The Chicken or the Egg

[mungerre]

When I was a paper scrapper, I used to do things like plan my layouts ahead of time, use a calculator to figure out exact proportions for trimming photo mats and squares of paper and typing up all of my journaling and titles so that I could have very neat, exact lines on the page.

And then yesterday I rasterized text, used a skew on a portion of it to make it look folded with the piece of paper it was on, and took an eraser to it to make it look less uniform. It was 7 layouts ago since I have had a page without a worn/torn edge - and that was during one of the 90 min chat challenges. I'm sure I would have gotten one in there if I had more time

So my philosophical question of the day is, have my tastes actually changed since I started scrapping 6 years ago, or it is just that when I was paper scrapping I wanted my pages to look like they were done perfectly on a computer, but now that I can do them with perfectly straight lines that I want them to look handmade again?

Has anyone else noticed a change in their style when they switched to digi?

[esther_a]

It is so funny, isn't it?! I think a digi page looks flat and too clinical unless we add shadows and textures and worn edges and crooked things!

[anke]

I definitely have changed a lot. I just love to be able to blend different things together, make something totally crazy, something I wouldn't have been able to do with paper....

[Shannamay]

When I was paper scrapping, I would no more have thought of "wasting" an entire page on a single photo than of scrapping standing on my head. 6 of the last 10 pages I've scrapped have been single photo LOs. I think that's the biggest change for me.

[HeatherPrins]

i love layering with digital brushes , I could never get stamps to look right on paper!

[PaulaSG]

I'm with you on the perfect paper/imperfect digi issue. I think it's hilarious that my style has changed in that way. I still do paper and I'm trying to let go, but I really think it looks better with straight lines whereas I think my digi needs to be messier to be "real". Wacky!

[mymalloryboys]

MY boys laugh at me b/c they remember getting in lots of trouble if they made a tiny bend on the corner of my patterened paper. Now I love the worn, torn, ripped, and messy look on my digital paper. My boys think I'm crazy!!! I guess I am a little.

[earlofoxford]

I'm still pretty linear, but I do love a good torn edge. Like you, Sharon, I rarely scrapped a one-picture paper page. I still don't do a lot of them, but I don't feel bad at all when I do one now. I scrapped pretty flat paper pages because I didn't want my albums all misshapen from the bulky embellishments. With digital, I don't have that problem anymore!

[readstoomuch]

I love this thread, Beckie! I didn't do many scrapbooky pages before digi . . . just pasted my photos in albums with writing somewhre on the pages. I bought patterned papers and stickers but somehow didn't use them very much. My grandchildren love my stash of unused stuff!

Originally Posted by Shannamay

When I was paper scrapping, I would no more have thought of "wasting" an entire page on a single photo than of scrapping standing on my head. 6 of the last 10 pages I've scrapped have been single photo LOs. I think that's the biggest change for me.

Sharon you really made me laugh . . . thinking of you standing on your head scrapping is a hoot!

[maureenreynolds]

I never paper scrapped and with the bits of hybrid stuff I do know, I think I would be very simple. I really still am not a big embellishment person, and could probably ditch all the flowers and buttons I have on my computer. That said, I do like making artier pages than I once did, mostly because I learned that I CAN! Blending and blending is so much fun. It's more like the way I've cooked. Keep fiddling and see what I end up with. I may never be able to recreate a dish or a page, but that's ok. I think it's evolution.

[deanie]

I didn't paper scrap very long, because I was not very good with the glue. I love to move things around until I find just the "sweet" spot for it. And I am real picky about color. Bought so many shades of cardstock, sometime none were right. So love digi, messy, torn, straight, so easy.

[Lisa Pate]

Great question! I would say my taste has changed. I know that I no longer hoard my favorite papers or have the fear of using up my favorite products.

[kikimama]

I know what you mean, I was never fond of the grunged up look in paper, and tended always to use a plain cardstock base on my paper pages. I remember spending ages measuring distances too.

I was definitely a slow scrapper as I didn't like to stick anything down till I'd decided on the whole page in case I changed my mind. I love being able to undo.

I'm still not sure I have a style, but I do love doing arty pages that wouldn't be possible with paper, using blending modes etc. Then recently I've also swung back to pages that could look like they're paper. Aargh, just call me little miss indecisive lol.

But one of the things I love most about digi is that I don't need to make a choice. the prices are pretty good, whereas it would have been quite an investment to buy lots of products to make vintage, say, style pages in paper. I love that every time I open up a new 12x12 blank document I can play with whatever style I fancy that day.

It's also amazing how 2 years of not touching my paper supplies has taken away the preciousness of my old favourite papers. I'm happy to let Amy play with whatever ones she wants, whereas I did hoard some before as I think most paper scrappers do.

[Jen D]

Originally Posted by lpate

Great question! I would say my taste has changed. I know that I no longer hoard my favorite papers or have the fear of using up my favorite products.

That is exactly what I did. My pages in digiland are much more complex and full of things I would have never wasted in the paper world. I also would only use a few pieces of paper and I would save every scrap! Now I can use as many papers as I want to my hearts content!

I don't miss the paper world one bit And, I was happy there for 10+ years. I just love the ability to do just about anything with my computer and the "real" world now frustrates me :P

[echogirl]

SO fun to read...
here are my reasons
1) control Z. much harder to do when the glue sets!
2) Printing off a bunch of photos only to find the sizes printed didn't work or wouldn't that photo look better in black and white. Easy peasy in digital...and cheaper!!

[mamabean]

I've never been a paper scrapper......but part of me wishes I had. I love digi scrapping so much and can't imagine how on earth I could make it work with paper, scissors and glue!! x

[gradyfamily]

Digi so fits my ADHD much better than paper hoarding (oops meant scrapping). I like to work on no less than 3 pages at one time when I work. This suits digi perfectly fine, but oh my, where do I find 3 tables to spread all those different colored papers, embellishments, etc out? I thought I missed those days a few months ago, but I tried it and like someone else said, became completely frustrated. Time to lose the hoard!

[Kayleigh]

such a fun read! My digi layouts are tighter and have more negative space. I love the options to always choose a size of the details we add to layouts. Shrinking stuff was impossible in the paper world! Plus i love never running out of the letter 'e'.

[Amy L]

Two reasons I never looked back: I never could get the hang of stamping, and I never could make things look straight on a page. I think you are right; now we are free to let go and distress to our heart's content, knowing the basic design is true! Great thread!

[anxela]

I use more patterned paper than I did as a paper scrapper, I think... Other than that, I'm much the same. A lot of my layouts would look exactly the same if they were paper layouts. But I love that I'm able to crop, uncrop and change my mind several times while working. Love digital "glue" and being able to see different solutions to things before saving as a jpg.

[anxela]

Oh, and stitching! That is something I would never use on a paper layout, but that looks _so_ good on digital pages.