Have you noticed all the fun new trends hitting the scrapbooking world lately? Gold foil, pretty planners, hand lettering, even faith scrapping. Stamping has become more popular again (about time!) and party supplies are everywhere. Watercolors and variations on Pantone’s color of the year are popping up as well.

Click the picture to find it on Amazon (affiliate link)

What do you think about all the new trends? Do you love them or hate them or do you just not care about them?

For me, there are certain things that I’m loving — hand lettering, for example — and others I could do without. (I just want a simple planner that works for me. I don’t feel the need to make it pretty.)

The thing about trends is that while they are fun to be aware of, you don’t have to follow them. The best thing to do with new trends and ideas? Make them your own.

How do you go about doing that? Start with what you have.

If you don’t have any gold accent items on hand, but have lots of mirror cardstock, use that instead. Embossing powder, leafing pens, and golf leaf are also good alternatives.

Uncomfortable with hand lettering? Try stamping instead. Uncomfortable with stamping? Use a pretty font from your computer, and print something out.

The point is, you have options.

If there’s a trend you want to use, but can’t get it for whatever reason (hello spending freeze!) find something in your stash to substitute or alter.

If there are trends you don’t love, don’t use them. You can make your pages look timeless and up to date without having to follow all the trends.

There are so many trends that passed me by. There used to be a time when every page you saw was pastel and shabby chic. So not a good fit for me. And before that there were the days of paper dolls and sticker sneezes. I delayed beginning my scrapbooking life because that were what everyone was doing, and I was never a fan.

Fifteen years ago, stamping was a big deal, with more stamp stores than scrapbook stores. It faded though, as scrapbooking became more and more popular. Now stamping is back, with lots of new designers and companies leading the way.

In short, trends come and go. Personal style is the glue that holds your crafty life together. Whether you prefer a graphic look, or lots and lots of embellishments, you can make trends fit how you create. You may be bored with how you create pages, and think they all look the same, but trust me, they don’t. And, you can use the latest trends to freshen up your style, without compromising the parts of memory keeping that you find important.

If there are trends out there that you want to try, do it! But don’t feel like you have to in order to stay current in the world of scrapbooking. What’s hot and trendy now will be yesterday’s news in a year’s time. Find what works for you, and make it your own.

Now to figure out what I can make that’s inspired by current trends, and with what I have on hand. That spending freeze I’m on is certainly a motivator for creativity!

Lately, I have been knee deep in photo organization.

When my video editing software wasn’t working, I took the computer in to the Apple store to get it fixed. After checking out the error reports, they told me I needed to re-format the computer, and restore from the back-up, which I had brought with me because I had thought that might be the problem.

So we re-formatted the computer, and then I started restoring from the back-up. And couldn’t. Because somehow, I had a back-up that was 1.3 TB from a 1TB computer. (Cue massive confusion from all involved.)

The past week has involved hours and hours of data transfer and photo organization. I’ve still got tons more to do. (My photo library is huge. I’ve had a digital camera since 2001.)

Along the way I’ve decided, with the recommendation of my friend Mary at Be Photo Wise, to move from iPhoto to Lightroom. Before I got the iMac, I had been using Adobe’s Organizer, and loved that. Hopefully I’ll enjoy Lightroom as well. I’ll let you all know how that goes.

When I’m not knee deep in photos, I am working on the next few scrapbooking books in the Beginner’s Guide series. I’ve got a few thousand words towards The Parent’s (and Grandparent’s) Guide to Scrapbooking, and have outlined a Lover’s Guide, and a Traveller’s Guide. I am working with some friends who are digital scrapbooking experts to put together a Tech Lover’s Guide as well.

For the sketch class at the end of the month, I’m putting together a little booklet of sketches and blank pages for the participants to take home with them. There’s still time to sign up here.

It is all coming together so slowly.

I guess I am the turtle, rather than the hare.

Now that you know what I am working on, here are a few questions for you:

Have you scrapbooked about your children? How about your significant other? Do you scrapbook your travels? What has made scrapbooking about those topics difficult? What made it easier? What do you wish you’d known when you started scrapbooking? What’s your best tip(s) for new scrapbookers?

I’d love to hear what you have to say about scrapbooking. We all approach memory keeping from different angles. I’d love to learn from you, too!