Frequently Asked Questions – FAQ
Now that I am a Paperclipping Member, how do I log in?
Please watch this video to see how to visit the Member’s Area…
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I think my Paperclipping Membership expired. How do I find out?
Here’s how to find out about the status of your membership:
1. Go to Paperclipping.com
2. Click on the Manage Account button at the upper right-hand corner.
3. Login.
4. Click on Your Payment History.
This will tell you your dates. It’s not a big deal if your membership expired — you can still renew at the $15 rate (for 6 months). You won’t have to buy a whole new membership.
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Where did you learn design? The tutorials on design principles are my favorite. I would love to explore more on my own as well, so can you recommend a few books I could read?
In my experience, you have to dig deep into design by studying a niche (and when I say niche here I’m really referring to industries: design for architecture, design for logos, design for ads, design for interior decorating, design for painting, photography etc). I have found that when you go looking for design in general, there is only enough content to fill an article. It’s very, very basic.
There are a list of principles and elements of design with their definitions and what they do, and that’s it. Then, to really dig deep into design, you need to apply those principles and elements to a specific niche. So I learned to really get design when I studied how it applied to painting (I have a few books on painting). I got a book on designing logos. I’ve read articles on design in architecture. I’ve learned about photography. I began to recall all that I learned in modern dance (another visual art).
So I don’t have a specific book I can recommend on design in general.
If it helps, I am taking all these principles and putting them together with many of the Paperclipping video tutorials on design, and I’m turning it into a course that will be free for Paperclipping Members. That way you can see what all those principles and elements are and how they apply to scrapbooking and paper crafts. I expect this to be done next month.
If you still want more, I recommend you find another area of design you’re interested (landscaping or interior decorating, for example) and find a design book in that area. The principles apply across the board, so you’ll just need to recognize how they apply to scrapbooking. One of my hopes with Paperclipping and is to give you deep applications of design as it applies to what we do so that if you don’t want to go out and study design for other industries, you won’t have to.
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I noticed you use a lot of memorabilia and everyday stuff that is not archival quality. Don’t use worry about that?
There is something called Archival Mist that you spray on items and it keeps the acid from leeching out of those items. I do have that and I use it once in a while.
I’m not so concerned now that we have digital cameras. Before, our prints were more precious because negatives are so easily lost or destroyed and it was a pain to order reprints from them, even if they were organized and in good condition. So we tended to think of our prints as originals.
Now days it’s the original digital file that is the original photo. Our prints are just prints, nothing special. So I believe in protecting the digital photos and I don’t worry about the prints fading so much — they’re just copies of the photo. They can be replaced if my children or grandchildren want the photos on the pages to be pristine.
I like that the majority of my supplies are acid-free so that overall my pages will last longer than if they were on acidic papers. But to me it’s a greater loss to deny our pages all the memorabilia and culture, than if prints brown or fade after many decades.
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I will be visiting the Phoenix or Mesa area. What scrapbooking stores do you recommend?
Mesa and the surrounding area is a hot spot for scrapbookers! There are a lot of scrapbooking stores, but two stand out as my very favorite. I don’t believe any scrapbooker should make a visit to the Phoenix area without devoting a chunk of time to these two shops:
Mystic Paper
This is a vintage paper crafts store. Some of the products are vintage style products by scrapbook manufacturers and other modern manufacturers, and some products are truly vintage or antique.
It’s a wonderful shop in downtown Mesa on Main St, just east of Country Club. While you’re here, I recommend you stop over at a little cafe just around the corner on Robson (north of Main, east of Country Club) for breakfast, lunch or coffee and tea. It’s an old house that they’ve turned into the greatest little shop and one of my favorite places in town.
Scrapbooks, Etc.
This is probably the biggest scrapbooking store that exists, although a section of it is now devoted to sewing. It has a very wide variety of products by an enormous number of scrapbook manufacturers. It’s huge!
If you’re hungry afterward, you might want to visit the little bakery next door for some home baked bread, or possibly even a sandwich for lunch!
Scrapbooks Etc. is in a shopping center on the corner of Lindsay and University — a little farther east into Mesa than Mystic Paper.
