Hi Jennifer, I loved hearing your insight. I have noticed a trend of fewer and fewer vendors (and shoppers) at the stamp show attend every year but this year the shoppers were out in full force! I think there are a few factors with scrapbooking, many you pointed out, we all have enough stash to scrap 5 lifetimes LOL! But also there are online store taking a big chunk out of the pie. also 12 years ago there were not 3 big box craft stores in each city with 40% off coupons, I think many but the things they can there and then pay a crop fee to use them. Also so many people are taking pics with their cell-phone and do not know what to do with them or even how to print them, it feels like a big production sometimes getting the dan pics off the phone and many of my girlfriends confess to just buying a new card when they fill the old one up on their camera. I think there is a false sense of security with the digital images. There was a "gotta get-r-done" mentality when we got a nice stack of photos back from the developer, it was almost easier, now we can edit, perfect, print and home and the options are overwhelming I think. I love the peek inside your scrap-room too! I know my scrapbook tutorial get way fewer views than other craft videos too, I think many scrappers now make cards. My daughters still love to scrap though, there is hope!
thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich I agree with you - I know there are differences regionally and depending on the age group of scrappers we are talking about. But overall I think there is less spending. It is fascinating to me to see newer scrappers in some of the groups I am in -- they are eager to buy and the rest of just shake our heads...they'll learn! LOL
Very interesting perspective. I think that times are constantly changing and crafters of all types are evolving. We have Pinterest, TH-cam, and other web based groups where we learn our techniques from. Once upon a time we were limited to what our LSS's carried and the classes they provided, but now we can do it online. I think it's a good thing to see Target evolving, it gives more people the chance to try something new.
I started out scrapbooking. That's what drew me in like you said that was my entry. Slowly, I began to see how the techniques and things I was learning from all these talented women on YT could be applied to so many other crafty projects. I did get into card making and coloring, junk journals, and altering things, but I still love mini albums and although I don't do Project Life in the tradition sense, I am really loving pocket letters! And I started a Project Life album for my sister and her family. I do find that I'm buying more dies and stamps now and I've stopped buying every little embellishment I see unless I really love it. I'm happy making my own embellishments. I've seen that the crafty community is influencing more and more what manufacturers come up with rather than the other way around. We start using clothes pins and altering them and the next thing you see is a line of embellished clothes pins.
So true. But even with the clothespins.... I saw those at Target and I was like, um, I could just paint the clothespins from the dollar store and get 25 for $1 rather than 4. I think that product is for non-crafters who want the look they see on Pinterest, kwim?
My local scrapbook stores are gone :(. That said, one of my favorite things to do is to go browse at a craft store. I am incorporating mixed media into my scrapbook pages. I do both 12 x 12 and PL. I have PLENTY of paper - probably for a lifetime. However, I do buy paper on occasion to match certain projects. What I tend to buy now is emphemera and other embellishments. Those are often hard to buy in a store and I end up buying those things on line. I hope scrapbooking isn't dead. It's my sanity and my creative outlet. I use a computer all day at work...I want to use my hands to craft.
I think that people are becoming obsessed with planners and decorating them. They use them more for the decorating and adding pictures and journaling then to planner their weeks. In my area all the scrap making stores and places where you would go gather as a group and scrapbook are all gone. Social media isn't helping either. I do everything paper...scrapbook, planner, pocket pages, my version of project life and so on. I still love and will continue in my own little world. You have good instincts on what's going on. Great video.
Hilda Betancourt I think some people are. The planner craze totally does not do anything for me but at the end of the day, it is good to see people keeping their memories however they choose. Thanks for the compliments!
I had read a stat in a stamping magazine a couple of years ago that indicated 70% of scrapbookers make cards but only 30% of cardmakers do scrapbooking. This could explain why vendors carried lots of cardmaking products.
Maybe what we need more of is crop groups where people join together to be social and share techniques, since it's what lots of people enjoy at the expos.
I actually think even card making is on the downswing and that mixed media and art journaling are the trendy things at the moment. I totally agree with you about scrapbooking, I often called it the "gateway drug" of the crafting world, because so many Of us started out scrapping, some still are, but many of us have moved on to other types of crafting. I don't think any particular craft "dies", I think they wax and wane in popularity. There will always be scrapbookers, and at some point the pendulum will swing back that way, but it don't think it will ever be as dominant as it was 10 years ago. Thanks for your take on this and your prospective from the Expo.
Yeah I was surprised to see so much card-making at Expo and those booths were hopping. One reason might be because people can buy the dies and heavy stamps in person at he show and avoid shipping? I'm not sure.
Great take on this. I think you are spot on! I know personally, I still buy paper and embellishments, but I have to really, really love it. I love love love Scrapbook Expo and can't wait for it to come back to Chicago (Schaumburg, IL) in August. I really look forward to it every year. The crops are alot of fun!
