I'm asking this same question at ScrapBiz. I hope this link will get posted around so that we can have a really good discussion on what we do and what we should call it. Let's call this "Fantasy Football" for Scrappers.
So, we scrapbook. But, to the non-scrapper, what mental image does that conjure up? Recently, in the news, the image has been angry, catty, frumpy housewives with too much time on their hands. But, to others, it means women who glue photos to brightly colored pattern paper and decorate the pages with cutesy stickers. Clearly, we have an image problem...
So, if we could magically do this all over, what do we call what we do? Can we come up with a "Pottery Barn" word. By that I mean a word that has maturity and gives people a sense of style. I think many of us have walked into the low-budget furniture store and said, "I want something that looks like it came out of the Pottery Barn catalog" and people "get" what you mean.
Do you almost say you "scrapbook" with an apologetic tone of voice? Like it's something people will look down on you for doing? I have friends who say, "Oh my gosh, I will NEVER, and I mean NEVER scrapbook!!!!!!" But, they have a camera and they take just as many photos of their kids as I do of mine or they make beautiful hand-made cards. But they spew out the word "scrapbook" like it's toxic.
Martha Stewart turned "housekeeping" into "Home keeping" and made it sexy. We can change "Scrapbooking" into something else and enfold all those camera owners who need to bring their photos together with their stories. And, that will be good for the ENTIRE industry from consumers to manufacturers. A rising tide will lift ALL boats.
So, again, if we could have a "do-over", what would we call what we do? We use photos and the written word to keep our memories safe for future generations. There is an art element to it and there is a craft element to it. But the central focus isn't art OR craft. It's photos and the stories behind them.
Please either leave your best idea here in the comments section OR vote in the poll down the left side of the page selecting from one of my options.
So, we scrapbook. But, to the non-scrapper, what mental image does that conjure up? Recently, in the news, the image has been angry, catty, frumpy housewives with too much time on their hands. But, to others, it means women who glue photos to brightly colored pattern paper and decorate the pages with cutesy stickers. Clearly, we have an image problem...
So, if we could magically do this all over, what do we call what we do? Can we come up with a "Pottery Barn" word. By that I mean a word that has maturity and gives people a sense of style. I think many of us have walked into the low-budget furniture store and said, "I want something that looks like it came out of the Pottery Barn catalog" and people "get" what you mean.
Do you almost say you "scrapbook" with an apologetic tone of voice? Like it's something people will look down on you for doing? I have friends who say, "Oh my gosh, I will NEVER, and I mean NEVER scrapbook!!!!!!" But, they have a camera and they take just as many photos of their kids as I do of mine or they make beautiful hand-made cards. But they spew out the word "scrapbook" like it's toxic.
Martha Stewart turned "housekeeping" into "Home keeping" and made it sexy. We can change "Scrapbooking" into something else and enfold all those camera owners who need to bring their photos together with their stories. And, that will be good for the ENTIRE industry from consumers to manufacturers. A rising tide will lift ALL boats.
So, again, if we could have a "do-over", what would we call what we do? We use photos and the written word to keep our memories safe for future generations. There is an art element to it and there is a craft element to it. But the central focus isn't art OR craft. It's photos and the stories behind them.
Please either leave your best idea here in the comments section OR vote in the poll down the left side of the page selecting from one of my options.
3 comments:
We’ve always had at least one if not two archivists or “story smiths” per generation the person usually a woman who has kept all the family photo’s , documents and story’s and told them to each generation and found the next “story smith” to pass it all on to! So Story Smith for the history part but I quite like the term Life Artist for the present every day stuff. That’s my 2pence worth hope it helps. Seeya hugya *G*
Great thought - scrapbooking does have a bad rap outside it's own circle.
Memory crafting...
memory preservationists....
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