The Scrapbook Underground

There are hundreds, thousands, who knows how many scrapbooking blogs and websites. So, why make another one?

Because this blog will focus on the best of the best, the coolest, the better designs, really great techniques and superior products. If something seems tacky, it won’t be added here. Unique, different or creative scrapbooks are what we like! Hopefully, scrapbook ideas and secrets from all around the world will show up on our pages.

Videos, articles, and sometimes random thoughts may appear – as time permits. Scrapbooking is not a secret, but better designs in scrapbooks may be almost unheard of! The Scrapbook Underground wants to balance out the image of scrapbooking to include more cool looking stuff. Maybe if scrapbookers see better layouts and designs, it will influence how they make their own pages and memory books. It’s about time for a scrapbook revolution to start!

Scrapbook Artists Unite!

For example, in the figurine world, there are ticky-tacky, poorly made examples and really artfully done, sculptural figures. Who really wants anything that gathers dust that isn’t really nice. So, in scrapbooking, there is a huge need to see and create killer designs and layouts. We’ll be on the lookout for them. It’s like finding new species of animals and plants in the wild – you have to go out of your way to find them. If you see some good examples of really great scrapbooks (traditional or digital), please let us know!

Technorati Tags: artist, artwork, designs, layouts, scrapbook underground, scrapbooking, unique

This is pretty cool. I really had not tried this technique – check it out.

creatingkeepsakes.com/videos Watch these fun ideas for your scrapbook layouts using stamps. Check out www.creatingkeepsakes.com/videos for more cool demos.

Duration : 0:1:57

Read the rest of this entry »

Technorati Tags: jennifer, mcguire, scrapbooking, scrapbooks, stamping, stamps

Wow, I just read that last post and wondered if it was too harsh? It is unrealistic of me to hold amateur artists to a standard that they haven’t been trained to achieve, and I’m sorry if I came off as a spoil sport.

What I really am wanting though is a forum for people to learn how to design better scrapbooks by learning some of the tricks, tips, and principles used by graphic designers. Those things such as, composition, line, color, texture, use of space on a page – they are applicable to all the visual arts and could be of great use for anyone who likes scrapbooking.

In art schools, there are reviews or critiques of the student’s work (which can be devastating to a person who isn’t at all sure of themself). I wouldn’t want to inflict that kind of pain on anyone. But maybe some review tips would be good. You know, like if I show an example of a layout and give some pointers as to how it could be improved? Would anyone care? Our society sometimes capitulates to the “line of least resistance.” This would be when people tell someone they loved their singing when it was really awful. I’m not planning to be the Simon Cowwell (for those of you in a cave, he’s the mean judge on American Idol) of the scrapbooking world and strip people of their illusions of their design abilities. I just want to help people improve their pages and layouts!

So, to me the Scrapbook Underground is where secrets to better scrapbooking are discussed, reviewed and shown. So, if you want some tips to make better looking scrapbooks, come back and visit. Hopefully, I haven’t scared you away for good!

There is a place for those who don’t know squat about design – if you are willing to learn, maybe some stuff on this site will give you new ways to scrapbook and ideas for your layouts. Forgive me if I sounded like a meany – I really didn’t plan on coming off that way.

Technorati Tags: art, critique, design, layouts, pages, reviews, scrapbooking

As I write this, I hear (in my head) the music to the song “There’s a Place for Us”  from West Side Story. That is a really corny thought for a blog called The Scrapbook Underground. But I have reason for thinking of that song, and that is because I just don’t fit in with most of the scrapbooking world! I was hoping to write about it to 1) vent about it and 2) see if other people feel the same.

This is what bothers me (enough to make a blog like this one) – most of the scrapbook stuff I see that is posted on the web is tacky or boring. Many if not most of the layouts I’ve seen are just a jumbled mess. I really was hoping to see some cooler designs in the scrapbook world and I’m so dissapointed. And don’t even get me started on the colors! Perhaps having a background in graphic design is the source of much of my dislike of what I’ve been seeing. So, there must be some other graphic artists or people with better taste who like scrapbooking around – where are they?

Maybe because I am not a mom, I am feeling left out of the whole “mom’s who crop” thing. But really, there has to be a large number of people who like scrapbooking who are not mothers… I guess it’s just not trendy or cool to say, I don’t do scrapbooks in between getting the kids off to school or making dinner, I just do it whenever.

So, not being a mom eliminates all those cute names to use like “mom’s who scrap”. Non-mom’s who scrap just doesn’t seem to work, and the “barren scrapper” is just an awful thought! You don’t have to have kids to like scrapbooks! You don’t have to be married, speak English, live in the United States – there should be no borders or stereotypes for scrapbooking. So, why do I feel like I don’t fit in?

Well, i’ll get back to you if I ever figure that out. For now, I’ve created this super secret site for people like me who are running away from the average and boring and seeking to find more inspiration and quality in scrapbooks. I sincerely don’t mean that moms or married scrapbookers aren’t welcome here – I just wanted to let some stuff off my chest about how it feels to be in the (possible) minority.

And I hope this won’t sound like a bitchy, bitter person wrote it, because it’s really meant to just push some buttons and question the “accepted norms” in an industry that is growing rapidly. I think as more people require a higher level of creativity and become interested in seeing better designs in scrapbooks, the industry will benefit – and so will I!

So, welcome to my secret scrappin’ rappin’ happenin’ blog. And yes, there’s a place for people like me who don’t settle for “average” and that place is RIGHT HERE!

Technorati Tags: cool scrapbooks, creativity, design, graphic design, quality, scrapbooking