Scrapbooking Sunday: Crafticism

I made up that word "crafticism" today because certain people were criticizing my hobby, and the actual page I was working on today at my monthly Craft 'n' Chat event. Are they against scrapbooking in general? Are they annoyed because they themselves have done nothing with their photos and then it bothers them to see scrapbookers at work? Do they really think that making "off-handed" remarks about someone else's craft is okay?

Let me just begin by saying that I created this event as a way for women to get out of the house once a month and work on their crafts (whatever they may be) together with other women while chatting about our everyday lives. I suppose it might be necessary to explain that a person's choice in craft should never be criticized during these events. Just because one does not choose to do (fill in the blank here), does not mean that she has the right to criticize it. One would think this would not be necessary to explain to people, but I find that scrapbooking has become a "love it or hate it" type craft.

Whereas one would never think to look at a needle-pointing crafter and say, "What you are doing is absolutely insane, and I would never do that. I mean, in 20 years, people are going to think all your needlepoint projects are hideous and they'll be trash." No, people usually look at the needle-pointer and say, "Wow, that's a lot of work. How cool!"

I haven't done a scrapbook page in several months at a CnC because I was working on some decoupage frames for quite a while. Other times, I had Luka with me and couldn't do much, so I just brought magazines and chatted with people while I paged through my magazines. This time, I prepared 2 lay outs, and I was hoping to work on both. I only got one done, but I was met with much "crafticism."

Here is what they said:
"Your kids are going to rip those pages apart."
"Those pages are going to fall apart in 20 or 30 years."
"Your kids will need certain photos for school projects and will go through your albums, take photos out and then not put them back."

Here is what I say:
Well, you know how when people say really shocking things to you, but you can't say anything right at the moment because you are too shocked, or because right after they say it, they have already moved on to another topic? So, perhaps I will feel better if I defend myself here and now, on my blog.

My albums aren't sitting out for my kids to play with. In fact, I only bring them out once in a while to show them because they are still young. Anyway, the pages are protected with plastic sheet protectors, so they wouldn't actually be able to rip them apart easily. I do make a small-sized album which my kids can touch and play with, but they are all digital pages. We use it as one of their bed-time stories, in fact. This is when digital scrapbooking really comes in handy.

Okay, if my scrapbook pages do indeed fall apart in 20 or 30 years, does that mean I just shouldn't bother? (Kind of like how most people don't bother doing anything with their photos?) The truth is that I enjoy the art of scrapbooking, and I enjoy trying out various techniques on my pages - it is not always for future generations to look at.

Maybe YOUR kids removed photos from your collection and never put them back because you had kids before digital cameras were invented. Fortunately, I have computer files & a scanner. If my kids need a photo, we can scan it and print for them or we can find it in the digital archives and print it off. I do this all the time, even now, with my scrapbook pages from several years ago.

And finally, get off my case! I don't know what the big problem is with people who do NOT scrapbook making comments about people who DO! Events like Craft 'n' Chat should cultivate a non-judgmental atmosphere where women can come together to make progress on their crafts while chatting about whatever they want.