The story of how it all began…

A normal day at the office (a graphic design agency): I needed a metal scrap background – I don’t even remember why, but I needed it quick and bad – so I did a google search on “scrap”. While scrolling through the images looking for “just the right one”, I would come across little squares of joyful colors and patterns… Never having heard of scrapbooking, I had no idea what I was looking at, but they caught my eye. I love happy colors (as you may well be aware of if you know me and my designs a little) and I couldn’t help but click on one of them. Sahlin Studio’s site opened (which back then was also very colorful, girly and flowery) and I was instantly grabbed by everything I saw. Quickly copy-pasting the URL and sending it to my home e-mail, I went back to work.

That night, Sahlin Studio introduced me to the world of digi-scrapping. With awesome tutorials, freebies and links to other great sites like the Daily Digi. I was hooked… Only, I was also in the middle of buying (and building) a new home. Our computer was ancient, the room it was in was freezing in winter (and it was winter) and with two young kids, I had no time to embark into this new hobby and start making layouts. But I did have time to surf the internet on our laptop… Every night I read more on digi-scrapping, hoarding freebies along the way, and waiting for the new house to be built with a warm room to put the ancient computer in.

When it finally happened, it was six months later. And I had a HUGE stash full of freebies. Not ever having scrapped a page, made me reluctant to buy anything – I had no idea if I would actually like this newfound hobby! After many long nights behind a frustratingly slow PC, I had a whole bunch of layouts and a new hobby I totally and utterly loved. Being a freebie scrapper (I had to put that whole pile of freebies to use, right?) I felt I couldn’t share my layouts with the scrapping communities I secretly watched from the sidelines: all the online galleries belonged to stores, and stores want you to buy their stuff and post layouts made with their stuff. But I had not bought a thing (yet). However, I did long to share my layouts and my new hobby and find kindred souls to talk too…

And then I found Pixelscrapper. Marisa’s old site was one of my bookmarks, because of her great tutorials. I read about her plans to start a community site (with an open gallery!) and got really excited! I signed up, watched and read and stayed on the background for a while, and then plunged in. Introduced myself, uploaded some layouts, made friends, had tons of fun in the forum and before I knew it, I was a Forum Moderator! Reading just about every post on the forum (which is now completely impossible, but back then we were still a small group), I soon got sucked into the enthusiasm and energy of the Pixelscrapper blogtrains – although I had untill then always said to my husband I would never design, only make layouts… After designing a couple of blogtrains (only a hobby, no more than that), Marisa contacted me and asked me to design for Pixelscrapper (I can still hear my shrieks and screams, while I rushed to my husband to tell him the news). Just recently I have finally stopped calling this ‘a hobby’. This is my big love. The thing I didn’t know I was looking for and never knew I missed. Now that it is in my life, I never want to go without. This is where I can finally be proud of what I create – not feel like it is too colorful or too cute or too girly for the clean and back-to-basic graphic design business I have worked in for the last twenty years. This is my story of how it all began… the start of a new, colorful and creative chapter in my life!