Merry Christmas!

I’m sitting here, having just come back from Christmas Eve lunch with the kids at McDonald’s, reflecting on the past year.  It’s been pretty darned amazing, hasn’t it?

While I’ve owned this website for well over ten years now, it’s only in the past few months that I’ve been so heavily involved in it and excited with the direction it’s taken.  Years ago, when I first saw digital scrapbook pages, I swore that was a direction I would never go.  I’d worked in Photoshop a bit and had made website graphics but I was one of those who thought scrapbooking had to involve actual "scraps" to be considered authentic. 

Experience and perspective has changed my thinking.  I realized that all those brochures and maps and tickets and cards that I was including in my albums never got taken out. And, when the kids tried, I had moments of panic when I wanted to make sure their hands were clean and that the items made it back into the albums.  I finally let go of the idea that the actual item had any value and learned to embrace the image of it.  Now, I make "pocket" pages that hold scans of maps, tickets, money, brochures and souvenirs and I don’t worry that the kids will damage or lose anything because the real items that I wanted to keep are stored in a keepsake box, away from little fingers.

Not that I regret my decision to stay out of digital scrapbooking for all those years, though.  In all honesty, the early paper and elements designs were too "digital" for my tastes and I wouldn’t be happy with my albums now if I’d been an early adopter of the technology.  I’m happy that I waited until designers were making papers that look as real as anything found in a scrapbooking store and elements that look so real you expect to feel the grain of the wood or the cool touch of metal.  The changes that have occurred in digital scrapbooking over the years are amazing.

Then there’s the digital scrapbooking community.  Wow!  This is where I’m overwhelmed.  Where else can you find so many who are so willing to share their talents for so little?  (Well, okay, you can find a lot of programming help and free scripts and open source software on the web, so there are other communities that love to share…) I’ve learned so much more about Photoshop through forums and blogs and websites than I ever did in school (I took a semester of web programming that ended up just being a class on Photoshop because the instructor didn’t really have a plan).  So now, with the help of designers, other scrappers, Photoshop experts and professional photographers, I’ve learned how to use Photoshop in ways I’d never before imagined I could.  And I’ve added a few other programs and plug-ins to my repertoire.  Now, I’m one of those who designs scrapbooking elements.

So today, on the Eve of Christmas, when it’s customary to open our hearts and let love shine through, I’d like to express my thanks to everyone who has taught me, encouraged me, thanked me, laughed with me and expressed outrage with me.  I don’t know what I’d do without all of you in my life. 

Thank you.

Schöne Weihnachten!

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