I have a friend who has a career as an artist. We like to email each other to talk about some of our favorite topics; green living, alternative world-views, art and scrapbooking. One day my friend aired some frustation about our cropping culture and it made me laugh to myself because what he said is true.
I saved his comment for a long time, knowing today would be Blog Action Day, a green blogging movement for the environment. Here’s what he said:
I took a scrapbooking survey just to see what it was like – and the focus on spending all your cash on everything from a dozen magazines to monthly classes irritated me–scrapbooking can be done with stuff you already HAVE… in a sense that is its bloody origin, those trinkets and swatches and clippings are modeled on FOUND ITEMS.
The emphasis on acid-free photo preservation killed the concept of found items for scrapbooking. A more appropriate name for the modern hobby might be “photo-decorating.”
But we’re coming around again. We’re seeing more scraps in scrapbooks these days. I’ve learned I can shop for embellishments and layout titles right in my own house without unzipping my wallet.
The fun trinkets in the photo above are just some of things I’ve gathered from old clothing, magazines, cereal boxes, and junk mail. Potential scrapbooking items are everywhere. And when you are using found items like these, not only are you decreasing your garbage output, you’re also preventing the new production of more STUFF that you would have bought otherwise.