I agree with a lot of the things you say, but I think at the end of the day people will go back to scrapbooking. They start off scrapbooking, then are inrtroduced to crafting but once they realize how many more things could I alter and have in my room or how many more cards am I going to make and hoard, those will go back to scrapbooking. At the end of the day its about the memory and forwarding it to your family members. Like kids, grandkids and so on. Atleast this is what has happened to me. I started scrapbooking, ventured off making stick pins, crafting, altering things and now I am back to scrapbooking full force. One thing I have stuck with is making chunky charms, love making them. I did go to the scrapbook expo in March here in Orlando, florida and although I did pay for the weekend to crop I noticed most people just talk and not many get anything done. I have also gone on scrapbooking cruises for the pat 4 years and most of the people get off on the islands, go to shows, the dining room and do not accomplish a thing. I stay in the room from the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed. I know I take it to the extreme, but after all I do go for the cropping and not for the entertainment. I also have been destashing a lot of my supplies that I know I will never ever put on my scrapbook layouts, I purchased them for altering items and with that money, I have purchased a laptop to take to crops and be able to cut svg files for my layouts. Thanks for your input and happy crafting. Ana
Well I'm an artist first, then I went into other things crafty. I did scrapbooks for all my family member and my hubby's family member a few years ago, when it was popular. I burned myself out on scrap booking. I have piles in boxes of photos, and stuff where I've gone on trips but they never make it into an album. I do make cards and I consider them cards. But many that come to my show say those are not cards they are small pieces of art. I still make cards and small crafts to sell at shows because that's my bread and butter. A canvass art piece that's going for $500.00 is going to take a lot more thought than a watercolor card for $5. I enjoy cards when I don't have a lot of time to create, they satisfy my need to create.
You are absolutely right, when I first started going to Expo's I was buying everything. Now that I have too much product I just go with mission for a particular product and for the taking crop class and make and take. Big thumbs up! ;)
I agree with what you said. I also agree with Lindsay that some people are just storing photos digitally and that is so scary to me. My memories are precious and though now I typically buy art journal supplies, I have all the scrapbooking stuff I could ever need and do the occasional layout or pocket page. I even slap pics into my art journal. At the end of the day a stack of printed photos is better than digitally storing photos. Print your pictures people! Scrapbooking them is just for fun, but ya gotta at least print em!
I started with scrapbooking then went t card making. I' pretty much a card maker now. It saves me money on making them verses buying for most part. I have a large stash of paper and a good start on some embellishments. I haven't gone back to scrapbooking I think because its a lot more time consuming than cards and I really don't have anything to take pictures of to scrapbook. Some day I hope t make an Expo just to see what I can find. I would probably enjoy $1 things just because it's cheap. I think I would have to make myself a list of things I'm looking for and try hard to stick with it in order to go to an Expo. TFS
Really enjoyed this video. I'm a newbie; I've only created cards to date but have ideas/plans to branch out. You mention something in the video about folks doing a lot of buying in the past based on fear of not being able to purchase item at a later date. Is this not the case in reality? Because although I've only been at it two years; I really worry about losing out on products and do feel a real subconscious push to buy now! This has lead to a great deal of spending and I'm left wondering if I'm being paranoid and have I dropped money unwisely based on unfounded fear. Love to hear your thoughts on this. I was so impressed to see you had downsize your studio but at the same time I can't imagine how I would even begin to destash when I still feel pressure to buy buy buy!
Tammy Lapointe So many new products come out and so much is repeated that unless you are in love with a particular pattern, there is nothing super special that you will "miss". At least this is what i have found in my 16 years of scrapbooking. I am perfectly find using paper I have from 5 years ago and not using anything new. If I do buy something, I make it be something really special and unique. The most I spent at a scrapbooking store this year was $23. I would stop dropping money, use up what you have. Celebrate milestones, like maybe every 10 projects you can splurge $5 on something at he craft store. This way you can use what you have, still get some new things, and do it all within reason. HTH!
Interesting take on all things crafty. I agree :-) I also think that HOW we craft affects the future of any particular trend or craft. It used to be that there were far more face to face events to attend and you'd invite or be invited by someone. At that crop, you'd learn something new and ---WHAM!---you were all about a new technique or craft! Now, I see a lot more video or web based crafting where less newbies are drawn in, because who's there to invite them? And, as we all know, crafting events are way more about the relationships and entertainment than the actual finished product ;-) Spread the love, mamas (and papas!)!!!
That's an interesting idea. Almost everyone I met in crafting since 2007 I met online through a forum or Facebook or blogging. I think Pinterest is a great entry way into crafting as well as TH-cam. We still have face to face interaction but it is in our homes or hotel conference rooms or trade shows and not in the back of a craft store anymore.
