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Products we like: American Crafts Treehouse Foam Kids, $2.79
The conversation was started by Jessica Helfand, a graphic design instructor at Yale University and founding editor of Design Observer. Helfand dared to wonder if scrapbooking, with its "dizzying array of paper punches and themed stickers and specialty papers," was blurring the definition of graphic design and not necessarily in a good way.
Her commentary was self-deprecating and mostly complimentary of modern scrapbooking - in a whodathunkit kind of way. I didn't have to read many responses to know Helfand had waded into quicksand.
Try this: Instead of buying envelopes for handmade cards, try wrapping the card in a piece of specialty paper and ribbon. That way the packaging becomes part of the gift.
(Linda Fantin)
Yes, Virginia, there is a lot of art and design in scrapbooking. Now beat it before I smack you with my Sizzix!
Helfand hit a nerve alright, and like any good, cultural anthropologist, she started digging, collecting, examining and trying to make sense of the scrapbooking subculture. In her soon-to-be-released book - Scrapbooks, An American History - she explores the evolution of this rich and quirky form of narrative expression, and devotes an entire chapter to reconciling modern scrapbooking with the visual autobiographies of generations past.
Helfand, in an interview from her New England studio, told me it was the most difficult chapter to write. I can see why.
Before crops and Cricuts and "cute" were a common part of the vernacular, scrapbookers were more resourceful.
Prior to 1928, the year Scotch tape was invented, people used Band-Aids, wax, headpins - even spit - to adhere stuff to pages, Helfand said. And people had no compunction about preserving chewed gum and cigarette butts,
Buy the Book: 'Creative Albums' by Donna Downey (Simple Scrapbooks, $14.95) shows you how to create albums from everyday items you find around your home. With Donna's step-by-step instructions, most of the 25 projects can be completed in an afternoon. And if you don't happen to have a cigar box lying around, she'll tell you where to buy one.
Beyond such oddities, scrapbookers were more introspective, perhaps because they never intended their visual diaries to be on public display. Modern-day scrappers, by contrast, love to share their designs and ideas, and, let's be honest, to clutter their pages with ready-made, homogenous supplies.
Although this commodification has spurred a scrapbooking renaissance, Helfand worries that it is eroding originality, not inspiring it.
I agree. Speaking for myself, I've gone from scrapbooker to crapbooker, investing thousands of dollars in paper, glue dots and doodads and then doing the equivalent of
Bob Miller, 70, made this scrapbook as a boy. I have a memory of that book, it s one of the few I have from that age, so it s a significant memory of my life. (Linda Fantin)
But it was not Helfand who brought me to this realization. That credit goes to Bob Miller.
Bob is my father-in-law, and last weekend Phil and I traveled to Illinois to celebrate his 70th birthday. As we were leaving, Bob tucked a brown leather book into a sack, along with an antique coffee grinder. This is my first scrapbook, he said. I want you to have it.
I expected baby photos, report cards, a baptism certificate. Instead, I found page after page of magazine images, neatly cut and glued to brittle, brown paper. No writing. No chewing gum. Just army tanks, trains, planes, Plymouths and lots of cute, cuddly animals.
He couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 when he made it. I could see him sitting on the floor of Grandma Merna's house, surrounded by Look and Life and the Saturday Evening Post, choosing, cutting, gluing, the neighbor boys doing the same thing.
"We'd look at them, show each other," Bob said. "I have a memory of that book, it's one of the few I have from that age, so it's a significant memory of my life."
"Meaningful memory" may not translate into art, but it's a poetic reminder of what scrapbooking should be about.
scrapbooking@sltrib.com
Workshop:
Workshop: Baby Card
Creative Imaginations has carved out a niche with its many chipboard mini-books.
Here, we personalized the Baby mini-book as a card using Deja Views' My Precious Boy Little Ones Collection, designed by Sharon Ann.
It comes with paper, punchouts, borders and alphabet letters.
We also added some felt flowers, ribbon and other embellishments.
The key to covering chipboard is to trace the shapes and cut inside the lines with scissors or a craft knife.
If the paper still doesn't match up exactly, use sandpaper to shape the edges.
Also, if you use brads, you may want to attach them to the paper before gluing the paper to the chipboard.
Products we like
- American Crafts' Treehouse Foam Kids, $2.79
- Creative Café Swatchbook Impress-on Alphabets, $18.99
- Fiskars Large Round n Round Squeeze Punch, $12.99
- Deja Views' Sharon Ann My Precious Boy Collection, $11.99
- American Crafts' Remarks Journaling Stickers, $4.49
Try this
Instead of buying envelopes for handmade cards, try wrapping the card in a piece of specialty paper and ribbon. That way the packaging becomes part of the gift.
One for the money
Save money by storing your pens correctly. For gel pens, store them vertically with the tipside down. For dual-tipped markers such as those made by Zig, store horizontally.
Buy the Book
Creative Albums by Donna Downey (Simple Scrapbooks, $14.95) shows you how to create albums from everyday items you find around your home.
With Donna's step-by-step instructions, most of the 25 projects can be completed in an afternoon. And if you don't happen to have a cigar box lying around, she'll tell you where to buy one.
