Scrapbook Insider: Preserving memories and the planet

Posted: 12:53 PM- If everyone lived like me, we would need five earths.
    That's the assessment of my employer, American Public Media, owner of the public radio show Marketplace and creator of the sustainability game Consumer Consequences.
    The online exercise poses a series of questions about housing, travel, eating, energy use and other lifestyle choices. Since I recently made a few changes in these areas, I was stoked to see my score.
    I walk to and from work every day and drive my car about once a week. I live in a 900-square-foot loft in a converted warehouse with no lawn to water. I recycle more often, buy more organic food and no longer subscribe to the Sunday New York Times.
    In fact, my personal environmental impact statement was looking pretty stellar until the last series of questions:
    - How do your shopping habits and money spent on goods and services compare with the "average American?"
    - How often do you replace your belongings with something new?
    - When given the chance, do you buy green-certified products?
    I knew then and there that I - and the planet - were doomed.
    Stupid scrapbooking.
    Look. I, too, can come up with a number of arguments why scrapbookers are environmentalists in disguise.
    1) We save school papers, old photos, ticket stubs, postcards, newspaper clippings, cardboard - hordes of stuff that otherwise would end up in landfills.
    2) It's impossible to scrapbook and drive, so time spent scrapbooking is time not spent poisoning the air.
    3) When I fork over $150 at a scrapbook store, I walk out with one small sack of stuff compared to four bags of groceries.
    Now that I think of it, I once heard a woman who had just spent $350 at a West Valley City scrapbook store exclaim, "There goes the new barbecue."
    A regular Al Gore in my book, especially if she had her sights set on a Weber.
    But let's be honest. A lot of trees are killed in the name of "preserving" memories. And let's not forget rubber stamping.
    I suppose I could start digital scrapbooking, like Debra Horn of Marshall, Minn., whose designs we've highlighted this month. But I love the texture of three-dimensional scrapbooking, whether it's vellum paper, corduroy brads, metal hinges or chipboard letters. Plus, I spend way too much time on the computer as it is.
    I could commit to using my existing stash before I buy any new stuff. But that's not happening. I like to scrapbook, but I LOVE to scrapshop, and therein lies the problem.
    My best option, then, is to be more discerning about the products I buy and the companies I purchase them from. Considering how few craft companies have taken steps to become environmentally friendly, this alone could severely curb my consumption patterns.
    I could find only a handful of scrapbook manufacturers who have gone green. Piggy Tales, Paper Trunk and Greenfield Paper Co. all use recycled paper. Creative Imaginations prints all domestic paper products using soy inks and Forest Stewardship Council paper, which means it comes from forests managed in an environmentally responsible and economically viable manner. And as of January, Worldwin Papers of Wisconsin uses 100-percent renewable wind energy to make its products and power its facilities.
    There are probably others, but it's not a big crowd, though that could change as more Millennials get into scrapbooking.
    Born between 1982 and 2000, millennials are environmentally conscious and buy products that are environmentally friendly. There are 73 million of them and in two years they will outnumber baby boomers and Gen Xers.
    A key characteristic of millennials is they have grown up very close to their parents, and they remain close as they approach adulthood, according to the Columbia Business Times. In fact, they rely on their parents far more than previous generations and, as a result, have much more influence over their parents' buying decisions.
    That's certainly the case in my family, where I am constantly trying to live up to my kids' example. Neither own cars and both make excellent use of public transportation. When my son complained to me that Kimberly Clark depends on clearcut forests for its products, I couldn't help but wonder from where my stacks of scrapbook paper originated.
    Noell Hyman, a scrapbook designer from Mesa, Ariz., says the growing focus on using everyday items in scrapbooking (like cereal boxes instead of store-bought chipboard) has created a greater awareness of how scrappers have become a shopping-addicted demographic.
    "This new awareness coincides perfectly with the very trendy increase in environmental awareness, so green products and habits are very appealing," she says.
    Let's hope so. The future of our planet depends on it.
    scrapbooking@sltrib.com
   
    Workshop: 'Play Pals,' by Debra Horn
    For this layout, Debra used materials designed by Sande Krieger and Rhonna Farrer of Two Peas in a Bucket, as well as Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS for Mac.
    Debra is a graphic designer and stay-at-home mom from Marshall, Minn. She has been scrapping seriously for about a year. For her Play Pals layout:
    "Mostly I do traditional but I've been getting my feet wet on the digital side. Honestly, I've been trying to steer a little clear of it, since then it would be almost like two hobbies, as I know that I can't quit the other ... I try to make my own stuff so it isn't as quick for me since I tend to think, 'Oh, I could just draw that on Illustrator.'
    "I do like the environmental part of digital scrapbooking though and, of course, that you can change and edit everything so freely. Next week our new printer will be arriving so I'll be able to do more hybrid scrapbooking. I won't be printing as many photos. I won't order as many supplies since I can print a title on a piece of patterned paper and cut it. I'm very excited about it."
   
    Do you have a layout, project or story you'd like to see featured in Scrapbook Insider? E-mail them to scrapbooking@sltrib.com.
   
    Products we like
    Ally's Wonderland beaded stickers, by SEI $4.29
    K&Company, Ancestry.com journaling strips, $3.29
    Prime Marketing, Time chipboard alphabet, $5.29
    Sheer Blossoms & Leaves, by Creative Impressions, $2.99
    Out on a Limb transparency by Hambly Screen Prints, and Feather Boa paper by Pop Culture, $3.25 and $1.39
   
    Try this
    Looking for a way to use all those paper dolls that were once so popular? Try using them to illustrate a children's book.
   
    One for the money
    Next time you're in a cool clothing store like Anthropologie, take your camera and photograph the many cool patterns on skirts and bedspreads, even dish towels. Download and print them for use as background paper, frames or tags.