Welcome to our new series, Whatever Floats Your Boat. As we have talked and planned ideas for the blog we’ve realized that often our perspective on a number of scrapbooking/crafting topics is different. It’s not that one is right or wrong just different preferences or processes that work for us.
Our first topic is on attending crops or scrapbooking solo.
Jen’s Take
I love going to crops! For me scrapbooking is a social hobby if you want it to be, and I do. I love catching up with friends this way, the same way others like to meet for coffee or book club. The tricky part can be productivity. I am not a prolific scrapbooker in general and I am not as fast as others that I crop with but I get more done at crops than I do at home. I plan to do a future post on how to pack for different types of crops but I have learned that if something is going to be complex or require very many supplies I’ll save it for home. For example, the last crop I went to I left my Cricut at home and I made post-it-notes for titles that I would finish at home.
Another aspect about crops that I enjoy is seeing what others are doing and hearing their stories. Someone is always doing something differently than I would and coming out with amazing results that give me new ideas. I also manage to spot new product that I haven’t seen before (not that I need more).
With few scrapbook stores around these opportunities are harder to come by. I have organized a crop each year in Kansas City for over 10 years. I also attend a crop or two each year in Iowa with some friends. Actually I consider any scrapbooking that is not on my own to be a crop. So when I invite a small group to scrapbook in my basement on a Friday night, I count that. When I get together with one of my best friends from college for a weekend, I count that. If you’re not sure where to go there are many different scrapbook groups on Facebook that might help to point you in the write direction or you can find a craft group in your area and just do your thing. Or you can do what I did and start your own.
Jennifer’s Take
In all my years as a scrapbooker, I’ve never had friends that were also scrapbookers. So, for me, scrapbooking is very much a solo activity. I love alone time, and I’m sure I get through my process more efficiently being alone. If I worked in a group, I know I’d spend all my time talking.
I’d love to have scrapbooking in-real-life friends to gather with and discuss all things memory keeping, but it hasn’t happened for me…yet. If fact, that desire is part of what feeds my interest in being here in our online home, The Crafty Dabbler. I want to connect with other like minded ladies. I want to see what everyone is working on. I want to hear how others accomplish their crafty goals.
I’m working on putting myself out there in person a bit more. Hopefully by years end I’ll have one or two new scrappy in-real-life friends. If you live in the Charlotte, NC area, please let me know!
Paperclipping Roundtable recently did a podcast with some of their listeners on this subject if you’re looking for other perspectives. Which way do you scrapbook? We’d love to hear your take on going to crops or scrapbooking solo.