great video and very insightful and i agree with all of your commenters (sp?) too! i started scrapbooking "traditionally" with creative memories right before my (18yo) daughter was born .... and now have been spending my weekend preparing for a destash video! (my daughter will be 18 in june) we had a good run, but now i am a lot more interested in junque journals, mixed media, art journaling, clay & molds, woodburning, rag quilts, etc.... i totally agree that scrappin' was a "gateway drug" lol :) thanks again for doing this video ((new subbie)) God Bless All~ (i must say, tho, i still love my Paper! ha ha)
I miss scrapbooking... When I started I did the best I could to be thrifty and frugal with my scrapbooking, now I'm a bit older and with better financial security... I have only in last few years began spending lots of money on scrapbooking. I'm still "creative" about how I spend though, and rarely pay full retail price. I use coupons, I order on line, and treasure hunt at garage sales and social media swap sites etc. I do try and support local scrapbooking stores and will occasionally drive to a couple on a Saturday and spend some money on new releases that I can't wait for. Also, I'm Canadian so for awhile it was real easy for me to cross the border and visit U.S stores. Not so much now as our dollar isn't doing that well...in fact it'd probably be better for Americans to come here to Canadian scrapbooking stores lol! Anyway, now that I have a fully stocked scrapbook room, all the rage is mixed media and card making! I'm not into that. I just want to be with like minded people again! And yes, I do still scrapbook...but at times it feels I'm scrapbooking in a ghost town, and like a tumbleweed, a strand of ribbon wisps by on the faint laughter and echoes of those who have moved on to gesso and gel mediums, while I lovingly grasp onto my tape dispenser and border punch! I patiently await the rebirth of my beloved scrapbooking! Please tell me it's coming back...sometime!?
We have to keep it going even if that means we run the crops ourselves Rosalie. I'm suprised it isn't as popular as ever in the States - try your local Retirement Villages and Art Colleges for new recruits?
Hi. Thanks for the informative video. I went to Expo last year in Santa Clara, CA. I agree with your perspective. Although I didn't attend any of the crops, I couldn't believe how many people were there!
IDandelion Cottage I definetly would like to see an update. I agree. I myself have accumulated a huge stash. Last year at the expo, I literally had to remind myself over and over, I do not need any paper. I have more than nine boxes full. I have made my stuff into kits of matching themes. I still get drawn to pretty paper. But I just have to keep forcing myself to admit I have enough paper probably for a lifetime. I tend to buy tools more now for techniques to use up my stash. I do like to find the bling or additional embellishment items at discounts. So I am one of those shoppers buying those discounted items. For me, years ago when I seen some of these items first one out, I couldn't afford them. So now if I find a sale on ten year old stuff I am usually thrilled if it was something I wanted back then but couldn't afford. One thing I found interesting was that the companies bring back the same designs years later. Some times they are exactly the same. Other times they change just a few pages in a pad. A friend of mine had a scrapbook store many years ago that closed. She still had lots of product left. So she makes up kits and sell them. I was in heaven when I found her kits. I have bought probably 30 so far. And then over the last few years I start seeing the companies bring back these same designs.
Hi Jennifer, I agree that there is a tide to the industry. A focus on scrapbooking, card making and other crafts come & go. Sometimes fueled by the big box stores like you said. It's definitely alive & well. Great video & observations.
I appreciate the tour and your take. I never look at all the scrapbooks I have made, so now I make cards that I can share with my friends. For me scrapbooking has lost it's appeal.
Hi there Jennifer - well, it's now 2018 and I am wondering what's happened in the States since 2015? Scrapbooking has taken a HUGE hit over here in the UK - in lots of ways! It was BIG in the 1980 -1990's - in the shops and there were Crops-a-plenty to attend! The cost of shipping, tax and customs we have to pay for American paper-craft supplies coming into the UK is verging on being criminal - really it is! HUGE rant here - HUGE!!! It's always been hard to find any decent - and consistant - amounts of scrapbooking stash to choose from - in any craft shop - bricks 'n' mortar or on-line. However, there were the odd few shops such as Rosemary Berry's 'Crab Apple Crafts' in Cheshire, scattered all round the country having the monopoply! I can't find brads and eyelets anywhere in the UK! Even the likes of Tim Holtz is dabbling into patch-work and jewellery these days - now he's not working for Ranger! However, when companies like Kay & Co gave up/sold out to ?? and Basic Grey (I loved them and am mourning there disapperance greatly) gave up Scrapbooking and turned to selling fabric for patchwork and home decor I knew it was curtains for scrapbooking in the UK!! When scrapbboking was popular it was definately the case of you'd better get it now because it won't be coming back. That's how Lidl, Aldi, Poundland, B&M operate - especially the first two with their special/one-off aisles!! Anything worth having is sold out within the first day! It's a riot trying to get to the aisle / shelves! Yard sales don't exist over here, but that's mainly due to our climate (weather) more than anything. FaceBook UK is FULL of selling pages selling anything from cheap not very good quality stock and old machines / equipment to the latest 'must haves' that almost cause world war lll because everyone wants it and MUST have it - at any cost! C.R.A.Z.Y. - right?!! If you are an avid paper-crafter - and proud of it - in the UK you are looked upon almost with pity these days! Patchwork and applique is popular. Knitting and croched is HUGE! Sewing and making clothes is also HUGE! Cross-Stitch was HUGE but that seems to be dying now too. Embroidery, especially with ribbons, is gaining in popularity. Spinning and weaving is coming back, as is Wet Felting - needle Felting is also popular! Card making is HUGE over hear but other crafts are sneaking into the lead too - jewellery making is one. Mixed media is getting BIG over here. Because we all have enough scrapbooking supplies to open our own shops we are having to find ways of using the reems and reems of card and paper stock up! Making toppers and selling them is very popular and is HUGE! Making jewellery, flowers and other 3D items with card and paper is very popular. Bespoke packaging is now HUGE - look at people like Sam Hammond aka 'Pootles' of Stampin' Up! UK (and Europe) and her ever expanding team of 'Pootlers'! 