How has your life changed...

For me, like many of us, my kids have grown up, and that has made a huge difference in my scrapping experience.

Nobody lets me dress them up in coordinating outfits for photo shoots; in fact, I'm lucky if I get a family picture at Easter and Christmas.

My theory is that everyone has a certain number of photos they can pose for in their lifetime, and I maxed my kids out when they were little. lol

I miss those days of cute little kids, even though they were exhausting and overwhelming. I like having big kids, but they are not nearly as fun to scrap.

I compensate by scrapping less, I suppose, and by reading more books and playing Candy Crush Friends. This year, I'm going to try to be more intentional about taking pictures.

One beautiful thing, though, is that my daughter is a master memory keeper! She posts to Instagram, and I'm in awe of the way she documents her life there. She also keeps a smash journal that is a lot of fun.


ETA: I also got a job that requires leaving the house, and that has significantly cut into my scrapping time.
 
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I'm in the exact same boat as you kellie! My daughter still is willing to take pics for me, but my teenage son is absolutely not. I think I have a good backlog of little kid pics for now to work through, but at some point it's just going to be my stuff & our dogs! lol
 
I didn't have children when I started scrapbooking. I actually did my very first OG scrapbooking pages when I was in high school... I switched to digital around 2007 after graduating college. I mostly documented my siblings and children of my close friends. I also got really into art journaling - over the years I've done a lot of emotional processing through the art of scrapbooking... still do, in fact!

When I joined the Peace Corps and moved abroad my memory keeping took a different path - lots of focus on photography and Facebook posts to keep up with family back home. I did scrapbook, but not with any consistency.

I got married abroad and when my husband and I moved back we were so busy with new jobs and apartments that I didn't do as much memory keeping as I should have... There were also a lot of changes happening in the digital scrapbooking stores that I followed and it took me a while to find myself a home again. For a minute there I did pursue digital designing, but the pace was relentless and I was an extremely slow designer. I loved it, but couldn't make it work.

Then I got pregnant and chose to stay at home with my son when he was born. I took up scrapbooking again - this time with more of a focus on documenting our lives. I ended up having two children under two so life got hectic quickly. I made a concerted effort to make Mom friends because doing this whole Mom thing without a village seemed like it would be my downfall, and I'm so glad I invested into those relationships because they've been a lifeline - but it took a lot of my time and energy on top of raising two littles and a husband with an insane work schedule, which meant less time for memory keeping.

I've taken lots of long breaks over the years... I tended to work in spurts and then produce nothing for ages. A few years ago I was diagnosed with ADHD and it was life changing. It helped me put so many things into perspective and instead of the hobby hopping that I'd done for years and years I made an effort to pursue just a few of my favorite hobbies - to go deeper rather than wider for a change. And because I always come back to scrapbooking, it's one of the hobbies I've held on to.

Last year when Sweet Shoppe turned 19 and introduced the year of challenges - I made a commitment to myself that I would complete at least the minimum challenge every month. Consistency has always been a struggle, but I was confident. And I was on a roll. I think I made more pages in 2025 than any other year of my life. Then this summer I threw my hat into the ring and applied to be a sugarbabe. I was elated when I was accepted.

My scrapbooking journey has ramped up since then. It's definitely different than scrapping purely for personal projects or challenges, but I've enjoyed branching out and working with such an amazing variety of products. It's been a wonderful challenge. I feel like a kid in a candy shop.

The boys are still in elementary school and let me take photos of them for the most part. I also do a lot of video documentation - my boys have aspirations of becoming YouTubers so having the camera going is commonplace around these parts. I make small videos of new parks we go to or activities like going to see Santa and our traditional glow Easter egg hunt.

I know the day will come when they stop letting me take their picture, but I hope that I at least give them the gift of appreciating the process of memory preservation, however they choose to go about it.

In the end I just really like scrapbooking, even when it doesn't have a memory keeping aspect to it. I regularly make pages just for the joy of it. So even after I don't have kids to scrap about anymore I'm sure I'll still be making layouts. I find the entire process extremely satisfying - from browsing the shoppe to downloading the files and organizing them just the way I like them - opening up the folders for the first time to see all the gorgeous goodies inside... followed by the flood of ideas that buzz around in my head. And then opening up my program and finding a way to turn that idea into a unique work of art... and posting it, exposing a piece of myself to the world and getting feedback in return. It's just the hit of dopamine that my brain craves!
 
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I started scrapbooking 22 years ago when my youngest was two and I was a SAHM. In the intervening years - youngest diagnosed with a rare form of childhood epilepsy which has had long term impact on her development - learning, emotional and social; exDH was addicted to gambling on stocks and shares which resulted in us being made bankrupt; I returned to work full time; both my parents have died; I got divorced, had to sell the family home and buy a new house (navigating home ownership and maintenance is difficult alone); my middle child bought her home own and has recently got married; my tremors have got worse over the years.

