Fire and Ice

It is sad but true – quite a few of the more established UK scrapping shops have closed their doors recently. Some of these closures came as a shock to me, others not quite so but it has generated a lot of discussion on some UK boards. Some fear the demise of the craft, others think that it’s the wholesalers that are the evil ones, others blame “mainstream” stores for getting into the craft and lowering prices, etc. I think it’s about time I presented my theory: and as it’s my blog I can do whatever I want! As a marketeer, I think that what is going on is a combination of things. The first one and easiest to explain is the “boom and bust” theory. Mainly, an industry faces incredible growth but at some tipping point this growth becomes unsustainable and there are casualties. It’s a bit like what’s happened with the Internet bubble when it burst: lots of ambitious plans were abandoned but the industry as a whole is clearly still around. The bubble bursting just slowed down growth to more...

How did I start scrapbooking? Well, it’s more of a case of WHEN have I not scrapbooked! I remember being about nine or ten when I thought I should start a diary. So I got a nice notebook and wrote letters to an imaginary friend (a technique which makes journaling easier, by the way, and that I still use today!), first in Spanish and then in English. The latter felt more comfortable so that’s what I’ve used since. I wrote all about me, my dreams, my plans, my ideas, my activities, everything. For years I carried on journaling, and occasionally I would also include a photo or, most often, a drawing that would help illustrate what I was writing about. Also, these journals were always full of color – using differently colored pens for each paragraph or line or (once only) every word! I would also include colorful doodles along the edges (what a trend setter I was!). I think I spent more time journaling than doing almost anything else in those days! Eventually I got busier so I couldn’t sit...

I have just finished reading one of my fave US scrapping mags and one little comment made me a bit angry: there is a tip on one page on how to type text and encourages others to use only a single space (rather than double) after the end punctuation in a sentence. All very good advice and all that... but it did strike me as a bit, how shall I put it? Nit-picky. There are pages and pages in this same mag and others that try hard to encourage others to use their own handwriting on layouts: their imperfect, sloppy, messy handwriting, as this is truly beautiful and an embellishment on it’s own. It doesn’t matter what it looks like, they say, as long as it’s yours. Then I read the “one space after punctuation” tip and I get mixed messages. I agree that it does look better to use only one space after each sentence – I do that all the time and have done so here. Makes text flow nicer and spacing works better. But, in the context of scrapbooking, does it really matter? If I’d been reading a des...

The holiday season truly is upon us (for you Americans, I mean the vacation season, right?) and I for one can’t wait to get going. We’ve got a few short breaks and then a nice long holiday booked: few days in Oslo, Norway during August, then another few days in Jersey, Channel Islands during September and finally the biggie: two lovely weeks in Florida in November. YAY! Lately I’ve been reading posts on scrapping forums about die-hard scrappers that scrap while they are on vacation. At risk of sounding weird, I just don’t get that! Vacations are times to unwind, to get away from it all and booking a crop at my vacation spot just doesn’t seem very fair to my family. I can crop anytime but the time on holiday with the family is surely more precious. I may be getting the completely wrong impression but I just don’t really get it. So do those holiday scrappers carry stash and tools with them? I have enough trouble fitting my hairdryer and shoes into my bags – plus I also have to pack all o...