I've been fielding a number of comments and emails lately asking me a variation of the following question: "Hey Cathy, what's up with all the digi stuff? Have you left traditional scrapbooking behind?"
The short answer: no. The long answer follows…
I remember when I started scrapbooking like it was yesterday, mostly because I was totally freaked out that I was so insanely in love with something I swore I would NEVER partake in. Scrapbooking? Me? Yeah, RIGHT.
But then I made the layout below, and there was no looking back:
From the very first magical day, I was a girl who tapped into my digital side to make layouts. By combining my love of design, type and computers with stuff in the real scrapbooking world, I found a way to make something with my hands that had components created and taken from the digital realm. In other words, I started as a hybrid girl, and for the most part, that's where I've been for most of my scrapbooking days.
I never thought I would make all-digital pages. Even though I loved the techie aspect of choosing type and making digital sketches, I always loved printing it all out, cutting it apart and re-assembling it in the real world.
The hands-on part of it actually forced me to move away from my computer and work in a different creative realm. I liked what that did for my creative process; that it added a tactile component beyond simply using a mouse and a keyboard.
But a funny thing happened over the summer as I started dabbling a bit more in straight-up digital designs: I felt inspired to tell stories again in a way I hadn't in quite a while.
Rather than wait until the time was good to pull out my photos, and
pull out my scrapbooking stash of goods, I simply opened iPhoto, pulled
out some photos and started designing right here, on my computer—the
place where I spend a large majority of my work day as it is.
Suddenly, I was finding both the time and the inspiration to tell stories again.
So back to the question of "what's up with all the digital stuff?" I guess my answer would have to be: I'm following my inspiration right now. I plan to keep one foot in the "real" (edited to add: as in paper and glue) scrap world, one in the digi scrapworld, and a third in hybrid land, which might actually be trickier than you'd think, as I am currently only in possession of two legs.
I'm trying to find the best way for me and where I'm at now to keep telling stories from my life.
Talk to me about your traditional/hybrid/or digital leanings. I'd love to hear from you, the blog readers, on where you are and what percentages you put your own creating at.
Don't be shy now. The phone lines are open…
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Come do a live video chat with me tonight at 9 p.m. EST on ReneeTV. This is the second time I've done a live video chat and it's kind of a cool thing. You type questions, I answer them on video. And I promise, I will be wearing pants. You have to become a registered user at ReneePearson.com (it's free to join) to join in.
