scrapping, then and now (again)

In addition to taking lots of photos, I have been doing some scrapping, and rearranging my scrap space a bit, which I'll show you once it's clean (which means it could be months before I show it to you, lol). Anyway-- 

I've also actually been taking photos of scrapbook pages in order to make a scrapbook layout about my scrapbooking hobby. (did you follow that logic? lol!!) To that end, here's a few possibly/probably never-before-seen scrapbook pages from the archives: 

This page was probably made in the early-mid 2000s;
I'm guessing, since the photos are from Winter 1999.
(not sure, as I didn't used to date my pages when I made them)

I've written a bit already about my scrapbook style changing over time in a blog post titled 'My Scrapping Style Evolution.' I think everyone's style has to change at least a little, based on trends that come and go in scrapping just like in fashion, colors that go into or out of style, and new products or tools that become available for scrappers to use. 

a page documenting moving into my first house--
no patterned paper at all here, just cardstock and stickers!

another page from the early 2000s- no real 'design' to the page at all,
just one piece of patterned paper, and some handwritten journaling.

The pages above reflect the 'trends' and scrapbooking styles of the time in which they were made, and I'm perfectly okay with that. I'm glad I have the photos and the journaling that goes with them safely in my album.

For me, my SB style even changes from page to page, depending on what I'm inspired by at the time: a pretty new patterned paper, using a cool new tool or product I just bought (or maybe just 're-discovered' in my craft room!), whether I have pictures I really want to showcase vs. a story to tell, that sort of thing. And that's perfectly okay- for me, it's necessary, even, to keep me interested in the hobby long-term. (with some things, I have a pretty short attention span and get bored easily!)

Another page about the flowers at my first house,
this page was made last year, I think.
(I probably dated the back of the page)

The page above is definitely full of trendy features a la 2010-to-present: the background was misted and splattered with spray inks, there are cardstock letter stickers, there are two 4x6 photos butted up next to each other on one photo mat, there are layers of patterned paper behind the photos, and there are wood veneer embellishments on the page. I still like it! It reflects 'me' today, as far as scrapping goes. I don't do this kind of thing on every page, but it's fun to 'try on' a trend now and then, and even though there's no 'story' I wanted to tell with these pictures, I'm glad to have the photos on a page instead of in a box.

Left-hand page of a 2-page spread made sometime last year.

This is kind of tough to visualize because these next pages are made to go together in the album, so the pages above and below were made together as a 12 x 24 canvas. (I'll take some photos of them together so you can see how they look together.) But, from the photos here, hopefully you can see that these pages are in a very different 'style' than the pink splattered page above. These two pages are much more about the photos and not so much about the 'artsy' or 'trendy' things used on them. They were designed using a Scrapbook Generations page sketch so I wouldn't have to do the 'work' of designing them from scratch, and the focus is much more on the photos (I hope, anyway) than on the artistic details.

  

right-hand page of the same 2-page spread

Still, the various page details were all chosen to support the photos- from the colors of the cardstock and patterned paper to the stickers and flower embellishments I used. In addition, my switch to a digital camera has led me to take more (and hopefully better quality) photos so some of my pages are more photo-centric and photo-heavy than technique-heavy. I also recorded the main details of the day for posterity, to tell the 'story' that goes with these photos. Whatever works for the given situation and the objective you want to achieve, I say!

And then there's goofy pages like this one, made 'just because'

I used my (new-ish) Silhouette cameo electronic cutter to cut the feather embellishments on this page, so it was partially inspired by a new tool. But it was also inspired by the photos, although not in an overly-serious way. This page was made using a divided page protector, which is also 'trendy' and popular right now; in this way, you can look at the sections individually as well as looking at them as a cohesive 'whole page'  that tells a story (well, that was my intent, at least).

a close-up of the top half of the page

Not sure if you can read it, but the page title is: "Bird Brains-- If birds could talk...' and the journaling says, "every once in a while I get a picture that makes me think, 'what is that bird thinking?' and even though I know they don't really 'think' the way we do, it's fun to imagine."

The thought bubble above the mallard (who is looking intently into the water) is 'Boy, do you look GOOD! (if I do say so myself!)' I've taken enough biology classes to be fairly certain that this mallard isn't actually admiring his reflection in the water, but doesn't it sort of look like that's what he could be doing?? 

a close-up of the bottom half of the page

The thought bubble above the grebe on the left-hand side is, '...I may have overdone it with the hair gel... what do you think?' because in the photo, all his feathers seem to be sticking straight up, like his 'hair' (feathers) is spiked up with hair gel. (if birds used hair gel, that is... haha!) The egret on the right is looking straight at the camera and to me he looked kind of irritated, so his thought bubble says, 'Don't even think about talking to me until I've had my first cup of coffee!'  

So, my scrapbook pages can be artsy and trendy, for showcasing photos and/or telling a story, and some of them are just for fun. (Or they can be any and all combinations thereof.)

One of my ongoing projects for the year (besides re-arranging my scrapping space and trying to keep it clean), is to organize all my layouts in albums, and to finish all the mostly finished layouts I have in piles. When (if) I make some progress on those projects, I'll show them to you as well!