'Project Life' became HUGE for a few years - it's now known as 'Memory Keeping' by Stampin' Up!. Making and swapping 'Pocket Letters' is very popular and is HUGE on FaceBook! 'Stuffed (I'm not convinced that's the right word - could be 'Loaded'?) Envelopes' appears to be a mix between a 'Pocket Letter' but supplying/swapping vintage/shabby/shabby-chic ribbons, lace, buttons and paper. making and swapping ATC's has always been popular and is a fast and efficient way of sharing new and trendy techniques that can be used within other areas of paper-crafting. Personally - I reckon the likes of Prima Marketing (that fabulous Eastern European company) with Farnk Garcia and his fabulous Design Team are leading us the right direction of where scrapbooking is headed. That's beautifully adorned albums and one off items of home decor. One thing is for sure though - we definately need more information about how to use the plethero of tools and equipment out there to get those photos out of all our gadgets and into our work again. So has Scrapbooking - as we used to know it - gone for ever or is it still there but you just have to hunt out shops selling stash and crops to attend? Looking forward to your feedback....... ~ Christine ~ British first, Welsh second - occaisonally English & European - professional paper crafter. xOx
Christine Davies scrapbooking is still there. Just not via stores but via people at home or in small groups scrapbooking together. Definitely a long rant! We had 500+ stores here in Southern California alone. Now we are down to 3 I believe? That's why paper companies like K & Co or BasicGrey closed or scaled back, folded into other brands or industries like fabric. I think too many companies insulted us by coming out with just crap supplies and trying to get us to buy loads of it through a scarcity mindset. Now we all, even people in the UK it sounds from your comment, have piles of crud we all don't want. Prima is based here in Chino, California, not Europe 😉 Scrapbook Expo invited me back last year to do an update to this video. The crop area was larger. The selling area smaller. When I tried to go in the crop area to talk to shoppers, but their staff didn't allow it. It only took 30 minutes to walk the whole show. Thereis nothing to really say about Expo at this point. I may make a video about the state of scrapbooking ...
Thanks for the heart response and your quick reply. Nooo Jennifer! My only rant was this - "The cost of shipping, tax and customs we have to pay for American paper-craft supplies coming into the UK is verging on being criminal - really it is! < < HUGE rant here - HUGE!!!" The last time Tim Holtz / Ranger / Stampendous (?) came over he was held back - in customs - for 12 hours! It's crazy time we are living in! Oh - my bad - why did I think Prima was a European company? Oops! I thinks it's because Anna from - 'The Chronicles of Mixed Media' / 'Craft Box UK' first introduced it to me. Sorry Chino CA!! Is it worth me coming over to the States for a Scrapbook Expo - with a fab holiday thrown in of course? My hubby and I want to do Route 66 (East to West) and I want to go on a real-life Cowboy led Western Style Trek before I get too much older. ;) We know a lovely American couple who we met last time we were over in Orlando. Jo Anne takes an annual Scrapbook Cruise, while her hubby takes himself off trekking, which I believe are popular in the States - but are they good value? I meant to say that MDF crafts, 'Napkin' decoupage and Vinyl- crafts are popular too. ~ C ~
Don't discount the $1 places. I have found older embellishments to match paper I had left and it allowed me to use that up. The last expo I went to the scrap room was mostly empty and I was in and out of the vendor area in under two hours as it was SUPER small. I spent only about $40 and my mom didn't buy anything. I also don't purchase the page kits as I can create those myself with my silhouette. All our local stores closed probably ten years ago so I buy everything online.
Hi Jennifer, I loved hearing your insight. I have noticed a trend of fewer and fewer vendors (and shoppers) at the stamp show attend every year but this year the shoppers were out in full force! I think there are a few factors with scrapbooking, many you pointed out, we all have enough stash to scrap 5 lifetimes LOL! But also there are online store taking a big chunk out of the pie. also 12 years ago there were not 3 big box craft stores in each city with 40% off coupons, I think many but the things they can there and then pay a crop fee to use them. Also so many people are taking pics with their cell-phone and do not know what to do with them or even how to print them, it feels like a big production sometimes getting the dan pics off the phone and many of my girlfriends confess to just buying a new card when they fill the old one up on their camera. I think there is a false sense of security with the digital images. There was a "gotta get-r-done" mentality when we got a nice stack of photos back from the developer, it was almost easier, now we can edit, perfect, print and home and the options are overwhelming I think. I love the peek inside your scrap-room too! I know my scrapbook tutorial get way fewer views than other craft videos too, I think many scrappers now make cards. My daughters still love to scrap though, there is hope!
