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BEYOND
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Scrapbooking Magic!
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What's
this new series of articles about?
We all take
pictures. In this digital age we all take tons of pictures.
Why? Because we want to remember a snapshot in time that was important
to us. Yet for many people, those pictures that were developed or printed
end up in a box where they are rarely seen. The digital pictures end up
on a CD or published on the web somewhere. Scrapbooking is about telling
a story, both for us to remember, and for future generations to enjoy.
More than likely you've heard about scrapbooking. Several years ago, scrapbooking
meant taping clippings from the local newspaper into a ring binder to
memorialize our kid's efforts in the big game. To some, scrapbooking was
even simpler... it meant placing photographs into a sleeved album to look
at later. At least those pictures were not tucked in a box somewhere,
never to be seen again until someone settling an estate found them in
an old box. Of course, in the last few years scrapbooking has taken many
leaps forward. It's almost impossible now to go to a store and not see
some scrapbooking supplies for sale. They can be found in all sorts of
different stores, and on many, many websites.
This simple scrapbook layout makes good use of "off the shelf"
paper and stickers.
Bolden Project Scrapbooking Page Layout, Produced
by
Mouse Memories. ©Mouse Memories, 2008.
If you've been
curious about this "new wave" of scrapbooking, you'll enjoy this
series of articles. We're going to start with the history of scrapbooking,
and then take you through the kinds of tools and supplies that are available.
We'll teach you how to get started if you're thinking about taking the plunge
into this great hobby. We'll show you that scrapbooks can (and should) really
be fun to produce. Since we specialize in Disney scrapbooking ourselves,
we'll do all of that with a Disney twist that just might convince you to
try scrapbooking your photos. Already a scrapbooker? As we go forward we'll
work our way through lots of tips and techniques that you'll enjoy as well.
If you're like most of us, you've got boxfuls of photographs from all of
your Disney trips -- not to mention holidays, birthday parties, family get-togethers,
and so on that you can turn into wonderful memory albums that you'll be
able to enjoy for the rest of your life before passing them on to your family
or friends.
Who
are you and why are you qualified to tell me about scrapbooking?
About
Barbara
Mouse Memories'
Founder and Co-Owner Barbara Bennett was introduced to the hobby of
scrapbooking several years ago and immediately loved it! She began creating
memory albums for her own family and especially their family vacations.
As Disney fans, the Bennetts traveled to Walt Disney World frequently,
taking many pictures on each trip. It quickly became a challenge to
find the perfect products to make even MORE Disney pages without repeating
previous ideas. At the time, there were lots of Disney scrapbooking
products available on the market, but it was difficult to find more
than a few in any one place. Mouse Memories was founded in the Fall
of 2000 to bring them all together into a one-stop shopping place for
all those great Disney products! Mouse Memories is now one of the leading
retailers of Disney-licensed and inspired scrapbooking products in the
world. If you're trying to design a Disney page and need something special,
www.MouseMemories.com is
the place to find it! Mouse Memories has expanded and now also has a
great selection of sports, vacation, family, pets, Boy and Girl Scouts,
Nascar, and other scrapbooking products. Top notch guest service is
our hallmark. By providing a huge product selection, great communication,
and the very best in delivery, Mouse Memories is well known for its'
top notch customer service. Our warehouse, located just a few blocks
from downtown Kissimmee (about a twenty minute drive from Walt Disney
World), has over 7,500 unique products and is now open on a regular
basis for walk-in guests to visit and shop.
About
Brian
Brian
Bennett has been writing about Disney vacations and the Disney parks
for almost twelve years. He started his own "Disney Trip Planning
Resource Net" website back in 1996, which featured a very popular
collection of Disney trip reports and lots of Disney trip planning tips.
A few years later, he was was one of the founders of MousePlanet.Com.
He left his job as an engineering manager in the automotive industry
in 2003 to join Barbara in running Mouse Memories. His current responsibilites
include business planning, purchasing, marketing, web site maintenance,
and sleeping (at least until caught).
Purpose
of Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking
simply means capturing and saving personal and family memories. Usually
this is done by taking photographs and including them with written text
and other momentos, and mounting them in a book or binder (Scrapbookers
call it an album or memory book.) for easy access and future reference.
The main purpose for doing so is to make the information you've captured
available to yourself and other family members for many years.
"They're not dangerous unless they're wiggling their ears."
McClennen Project Scrapbooking Page Layout, Produced
by
Mouse Memories. ©Mouse Memories, 2008.
Many people
commemorate special events by taking photographs. In fact, in the United
States most couples hire professional photographers to take hundreds of
pictures on their wedding day alone. Those photographs are usually mounted
in a wedding album and are cherished for years as a reminder of a very important
day in the couple's lives. The arrival of a new baby, the adoption of a
child, family reunions, special birthdays (Who doesn't have at least one
picture of their first birthday with cake and frosting spread through their
hair?), vacations, school outings, and sports events, and other special
times are all worthy of being remembered. And did we mention Disney trips?
Those should definitely be remembered again and again! Scrapbooks are a
wonderful way of capturing those events and making them come to life even
years later!
A
Brief History of Scrapbooking
The idea of
capturing memories with pictures and text is hardly new. Cave dwellers in
ancient Europe shared stories about their hunts and wartime victories with
colorful paintings.
