teen-age nieces, using (gasp, clutch pearls,LOL)DIE CUTS-and of course we know that designers/life artists never use die cuts anymore.
I also still use stickers if they work with the layout.
The trendy aspect of scrapping has really gone crazy, and I'm doing my best to steer clear of it
Thank you 9:53, I'm glad that you took the time to post that...communication...well...effective communication has taken a vacation in much of the online scrapping world as of late. It's good to know that we can all just sit here and misunderstand each other without anyone resorting to pouting or name calling! Somebody pinch me (not hard), I must be dreaming! A semblance of unity...who woulda thunk it?
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