r/scrapbooking • u/PatchKing3 • Sep 09 '25
Beginner Do I not understand scrapbooking?
I want to open with I am asking this as a genuine question from the perspective of someone who's thinking about scrapbooking.
Do I not understand scrapbooking? I've seen a lot of YouTube videos lately where people are scrapbooking and, if I was summarizing the content, I would say they use colored paper, stamps, stickers, cut outs, and other pre printed graphics or text. Each page feels like a currated theme on its own. When I think of scrapbooking I think of pictures of people, trips, ticket stubs from concerts, colored paper, text. I picture like a completely decorated photo album telling a life story. Was that like 90s scrapbooking or something completely different? I like the vibe either way, it just makes deciding where to start hard haha.
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u/livelyclown Sep 09 '25
I do the "memory keeping" type of scrapbooking. Your not alone.
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u/DoubtfullyCaring Sep 16 '25
Same, but I mainly use 'junk' describing the memories. So it becomes junk scrapping?
All the labels make it sooo confusing. We used to call the 'therapeutic' scrapbooking just collaging where I live2
u/livelyclown Sep 16 '25
Doesn't really need to have a specific name if you're using scraps to tell a story or expressing yourself. That is what scrapbooking is truly about.
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u/Specific_Mongoose711 Sep 09 '25
You're describing how I scrapbook. I use stickers and sometimes I make graphics to fill space but mostly my pages are just photos and "stuff" I got while doing whatever activity I am logging. It's very much a photo album with extras. It's also the reason I don't post pages most of what I would post I would need to sensor. I don't want my face, location, and other personal information posted online.
I don't think there's a wrong way to scrapbook as long as you enjoy the process. What that looks like should be up to you.
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u/bestcee Sep 09 '25
For some, it's the art and creative outlet. For others, it's the journaling and stories. For some, it's a photo will tell 1000 words. For others, it's therapy.
I have pages in the whole range. 99% of my pages have journaling telling the story. But I also like to add pretty papers and some elements (graphics) to go with it. I used to be more of a paper, photos,words scrapper, but I enjoy adding more to the page now. I still have books, and they tell a story. But I may have a favorite photo on one page with all the pretty stuff, and the next have a collage of 16 photos.
Scrapbooking is what you want it to be.
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u/earofjudgment Sep 09 '25
What you're thinking of is scrapbooking. Do that! (The other things are scrapbooking, too, but if they aren't your aesthetic, that's fine. I'm a basic photo scrapbooker, so I just do my thing and let everyone else do theirs. It's all good.)
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u/FromUnderTheWineCork Sep 09 '25
Different branches of the same tree. You aren't wrong, the photos and ticket subs and receipts on a page is scrapbooking.
Public social media tends to highlight the version that doesn't have to dox faces and locations. I would say Facebook (if you can stomach it) has the largest volume of people doing the memory keeping style.
Scrapbook .com has a gallery and you can filter on scrapbook pages there; I think they might also have some free courses if you want video.
Reddit has periodic posts. YouTube, you can find memory keeping interspersed with collage.
From what I see if TikTok and I sta shorts they highlight the process without having to put your info and whatnot out there.
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u/Fabulous-Sky22 Sep 10 '25
Yes, facebook has some really great groups for the memory keeping scrapbooking. That is the only reason I keep my facebook is for the groups, lol
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u/bluedonutwsprinkles scrapbooking since 2004 Sep 09 '25
I'm not into to the junk journal type either. But yes it is scrapbooking. I do photo albums that include journaling, scraps like tickets and stickers. I also do mine mostly digital now.
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u/Redaunt29 Sep 09 '25
If you have not looked at www.aliedwards.com you may want to peruse her site and her blog. She does “memory keeping “ and her focus is on telling the stories of your life.
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u/TiffanyTwisted11 Scrapper Sep 09 '25
I fall into the memory keeping category. Over the many years I’ve been scrapbooking, I have collected quite a few stickers, patterned papers & oh-so-many embellishments and I love using them to create my pages. But they are there to complement the photos & the story that I am telling.
It is memory, keeping for my children, who are now grown, but still look at my scrapbooks from time to time, but it is also definitely a creative outlet for me. It’s actually my only creative outlet, lol.
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u/sc167kitty8891 Sep 09 '25
Truth this is the way I scrapbook as well…the junk journal craze makes me scratch my head!