***** aww, thank you:)
thefrugalcrafter Lindsay Weirich I agree with you - I know there are differences regionally and depending on the age group of scrappers we are talking about. But overall I think there is less spending. It is fascinating to me to see newer scrappers in some of the groups I am in -- they are eager to buy and the rest of just shake our heads...they'll learn! LOL
Very interesting perspective. I think that times are constantly changing and crafters of all types are evolving. We have Pinterest, TH-cam, and other web based groups where we learn our techniques from. Once upon a time we were limited to what our LSS's carried and the classes they provided, but now we can do it online. I think it's a good thing to see Target evolving, it gives more people the chance to try something new.
I started out scrapbooking. That's what drew me in like you said that was my entry. Slowly, I began to see how the techniques and things I was learning from all these talented women on YT could be applied to so many other crafty projects. I did get into card making and coloring, junk journals, and altering things, but I still love mini albums and although I don't do Project Life in the tradition sense, I am really loving pocket letters! And I started a Project Life album for my sister and her family. I do find that I'm buying more dies and stamps now and I've stopped buying every little embellishment I see unless I really love it. I'm happy making my own embellishments. I've seen that the crafty community is influencing more and more what manufacturers come up with rather than the other way around. We start using clothes pins and altering them and the next thing you see is a line of embellished clothes pins.
So true. But even with the clothespins.... I saw those at Target and I was like, um, I could just paint the clothespins from the dollar store and get 25 for $1 rather than 4. I think that product is for non-crafters who want the look they see on Pinterest, kwim?
I agree.
My local scrapbook stores are gone :(. That said, one of my favorite things to do is to go browse at a craft store. I am incorporating mixed media into my scrapbook pages. I do both 12 x 12 and PL. I have PLENTY of paper - probably for a lifetime. However, I do buy paper on occasion to match certain projects. What I tend to buy now is emphemera and other embellishments. Those are often hard to buy in a store and I end up buying those things on line. I hope scrapbooking isn't dead. It's my sanity and my creative outlet. I use a computer all day at work...I want to use my hands to craft.
I think that people are becoming obsessed with planners and decorating them. They use them more for the decorating and adding pictures and journaling then to planner their weeks. In my area all the scrap making stores and places where you would go gather as a group and scrapbook are all gone. Social media isn't helping either. I do everything paper...scrapbook, planner, pocket pages, my version of project life and so on. I still love and will continue in my own little world. You have good instincts on what's going on. Great video.
Hilda Betancourt I think some people are. The planner craze totally does not do anything for me but at the end of the day, it is good to see people keeping their memories however they choose. Thanks for the compliments!
I had read a stat in a stamping magazine a couple of years ago that indicated 70% of scrapbookers make cards but only 30% of cardmakers do scrapbooking. This could explain why vendors carried lots of cardmaking products.
+celinagolo Yeah that's been my experience too :)
Maybe what we need more of is crop groups where people join together to be social and share techniques, since it's what lots of people enjoy at the expos.
Definately Bunny! I'm just about get going with new Crop in my county over here in the UK. ~ C ~
I actually think even card making is on the downswing and that mixed media and art journaling are the trendy things at the moment. I totally agree with you about scrapbooking, I often called it the "gateway drug" of the crafting world, because so many Of us started out scrapping, some still are, but many of us have moved on to other types of crafting. I don't think any particular craft "dies", I think they wax and wane in popularity. There will always be scrapbookers, and at some point the pendulum will swing back that way, but it don't think it will ever be as dominant as it was 10 years ago. Thanks for your take on this and your prospective from the Expo.
Yeah I was surprised to see so much card-making at Expo and those booths were hopping. One reason might be because people can buy the dies and heavy stamps in person at he show and avoid shipping? I'm not sure.
Great take on this. I think you are spot on! I know personally, I still buy paper and embellishments, but I have to really, really love it. I love love love Scrapbook Expo and can't wait for it to come back to Chicago (Schaumburg, IL) in August. I really look forward to it every year. The crops are alot of fun!
KKat773 Thanks so much :)
I agree with a lot of the things you say, but I think at the end of the day people will go back to scrapbooking. They start off scrapbooking, then are inrtroduced to crafting but once they realize how many more things could I alter and have in my room or how many more cards am I going to make and hoard, those will go back to scrapbooking. At the end of the day its about the memory and forwarding it to your family members. Like kids, grandkids and so on.
Atleast this is what has happened to me. I started scrapbooking, ventured off making stick pins, crafting, altering things and now I am back to scrapbooking full force. One thing I have stuck with is making chunky charms, love making them. I did go to the scrapbook expo in March here in Orlando, florida and although I did pay for the weekend to crop I noticed most people just talk and not many get anything done. I have also gone on scrapbooking cruises for the pat 4 years and most of the people get off on the islands, go to shows, the dining room and do not accomplish a thing. I stay in the room from the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed. I know I take it to the extreme, but after all I do go for the cropping and not for the entertainment.
I also have been destashing a lot of my supplies that I know I will never ever put on my scrapbook layouts, I purchased them for altering items and with that money, I have purchased a laptop to take to crops and be able to cut svg files for my layouts.
