A Shifting Foundation…

As I ruminated on my planned topic for today, the death of themed embellishments, I suddenly came to a realization about the very foundation of scrapbooking. In the past two years we have seen a fundamental shift in scrapbooking, and the death of themed embellishments (and themed paper, as noted in a previous entry), is just one symptom of that change.

Five years ago, when I began scrapbooking, a scrapbooker would sit down to create and ask themselves, “what theme do I want to create here?” The answer would be an event – a new baby, a wedding, a birthday, a holiday. The scrapbooker would delve in their trove of supplies for baby or birthday items, or browse store shelves for relevant themed items. Virtually all products were themed, with perhaps a few florals or plaids thrown in. But oh, how times have changed!

Today, we sit down and ask ourselves, “what mood or look do I want to create?” The answer, regardless of the topic of the layout, can range from colorful and modern, to shabby chic or collage. Our intended tone may be upbeat, or somber. We then select materials that match that look, or that mood, and create with that as our foundation.

This change partially came about I believe as a result of a change in the types of pages that many scrapbookers are wanting to create. Instead of creating solely event-focused layouts, we are now creating more people-focused layouts, what many call “moments” layouts. Instead of just a report on a birthday party, we are doing layouts on how it feels as a parent to watch your child become a teenager. Scrapbooks have become personal journals, rather than news reports. These types of layouts don’t lend themselves to the use of themed products easily, so there is more demand for generically styled paper and embellishments.

Is this a good thing? Like I said previously about the death of themed papers, I believe it is. It makes the industry more inclusive. Many times as a scrapbook store clerk I heard complaints about things like “these beach things are all so childish” from adults wishing to scrapbook their own vacations. Today scrapbookers can create whatever tone they wish for their book without being hemmed in by the styles of the available themed supplies. It also opens many creative avenues to scrapbookers who now have virtually limitless options to express themselves with in each of their creations.

So bye-bye theming…hello unlimited creative horizons!