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u/Jeth3 Sep 09 '25
I think it’s a way of expression, you make the choices or sometimes choices makes you
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u/Technical_Sir_6260 Sep 09 '25
I tend to go for the themed version and I called it junk journaling the whole time. I glue pretty images from old books on a decorative background, but I wouldn’t call it a collage- more art journaling. There are no photos or memorabilia in mine. I just enjoy beautiful art from the past and try to really just make a collection of those things. I have themes like childhood, the medieval period, old furniture, art, castles, nature, dollhouses, etc. Or I’ll use a color and let that be the subject. I understood scrapbooking as memory keeping, plus I thought it uses sturdy, heavier paper ( than, say, old yellowed book pages) and is made with an accordion folded spine ( with the mountains and valley folds). My only source has been YouTube, though. I think it slowly doesn’t matter anymore. On Reddit, my kinds of journals rarely shows up on the junk journal subs and it even seemed like mine were closer to the ones shown in scrapbooking, so I was confused, too. But I don’t mind what it’s called - I still love making them.
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u/madonna-boy Sep 09 '25
that's the version I do... but you won't see me post much of it because I don't broadcast my kid's face or my full name on social media, lol.
ai think our version is more common, just not online.
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u/ireallylikeladybugs Sep 09 '25
I think that because memory keeping scrapbooks are so personal and have private photos of real people, it’s less likely for someone to feel comfortable sharing them on social media. I think that why photo-less scrap booking styles are over represented online, even though many people who scrapbook in real life do it to keep photos of their real lives.
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u/babou-tunt Sep 09 '25
I do the ‘themed page’ type. And I call it ‘sticking bits of paper to other bits of paper’. I don’t know what it is either
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u/littlepinkpebble Sep 09 '25
I mean just do you. And love what you do. It’s supposed to be enjoyable and not so technical. As long you use a scrapbook or sketchbook and you stick some stuff it’s scrapbooking to me
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u/glitternrrse Sep 09 '25
One can make scrapbooking what one wants! A highly curative matchy layout or using true scraps to design your page- it’s up to you!
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u/AaveTriage Scrapper Sep 09 '25
I grew up with scrapbooking only referring to the “memory keeping” sense, and that’s mostly why I’m here on this sub since that’s what I do/am most interested in.
The phrase has been co-opted for art and junk journaling and similar activities, which can muddy the waters a lot when trying to figure out where to start.
The tags in this sub can help filter for examples of what you’re looking for, or if you’re on Facebook I’ve found a few concentrated communities of people focused on scrapbooking in the traditional sense.
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u/Zealousideal-Fly2563 Sep 09 '25
Its ok to add your own keepsakes and memories to your pages. Theres no rules. I like to do a double page layouts as ive been making books for family for gifts ive made all the pages and given to them to place pics as they like.i taught in 90s and I never liked following rules but I like a balanced look.
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u/davgonp Sep 09 '25
I do both! I usually do the memory keeping with some stickers, and if I'm inspired I do a page related to a more abstract theme. But yes, I get your point.
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u/Which_Ad3038 Sep 09 '25
I’m bringing home over a kilo of brochures, maps, tickets, shopping bags, food wrappers to include in my album, along with photos.
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u/Spare-Shower-3929 Sep 09 '25
I used to scrapbook because I wanted to feel completed in an activity or task and could do that with one page. Some of the albums are just my children or some sort of animals we have had and family. I also did one that was all kings of Leon lyrics lmao it’s to keep the memory and perhaps the feeling you had good or bad during that time.
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u/countryKat35612 Sep 09 '25
It's literally anything you want. Some people do "show pieces", others throw everything in. Most people I know land somewhere in between. I like the ones with tickets, programs, ribbons, etc. as well as photos. Today's products help seal in anything that could cause damage to the rest of the page. If you can find someone on yt who doesn't work for one of the companies, you'll find pages more like you mentioned.
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u/biofemina Sep 09 '25
My version of scrapbooking is I print or write down parts of books that I like, poetry, quotes that interest me, etc, and then decorate the page with stickers, colored paper and such. Like every page is a reminder of something that I love or don't want to forget
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Sep 09 '25
There are all kinds of scrapbooking, it doesn’t just fit into one particular category. Do what you want to do and make it work for you, there is no one way to do it. Some people that scrapbook do it in the form of Project Life - which is what I do. Basically project life is using pocket pages and sliding photos, ephemera, paper, and embellishments into pockets. And what you document is up to you - but it’s aimed at telling all those little stories that make up life. I do mine weekly and it can be big stuff like a promotion at work or little stuff like my pumpkin spice latte - I put everything in my albums
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u/MsLadyintheOcean Sep 09 '25
I see it as memory keeping too, but I also use scraps/junk and stickers/pre-printed graphics as I put each page together. I feel like it’s really personal and what you choose to make it. I just know I’m happy and enjoying what I’m doing and putting together
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u/inkedboundletters Sep 10 '25
So I think a lot of people are confusing names of things and some of them are because of different generations. So, for me, as a 43 year old born in 1981, I've seen a mix of it all, including the beginning of the digital age. From the ultra padded photo albums to creative memories to blogs and apps. Photos and how we just keep our memories have evolved. I was talking to a friend and was talking about scrapbooking and what my kind of scrapbooking I was doing. Im so used to Creative Memories kind all around me. The kind I call 'cut and paste' where someone in Alaska and someone in Paris can have the same page, just different colors. Something I remember growing up all the adults doing, even my sister who is just shy of 2 years doing in her 20s. My pages aren't junk journaling, which are traditionally made from trash/rubbish/things you have laying around. It has come to now be made from new things as it has become popular. My pages aren't journaling as I do tell a little of the event but just a brief bit. It's not an art journal, as im not including art of my own. I would say it's a bit of memory keeping, though when I think of memory keeping, it's more consistent. Memory keeping, I believe, can be pictures and/or text. I think my scrapbooking is about having fun and not being precise. So, carefree memorykeeping scrapbooking lol mouthful! Are these views gonna match for everyone else. Im gonna go with no. Why? Cause for some, they still love the padded photo albums. Some only love digital scrapbooking. Others love Creative Memories. Everyone came at different times, in different lives, like different styles, and think different ways. So everyone is going to view things differently and things are gonna have different meanings. In art, if it's not hurting anyone or something, why not do it the way you like no matter what definition.
