#shannan #married with two kids #part-time corporate job #sydney australia #scrapbooker #klutz #reader #dork #great cook #music lover
Scrapbooking and cooking are my favourite things to do. TV is a close third. Luckily I am an introvert and love being at home.
I started scrapbooking in 2008 when my daughter was little. It was something I was vaguely interested in for a long time, even though I didn't really have a great understanding about what scrapbooking really was (or could be).
I've always loved writing and have kept journals my whole life. As a teenager, I would add in everyday stuff to my diary like music charts from the record store (I'm old!), concert tickets, magazine clippings, photo booth pictures and just general stuff. When I got older, I kept a journal on the computer.
When Zara was born, I worked on a photo album for her up until she was about one. One day I came home from shopping with a ton of photos (literally - I had accidentally printed way too many) and decided I might as well start scrapbooking.
I went to our local Spotlight store where they had a lot of scrap stuff and bought some patterned paper, letter stickers and an album. I still remember making those first few pages and how much I loved the process. It was so much fun. Those pages aren't very good when I look back and they lack journalling, but it was a start. And it was fun!
This is my very first page (I remember loving that patterned paper so much even though my letter stickers are so matchy-matchy that you can't even read it!)
And this is the first page I made that I LIKED (probably about twenty pages later).
I am naturally inquisitive and a researcher so I did a lot of online research about scrapbooking. Somehow I found Ali Edwards and Cathy Zielske who taught me so much about this hobby. I bought books and magazines and immersed myself in this crafty world. And I made a lot of pages. I learned that I could make pages about me or our everyday life (thanks to Ali Edwards) and that I could use my computer for journalling and titles (thanks Cathy Zielske). I made heartfelt pages about my daughter, silly pages about Ikea, fun pages about music and television, and introspective pages about myself and loved it all.
I would set myself up on our dining table while my daughter slept and make pages - some good, some bad. By the time my son was born, I was finding it hard to deal with the constant mess (no scrap room) and started to look into digital scrapbooking. I got a Macbook Pro in early 2010 and learned as much as I could about that side of scrapbooking.
My love for scrapbooking has ebbed and flowed but it's always there. I can't imagine not being a scrapbooker now. It's a lifestyle isn't it? I mostly make digital pages and photo-book projects in a minimalist style, but enjoy doing some hybrid projects (mainly because I still have a healthy letter sticker habit). I would call myself a simple scrapbooker - not many fancy techniques or trends on my pages. I have a communication degree and that background in page design, typeface, advertising and professional writing comes in very handy all these years later.
In 2019 I opened my online shop for digital scrapbook supplies - Shannan Pages Shop (HERE). You can find layered templates, guided album kits, digital journal cards and other digital goodness all in a minimalist, simple style.
I share my current work regularly over on instagram as shannan_pages
Thank you for being here!