“Scrapbooking”…. the joy or bain of my existence, depending on the moment. Most people who know me, know that I’m all about photo/digital image organization and getting them out of hiding and into something in which we can enjoy them, like Digital Storybooking or Picfolio/Traditional albums. When I’m asked, “What do you do?”, my answer is usually something like:
“You know those photos/digital images that can jam up our drawers and clog up our computers? Well, I teach people how to organize them into something they’ll love and make a difference in their relationships.”
Most of the time, the response is “wow, how do you do that?!”, and we often begin an amazing journey from there. Yet, some of the time, the response is “oh, you mean scrapbooking?!!” When I get that response and I followup by asking what “scrapbooking” means to them, I usually hear:
“that’s something my (mom, daughter, sister, aunt, best friend… you fill in the blank) does and she spends hours and hours on her pages (meaning decorating them). They are beautiful and I could/would never have the time/talent/money/interest to do that.”
This is when the term “scrapbooking” is the bain of my existence and why I’m on a quest to debunk the myths of “scrapbooking”.
Let’s see how these myths began, briefly…. when people first started putting photos and captions/stories in albums, it was just that…. photos and stories in albums. This was known as “scrapbooking”, and a company known as Webway was a major player in the album-making field. Many decades later, in 1988, the company I’m excitedly an Independent Consultant for, Creative Memories, (CM) came on the scene, born from the vision and passion of Rhonda Anderson 
and brought to being with the expertise and collaboration of her co-founder, Cheryl Lightle. As the industry evolved, the process of scrapbooking took on a crafting variation which included lots of things with which to decorate pages. Now, people had choices. They could continue in the scrapbook tradition of photos and stories on a page, which in and of itself is NOT particularly time consuming and involves little to no creativity, or those who felt craftier could include and have fun with the new page decorating items, techniques and processes. How nice to have choices, right??
Well, instead of page decorating being a nice option for those who preferred the aesthetics and/or therapy of it, it became the definition of scrapbooking!! Many traditional scrapbookers bought into the myth that in order to make albums or scrapbook correctly (or the “right way”, as I sometimes hear), it had to involve page decorating… and often lots and lots of page decorating. Something which was supposed to be a next step in additional options somehow became the “measuring stick of correctness” and very competitive.
Yes, I will admit that my company and most of our consultants led the way and the call to “craftiness”, while becoming the leading scrapbooking company internationally. Before I became a consultant 6 and a half years ago, even I bought into this myth! Having discovered CM 1993, believing the myth kept me frozen and unable to complete 1 album or even 1 page…. and missing out on a most amazing “secret weapon” in my parenting toolbox while growing my family. Yet, when I did become a consultant with CM, I broke free of these myths (with the help of one very brave and forthright consultant, Kimberli Brackett) and have devoted my energy and attention to helping others do the same; in the process, demystifying and simplifying photo organization and album-making while matching my friend’s and client’s photo preferences to compatible processes and techniques.
That brings us to today and the myths of scrapbooking persist, creating backlogs of printed photos and computers jammed with digital images, not to mention missed opportunities for “bullet-proofing” our relationships. Where are you in this regard? Have the myths held you back? Do you have people in your life who could benefit from albums filled with your encouraging words?