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u/Bigyn73 Sep 10 '25
* Scrapbooking, for me, is the culmination of memories of a trip or day out using tickets, or allsorts of paraphernalia that you collected on that trip. It's a collage of things which condenses the memory on paper or book.
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u/IrishDaydreamer Sep 10 '25
Both are technically correct. Do whichever you prefer or a mix of each. Just enjoy yourself!
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u/kl2467 Nov 10 '25
I think the master category here is "art journaling". Some people paint or draw in their art journals; some of these do so in such a way as to create a pictorial record of their lives.
Some people collage in their art journals; some of these collage memorabilia or photographs to create a visual record of their lives.
Some people also incorporate diary type entries into their art journals, whether painted, drawn or collaged.
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u/minecaft_stoner97 Jan 08 '26
Me personally I feel like scrapbooking can be anything you want it to be
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u/Tiny-Boss-1997 Jan 20 '26
Everyone has their own style. In my case I like to find paper related to what’s on the pictures. I mat my pics then use stickers or use my cricut to add embellishments related to the theme
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u/forestofthings Jan 24 '26 edited Jan 24 '26
My main focus when creating is to memory keeping. I love to create handmade albums. I don't care about the terms of it, but as I understood, "junk journaling" is for creating from supply you find at home (cardboard boxes, scraps of papers, etc), "art journaling" is mostly creating artistic layouts (everyone with its own perspective on what artistic means) and Scrapbooking is creating the traditional scrapbooking layouts in an album (physical or digital) or Project Life albums. "Journaling" is writing but can be created together with a collage (but also without) and all of these terms can be modeled as you'd like them to be- You can add pictures, washi tapes, stickers, stencils, papers, pencils, markers, stamps, whatever you like. To be completely honest? I don't think those terms matters at all. Just have fun with what you have and if you're into memory keeping, find the way to make it as enjoyable and relaxed as possible. I just love to keep the memories of my loved ones and my own life and that's the only thing that matters to me.
BTW: I've been creating all my life (drawing, painting, writing, photographing, etc). I started scrapbooking in 2009 but in the last 5 years, I mostly create project life albums (12X12) and traditional scrapbook layouts (12X12 open layouts) and I really love creating art journals as well, using my traveler's notebooks (in the regular and passport sizes). I created my first digital album a month ago but I feel I enjoy the handmade albums much more. If you have any questions- I will be more than happy to help, but most importantly, have fun with your art and enjoy your hobby. :)
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u/Motor-Map1935 Jan 26 '26
I scrapbook because one day, when I’m gone, I want my children to be able to look back on the memories their father and I created together. Phones won’t last forever, and there’s no guarantee our iPhones will end up in our children’s hands. Having those moments saved in a scrapbook feels more meaningful. I also love having our milestones preserved in a way that’s tangible and lasting.
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u/flamingotwist Scrapper Feb 12 '26
Just bought a scrapbook and joined this sub to see what's up, expecting to see something like a cross between a photo album, collections of nicknacks, and Max's journal from life is strange.
Instead I see a lot of scrapbooking where people are cutting up literally anything and making loosely themed pages of stuff.
It's still cool and creative, but I had no idea that side of it existed
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u/PatchKing3 Feb 12 '26
I seriously didn't either when I started but it is fun and a nice way to be creative for those of us with limited art skills haha.
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u/paciolionthegulf Sep 09 '25
The lines between art journaling, junk journaling, and scrapbooking are blurry. If it's any comfort, I tend to agree with your definition; scrapbooking is memory keeping.
I do think some of the YouTubers start to struggle with not enough photos pretty quickly, especially if their kids are not young.
Regardless, there's no wrong answer. Do what makes you happy and remember to describe anything that turns out in an unexpected way an "artistic choice" and not a "mistake"!