The Healing Power of Scrapbooking…

Not so long ago, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  For anyone who doesn’t know what that is… it’s a disease that causes constant pain, extreme fatigue and weakness, dizziness, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), parasthesis and an array of other symptoms depending on the person.  For some, the symptoms are chronic.  For others, like myself, they’re episodical.

It has been a difficult struggle to come to terms with this lifelong illness which could vanish as quickly as it has appeared.  I’m thankful for the good days when I can get up in the morning and get some work done and I struggle through the bad days with a supportive and loving husband and friends by my side.

I discovered something amazing, though.  My condition is set off by stress and scrapbooking has helped get me through a day by bringing me to a place where the fibro episode disappears. You see, when I have bad days, I start scrapping pages in my album, which calm me, relax me and bring me joy. 

I call it the healing power of scrapbooking.  I’ve read somewhere that scrapbooking helps people heal their emotoinal wounds and has created bonds between people who seemed destined to remain apart.  But the physical healing power of scrapbooking has been an extraordinary experience for me. 

[I created this layout the first time I scrapbooked while having a fibro episode.  Because I was so weak, it took me more than 3 hours... I simply wouldn't stop until it was finished.  It's one of my favorite pages!]

And without fibro (as I like to call it), I never would have brought my children into it.  For that alone, I am thankful for the disease.

You see, one day I was feeling very weak and fatigued.  My children were coming home from school and I became concerned about my ability to care for them properly.  When they ran through the front door, I knew that my energy levels would never be able to even fake keeping up with theirs.  So, I pulled out some extra mini-albums from my inventory, some sheets of paper, stickers, a couple of glue sticks and we all started scrapbooking together.

The result has been incredible!  My 5.5 year old loves it!  She can never get enough of putting pictures on a page and decorating all around them.  Just yesterday she found an old class photo from last year and asked me if she should use a white background or a color background.  We weren’t even scrapbooking at the time, but when she found the photo, she started planning the page in her head.

The miracles of scrapbooking are numerous.  I just never thought I’d experience one of them! 

Happy Scrappin’!

The Scrapbooking Blues…

Well, it’s been a long week for me.  Been getting a mere 4-5 hours of sleep every night and my days are consumed with scrapbooking and children… both of which I adore and therefore this is not a complaint, just a proclamation.

I taught another scrapbooking workshop on Monday night.  In an attempt to use workshops to boost sales for my business, I brought together 6 adults and taught them some basics about scrappin’.  I enjoyed the evening thoroughly and I could see that everyone was enjoying themselves. 

So why the melancholy?  The evening did not produce significant sales.  The women really did have a good time and they really liked the idea of scrapbooking all their photos.  But still, most left without purchasing so much as a glue stick.  It was disheartening, to say the least.

I am aware that the market in Israel is extremely small since it only exists among the Anglos living here.  Yes, as noted from previous blog posts, Israelis do have a small scrapbooking community, but I don’t cater to them.  My niche market are the Anglos.

Spreading the scrapbooking hobby I thought would be a fairly simple task.  I mean, how can anyone not love putting together memories in a creative way that will also last longer than a lifetime?  I love going through old albums and remembering the moments I’ve captured and embraced with artistic layouts and inspiring journaling. 

Even my girls love to scrapbook and they’re 5.5 and 3 years old.  It brings me great joy and pleasure to watch my girls put together their own layouts, developing their own creative expression.  We scrap together, share tools and have cherishing mother-daughter moments.

Well, I may be disheartened, but I’m not disappointed.  I had a great time teaching to adults (as opposed to my adventure in scrapbooking with teens).  And I could tell that most of the women at the table became very interested in scrapbooking.  I think they’ll return. 

So, I expect that spreading the scrappin’ hobby in the Promised Land is not going to be instantaneous.  I can wish, though, can’t I?

The Whole Scrapbooking Picture

As owner of a small retail scrapbook supply shop in Israel, I was sitting with my husband this evening and discussing my vision for where I want to go with the business.  What are my goals?  I could answer that question, but that would be another blog entirely.  What came up in the discussion is what scrapbooking has evolved into in the States.  It’s really quite mind-boggling.