Cave paintings in Lascaux-aurochs, France.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a freely
licensed media file repository.
This image is in the public domain because its' copyright has expired.
Ancient Babylonians
used bas-relief brick work and Egyptians used carved hieroglyphs to tell
stories of their rulers' conquests.
Ishtar Gate from Ancient Babylon, now at the Pergamon Museum, Berlin,
Germany.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a freely
licensed media file repository.
This image is in the public domain because its' copyright has expired.
Ancient Egyptian funerary stela, now at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford,
England.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a freely
licensed media file repository.
This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
On Easter Island,
or Rapa Nui, in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile in South America,
early scrapbookers took on the third-dimension and carved their Moai from
local stone in order to capture tribal history.
Moai (Monolithic Carved Human Figures) at Ahu Tongariki on Easter Island,
Chile.
This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a freely
licensed media file repository.
This image is in the public domain because its' copyright has expired.
Navajo Diné
(people) in what is now the SouthWestern United States, used sandpaintings
to "scrapbook" their national and tribal celebrations and ceremonies.
Navaho Sandpaintings depicting the Mountain Chant, a Navajo medicine
ceremony of nine days' duration, Navajo Nation, Arizona, United States.
Northwestern University Library, Edward S. Curtis's
'The North American Indian': the Photographic Images, 2001.
In more modern
times, other media have been used to capture memories of family tradition.
Weavings, quilts, even clippings from local newspapers, letters, and postcards
have been used as reminders of what has happened to people in our past and
what those people have accomplished. Such famous americans as Thomas Jefferson
("Scrapbooks Shed Light on Jefferson," by Emily Turner, published
in The Cavalier Daily, September 30, 1999) and Mark Twain ("Mark
Twain Granted His First Patent on December 19, 1871," Brigid Quinn
and Karen Sewell, United States Patent and Copyright Office Press Release,
2001) were avid scrapbookers.
"Modern"
Scrapbooking
In her article
"Memories & mementos" (Deseret News, p. C1, April 23, 1997)
reporter Elaine Jarvik states that Marielen Christensen of Spanish Fork,
Utah is credited with reviving interest in scrapbooking in the United
States. She began designing creative pages for her family's photo memories,
inserting the completed pages into sheet protectors collected in 3-ring
binders. By 1980, she had assembled over fifty volumes and displayed them
at the World Conference on Records in Salt Lake City.
What made
Marielen Christensen's project different from scrapbooks created by earlier
scrapbookers all over the world was her realization that "archival
quality" backgrounds and page protectors had to be used to make sure
that the photographs and documents that she added to her scrapbooks would
not deteriorate as they aged.
This page will remind the family of a fun canine encounter for years to
come.
McClennen Project Scrapbooking Page, Produced by
Mouse Memories. ©Mouse Memories, 2008.
Most substances
(including paper, cloth, photo paper, etc.) contain acid which is the
arch enemy of anyone that is trying to preserve photographs and other
momentos. Acid content is measured on a pH scale. If a material has a
pH value of 7.1 or more, it is said to be alkaline (acid free). Any number
below that is considered acidic. A reading of 7.0 is neutral. Substances
that are either strongly acidic or strongly alkaline can cause damage
to photographs, pages and other sensitive elements. Another chemical arch
enemy of scrapbookers is lignon, an organic substance that is found in
wood fibre and is therefore naturally found in paper. Lignon is acidic
and is the substance that causes paper to turn yellow with age. Fortunately,
scrapbooking products produced by reputable manufacturers, have had the
lignon removed, and been made to be as close as possible to pH neutral
(non-acidic and non-alkaline). Such products are often marked acid- and
lignon-free.
A large portion
of the craft and hobby industry has become devoted to scrapbooking. The
Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) claims that the scrapbooking industry
doubled in gross revenue between 2001 and 2004 and is now is the leading
craft in the United States. In fact, the CHA claims that scrapbooking
has surpassed the sport of golf in popularity (with one in four households
having a golfer but one in three having a scrapbooker). Today, scrapbookers
get together and scrapbook at each other's homes, local scrapbook stores,
scrapbooking conventions, retreat centers, and even on cruises. At these
"crops," as these events are called, attendees share tips and
ideas and enjoy the social aspects of sharing a hobby with others. (The
term "crop" was originally a reference to cropping or trimming
printed photographs, but is now universally used to describe scrapbooking
events.)
Scrapbooking
Disney Style
So how does
this whole industry tie-in to All Ears.net? What possible connection can
there be between scrapbooking and a Disney vacation? Actually, the answer
isn't that surprising. More pictures are taken in Disney parks every year
than any other place in the world. If those vacations are truly magical,
then scrapbooks can help you "remember the magic" for years to
come.
Licensed dimensional stickers make this page layout pop!
McClennen Project Scrapbooking Page, Produced by
Mouse Memories. ©Mouse Memories, 2008.
Next
Time...
In
our next article, we'll begin a photo tour of the Mouse Memories warehouse
in Kissimmee, Florida to show you the kinds of products that are available
to make your scrapbooks easy-to-produce artistic masterpieces. We'll also
take the opportunity to define a lot of scrapbooking terms as we go along.
Even after the "tour" you may find that those articles are a
useful reference as we go through the rest of the series.
Other
articles in the Scrapbooking Magic! Series:
-- What in the World IS all this
Stuff?
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