Thanks for your input and happy crafting. Ana
Well I'm an artist first, then I went into other things crafty. I did scrapbooks for all my family member and my hubby's family member a few years ago, when it was popular. I burned myself out on scrap booking. I have piles in boxes of photos, and stuff where I've gone on trips but they never make it into an album. I do make cards and I consider them cards. But many that come to my show say those are not cards they are small pieces of art. I still make cards and small crafts to sell at shows because that's my bread and butter. A canvass art piece that's going for $500.00 is going to take a lot more thought than a watercolor card for $5.
I enjoy cards when I don't have a lot of time to create, they satisfy my need to create.
Lola Wilkie Thanks for your comment :)
You are absolutely right, when I first started going to Expo's I was buying everything. Now that I have too much product I just go with mission for a particular product and for the taking crop class and make and take. Big thumbs up! ;)
YES that sounds like a good plan for the Expos!
Great insight! I truly enjoyed this. Thank you for discussing the the earlier days of the scrapbook industry.
I agree with what you said. I also agree with Lindsay that some people are just storing photos digitally and that is so scary to me. My memories are precious and though now I typically buy art journal supplies, I have all the scrapbooking stuff I could ever need and do the occasional layout or pocket page. I even slap pics into my art journal. At the end of the day a stack of printed photos is better than digitally storing photos. Print your pictures people! Scrapbooking them is just for fun, but ya gotta at least print em!
Nichole Bruno YES!
I really love scrap booking but i enjoy doing my acrylic nails more i wish one day the nail industry can be more open to the public like scrapbooking
It's huge in the UK - 'Jamberry' was / is MASSIVE!
I started with scrapbooking then went t card making. I' pretty much a card maker now. It saves me money on making them verses buying for most part. I have a large stash of paper and a good start on some embellishments. I haven't gone back to scrapbooking I think because its a lot more time consuming than cards and I really don't have anything to take pictures of to scrapbook. Some day I hope t make an Expo just to see what I can find. I would probably enjoy $1 things just because it's cheap. I think I would have to make myself a list of things I'm looking for and try hard to stick with it in order to go to an Expo. TFS
+01sarah29 Thank you for your comment! Yeah, the Expos are definitely fun and something to try at least once ;) Hope you get to one soon!
Good video, I look scrapbooking and even with a room full of stuff I support the Expos that come to my area.
+amb7412 Thank you!
Really enjoyed this video. I'm a newbie; I've only created cards to date but have ideas/plans to branch out. You mention something in the video about folks doing a lot of buying in the past based on fear of not being able to purchase item at a later date. Is this not the case in reality? Because although I've only been at it two years; I really worry about losing out on products and do feel a real subconscious push to buy now! This has lead to a great deal of spending and I'm left wondering if I'm being paranoid and have I dropped money unwisely based on unfounded fear.
Love to hear your thoughts on this. I was so impressed to see you had downsize your studio but at the same time I can't imagine how I would even begin to destash when I still feel pressure to buy buy buy!
Tammy Lapointe So many new products come out and so much is repeated that unless you are in love with a particular pattern, there is nothing super special that you will "miss". At least this is what i have found in my 16 years of scrapbooking. I am perfectly find using paper I have from 5 years ago and not using anything new. If I do buy something, I make it be something really special and unique. The most I spent at a scrapbooking store this year was $23. I would stop dropping money, use up what you have. Celebrate milestones, like maybe every 10 projects you can splurge $5 on something at he craft store. This way you can use what you have, still get some new things, and do it all within reason. HTH!
Interesting take on all things crafty. I agree :-) I also think that HOW we craft affects the future of any particular trend or craft. It used to be that there were far more face to face events to attend and you'd invite or be invited by someone. At that crop, you'd learn something new and ---WHAM!---you were all about a new technique or craft! Now, I see a lot more video or web based crafting where less newbies are drawn in, because who's there to invite them? And, as we all know, crafting events are way more about the relationships and entertainment than the actual finished product ;-) Spread the love, mamas (and papas!)!!!
That's an interesting idea. Almost everyone I met in crafting since 2007 I met online through a forum or Facebook or blogging. I think Pinterest is a great entry way into crafting as well as TH-cam. We still have face to face interaction but it is in our homes or hotel conference rooms or trade shows and not in the back of a craft store anymore.
great video and very insightful and i agree with all of your commenters (sp?) too! i started scrapbooking "traditionally" with creative memories right before my (18yo) daughter was born .... and now have been spending my weekend preparing for a destash video! (my daughter will be 18 in june) we had a good run, but now i am a lot more interested in junque journals, mixed media, art journaling, clay & molds, woodburning, rag quilts, etc.... i totally agree that scrappin' was a "gateway drug" lol :) thanks again for doing this video ((new subbie)) God Bless All~ (i must say, tho, i still love my Paper! ha ha)
I miss scrapbooking... When I started I did the best I could to be thrifty and frugal with my scrapbooking, now I'm a bit older and with better financial security... I have only in last few years began spending lots of money on scrapbooking. I'm still "creative" about how I spend though, and rarely pay full retail price. I use coupons, I order on line, and treasure hunt at garage sales and social media swap sites etc. I do try and support local scrapbooking stores and will occasionally drive to a couple on a Saturday and spend some money on new releases that I can't wait for. Also, I'm Canadian so for awhile it was real easy for me to cross the border and visit U.S stores. Not so much now as our dollar isn't doing that well...in fact it'd probably be better for Americans to come here to Canadian scrapbooking stores lol!
