Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking is a method of preserving, presenting, and arranging personal and family history in the form of a book, box, or card.

In the 15th century, commonplace books, popular in England, emerged as a way to compile information that included recipes, quotations, letters, poems, and more.

[5] For example, college women around the turn of the century used scrapbooks extensively to construct representations of their everyday life as students.

Without photograph albums to provide images of these life events, students created unique representations through scrapbooks in order to illustrate their lives using ephemera and memorabilia.

A page from these subject-based scrapbooks might include class schedules, exam booklets, letters from professors, or other printed material from school events.

Printed material such as cheap newspapers, visiting cards, playbills, and pamphlets circulated widely during the 19th century and often became the primary components of peoples’ scrapbooks.

[6] The growing volume of ephemera of this kind, parallel to the growth of industrialized society, created a demand for methods of cataloguing and preserving them.

[7] Several factors, including marketing strategies and technological advancement, contributed to the image of scrapbooking moving further toward the aesthetic plane over the years.

[12] Among the most ardent scrapbookers of the 18th century was William Henry Dorsey, an artist who collected documents, paintings and artifact pertaining to Black history.

Dorsey compiled hundreds of scrapbooks on the lives of Black people during the 18th century and built a collection that he laid out in his home in Philadelphia.

Marielen Wadley Christensen (pronounced as the names "Mary Ellen"), of Elk Ridge, Utah, United States (formerly of Spanish Fork, Utah) is credited with turning scrapbooking from what was once just the ages-old hobby into the actual industry containing businesses devoted specifically to the manufacturing and sale of scrapbooking supplies.

[18] Following the lead of Keeping Memories Alive (which was originally in the smaller building next door and named The Annex in its early years), many other stores have popped up and cater to the scrapbooking community.

[20] However, Creative Memories' parent company filed Chapter 11 in 2013 and became the bankruptcy with the largest debt in the Twin City area.

[22] However, there is much debate among the community of people who engage in memory keeping about what the decline means for the health and future of the industry as a whole.

However, if one takes a closer look, it is easy to see all the ways people continue memory keeping even if it doesn't fall strictly within the definition of traditional scrapbooking as defined here.

[23] Another variation is the introduction and growth of pocket scrapbooking, most well-known and represented by Project Life created and introduced by Becky Higgins.

When scrap artists started moving away from the "page" and onto alternative surfaces and objectives, they termed these creations "altered items" or now simply called "off-the-page".

This movement circles back to the history of art from the 1960s when Louise Nevelson was doing "Assemblages" with found objects and recycled parts.

Many people who enjoy scrapbooking will create their own background papers by using the tools mentioned along with "fancy" textured scissors.

Embellishments include stickers, rub-ons, stamps, eyelets, brads, chipboard elements in various shapes, alphabet letters, lace, wire, fabric, beads, sequins, and ribbon.

The Cricut), enabling scrappers to use their computer to create die cuts out of any shape or font with the use of free or third party software.

Designed to preserve photographs and journaling in their original state, materials encouraged by most serious scrapbookers are of a higher quality than those of many typical photo albums commercially available.

[27] While some people prefer the physicality of the actual artifacts they paste onto the pages of books, the digital scrapbooking hobby has grown in popularity in recent years.

Some web-based digital scrapbooks include a variety of wallpapers and backgrounds to help the users create a rich visual experience.

Over time, this moved to a model of downloading software onto a personal computer that will organize photos and help create the digital scrapbook.

With the growth of Web 2.0 functionality, digital scrapbooking is going back online, to avoid the hassles of having to download and install PC software.

Attendees bring specific supplies themselves to work on said projects and sometimes there are vendors at these events to purchase any extra scrapbooking needs.

At these events ideas are shared, techniques are taught to one another, products used (e.g. cutting machines such as, Silhouette & Cricut) are learned about and attendees have a few hours to days of uninterrupted time to work on their scrapbooks, cards, or any project they are needing to accomplish.

In addition to the collection of photographs, tickets, postcards, and other memorabilia, journaling is often a principal element in modern scrapbooks.

[citation needed] Sketches are a hand-drawn layout showing where to position photos, titles, journaling, and embellishments.