Laughable amount and style of elements?

[sal4gal]

I am referring to what is the current rage. Remember when colored elastics were on every page. Many styles come and go. Right now I should go count how many rolled flowers that I have . Remember the clear acrylic elements? I could go on and on! I try not to use fad elements that I will laugh about in a few years and the kids will say "what's with that, Mom". I love DD, elements and a gallery that focuses on the photos instead of the elements!

[esther_a]

Here, here!! I love how this gallery is mostly about the photos and the stories! I am sure that is what my children will value in years to come. Of course, embellishments are great for complementing the photos and stories and I love how that is the way most of us use them here!

[sal4gal]

Yes, I never seem to get "mental block". I pick my photos, pick my template (DD are the awesome), and then go for the elements. Simple and fast.

Thanks DD!
Sallie

[dugarner]

I just recently started using more acrylics on some of my pages!

But you're right, it is a hoot to look back at pages I did years ago (especially in my paper albums) and see some fad elements. As cheesy as it can get, and I've always been a minimalist anyway, so my pages are never element-heavy. It is fun sometimes to look at the pages and peg exactly what year I did the book! Just like those horrible hairstyles of the 70s and 80s . . . they are a marker for the style of the time.

I used a LOT of watercolor pencils and chalk in my early scrapbook days. What I love about DD is how we can move within the cutting edge of digital design, or reach back into our collections for that "nostalgia" (ha!) when we want to. Design changes so fast, but I've noticed in the handful of years I've been hanging around here that life definitely imitates art---I'll see a design trend here at DD, and about 2-3 years later, mainstream scrapbook design will catch up. Some companies never do catch up; one major company reinvented itself digitally, but stays stuck in the design styles they were in 10 years ago. (Does anyone remember the early Mrs. Grossman's stickers in the CM line? Mrs. G is not with CM anymore, yet those cheesy sticker designs persist . . .)

[kikimama]

Oh you're so right, whenever I go back to look at paper scrapping magazines there's plenty of layouts where the photo/story seem to be lost in a sea of embellishments. Right now bakers twine seems to be king.

I love the value people here place on the reason for the layout, it's made me try harder with my photography certainly.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by kikimama

Oh you're so right, whenever I go back to look at paper scrapping magazines there's plenty of layouts where the photo/story seem to be lost in a sea of embellishments. Right now bakers twine seems to be king.

I love the value people here place on the reason for the layout, it's made me try harder with my photography certainly.

Chrissy, I haven't looked at a paper scrapping magazine in at least three years. I have noticed that a lot of the paper trends seem to be following a little behind digital trends.

[maureenreynolds]

There can be a big difference in a page made for selling or a page made for memory keeping. When it's just marketing, you lose me. Just like at a bakery, sometimes the icing overwhelms the cake.

You're ahead of me Chrissy. I've come to be satisfied with my iPhone pics, tho I AM wondering how much better the iPhone5 might be!

[MaggieMae]

Love this thread - and love DD because the members tell stories and share pictures. In years to come, who will care if we mastered layer upon layer of clustering? The trends are fun to try but DD is a place where we can be ourselves and use the styles we find the most comfortable!! Hooray for DD!

[AllynD]

Interesting thoughts, but some of those little things can be nice in little-- very little-- amounts. But I have scrapper's block lately. I used to love to just dump everything I had on a page, but I think I am about to go minimalist. Maybe that is why I just can't even start a layout lately. Totally blocked.

[anke]

eeeek says she who loves lots of elements LOL. I wish I could scrap those wonderful clean pages, but when I do them, they always look empty to me... good thing there is room for all kinds of styles

[kikimama]

Teehee, I don't mind pages with lots of embellishments, if they're wisely chosen. I switch styles with every page (one of my favourite things about digi), so go from minimal to fling-it-on all the time lol.

It's just when I go back to predominantly paper scrapping websites, and some of the pages have to be looked at for a bit before you can tell what the page is about. Though it's not unknown for me to spot a cute new kit, and then look for a photo to use with it. Guess you're right, keeps the world interesting.

[Britgirl]

don't you think tho, the very best thing about lots of DIGI elements is the very fact they do not stick up- like huge paper ruffles and dolies- and drown a page? IMO, if I have to play hunt to photo....youre doing it wrong!

[anke]

I totally agree!

[nana z]

and do you find your taste changing? Have been on a clean kick all of 2011 and comtemplating going 8x10 size for 2012! What a wild and wonderful thing we have.

[MaggieMae]

Originally Posted by nana z

and do you find your taste changing? Have been on a clean kick all of 2011 and comtemplating going 8x10 size for 2012! What a wild and wonderful thing we have.

Isn't this the truth?!! We can change our minds, change our styles, and redo to our heart's content!! Digi rules!!

[gradyfamily]

Absolutely! Great post. You can certainly tell, especially in paper scrapping, the years that I did a particular page. I've been doing this for so long that I have some that were "lifted" from early Memory Makers and CK idea books (which I still have). THEY ARE SO BLAND!! My sisters and I also have this joke at our semiannual paper scrapping retreat (now I do digital), where the older one actually gets stuck and starts "throwing" embellishments at it. We now refer to this as "pimping the page" and if we judge it as such, she has to put the total price of the page, somewhere on the layout!! And worst of all we have found there is an indirect correlation between the price paid and how good it looks. More money does NOT mean a better looking page at all!! Fun memory.

[dugarner]

Originally Posted by gradyfamily

We now refer to this as "pimping the page" and if we judge it as such, she has to put the total price of the page, somewhere on the layout!!

True dat. What a riot! This is off topic, but I've mentioned before about the paper crops I attend. I have a "friend" (peripheral acquaintance) who brings about $8,000 worth of embellishments and spends most of her weekends fussing around with organizing. Piles and piles of stuff, so much money!

[HeatherPrins]

i hated the bumpy pages of my paper albums that's why I am redoing them digitally! I love that I can pile on the digital elements and still have room for the story and its still flat!! I sooo love digital scrapping!

[sal4gal]

I love looking at the pages with lots of elements perfectly placed. Wow, they are beautiful. It seems that when I do a page, I place lots of elements and then evaluate and have to start taking them off. I am not artistic and struggle with placement. The only time that I use lots of elements is when I love a page and scraplift it so that it looks just like theirs. That is good for DD, because I have to go buy the kits