What are your Scrapbook Villains?

I keep hearing the lament that scrapbooking is going out of style, but I beg to differ. Memory keeping is hugely important to most people – even social media has become a major place to record our special moments – who doesn’t love those memories that pop up each day from years past? Instagram is a wealth of memories in photo form. Add in Flickr, Shutterfly, “the cloud” and other photo storage platforms, and you’ll see millions of people who use the digital world to hang on to those precious memories.

No matter if you consider yourself a scrapbooker or not, who doesn't love looking back on these?

We scrapbookers – we memory keepers – are in very good company. What sets us apart is the effort to transform those photos into something beautiful, creative, and personal that we – and our generations after us – can hold in our hands. So what is it that holds most people – and, let’s be honest, us – from creating? I had some suspicions, but I wanted to know, so I polled our Facebook followers last week. We asked, “What are the reasons you don’t scrapbook as much as you like?” The answers were similar to the ones my non-scrappy friends list. It’s just tough to fit it into life!  

Here are a few of the comments from our Facebook crew:

Nancy B- “Overwhelming…don’t know where to start.” We hear you, Nancy. With so many options and directions and styles, where do you begin?

Betty E – “Overwhelmed. I prefer to scrap in chronological order and am very far behind.” And when you feel like you’re behind, it’s easier to say you’ll get to it tomorrow or give up all together. It’s a tough spot to be in!

Kelly O- “All of it!!! I can’t seem to find time and now I am overwhelmed on where to start.” It just spirals when we feel like we can’t get a step in! I feel you, girl!

Nichole S – “All. But mostly cost. Photos are expensive enough on their own, then add in the paper, scraps, buttons, washi tape, trinkets, etc.. I just cant justify it.” Cost is a big barrier for so many people. We are all about affordable and it adds up SO much when you purchase everything separately! Especially if you’re like I am and you impulse buy all that gorgeous paper, washi tape, and pretty gems…I don’t totally regret it…but they’re still sitting there unused.

We at Down Memory Lane understand this and making it easier to preserve your memories is the driving force behind our creativity and products!  We want to help because we are deeply committed to memory preservation – it’s right in our name! As a company and team, we seek to assist both brand new scrapbookers and seasoned veterans and everyone in between! When we design our kits, we want them to be multi-faceted. We know that time is a fleeting thing for some of our fans and customers. When we design a kit, we want people in a time-crunch to be able to pick out their layouts and simply adhere the die cuts and photos and file them in albums! We focus on making them user-friendly and ultimately, a beautiful addition to your album.

One of our best selling layouts: Drinks in Hand

We also know that we’re a stepping stone into creative scrapbooking for those who are new to the craft! Standing in the scrapbook aisle at your favorite craft store can be overwhelming! Where you do you begin? What’s the best paper? How much do I need? How to I color coordinate? It’s a lot to take in, and, let’s face it – it’s expensive to start from scratch! Starting with pre-designed and pre-cut layouts can ease new crafters into it. By examining how we put things together and learning the basics of layering, color choices, and design choices, newcomers can build their confidence and grow as a scrapbooker – while getting some of the memories scrapped and albums completed without spending a fortune on things you may or may not need!

We’re also a favorite of seasoned scrapbookers! When time, space, and money are crunched, we are a great starter step! Instead of starting with a totally blank canvas and having to hand craft everything yourself, our kits are wonderful for laying out the basics and letting your creative mind take it to the next level! We love it when our customers and fans show us how they’ve taken our kits and made them their own. It’s such a gift to be able to jump start their creative process and see where it takes them!

NO SCRAPBOOK VILLAINS ALLOWED!

Over the next few months, I want to take some time to really dig into these Scrapbook Villains. I’ll be sharing some of our favorite methods, products, and ideas we have in our Scrapbook toolbelt to get back to our favorite hobby. We’ll be looking at storage options and craft spaces. We’ll take a look at photo printing apps and programs that balance quality and cost. We’ll take a look at some design basics like color selection and techniques. As always, we’ll take some time with our kits to show you how you can use them as a starting point to create something personal and beautiful.  So what about you? What are the things that hold you back from the next level of crafting diva we all want to reach? In the comments, let us know what you’d like to learn more about and let us help you get there!