Anyway, now that I have a fully stocked scrapbook room, all the rage is mixed media and card making! I'm not into that. I just want to be with like minded people again! And yes, I do still scrapbook...but at times it feels I'm scrapbooking in a ghost town, and like a tumbleweed, a strand of ribbon wisps by on the faint laughter and echoes of those who have moved on to gesso and gel mediums, while I lovingly grasp onto my tape dispenser and border punch! I patiently await the rebirth of my beloved scrapbooking! Please tell me it's coming back...sometime!?
We have to keep it going even if that means we run the crops ourselves Rosalie. I'm suprised it isn't as popular as ever in the States - try your local Retirement Villages and Art Colleges for new recruits?
WOW, love your scrapspace. Where did you get the drawers? I really need something like that.
thanks!!! hobby lobby :)
Hi. Thanks for the informative video. I went to Expo last year in Santa Clara, CA. I agree with your perspective. Although I didn't attend any of the crops, I couldn't believe how many people were there!
Pink Owls Thanks :)
Very thoughtful and interesting, TU! How do you see things now- 2017?
I'm working on an update AND I will be going ot Scrapbook Expo again! So subscribe so you don't miss it :)
Cool! I'll be looking forward to it. TU
IDandelion Cottage I definetly would like to see an update. I agree. I myself have accumulated a huge stash. Last year at the expo, I literally had to remind myself over and over, I do not need any paper. I have more than nine boxes full. I have made my stuff into kits of matching themes. I still get drawn to pretty paper. But I just have to keep forcing myself to admit I have enough paper probably for a lifetime. I tend to buy tools more now for techniques to use up my stash. I do like to find the bling or additional embellishment items at discounts. So I am one of those shoppers buying those discounted items. For me, years ago when I seen some of these items first one out, I couldn't afford them. So now if I find a sale on ten year old stuff I am usually thrilled if it was something I wanted back then but couldn't afford. One thing I found interesting was that the companies bring back the same designs years later. Some times they are exactly the same. Other times they change just a few pages in a pad. A friend of mine had a scrapbook store many years ago that closed. She still had lots of product left. So she makes up kits and sell them. I was in heaven when I found her kits. I have bought probably 30 so far. And then over the last few years I start seeing the companies bring back these same designs.
Great video, Jennifer. Thanks for sharing your perspective! Amazing how things have changed in the past decade +.
Thank you!
Thank you so much for doing this video, Jennifer! How interesting! Love your perspective, and I think you are spot on!!!! xoxo Vicky
Thanks so much!
Those shelves you have your stamps and paint where did you get those?
From Ikea! LINK: www.jenniferppriest.com/ikea-craft-rooms/6/
Hi Jennifer, I agree that there is a tide to the industry. A focus on scrapbooking, card making and other crafts come & go. Sometimes fueled by the big box stores like you said. It's definitely alive & well. Great video & observations.
Thanks! I have been thinking about doing an update since this vid is a few years old :)
I totally agree with you!
where can i find those shelves that you have on the wall with your stamps?
+catherine strong They are picture frame shelves from Ikea :)
Great take on the Expo. thanks for sharing.
I appreciate the tour and your take. I never look at all the scrapbooks I have made, so now I make cards that I can share with my friends. For me scrapbooking has lost it's appeal.
Linda Garrett Yeah I think in that case it is just an entry to more crafts, you know?
TFS Love Hugs and Good Thoughts Teresa
thank you
+catherine strong Thank you!
Hi there Jennifer - well, it's now 2018 and I am wondering what's happened in the States since 2015?
Scrapbooking has taken a HUGE hit over here in the UK - in lots of ways! It was BIG in the 1980 -1990's - in the shops and there were Crops-a-plenty to attend! The cost of shipping, tax and customs we have to pay for American paper-craft supplies coming into the UK is verging on being criminal - really it is! HUGE rant here - HUGE!!!
It's always been hard to find any decent - and consistant - amounts of scrapbooking stash to choose from - in any craft shop - bricks 'n' mortar or on-line. However, there were the odd few shops such as Rosemary Berry's 'Crab Apple Crafts' in Cheshire, scattered all round the country having the monopoply! I can't find brads and eyelets anywhere in the UK!
Even the likes of Tim Holtz is dabbling into patch-work and jewellery these days - now he's not working for Ranger! However, when companies like Kay & Co gave up/sold out to ?? and Basic Grey (I loved them and am mourning there disapperance greatly) gave up Scrapbooking and turned to selling fabric for patchwork and home decor I knew it was curtains for scrapbooking in the UK!!
When scrapbboking was popular it was definately the case of you'd better get it now because it won't be coming back. That's how Lidl, Aldi, Poundland, B&M operate - especially the first two with their special/one-off aisles!! Anything worth having is sold out within the first day! It's a riot trying to get to the aisle / shelves!
Yard sales don't exist over here, but that's mainly due to our climate (weather) more than anything.