I’m not sure how many people know this, but Cheryl Lightle, founder of Creative Memories basically “invented” scrapbooking in the photo-safe sense of the word.  She discovered the importance of preserving personal histories and memories and passing them down to future generations and basically cashed in on that (if I may be so crude with my terminology).

What’s incredible is that a mere 20 years laters, the industry has grown so huge — forget about the literally billions of dollars which are spent on this hobby by consumers per year – that it has branched out in ways I’ll bet even Cheryl never envisioned (and that’s saying a LOT since she was/is such a visionary). 

For instance, scrapbooking is more than just retailing supplies, manufacturing supplies and distributing supplies wholesale.  It’s about crop sessions and workshops and conventions/conferences.  Did you know that on any given weekend, there is a scrapbook retreat happening SOMEWHERE in America?  That’s quite incredible.  It means that if someone wanted to, they could spend every weekend away scrapbooking with “the pros.”  Pretty cool way to spend a year.  Creating Keepsakes alone hosts/plans 17 retreats throughout the year… each in a different city, of course.

Jeanette Herdman hosts a television program dedicated only to scrapbooking.  Okay, now let’s just step back and think about this for a moment… a television program which focusses solely on anything having to do with scrapbooking.  The end result of such an awesome idea… it’s Julia Childs goes Oprah on Good Morning America with everything scrapbooking.  (I love it!) And the show brings in thousands of viewers!

Here’s another one that’ll keep you tingling for a while – a scrapbook Bed & Breakfast in West Virginia.  Get Crafty Studios opened its doors to all female scrapbookers for just $199/weekend.  A scrapbookers haven where you can even get a massage for any $30 in between page layouts with all meals, snacks and accomodations included.  You do nothing but scrap and scrap and then scrap some more.  They even provide enormous amounts of tools to use for FREE and many supplies for purchase.

Hobby magazines for the sole purpose of inspiring and teaching scrappers everywhere a thing or two about the hobby have circulations in the 10’s of thousands, if not millions.

My list goes on and on.  Scrapbooking is not a simple hobby that your grandma does with her friends on Sundays after Church.  This hobby covers ALL ages folks – from 3 years old (as long as they can hold a scissors and cut - and my 3 year old does both… cuts with scissors and makes her own scrapbook) through to the 100 year old.

It’s become a hobby with 6 degrees of separation.  I heard somewhere (forgot where) that everyone either knows someone, is related to someone or is someone who scrapbooks.  If you’re not a scrapper and you’re reading this, I’ll bet you know or are related to someone who does.

Here’s one last thought on the subject… I read in Forbes magazine about a year ago that scrapbooking is the 3rd largest grossing hobby in the world.  I’d like to know what the first two are.

Happy Scrappin’!

Scrapbooking with color

It has been a long two weeks for me.  With the Passover holiday underfoot, the days have been packed with visiting family, going to museums, sleeping in, go to bed late and just enjoying each other’s company.

Sadly, I lost/misplaced the charger for my rechargeable batteries and have not been able to recharge the batteries for my camera.  Thus, this entire week has been left photo-less.  But just for the record, I bought a new charger today.

I’m hoping to snap some pics before the week’s end and then throw together some really nice layouts.

I’ve discovered that choosing the right color for a layout is probably one of the most difficult parts of putting together a good layout.  I’m always stumped by which color to choose.  Most of the time I just choose a color from the pic to bring out.

Lately, though, I’ve been looking at other layouts in magazines, online, etc. and I see bold colors having nothing to do with the pic itself.  It’s so hard for me to be that daring.  I always want things to blend.  Then later, I notice that the color scheme is not right.

Perhaps creating a seasonal scrapbook whereby the pics taken in the winter use deep and dark colors; and photos taken in the spring use soft pastels; summer pics use bright, vivid colors and of course, autumn pics use browns, oranges and neutrals.  It could be the year in pics and the album broken down into 4 “chapters” with a seasonal theme.

Ooh!  I like it!  I wonder if anyone else has ever thought of a “year in pics - seasonal album.”  This has to be my next project!  (After I finish the other 4 projects I’m committed to.)

