Has the demographic of scrappers changed?

[LSlycord]

When I started scrapping, I did it because my nieces and nephew were young and I wanted to capture the moments. My oldest niece is now 32 so I guess I started about 30 years ago and I did paper scrapping. I went to a few Creative Memories parties and I found some wonderful scrapbooking stores. Then, when my kids came along, about 17 years ago, I switched to digital scrapping. No supplies to put away and drag out. I LOVED it! But, it was still all about capturing the memories of my kids. It seemed that most of the ladies at Oscraps were here hanging out for the same reasons.

Now, I don't see the same kind of layouts. Is that because mothers aren't scrapping about their children any longer? Are they using Social Media instead? I'm curious to know what you think.

 

[faerywings]

It is interesting, I see less of that style of scrapping as well. I am not sure of how it is outside of the O however. (I tend not to be so adventurous outside of my hOme )
Personally, I still scrap the memories/traditional pages when I make albums for my nephew or for my ILs' travel photos. But that is with photos that are given to me, not ones I take on my own so it is less of a "memory" than an "artist's rendering of a memory." haha!
I am interested hin what people with expanded scrapbooking horizons say here

 

[LSlycord]

It is interesting, I see less of that style of scrapping as well. I am not sure of how it is outside of the O however. (I tend not to be so adventurous outside of my hOme )

I wondered that too Chris. Is that kind of scrapping still prevalent in other places? Because I don't wander either.

 

[tanteva]

GingerScraps has lots of more traditional scrapbooking.

 

[LSlycord]

Thanks @tanteva for bringing this perspective!

 

[scribler]

I'm a wanderer. I go to three other places in digiscrap world. One of them has a gallery like the O, lots of artistic pages and fewer memory keeping pages. One of them I think it's an even split between the two. The other leans much more heavily toward the memory keeping style. I wonder if it's a result of demographics. Are the scrappers at the sites that are more about artistic pages older than the scrappers at the site that leans heavily toward memory keeping?

I also think there is more concern about sharing your child's photo in a gallery like scrapping sites have than there was when I first got into digi 16 years ago. So the scrappers at Oscraps could be making a lot of memory pages but just not sharing them.

 

[LSlycord]

I'm a wanderer. I go to three other places in digiscrap world. One of them has a gallery like the O, lots of artistic pages and fewer memory keeping pages. One of them I think it's an even split between the two. The other leans much more heavily toward the memory keeping style. I wonder if it's a result of demographics. Are the scrappers at the sites that are more about artistic pages older than the scrappers at the site that leans heavily toward memory keeping?

I also think there is more concern about sharing your child's photo in a gallery like scrapping sites have than there was when I first got into digi 16 years ago. So the scrappers at Oscraps could be making a lot of memory pages but just not sharing them.

I wondered if we have an older population of scrappers at the O! We all know that I am. And that's a good point...not everyone is loading everything that they scrap to the gallery!

 

[bcgal00]

I think that 10-25 years ago, scrappers were mostly women documenting their family life, their family snapshots, they were memory keepers. Digital scrapping was more basic back then, not providing the artistic outlet that is possible now.

Then another generation of scrapping became prevalent, allowing more artistic freedom with more advanced editing software, more digital products and that attracted not just the memory keepers but the artists who wanted to create, not just preserve memories. I fall into that category, I love to scrap my family photos but also love to scrap just for the fun of it, to showcase my non-people photos (nature, animals, etc).

Age-wise, I think there are a lot of older women scrapping b/c we have more time. We aren't as busy with children, work, etc.

It is fortunate that the digi business is so varied and plentiful that there is something for everyone and it's just a matter of finding what style of scrap goodies fits your needs, whether it's documenting your children's milestones or getting into AJ mixed media type of artistic expression.

 

[LSlycord]

I think that 10-25 years ago, scrappers were mostly women documenting their family life, their family snapshots, they were memory keepers. Digital scrapping was more basic back then, not providing the artistic outlet that is possible now.

Then another generation of scrapping became prevalent, allowing more artistic freedom with more advanced editing software, more digital products and that attracted not just the memory keepers but the artists who wanted to create, not just preserve memories. I fall into that category, I love to scrap my family photos but also love to scrap just for the fun of it, to showcase my non-people photos (nature, animals, etc).

Age-wise, I think there are a lot of older women scrapping b/c we have more time. We aren't as busy with children, work, etc.

It is fortunate that the digi business is so varied and plentiful that there is something for everyone and it's just a matter of finding what style of scrap goodies fits your needs, whether it's documenting your children's milestones or getting into AJ mixed media type of artistic expression.

I think that there is probably a lot of truth to this. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

 

[AZK]

I tend to agree that different sites have different demographics based on what the scrappers are drawn to. It's a circle, I think... a scrapper will patronize a shop that focuses on traditional pages, for example, because she's scrapping memories. A designer who make those sorts of products might have better sales there vs. at a shop that has a higher segment of fantasy/artistic scrappers, which enables the scrapper to use more traditional products at the site she already frequents.