All this - fewer photos, less positivity, periods of being less motivated to create, lack of time to scrapbook, no money for travel/holidays, inability to take good photos myself (tremors) and relying on facebook shares from my daughters which are inconsistent.

My memory isn't as good as I hoped it would be and now I am so angry at myself for my earlier scrapbooking being focused on events and the photos rather than the everyday storytelling. It is what it is though and I am trying to fill the gaps using internet photos and memories, or shadows of memories.

Scrapbooking is still my main hobby and I use the creative outlook for therapy as much as anything, something which has been consisstent over the years. I love the term coined by Karli above - emotional processing - it really has helped to recognise and explore my emotions and move through the many stages of loss and grief over the years.

This is such a thoughtful question, Kellie, and the differing responses are really interesting.
 
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So much has changed since I started scrapbooking but my reason why has stayed the same. I started digital scrapbooking in 2013 since wedding planning went pretty quickly and memories were on my mind. I'm pretty sure I used a paper from Flergs to make the menu sheet for my wedding. (I don't think anyone got a photo though.)

At the time, I made annual albums that went Jan 1 - Dec 31 and had stories of whatever my husband, mom, and I were doing. We had a lot more adventures and my journaling was first person. I also made albums for trips (like the spring and summer of state park hopping), something I still do.

Becoming a parent in 2017 changed things for me. Most of my scrapping is an annual album that runs from his birthday to the night before his next birthday. My journaling is in second person now; me telling stories to him. The circumstances of our lives mean that my life is pretty much him right now and there aren't many stories without him in them. I use my CT duties to tell my own stories or include them in my October and December albums.

My skills have greatly improved to the point where I'm on several creative teams, including one that I never dreamed I could be on and a second that was a dream come true from the moment I applied (all of 5 minutes after the CT call opened and before she ever sold her first kit).

I'm also in the boat of doing emotional processing through my scrapping. One of the ways I knew I was 'home' here was when Robin commented on a layout I made about how my in-laws ruin Christmas (sadly not past tense).

I have a lot of stories that I don't share publicly but that I document for my son. Things are HARD sometimes but I need him to know that he can do hard things. I need to remind myself that sometimes too.

I feel like I'm finally coming into my own as a storyteller through scrapping, combining words (semi-retired copywriter) and photos (hobbyist photographer because running a business is too much of a headache) with a lot of carefully chosen details. I don't think 2013/2014 Brenda ever could have imagined anything being more important than the photos but I know she'd be proud of the magic 2026 Brenda is making.
 
I started scrapbooking in November 2008, I think... it's been so long that it's a blur.
Lan and I have just been married for a bit over a year. We were still in Liverpool UK, doing our PhDs and living in the uni's dorm.

Since then, we've moved back to Beijing, Lan's hometown. We have 2 kids, got a home, went through some tragic stuffs & family lawsuits, stayed apart for 2 years because of Covid, and many other things in between...
I went from being in so many CTs to just being a SugarBabe (and CT for a few SSD designers), because of the internet restrictions here and the fact that this is where I feel home at, compared to other sites.

I take photos regularly, mostly focusing on daily things. I don't really dress my kids intentionally to stage a photo, so my pages actually focus more on things that happened and how I see/value them through my eyes.
 
i am including myself in the pictures lately, and i'm happy about it.

the way i take photos of my family now, i capture the moments especially the candid moments.

i am also being more "talkative" on my jounaling and not just rambling (because i always do that :D).

i'm trying to enjoy everything now while my daughter is still willing and available, because in two years i will have a college student and i will just depend on pictures and stories she will share with me :)
 
I started scrapbooking when our son was a senior in high school. All three of our kids are now grown and we have seven grandchildren. Those years also brought the loss of both of our sets of parents and the loss of my two brothers' wives. During this time we also lost dear friends and I went through my journey with breast cancer. Although there have been hard times, those years also brought many happy memories, new friends and strengthened friendships. The years also saw a transition from me doing traditional paper scrapping to doing digital scrapbooking. The highlight of my scrapping was me being asked to join the Babes at Sweet Shoppe Designs!
 
During my childhood years, my scrapbooking was just taking photos and saving them with bits of memorabilia, like tickets, newspaper clippings, leaflets and brochures, etc.

Then in 1998, we had our first child and someone gave me a beautiful photo album that I thought was too pretty to just toss photos n stuff in, so I started paper scrapping. By 2004 we had our 4th child and moved, then in 2005 I went back to work... working and raising 4 children it was tough to get scrapping stuff out on a regular basis. Then in 2006 I discovered Shutterfly and started making photobooks, nothing fancy, just photos and some tidbits of journaling. I also discovered the shutterfly galleries and that is where I discovered digital scrapbooking. I tried a few cheap programs but didn't like how they worked and they were very limited.