Happy Scrappin’!

Teaching teens to scrapbook

Today was my first experiment in teaching a scrapbooking workshop.  My husband has been nagging me to teach a scrapbooking workshop for soooo long.  And so many people suggested it to me.  However, I’ve been putting it off since I’m not really one for teaching the how-to’s of scrapbooking.

I’m the type who can tell you little tips and tricks of the trade.  Or what’s trendy, what’s in and what’s out.  I can tell you why it’s soooo important to use photo-safe materials.  I can tell you all about Cheryl Lightle (of Creative Memories) and how she pioneered the entire scrapbooking hobby.  I can tell you which products are a good value for your money and which are a waste of time.  I can tell you anything you need/want to know about the scrapbooking industry.  But teach you how to actual put together a book?  How to create amazing layouts?  Forget about it!

But a mother in the neighborhood heard I am importing scrapbook supplies from the States, since photo-safe supplies can’t really be found in any stores in Israel.  And the websites that sell it are all in Hebrew (which doesn’t really work for the English speaking communities).  Anyway, this mother discovered what I’m doing and told me that her daughter LOVES scrapbooking and that I should teach it to teens for a couple hours one Sunday morning or afternoon.

Today was that day.  I spent days preparing my “lesson plan.”  I spent hours last night reviewing Becky’s sketches (Becky Higgins of Creating Keepsakes) and designing pages according to her sketches.  All with the hopes of these excited girls learning about scrapbooking, the importance of photo-safe materials, and how to create amazing layouts.

The first 5 - 10 min. I spent explaining the acid-free stuff.  Nobody seemed to care.  The next 5 min. I showed them Becky’s sketches, passed out some sketches I photocopied from the Creating Keepsakes magazine, and then showed them samples of what a finished page looks like after following Becky’s sketches.

The next 2 hours were spent with girls ravaging through my supplies, cutting papers however they wanted, creating their own “masterpieces” and me running around the table to show them how to use the paper trimmer, or the punch, or which color paper would NOT clash with the background color they’ve chosen.

Then they tore through my inventory like a tornado, bought a bunch of stickers, paper and glue sticks and left.  My place looked like a hurricane blew through and I had to leave it all to pick up my kids from their respective play groups.

Will I do it again?  That’s such a good question.  In sales, I made a killing.  But the exhaustion of putting it all together was a bit more than what I think I want to handle in the future.  So what am I to do?  I think that workshops are a fantastic way to spread the scrapbooking hobby and to make more business. 

Are there lesson plans for how to give a workshop?  Perhaps it’s because I was teaching to teens.  Would an older audience be less of a storm?  All I know is, I’m exhausted.  I actually had a good time, but there’s got to be a better way to do this. 

Any pointers?  I’m happy to hear about them.

Happy Scrappin’!

Scrapbooking in Israel… Again?

I know this post is going to raise a lot of eyebrows and annoy an Israeli or two, but let’s face it… as a whole, Israelis do not know what scrapbooking is.  At least not the way Anglos do.  For instance, if you ask ANY Anglo if they scrapbook, they’ll answer yes, no or I’ve always wanted to, etc.  Ask an Israeli and they’ll answer, “What’s that?” or “I don’t understand.” 

Since the opening of my store, I’ve attended two fairs.  One fair was geared for the Anglo community.  All the participating vendors were Anglos and the people who attended were Anglo.  The second fair was 95% Israeli vendors with about 80% Israeli attendees.

The Anglo fair was fantastic!  I had a great time and enjoyed meeting all the fellow scrappers and wannabes.  The “Israeli” fair was a huge flop and I barely covered the cost of my table.  Not only did they not know what scrapbooking is, they just couldn’t understand why a sheet of stickers costs 13 shekel or more.  Or why an album cost 75 shekel instead of 30 or 40 from the photo shop. 

I tried to explain acid-free and photo-safe to them, but my Hebrew just isn’t good enough to convey the necessity of these materials.  Scrapbooking just isn’t a household term in this country.  Not like in the States or any other English speaking country. 