For my own part, I was a traditional digital scrapper for many years while my family was young. I became aware of Oscraps and was amazed by the idea of artistic scrapping vs traditional and started to incorporate more artsy techniques in my pages. Now that my kids are grown with no grandkids, I don't have as many memory-type pages I want to scrap so I can play around with artistic pages more.

A designer I used to CT for is at a shop whose focus is almost totally traditional scrapping---papers, stickers, hardly any paints or overlays, blending, etc. And she is doing very well there.

 

[LSlycord]

For my own part, I was a traditional digital scrapper for many years while my family was young. I became aware of Oscraps and was amazed by the idea of artistic scrapping vs traditional and started to incorporate more artsy techniques in my pages. Now that my kids are grown with no grandkids, I don't have as many memory-type pages I want to scrap so I can play around with artistic pages more.

This seems to be a common thread. I love hearing everyone's stories here!

 

[Cherylndesigns]

I still do some "traditional" digital pages now I'm scrapping my grandchildren, when I do. I'd rather do artsy pages now and I love pocket pages because when I scrap the gk's I can get more pictures on one page.

I started, like you, Linda - I went to some CM parties and then when the scrapbooking stores started popping up, I bought a lot of stuff. I also got tired of the constant mess that paper scrapping made. I used to have 3 rooms of different stages of whatever I was working on. I called them my "scrapping annexes". Hahaha I had a scrap room, then I usually spilled over to the dining room and kitchen tables. Good thing my hubby never cared.

That's an interesting idea about the demographics because there are still a lot of us "old paper scrappers" from 20 to 30 years ago, who may have gone digital. I think the demographics are a mix of all ages now. Maybe the younger scrappers are still doing the kinds of pages we used to do?

 

[BrightEyes]

I think that 10-25 years ago, scrappers were mostly women documenting their family life, their family snapshots, they were memory keepers. Digital scrapping was more basic back then, not providing the artistic outlet that is possible now.

Then another generation of scrapping became prevalent, allowing more artistic freedom with more advanced editing software, more digital products and that attracted not just the memory keepers but the artists who wanted to create, not just preserve memories. I fall into that category, I love to scrap my family photos but also love to scrap just for the fun of it, to showcase my non-people photos (nature, animals, etc).

Age-wise, I think there are a lot of older women scrapping b/c we have more time. We aren't as busy with children, work, etc.

It is fortunate that the digi business is so varied and plentiful that there is something for everyone and it's just a matter of finding what style of scrap goodies fits your needs, whether it's documenting your children's milestones or getting into AJ mixed media type of artistic expression.

I agree with Rae... Things have changed since I start scrapping and now it is not just about family memories. Love the artistic aspect of digital scrapping now that my kids and grandkids are grown. I still do some memory albums but enjoy the other creative projects. Many of the pages I create to save the memory have other people in the photos and they prefer to not have their photos shown in a public forum or on social medium.

I do get around to several other sites and they run the gamut from traditional to artsy to learning new techniques.

 

[scrapinmom]

I think it has changed and there are less people documenting family memories and doing weekly and daily documenting. It is too hard to keep up with in my opinion. I think some of the changes we are seeing are geared towards creating pages for challenges. In all honestly, we are all just creating either to show off our lives or just make a page to show off your feelings.

 

[LSlycord]

I think it has changed and there are less people documenting family memories and doing weekly and daily documenting. It is too hard to keep up with in my opinion. I think some of the changes we are seeing are geared towards creating pages for challenges. In all honestly, we are all just creating either to show off our lives or just make a page to show off your feelings.

Love that perspective!

 

[Amandajk]

This is interesting as it has been on my m ind the past few weeks. I have noticed at the two sites I frequent that "we" are mostly over 40. That was a bit surprising! I think, based upon my DD and DIL who are both in their 30's, Instagram and smart phone apps are what the majority of their generation is doing. I know my DIL was frantic the first time I posted a pic of our GS. There was almost a meltdown of fear. So yes, they are quite sensitive to this issue. And rightly so- it proved to be an real concern when a pedophile turned up nearby with photos of them. So much information is readily available via web, so these moms don't have the freedom that we took for granted!

 

[melscrap]

I guess I'm in the minority here, as I still tend to do more traditional capture family memories type scrapbooking rather than arty style pages. Kiddo is still young though.

 

[Jam-on-toast]

I think it has changed and there are less people documenting family memories and doing weekly and daily documenting. It is too hard to keep up with in my opinion. I think some of the changes we are seeing are geared towards creating pages for challenges. In all honestly, we are all just creating either to show off our lives or just make a page to show off your feelings.

