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Sunday, May 2, 2010

Why Do I Scrapbook?

I thought it would be so easy to make money with my scrapbooking hobby. I couldn't have been more wrong. I have a website which has been up and running for almost a year now and have not had much luck with it. I do know that a lot of it has to do with advertising. If you pay certain companies x amount of money, then they will place your website higher on the search engines. I know it sounds crazy, but that is what they do. They base the location on a search engine on traffic through your website. So if you are someone who is just starting out without a lot of capitol to spend, then you get to be on the bottom of the pile, so to speak. Until now, I have not wanted to get involved with any affiliate programs, but I am seriously thinking about taking that leap, so you may start seeing a few more scrapbook advertisements on this blog. If so, I do hope you will click on them and check them out. Because, if I put it on my blog, you can be assured that it is a site I enjoy and use often myself.
Now, tell me why you scrapbook, how did you get started?
I started a few years ago after being introduced to it by a couple of friends of mine who scrap, and had been for a while. I first was invited to a Creative Memories party. I found it fun and interesting, but I have to say, at that time, I did not care much for most of their products. Even at that though, I had no problem spending plenty!!!
From there, I spoke to another friend about having gone to that party and she asked if I scrapbooked. I told her that had been my first experience with it and I did find it enjoyable. I had purchased a scrapbook kit from my local Walmart about 2-3 years prior to this, with the intent to start scrapping when my first grandchild was born that year. Well, (and this is kind of embarrassing to admit) but three years later, I dug the kit out from under my bed! And that was when I began to scrapbook.
The second friend invited a few people that she knew scrapbooked and we decided to have a crop at our local city courtroom. (All of us are either related to, or involved in the police department in some way.) At this crop, I had a blast! I didn't have much to work with though and I HAD to fix that. So, I asked my friend if she would go with me to Hobby Lobby and Michaels to help me pick out some supplies and she agreed. She had no idea what she was getting into!!! LOL
You see, when I decide I want to do something, I jump in with both feet. I go all out, and I did buying supplies! As we walked down the aisles of Hobby Lobby, I can remember her telling me that she usually had pictures in mind for what she was buying and that made things a little simpler for her. Well, that made sense to me, so that's what I did. Only, I went overboard with it. I had three boys in the military, so I think I must have bought everything I found that had anything to do with the US Army or Marines. I had a grandson, and two more on the way, so I bought a ton of boy stuff. I went nuts buying paper (I will admit I am a paperaholic), I bought stickers like they would never be available again! I bought so much stuff on that first trip to Hobby Lobby, she was actually scared to take me to Michaels the following week!!! But we did go, and I pretty much did the same thing when I got to Michaels! And, of course we found Joann's as well and I spent a small fortune there!
I had supplies coming out of my ears!!! So, naturally, I needed something to store all this stuff in. Lookout Ebay, here I come!! I found rolling totes, shoulder totes, stamping totes, paper totes, the only kind of tote I didn't find was one that I could operate with a remote control so I wouldn't have to carry it!!! That stuff gets heavy!
This was also the first year that I attended a scrapbook convention. Oh man! Conventions are a scrapbooker's heaven! Hundreds of vendors ready to sell you the latest and greatest stuff. There were classes to take that would teach you new techniques or show you new lines of product! Well, you guessed it. I went NUTS!!! I think I took about 9 classes that year, which is a pretty good bit but I did still have plenty of time to shop the vendors, and shop I did!!! Every evening as we headed back to our hotel, my friends were telling me that my husband was never going to let me go back to a convention again once he saw how much I spent! I assured them that I had my own money and he would not say a word. I was working at the time and had plenty of money to spend. But most importantly, we had fun! And I learned a lot.
That first convention is where I learned about tearing paper and inking the edges. Thanks Quick Quotes! I learned about coordinating patterned papers with your embellishments, and I discovered brads!!! OMG, second to paper comes my brads! I love brads! I guess you could say I am a brad addict! I bought brads, brad storage, eyelets, my first crop-a-dile! I loved every minute of that convention!
Since then, most of my addictions have not gotten any better. I found out that I am addicted to more than just paper and brads. I am most definitely a flower addict and on this trip over the past few days, I have been buying things to put my flowers in! I love to put my flowers in jars, pretty jars, old jars, colored jars. I just love to be able to look at my jars and see my flowers! It's sort of like looking at a garden that you don't have to water or worry about weeds growing in! Pretty awesome, huh? My flower addiction has really just gotten started over the past few months, so I have a ways to go, but I will get there! I will get to the point of having a flower for any and all pages I put together!!
I am also a rhinestone addict I have discovered. If it shines and I can stick it on a page, don't let it out of your site!
At first, I became known as the scrap queen in our little group. Not because I was the best by any means, but because I would not let anyone throw ANYTHING away!!! I always told them, "you never know when you might need it!" Of course they laughed at me and would try to sneak scraps into the trash and then when I discovered it, I would really let them have it! LOL But I have since changed on that somewhat. I no longer save every bottle cap I can find, or soda tab. I no longer follow my husband around on the weekends to make sure he isn't throwing anything away I might find a use for. One good thing did come out of this though. My sons all know that if it has anything to do with them AT ALL, they better save it for the scrapbook, or never let Mama know you had it! They are pretty good at saving things for me.
No matter how you got started scrapping, the point is that you have stuck to it because you enjoy it. That's my reason anyway. I want to preserve memories not just for future generations, but for myself in case I develop Alzheimers at some point. I will at least have these albums to look back on and hopefully remember things.
I scrap because I love it, I feel relaxed when I am scrapping. I may look like I am stressing over a page, but I am really relaxed. I call it my therapy. If I am having a really bad day and go into my scraproom and pull out something to work on, and I feel better almost instantly.
Tell me about your experiences. What made you decide to start scrapbooking? How long have you been at it? What are your addictions? LOL
Until next time fellow scrappers, that's all I have for tonight.
So, good night all!
Judy

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