Quirky Scrapbooking

Here's the latest style of scrapbooking that has caught my interest. It's commonly referred to as "quirky". I stumbled upon it several months back when I first discovered digital scrapbooking. Or should I say I stumbled on a web site with a gallery of this type of scrapbooking and I fell in love with it. I didn't realize then that it was it's own style. I just knew I liked it better than most of the other stuff I was seeing. I remember bookmarking the site but now I can't find it :-(

Anyway, here's a site about "quirky" scrapbook design, DigitalArtQuirks.com. It bills itself as, "a brand new home to an ever growing community of digital artists and computer crafters, exploring and expressing themselves through art forms such as Art Journaling, Collage, Art Trading Cards, Altered Art and even scrapbooking that digs a little deeper or steps outside of the box."

The idea is that instead of creating a scrapbook page of say Aunt Lizzie as a flapper back in the 1920s (using classic photos and standard kit "doo-dads"), you create a page with Aunt Lizzie's image incorporated in a series of symbols and images of the Roaring Twenties. This style uses a lot of blending modes and targeted lighting. The best way I can think of to describe it is to say it looks more like a work of art as opposed to a craft project, with different levels of symbolism and meanings.

From the Studio Matters blog:

Most of us scrap the good times: the birthday parties, the holidays, and the family vacations. But as wonderful as those layouts are, what do they really say about us as individuals? About our values? Our heartaches? Our day-to-day struggles?

For the Quirk, working in Photoshop can be therapy. Quirks scrap about their illnesses, their divorces, their relationships with their spouses and parents. Sometimes, they‘ll scrap about day-to-day frustrations, such as housework, bills, and hair.

Creating art allows the Quirk to make statements about things they feel strongly about. They create art based on their views about religion, politics, and yes, even sex.

For the Quirk, art can also be a means of exploring “big” thoughts and ideas. The Quirk will take a favorite quote or a favorite song, and add imagery that conveys what those words mean to them.

Here's what I mean. This example is from the gallery at DigitalArtQuirks.com. The page was created by Marretje.


Isn't this a wonderful piece? It's about the games people play.

So how does this relate to genealogy? It's a different angle on creating a show piece of your ancestors. It's a way to say more about the times in which they lived instead of about them personally. Let's face it, we all have names on our family tree that we can't find any personal information on. But we can always come up with information on the times in which they lived. Think about it. Scrap it.

Now go get creative with your genealogy!