Not sure about to show off 'our lives' but definitely to show off at least something... Certain styles generate more likes than others, stand out more, get noticed more... there are some immensely creative ladies who make stunning pages that we all love to look at and admire... one-photo layouts with georgeous blending and/or tons of white space... while they are aesthetically pleasing, these pages are hardly a good choice for daily memory-keeping, less so if one prints the albums. Beauty is rarely practical... beauty is just... beautiful... a creative outlet and a way to get praise...

Memory-keeping layouts take longer to create... selecting photos that tell the story, highlighting what one wants to remember and downplaying what one wants to forget, a bit like shaping our children's memories by helping them remember the good times spent with mom and dad as opposed to the meltdown because they didn't get a toy they wanted. These pages, borne our of love, might be gorgeous, but... the truth is, they get overlooked and soon one learns there is no point in posting them because, to sum it all up nicely, eveyrone likes 'likes' and comments.

 

[Jam-on-toast]

I guess I'm in the minority here, as I still tend to do more traditional capture family memories type scrapbooking rather than arty style pages. Kiddo is still young though.

I'm with you here.. I have tons of unscrapped photos from when the kiddos were younger and the practical me wants to have something tangible for all the hours spent in front of the computer...

 

[Jam-on-toast]

This is interesting as it has been on my m ind the past few weeks. I have noticed at the two sites I frequent that "we" are mostly over 40. That was a bit surprising! I think, based upon my DD and DIL who are both in their 30's, Instagram and smart phone apps are what the majority of their generation is doing. I know my DIL was frantic the first time I posted a pic of our GS. There was almost a meltdown of fear. So yes, they are quite sensitive to this issue. And rightly so- it proved to be an real concern when a pedophile turned up nearby with photos of them. So much information is readily available via web, so these moms don't have the freedom that we took for granted!

It is a different world these days... but there is always a way to post family layouts without revealing any info - hiding faces with an overhanging leaf or a flower as opposed to blurring them out which makes the page look ugly, recoloring clothes, including a photo taken from the back, scrapping events that took place years ago, changing meaningful journaling to generic 'we had a good time enjoying the company of each othat and admiring the nature all around'... Vicki Robinson did a couple of posts on hidden journaling... but the truth of the matter is... these layouts are less popular because they are rarely as eye-catching as AJ pages... and they take so much more time, while a white-space layout with a small cluster containing less than 10 elements can be done in under 30 min, especially if it not one's first rodeo...

 

[DesignsByCRK]

I'm a traditional scrapper and mainly scrap my family and our stories. I used to scrap for purely artistic release, due to me son hating having his photo taken lol, but now I scrap our family's events.

 

[LSlycord]

Not sure about to show off 'our lives' but definitely to show off at least something... Certain styles generate more likes than others, stand out more, get noticed more... there are some immensely creative ladies who make stunning pages that we all love to look at and admire... one-photo layouts with georgeous blending and/or tons of white space... while they are aesthetically pleasing, these pages are hardly a good choice for daily memory-keeping, less so if one prints the albums. Beauty is rarely practical... beauty is just... beautiful... a creative outlet and a way to get praise...

Memory-keeping layouts take longer to create... selecting photos that tell the story, highlighting what one wants to remember and downplaying what one wants to forget, a bit like shaping our children's memories by helping them remember the good times spent with mom and dad as opposed to the meltdown because they didn't get a toy they wanted. These pages, borne our of love, might be gorgeous, but... the truth is, they get overlooked and soon one learns there is no point in posting them because, to sum it all up nicely, eveyrone likes 'likes' and comments.

Brilliant insight Olga. I believe that you are right...my layouts sure don't jump out of the gallery. They just tell stories.

Although I will tell you that I absolutely love your layouts documenting daily life and I am always excited to see them. So please keep posting.

 

[LSlycord]

I guess I'm in the minority here, as I still tend to do more traditional capture family memories type scrapbooking rather than arty style pages. Kiddo is still young though.

My kids are in college but I have enough photos of younger years, of grandparents and great-grandparents, and travel to scrap my memories until I die!

 

[Jam-on-toast]

Brilliant insight Olga. I believe that you are right...my layouts sure don't jump out of the gallery. They just tell stories.

Although I will tell you that I absolutely love your layouts documenting daily life and I am always excited to see them. So please keep posting.

Thank you Linda for the kind words... telling stories is important... I believe there are lots of scrappers out there who scrap their family stories and don't share their pages... I used to be one of them... and I remember feeling mildly annoyed with all the artisty layouts that showed me what I can neither do nor need in my family album. I liked practical templates and sensible kits with a few gorgeous clusters I could add to my pages to make them look amazing without taking away from my photos and journaling. There were designers I admired but never bought from because I was feeling intimidated by their CT layouts and had no idea what to do with their kits.

The irony of the whole thing is that once I tried a couple of artsy-style freebie kits, I found out I actually prefer artsy to traditional... though I still scrap for albums... It is my personal scrapbooker's credo - show others how fancy artsy kits can be used for daily scrapping and help all those who don't share their layouts online - aka the majority of digital scrapbookers - create stunning family albums their loved ones will treasure.