Mothers day 2009 my hubby gave me PSE and finally in November on Veteran's Day I made my first digital page. It took me 6 months to figure out how to make one page. lol. I used all free items. I had a few trips to Barnes n Noble to sit on the floor and read Photoshop Elements for Dummies when I couldn't figure something out. Then I fell in love with digi-scrapping... scrapping with no mess, hit save anytime to pause and pick up later, scrap on the go, it fit perfect with 4 growing kids crazy sports n school schedules. In 2011 I started to do some designing.

In 2012 I left teaching and started childcare in my home.
Now all 4 kids are grown, and we have a new grandbaby..... I've rediscovered my love of art/painting and sewing/quilting, but still love to scrapbook and do a little designing on the side when the inspiration hits me. I still have all my paper scrapping supplies in my art studio and once in awhile I get the itch to touch paper and go old school.

When I started scrapping, my house and camera were full of my kids and all their friends and activities. Now we only get pics during events, only one is at home, and I have a sewing room, library/guest room, and an art studio.
 
So very similar to you Kellie.

Keira was 15 months old and I was stationed in Alaska still on active duty in the Air Force.

Sean and I had been married for just over 2 years and we were still in our twenties. LOL!

Now, I'm almost 45, Keira is almost 21, we have add two more boys, Cooper will be 18 next month and Harper is 13. I've been out of the Air Force since 2009. We'll celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary in April.

I've gone to college, spent some time as a stay at home mom, changed jobs, bought two houses, sold one. Gone through cancer treatments with Keira, twice, Sean is going through it now (but he's all good). Lived a whole life, LOL!

We play a lot more board games and I read more, but I'm still scrapping. :) I may not be putting out over 300 pages a year, like I did in the beginning, but I'm still making sure I'm documenting our memories.

joelsgirl said:
For me, like many of us, my kids have grown up, and that has made a huge difference in my scrapping experience.

Nobody lets me dress them up in coordinating outfits for photo shoots; in fact, I'm lucky if I get a family picture at Easter and Christmas.

My theory is that everyone has a certain number of photos they can pose for in their lifetime, and I maxed my kids out when they were little. lol

I miss those days of cute little kids, even though they were exhausting and overwhelming. I like having big kids, but they are not nearly as fun to scrap.

I compensate by scrapping less, I suppose, and by reading more books and playing Candy Crush Friends. This year, I'm going to try to be more intentional about taking pictures.

One beautiful thing, though, is that my daughter is a master memory keeper! She posts to Instagram, and I'm in awe of the way she documents her life there. She also keeps a smash journal that is a lot of fun.


ETA: I also got a job that requires leaving the house, and that has significantly cut into my scrapping time.
Click to expand...
 
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I started digital scrapping in February 2003 which was before SSD even existed. I was 23 years old & married to someone much older + abusive who had children who lived in a different state that we rarely saw. He wanted me to be a SAHW in a teeny-tiny apartment and we had no kids of our own so I had A LOT of time on my hands. Scrapping gave me friends + a life + something to do with my time.

In the last 23 (!!!) years, I've been divorced + (re)married twice, had 2 kids of my own, been a stepmom twice, moved 10 times and lived in 3 different states, had 7 jobs, and been a Babe for the last decade. I've scrapped (literally!) thousands of layouts in that time. There's nothing about my life that is the same as it was in 2003, and I am so thankful for that.

My scrapping is much faster nowadays. It rarely takes me more than 45 minutes (usually more like 30) to make a page, and I scrap mostly by muscle memory + intuition. My pages have far fewer photos now that my kids are older, and I have less events pages. I have a lot more pages about or featuring me.
 
I started off paper scrapping about 19 years ago and amassed an enormous collection of supplies which I haven't touched since I discovered digi-scrapping about 17 years ago. After thinking about it for years, just this morning I finally went through and photographed everything ready to list for sale. Part of me stills wants to hang on to them but I know I won't ever go back to paper.

These days, like many others, my kids are almost grown up and I take way less photos. I also have less time and energy to scrap though I do still love it. So, I produce less pages - I'm in the middle of preparing pages for my 2025 family album and looks like it's going to be only about two-thirds the pages of the 2024 album :mellow:.
 
I first started scrapbooking when my husband I were dating in 1990. I was a paper scrapper as well as a smash booker. I was 20 years old. We got married in 1993. This was well before cell phone cameras, but Jay and I would turn the camera around and take silly selfies way back then. We would have to wait to get the film developed to see what we captured. Since that time, I have been consistent about taking selfies or groupies. I know that no one else can tell my story but me.

In 1996, when I was 25 and was pregnant with Olivia, my Mama gave me an 8.5x11 scrapbook kit. My first pages were horrendous. :D I scrapped some camping adventures as well as Christmas albums and everyday memories.

