Evolution

I got to go home the other weekend, and whenever I'm home, I grab one of my old scrapbook albums to bring back to my "new" home. It's very interesting to look through my old albums and then compare my "style" back then (which wasn't really a style at all) to the way I scrap now. I'm sure there were such things as embellishments (not just stickers) and patterned paper and online scrapbook layouts and sketches. But I didn't know about any of them! Granted, I started scrapbooking in high school and continued doing it in college. As a poor college student, I didn't have a lot of money to go to Michael's and purchase the latest scrap stuff. So for the longest time, I literally used whatever I had in my stash, and that was pretty much just solid-colored cardstock and some stickers. It wasn't until my senior year of college, that I discovered all the different scrapbook tools out there and my style began to evolve. (Although, I still had no money, so I have Walmart to thank for making such cheap scrapbook stuff.)

scrapbook layout circa 2002

Not long after I moved away from home, I discovered Scrapbook.com. I spent hours perusing its online store. I had never seen tools like what I saw on Scrapbook.com, nor had I seen scrapbook layouts like the ones posted in its online gallery. I became obsessed. That REALLY took my scrapbooking to a whole new level.

I know some people go back and fix their old scrapbook layouts, but that's not my thing. The way I used to scrapbook is a reflection of who I was back then. Plus, it's fun to see the evolution of my style over the years. What about you guys? Do you cringe when you look back at your old scrapbooks or do you enjoy seeing how far you've come in your skills?

scrapbook layout I completed last week