Bringin' Out the Old Stuff

Your request has been heard.  I am throwing it all out there.  Be kind!

LOL, yesterday I shared my first '2nd Start' layout.  Today, I'll share with you my very first paper layout.  And a few others from that genre so you can see the progression as it happened.

While I'm at it, I'll tell you how I got into scrapping in the first place.

I'd had several friends over the course of a few years invite me to a Creative Memories event.  I was a quilter at that time and didn't want to get myself involved in yet another craft.  (I was already spending too much on fabric, LOL)

However, one friend finally conned me into coming to her event.  She was a CM demonstrator and the party was at her house.  One session and I was hooked.

It was like quilting!  Only much much faster and more satisfying!  And so, the saga begins.  Here is my very first page, done at a CM party in just a wee bit of time.



I was given very little to work with as you can see, a corner rounder, an oval cutter (she told me I could CUT my photos!!!  Revolutionary!), 2 already cut paper shapes and a couple of stickers.

I was hooked.

I did a number of other pages like this and made two page spreads to fit inside my CM binder. I documented our trip the North East.



I even used ephemera from our trip (and I'm so glad that I did)







I went on and started documenting some of our home-school field trips.







Two things happened next.  I went to my local Joann's and found a magazine on Scrapbooking. I discovered that lots of other people did this and that they did it with a lot more freedom than I was experiencing on my pages.

I went to my CD rep and asked about the varieties of paper and various embellishments I'd seen elsewhere and could I get them from Creative Memories.  In no uncertain terms she told me that I could NOT even begin to trust those products as they could not be guaranteed to be acid free.  She told me I really had better not risk my precious memories with the use of such inferior materials.

I'm afraid she didn't know me very well.  Telling me that was the surest way to get me to go out and forget all about Creative Memories and their acid free products.  I couldn't be boxed in and I would have my way with lovely patterned paper thank you very much!

Off I went to the Local Scrapbook Store and Joann's and Michael's from which I stocked my craft room with all kinds of scrappy goodness. Phase 2 had begun.

This is the first Phase 2 layout.



And here is the second.  I bet some of you will recall the page templates that created these wonderful blocks. I can't recall the name anymore, but they were plastic and gave you a grid design to work off of.  That is where this next layout came from. (by the way, I NEVER use purple anymore, how funny!)



I'd quickly joined ranks with the 'altered materials' people and began using metals and fibers and fonts and whatever else I could get my hands on.  There is a bit more where these came from but this will give you the idea of where I started.

There was a second part of Phase 2.  That was photography.  You'll notice that in my first pages, the photos were pretty typical of what we were all taking at that time.  Photos filled with 'place' and teeny tiny people somewhere in amongst the scenery.   I realized rather quickly that my photos were lacking and you'll see from these first two layouts from phase 2 that I'd already done a whole of learning in the area of photography.

The truth is, I am so very grateful to that Creative Memories representative.  It was she that started me down this road.  I would have never discovered my love of paper crafting or my love of photography if it hadn't been for her.  Thanks Betsy!

I love looking back at these beginnings.  And I'm proud of where I started and how far I've come. I hope you enjoyed taking this little trip down memory lane as well!

Have a happy day!