FaceBook UK is FULL of selling pages selling anything from cheap not very good quality stock and old machines / equipment to the latest 'must haves' that almost cause world war lll because everyone wants it and MUST have it - at any cost! C.R.A.Z.Y. - right?!!
If you are an avid paper-crafter - and proud of it - in the UK you are looked upon almost with pity these days!
Patchwork and applique is popular. Knitting and croched is HUGE! Sewing and making clothes is also HUGE! Cross-Stitch was HUGE but that seems to be dying now too. Embroidery, especially with ribbons, is gaining in popularity. Spinning and weaving is coming back, as is Wet Felting - needle Felting is also popular!
Card making is HUGE over hear but other crafts are sneaking into the lead too - jewellery making is one. Mixed media is getting BIG over here.
Because we all have enough scrapbooking supplies to open our own shops we are having to find ways of using the reems and reems of card and paper stock up! Making toppers and selling them is very popular and is HUGE! Making jewellery, flowers and other 3D items with card and paper is very popular. Bespoke packaging is now HUGE - look at people like Sam Hammond aka 'Pootles' of Stampin' Up! UK (and Europe) and her ever expanding team of 'Pootlers'!
'Project Life' became HUGE for a few years - it's now known as 'Memory Keeping' by Stampin' Up!. Making and swapping 'Pocket Letters' is very popular and is HUGE on FaceBook! 'Stuffed (I'm not convinced that's the right word - could be 'Loaded'?) Envelopes' appears to be a mix between a 'Pocket Letter' but supplying/swapping vintage/shabby/shabby-chic ribbons, lace, buttons and paper. making and swapping ATC's has always been popular and is a fast and efficient way of sharing new and trendy techniques that can be used within other areas of paper-crafting.
Personally - I reckon the likes of Prima Marketing (that fabulous Eastern European company) with Farnk Garcia and his fabulous Design Team are leading us the right direction of where scrapbooking is headed. That's beautifully adorned albums and one off items of home decor. One thing is for sure though - we definately need more information about how to use the plethero of tools and equipment out there to get those photos out of all our gadgets and into our work again.
So has Scrapbooking - as we used to know it - gone for ever or is it still there but you just have to hunt out shops selling stash and crops to attend?
Looking forward to your feedback.......
~ Christine ~
British first, Welsh second - occaisonally English & European - professional paper crafter.
xOx
Christine Davies scrapbooking is still there. Just not via stores but via people at home or in small groups scrapbooking together. Definitely a long rant!
We had 500+ stores here in Southern California alone. Now we are down to 3 I believe? That's why paper companies like K & Co or BasicGrey closed or scaled back, folded into other brands or industries like fabric.
I think too many companies insulted us by coming out with just crap supplies and trying to get us to buy loads of it through a scarcity mindset. Now we all, even people in the UK it sounds from your comment, have piles of crud we all don't want.
Prima is based here in Chino, California, not Europe 😉
Scrapbook Expo invited me back last year to do an update to this video. The crop area was larger. The selling area smaller. When I tried to go in the crop area to talk to shoppers, but their staff didn't allow it. It only took 30 minutes to walk the whole show. Thereis nothing to really say about Expo at this point.
I may make a video about the state of scrapbooking ...
Thanks for the heart response and your quick reply.
Nooo Jennifer! My only rant was this - "The cost of shipping, tax and customs we have to pay for American paper-craft supplies coming into the UK is verging on being criminal - really it is! < < HUGE rant here - HUGE!!!"
The last time Tim Holtz / Ranger / Stampendous (?) came over he was held back - in customs - for 12 hours! It's crazy time we are living in!
Oh - my bad - why did I think Prima was a European company? Oops! I thinks it's because Anna from - 'The Chronicles of Mixed Media' / 'Craft Box UK' first introduced it to me. Sorry Chino CA!!
Is it worth me coming over to the States for a Scrapbook Expo - with a fab holiday thrown in of course? My hubby and I want to do Route 66 (East to West) and I want to go on a real-life Cowboy led Western Style Trek before I get too much older. ;)
We know a lovely American couple who we met last time we were over in Orlando. Jo Anne takes an annual Scrapbook Cruise, while her hubby takes himself off trekking, which I believe are popular in the States - but are they good value?
I meant to say that MDF crafts, 'Napkin' decoupage and Vinyl- crafts are popular too. ~ C ~
Don't discount the $1 places. I have found older embellishments to match paper I had left and it allowed me to use that up. The last expo I went to the scrap room was mostly empty and I was in and out of the vendor area in under two hours as it was SUPER small. I spent only about $40 and my mom didn't buy anything. I also don't purchase the page kits as I can create those myself with my silhouette. All our local stores closed probably ten years ago so I buy everything online.
+lynnseverydayideas True, they can be great if you are looking for something specific. What I am saying is that I guess I am kinda over it! LOL
+Jennifer Priest I'm pretty over it too - I usually go to several a year and will only be attending one this year
great video
Kimbo Kreations Thank you!
Mixed Media stuff is what Target is trying to turn towards.. Mixed Media is the big thing right now as well as altered stuff.
Anne Williamson anneliesecreates I think mixed media is past too. I think Target is trying to do the maker thing - like DIY, hipster type stuff.