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Is This Album a Do-Over?

Okay, so you've been scrapbooking for a couple of years now and you're pretty good at it (oh, c'mon—it's okay to say so!). You're stocked up on tons of papers and embellishments, you've got the greatest gadgets on hand and you've established your own style.

You're a pro, and it shows in your work. At least, it shows in your RECENT work.

But what about those scrapbooks you made four years ago, when you placed unmatted photos onto plain white background paper with a few tiny stickers as accents? Or the pages you made where you combined ALL your scrapping papers, stickers, die-cuts, patterned scissors and 6 or 7 photos on one 8.5"x11" page? Or what about (oh, my) those albums you made in high school with rubber cement, construction paper and felt-tip pens?

You may cringe when you look back on those albums, so we'll say it for you: You've come a long way, baby.

To Re-Do—Or Leave As Is?

Thinking about re-doing those old pages? Consider this question: Do you want to leave them intact as a reminder of how far your abilities have progressed? Do you have the time and the energy to re-do those pages? Would a simple touch-up suffice, or are you thinking of a complete make-over?

While most scrappers we talked to agreed they would leave those old pages intact as a way to mark the progress of their scrapping style, there are a few situations where scrappers felt it was necessary to go back and redo those old books.

Pre-Scrapbook Albums

Before we had such wonderful acid-free products to choose from, there was the magnetic album.

Do try to save photos from this unsafe environment. Photos can often be removed with an adhesive remover like Un-Do (from Doumar). Be very gentle when attempting to remove photos—if the photo starts to tear, opt for another solution: making copies of the photos in the album.

Reprints of these photos can be made at a professional photo lab, although the cost can be high. Or scan the pages yourself, then print out the photos on photo-quality paper.

High School Books

Many scrappers can recall the first albums they made, using construction paper and rubber cement. For many, this album is a scrapbook in the truest sense: it contains ticket stubs, newspaper clippings, photos, notes and all sorts of memorabilia. (It also usually contains photos of you with a hairstyle you'd much rather forget.)

Okay, so maybe you'd rather not have photographic proof of your braces or your bell-bottom jeans, but they do capture a part of your history—and they definitely capture the style of the era. Rescue those photos and memorabilia from this unsafe environment. And take a close look at some of those photos. Cars, houses, and other background elements might now have historical value!

To preserve your scrapping style from this era, you can either recreate the pages with photo-safe materials or make copies of the pages.

The "I Just Started Scrapping" Album

It's been said that a scrapper doesn't discover her true "scrapping style" until she's made about 100 pages.

Whether you started scrapping with blank white paper, or if you piled all your scrapping accessories on one page, chances are your books now have a different look. And remember: trends and hot products also influence our styles. (Did you go through the paper doll phase?)

If the materials you used are photo safe, why not keep the pages as is? Sure, you may wince a little when you see those plain white pages or those wild, crowded layouts, but remember: scrapbooking is about you as much as it is about your photos. The wonderful thing about having so many products and techniques to pick from is that you have a lot more freedom to express your creativity. But it's also fun to look back and see how much you've grown since your first page.

But for those who simply cannot look at those old books without feeling the urge to redo the pages, remember this: it's your album, and you can do with it as you please. So feel free to redo pages as you choose. You might want to make a few changes (adding or removing embellishments, adding journaling, growing the layouts from 8.5"x11" to 12"x12", for example) rather than re-scrap them entirely.

How Have YOU Changed?

Whether you've just scrapped your 100th page, or your 1000th page, we're willing to bet your style has changed since that first layout.

"I never used to journal!" says Melinda. "I hated my handwriting and I could never think of anything to say. Then I showed a friend one of my books and found myself having to explain the story of each page. It made me realize how important the journaling was."

Betty, a California scrapper, says she crops less of her photos now, saying she is more aware of the importance of the photo's background. Shannon adds, "I used to crop my pictures so small to get every one on a page. Now I crop them just slightly."

Lacey comments, "There just wasn't the cool stuff out there when I started five years ago—so most of my early pages are white paper and tiny stickers." Besides incorporating patterned papers and vellum on her pages, Lacey has also switched album sizes. "I switched from 8.5"x11" to 12"x12". It gives me more room to play!"

True Confessions:

One of the first layouts I ever did was an 8.5"x11" page with photos of my husband and myself at a beach in Seattle. I had just discovered the die-cut machine and set about cropping all five of my photos into seashell shapes. Yes, all five photos—and yes, I used them all on this single page! As if that wasn't enough, I added more seashell die-cuts, then put the whole thing on seashell paper. Of course, this left little room for journaling, so I squeezed the date onto one of the photo mats. The ironic thing is, the beach we were at was very rocky with few seashells in sight!

I figured I wasn't the only one to look back on my old pages and cringe—so I asked a few professional scrappers if they've ever experienced the same thing. Here's what they said:

Shauna Berglund-Immel: i look back on my early hot off the press stuff and man, i would love to have a go at those pages now! but for my own stuff, i would never ever ever re-do them!! i have so much to do as is and so much to catch up on, if i spent my time re-doing, i'd never get any closer to doing the current stuff! i am years and years behind...we're talking double digits! and i think it's important to mark your progress, but also to preserve the style at the time. scrapbooking is like fashion...it will come and go. i think it's fun to look back through pages and be able to define the "era" or the fashion, trend at the time. that's half the fun. we are so into buying the latest and greatest and using them. i think it's important to preserve that aspect of it.

Arlene Peterson: I do have those "what was I thinking?" books—two of them! I have decided that finished pages are better than that stack of photos I have still need to be scrapbooked. I am leaving the pages as they are and I'm happy they are finished!

LeNae Gerig: I don't think I would go as far as reprinting photos that I have over-cropped, but if I had all the time in the world I might go back and do some damage control!

Susan Cobb: I not only cringe, I would like to run and hide! But I figure it's all about where I was at the time with my creativity, and just like any other piece of creative work, I wouldn't change it. I can look back and enjoy my progress. And someday I might look back on what I'm doing now and think the same thing! That's why for me it's all about the "doing", the journey, the fun of being creative in the present.

Lisa Dattola: My style has definitely changed since I started scrapbooking professionally. I look at my older pages and cringe. However, I've decided that my scrapbooks provide not only a way to see my photos, they are also memories I want to cherish. The changes in style as I progress will tell their own story. And I have to consider that scrapbooking styles change year to year. Do I really want to change my pages every time the styles change? I don't have enough time!

Yes, it's important to get those memories into photo-safe scrapbooks—but it's also important to have fun scrapooking and expressing your creativity.

Christine, an Oregon scrapper, started scrapbooking with plain white papers. Then she discovered all the papers and embellishments at her local scrapbook store. Will she redo those first pages? "I'm definitely not going to," she says, "Creativity is a journey, not a destination!"