In 2007 at age 37, I discovered PSE by reading an article by Jessica Sprague about making photo collages. I got the trial version. I then ran across some digital scrapbooking sites, and I was hooked. Olivia was 10 and Daniel was 2.

I started making digital layouts in August 2007. I started converting my layouts to templates and opened my first store in February 2010 at The Digichick. I moved my store to Scrap Orchard in July 2011 and was there until the store closed in 2015. I opened a store at The Lilypad and was there from January 2016 until August 2024. And now I'm here at the sweetest spot on the interwebs! :wub:

Both my children are grown - Olivia is 28 and Daniel is 20. They still let me take photos of them, even though there are more gaps between "photo shoots" and events. Olivia shares photos with me.

I'm now 55, so I've been scrapping in some form for 35 years. My hubby and I have been married for 32 years and will celebrate our 33rd anniversary this October. I have chronic back pain from several back issues that started in my early 20s :crying:, and being able to scrapbook without having to lug out paper supplies has definitely been a blessing. In that 35 years, I have had so many health issues including breast cancer, and scrapbooking has been a lifesaver for me in that I have been able to work through my thoughts and feelings in a creative and beautiful way.
 
joelsgirl said:
since you first started scrapbooking? Have those changes impacted the way you scrap?
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What a great question!

I started scrapbooking in 1996 as a Junior in college. Tracking the way my life has changed since then? Well, I got engaged, then married, then built a house, then divorced, then spent three years in an intensive elected leadership position for a volunteer organization, began dating again, got engaged, had a mental breakdown, got married, became a stepmom, got sick, had to give up my career, built a hard-earned relationship with my adult stepchildren, and became a grandmother.

The one constant through all of that was scrapbooking ... my desire to chronicle my path in life - what was happening, what was important to me, what I valued, what lessons I learned. I scrapped more frequently during some seasons than others, depending on my mental and emotional health, but "scrapbooker" or "life artist" or "memory-keeper" is a core part of who I am.

As for *how* I scrap, that's changed quite a bit. I started with traditional cardstock and paper and stickers and stamps. Then I transitioned to digital around 2008. My style has evolved as well as I learned more in Photoshop (my Scrapaneer's membership was an awesome investment!).

But, yeah - I've always been and will always be a memory-keeper, I think!
 
I 1st started scrapbooking when I was in Middle School, so digital is a big change from then! :)

I first started digiscrapping in 2006, after my youngest was born. I love the less mess and set up compared to paper scrapping. My girls have all grown up since I started. 2 have graduated College, 1 graduates college this year, and one just started college. That is a big change from diapers, pacifiers and Elementary aged kids. Photos are still a big part of all our lives (especially on vacations) so I have plenty of photos to scrap still! The girls enjoy photography too, and the rule is I get copies of all vacation photos. I sometimes screen shot photos they post, so while it's not the original, I will make it work!

As far as scrapping changes...digi sites is a big one for me. SSD was not my original home. All of the sites I have called home have closed! :( I have gone from personal CTs, Site CTs, writing for a site newsletter, doing store descriptions for new kits, CT lead, leaving love team, site moderator to just a scrapper on some Cts. But I am not complaining. I have turned down site CT spots because I am currently happy where I am!

Styles of scrapping have changed too! I didn't do clusters for my 1st year of scrapping. My friend and I called it "clutter" instead of clusters. Now, I have my own style of scrapping. It may not be artistic like some, it may not be clean and simple like others. But it's mine!
 
I first started paper scrapbooking in the early 2000's. I was Mum to 3 young kids and I thought I'd gone to heaven when I was invited to a Creative Memories party. I was obsessed with my SLR film camera and took photos at every opportunity. I got right into scrapping and it quickly became my life. I had layouts published in Australian scrapbook magazines (including a few covers), was on multiple design teams, was an ambassador for Fiskars, taught classes at local scrapbook shops and lived for it!

In 2009 I lost my Mum to cancer and we also built a new home which meant a lot of my supplies got decluttered and the scrapping fell to the wayside for some time. After our move I tried to get back into the scrapping but things were not the same. My kids were by then tweens and teens, we were busy and a lot of the scrapbook stores in our city were closing down.

At some point in the mid 2010's I discovered digital scrapbooking and my prayers had once again been answered. I dabbled in digiscrapping for years but then during COVID I really got into it. Since then I've had no intention of going back to paper scrapping, I've figured out what I need to know and I think I do OK.

My life is very different now, we have since moved again, all of the kids have grown and flown the nest and I now work full time as a high school teacher. I love that I can put the scrapbooking away by closing my laptop and not have the physical mess to clean up, I love that the Sweet Shoppe new releases appear online at 7am on a Saturday morning and I don't have to leave home to go shopping. I'm going back to a lot of my old photos and my dream is to re-scrap all the physical layouts and print photo-books one day.
 
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