Perhaps it’s a regional thing.  Or perhaps even, Israelis scrapbook without using acid-free materials.  Which is actually just album design.  Scrapbooking by definition (in today’s world) means album design using photo-safe materials.  But, anyone who knows anything about scrapbooking is using acid-free, so I can’t imagine that Israelis are using non-photo-safe materials.  Nah… I just don’t believe it.

I’ve been to their websites.  I’ve seen what they sell.  I’m familiar with all the name brands they’re selling.  And it’s all photo-safe.

Anyway, after the responses to my previous blogs about scrapbooking in Israel, I was sure that I had made a mistake.  That Israelis do know what scrapbooking is and that they’re doing it everywhere.  But it’s simply not true.  There are scrapbookers in Israel… no doubt about that. 

But I said it before and I’ll say it again… in general, Israelis don’t know what scrapbooking (photo-safe album design) is.  I’m not disappointed.  Not at all!  This is the challenge… educating the native Hebrew speakers of this country about preserving their precious memories in photo-safe albums using photo-safe supplies.

I’m glad I’m not the only one, though.  I see the owners of the other sites are out there educating the population, as well.  Kol Hakavod!

I just love this hobby.  I think everyone should be doing it.  My dream is to walk into any art supply store in Israel and find a section (a LARGE section) selling PHOTO-SAFE scrapbook supplies.  How nice would that be?  In the meantime…

 Happy Scrappin’!

Embellishing Scrapbooks using the Latest Trends

Things have been hectic around here… to say the least.  The Pesach (Passover) buzz is looming and I haven’t begun cleaning.  Family weddings are in the midst.  My in-laws are in town for a visit and I’ve been working on finding investors for my scrapbooking endeavor (selling scrapbook supplies in Israel).  It’s been a challenging month and interestingly enough, I’m happy to say that it’s coming to an end.

Having said all that, I’m a bit behind on my reading.  As an avid reader of Creating Keepsakes Magazine (the print version), I was a bit shocked when my April issue arrived in the mail today and I hadn’t yet opened the March issue.  So, I sat down and began reading (the March issue, of course).  I was intrigued to discover scrapbooking is as trendy as any other commercial industry out there. 

Remember when everyone was putting eyelets on their layouts?  Dotting their i’s, creating dimension in new creative ways using new colors and new shapes… it was an eyelet craze!  I searched the issue for eyelets in any of the featured layouts and guess what folks.  Eyelets are out.  Now, guess what’s in?

If you guessed chipboards, then you’ve already been bitten by the chipboard bug!  They’re everywhere!  In fact, in the March issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine, there was an entire article of giving old layouts a makeover.  Every layout featured, did not use chipboard in the “before” pic yet each and every makeover included our latest trendy embellishment friend.  I suppose I shouldn’t be so surprised… chipboard really is fun.

Interestingly enough, though, chipboard is still too new that only select companies carry any of it.  American Crafts  (a large producer of chipboard) Heidi Swann at Advantus and Scenic Route were the three companies whose items were featured throughout the magazine. 

However, I happen to know that (since I supply their products in my store) Bazzill Basics Paper also carries chipboard.  Beyond those companies, I haven’t a clue.  Which is interesting since as a scrapbook retailer, it’s my business to know who carries what.

I haven’t seen so many borders being created in layouts recently, but the new edged paper (can be found at Bazzill) is catching on.  And here’s one to keep an eye on… stitching your pages.  I actually love this idea.  Bazzill is already selling templates for designing cool stitched designs.  Or, buy paper with stitch designs pre-made.  Just pick a color thread and start stitching.  It creates such a cool effect.  I’m already working on how to incorporate this technique into my next design.

I must admit, though.  I’m not sad to see eyelets go.  While some consider them a staple in scrapbooking, they’re just as trendy as any other embellishment fancy.  I always found eyelets inconvenient to work with or simply too much trouble.  And without an expensive, machine to set the eyelets for me, I admit I’ve always been too lazy to use them.  I just used brads instead. 

Buttons have been around a while and they’ve become a lot more interesting in shape and design, also.  I haven’t used them in any of my personal layouts (no particular reason why), but I like viewing layouts with a button or two in it.  They add a fun touch to the design.

