As scrapbooking has grown more and more as an industry, a division is becoming more apparent to me between two different “camps” of scrapbookers. Those camps? Hobbyists and Professionals!
Working in a craft industry is one of the few ways in this world a person can earn a paycheck doing what other people do solely for fun. And I’m seeing this give rise to a gulf of division, even resentment, between professionals and hobbyists. Where does this resentment come from? I have been struggling to understand that.
Many hobbyists seem to believe that scrapbookers should only create for their families’ memory books, not for pay or for publication. Scrapping for submission is seen by some as somehow adulterating the process of preserving those memories. These same people will buy scrapbooking products and publications, or attend scrapbooking educational events, yet somehow being seen to aspire to making a living creating those items is distasteful to them.
I have struggled to understand this dichotomy. It has gotten so severe that in online communities these populations are generally segregated, either by the provision of separate boards by design or simply by who chooses to congregate where.
I don’t understand why there is so much negativity towards people who simply dream of making a living doing something they love and have a talent for. Does it seem presumptuous to want to get paid for something other people do for fun? Professional
golfers get paid for playing a game others play for leisure….so why not scrapbookers? Just like in golf, in the scrapbook industry a level of talent, skill and effort is required to be a professional that exceeds the average hobbyist. What is wrong with getting paid for those skills, that talent and that effort?
I don’t create “fake” pages for page calls or scrap things I otherwise wouldn’t just in an effort to get paid for my work. I just try to do the absolute best I can on every page I create. My daughter when she gets older will hopefully appreciate and treasure the results of my efforts, just like a hobbyist scrapper’s child. So what is wrong with me accepting payment for that page or getting it published in a magazine?
Can’t we all just share our common love of preserving memories? Can’t we all just get along?
About Nancy Nally
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