I’m interested to find out how creative the designers and manufacturers will get with chipboard.  Time will tell.

Happy Scrappin’!

Scrapbooking with Kids

My daughter has been nagging me for the past month to scrapbook with her.  Alexandra’s only 5.5 years old.  She’s extremely talented when it comes to drawing pictures and doing things creative.  But for some reason, while I keep telling her that we’re going to scrapbook together, I feel daunted by the task and have instead been putting her off.

How do I teach a 5 year old to put together beautiful pages?  So, I did what every mother/ supermom-wannabe does.  I went online.  A mere, “scrapbooking for children” gave me links to some pretty interesting sites.  But best of all, they all taught me the same thing — don’t teach your child to scrapbook.  Just let her do it. 

And of course I’m thinking, DUH!  Isn’t that what scrapbooking is all about?  It’s about creating our own pages to preserve our own memories?  I found a few sites that I just have to recommend:

• Scrapbooking with Kids Tips
• ScrapJazz Scrapbooking Projects for Kids
• Family Tree Magazine, “Child’s Play”

I have to admit, my favorite was Scrapjazz.  It’s the first time I’ve taken a look at this website for scrappers, although I’ve heard of it.  And wow!  I am certainly impressed.  I’ll probably check it out further on another day.  In the meantime, I’ve bookmarked the page with all the project ideas for children.

For the first time in a month, I’m actually looking forward to setting aside some time to scrapbook with my daughter rather than finding new ways to put her off.  I know, I know… I’m such a horrible mom.  But at least I’m redeeming myself.  This could actually be fun.  And if things work out, I think I’ve found a fantastic summer activity!

Happy Scrappin’!

Scrapbooking Purim!

A holiday of costume, giving and wild fun!  I gotta tell you, this was the first year I didn’t plan the community Purim Party and I’m so glad for it!  For the past four years, I’ve been planning the big Purim Party that so many have come to look forward to.  But last year, I realized that my children (my oldest being 5 yrs. old) want to share this fun and exciting holiday with them.  So I decided then that this year I wouldn’t plan it.  Let someone else neglect their children on one of the most child-friendly holidays of the year.

The past few years, I threw together some Shaloch Manos, but didn’t do anything special.  My girls got dressed up, but I didn’t get into the costume spirit.  This year, Purim was special for the whole family and I’m going to make sure my page layouts are special, too. 

I’ll probably use lively colors (the primaries) to create fun pages which exude the spirit of the holiday.  I always feel the primaries say “alive” more than other colors.  I want this Purim to be remembered for a very long time. 

Of course, it’s not over.  Since it’s Shushan Purim today (which means no school — in Israel), we’re off to Sabba’s (my father’s) house to spend a lovely WARM day (I’m loving this weather).  The girls are excited, although I think my husband would rather stay home and get some work done.  Oh well!  We’ll make it fun for him, too.  After all, we’re going to Dizengoff Center in Tel Aviv!  What’s more fun than that?

Happy Scrappin’!

Scrapbook supplies offline…

For those of you who don’t know, I sell scrapbook supplies in Israel online.  It’s a lot of fun, but nothing beats meeting my fellow scrapbookers and discussing this AMAZING hobby!

Last night, I had a table set up at a local bazaar.  The turn out was pretty good, but the conversation and array of people I got to meet was even better!  I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun.  I’m wishing there were bazaars every night somewhere in Israel because I would be there in a heartbeat!

The truth is, I need to find all the various bazaars around the country.  I’ll travel to them.  I want to meet more scrapbookers.  I want to talk to them, exchange ideas with them, show them my albums.  I know I keep saying it, but where is everybody?  I receive emails from you, I get orders at my website (www.scrapbooker-israel.com), but no workshops.

 I once tried to put together a workshop in Beit Shemesh (where I live), but sadly, few people showed up.  But you’re out there.  I met a lot of you last night.

Anyway, I’m rambling.  I think it’s time to open up a store and let people wander in, browse around and schmooze with me about scrapbooking.  What fun that would be! 

Happy Scrappin’!