There is a scrapbooking product line that is sold much like Amway products. I won’t mention the name but I am sure I don’t need to. There seems to be an ongoing battle between those who do and those who don’t use – well turns out I need a name for this or it will be a hard post to write so lets call them “Imaginative Reminiscences” or IR for short.
Anyway there are those among the IR community that are IR fundies. Thou shalt not use anything but. Anything but and it is NOT scrapbooking. Then there are the IR Orthodox who use IR themselves but don’t force it on others and the IR Liberals who prefer IR but will use other products that take their fancy. People who sell IR stuff can fall into any of those categories – fortunately the one IR person we know is in the latter group and doesn’t consider Mrs Grendel to be damned to eternal flames for having non-IR stuff in the albums.
On the other side of this struggle there are scrapbooking’s equivalent of Libertarians, that is ‘anything at all is ok and no one should tell me what to use’. The conservatives – it must be an approved product (I suppose by some scrapbooking cartel or central committee – who knows!) but no one should infringe on another’s right to choose differently, and the Open Liberals who prefer non IR products but will use them if they see something they like.
Or maybe I have this all wrong – interpreting the world of scrapbooking is a very hard task for the uninitiated and I am sure that attempting to do so is fraught with danger. Up until this point my greatest risk had been from standing on Brad or nearly loosing fingers while cutting those toilet paper circles, but it seems that there is even more at stake.
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- "Grendel"
- An Aussie coffee lover and blogger known as 'Grendel'. Mrs Grendel and Junior Grendel Number One and Junior Grendel Number Two are tolerating the frequent coffee roastery stops on the road as we tour our great neighbours in New Zealand. We are also desperately hoping no Aussie cricketer bowls under-arm to a kiwi batsman while we are over there. . .
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26 comments:
Definitely put me in the Open Liberal box there. And roll my eyes in despair at the Fundamentalists - tsk.
No, you do not have this wrong. Your post was accurate and well written. I was snubbed by the "IR" Footsoldiers long ago. It just does not appeal to me. Love your blog!
i too was ousted from IR get togethers for daring to bring along a hammer and told in no uncertain terms..DO NOT come running to us, when in 100 years, your pages have RUSTED from using brads and eyelets!!..hello??? i'll be glad to see my pages in 100 years, rusted or not LOL
You mustn't forget, shall we say, "Bottom Circle Imaginations", who are an opposing force that are much like IR, only they go for an IR Liberal stance...
(deleted my last comment as I'd got which party of the Liberals that BCI follow wrong!)
Libertine, I recently used rocks, or I suppose stones, from my last trip to decorate the pictures of the stones and rocks. (I live in Michigan, we have a problem with this topic here. Most of us have boxes, bags and pails of rocks in our garages from vacations). I've used twigs, cellophane, toothpicks, bamboo bits, small shells, coins, and anything else that is even remotely flat and interesting.
IR is fine, so is dressing only in brown.
OMGosh, this is so true! I am organizing a fundraiser crop locally. An IR lady contacted me requesting to be a vendor. We were happily chatting away when she asked for her own area IN A SEPERATE ROOM for her IR croppers. When I told her that wouldn't be possible, she responded "Well, nevermind then" and hung up on me! rofl That confirmed it for me...they are definitely a cult.
oh gosh you are a RIOT!!!!!!!!
I am very middle of the road- i use stuff that the IR people would cringe at BUT I am also concerned with safety, etc.
i use paint, etc, but paintings last 100's of years. hehee
Your post sounds accurate. I have never come across any IR people (not sure they exist here in the UK?) BUT I have heard tales about them. They seem a bit extreme for me! I use what I like the look of, not because it's from a particular maker! Haven't tried using sticks and pebbles yet, but there's plenty of time!
Are you all insane...all the IR products are tested and given ISO standards numbers because they are approved by International standards. The products range is all complementary and does not look like it was thrown together. You will damage your photos by using all that other crap...brads etc. Dont be so narrow minded and listen to the facts. Photo Safe means nothing as the term is not trade marked. So it would pay to listen, it is about photo preservation and enhancement not playing art class.
Oh man, this is a funny blog but I have to tell you that I totally totally lean towards the conservative side and I am NOT ashamed of it. I think the analogy of liberal vs. conservative is completely accurate although i do think the liberal side is the side that got the most media here. I'll be the "Glenn Beck" of this blog and just remind everyone that while I may be conservative in how I make my albums and teach people how to make albums, I'm thinking about the future, basing my choices on facts and spending LESS money than those that lean towards the liberal and focusing on the important things. I like to teach people who have never done anything with their pictures besides put them into a shoe box how to honor their pictures. If someone like the liberal comes to my crops...I let them do their own thing and expect that they won't bash my stuff to other people who are just learning. If they do bash it, then I am quick to respond with accurate information in a kind way. Afterall, we have the same goal let's treat each other with respect right. And that includes the liberal people not 'advertising' for other companies at an IR event.
It looks like discovery channel is running my blog again eh?
To the anonymous who commented about ISO standards - that is great that IR products are made to ISO standards, but (and not being in the scrapping game myself) one would have to ask - what if other items are also meeting ISO standards?
Grendel - you are right to question what if other companies meet the ISO standards. I'm sure there are some out there that do and don't advertise. And there are several out there that don't and say their products are photo safe. So, it boils down to the consumer's responsibility to question the companies that don't advertise meeting the ISO standards on their products. But that's the case with any product people shop for. Some people care about ISO standards and some don't. That's the beauty of scrapbooking - it is your album and you are in charge of it. If what you are doing makes you happy then great!!! It's not my photos or family stories or heritage going in your albums so I don't have a say in it. I can share with you techniques, methods, design concepts but in the end it isn't my decision. It is yours. The only thing I ask is to please remember that not all IR people are the same. I'm sure there is one out there that you would mesh with a lot better than the one you've come across.
Have a great day!
Oh my goodness! I think it's hysterical that those knocking these supposed conservative IR people are so NARROW-MINDED themselves!!
It is unfortunate that some of you may have had a run in with a PERSON associated with this IR - that does not make the IR bad!
I am in South Africa and I have never turned anyone away from my workshops - bring what you want - but find that MOST of my customers have changed from TWIGS and STONES anyway.... IR quality speaks for itself.
And most IR people I know are really nice, kind of like most of my non-IR friends are too - FANCY THAT!!!!
I'm an IR "rep" and have NEVER told anyone they couldn't have "contraband" at an event. It saddens me that others take such a Fascist approach and give the rest of us a bad rap. I spend more time convincing people I'm not like that than I do trying to get them to do things with their photos, the reputation in my neck of the woods is that we're all Product Nazis. :(
This is all very interesting... my consultant allows anything we want to be used in our albums. She will tease anyone with 'contraband' but she makes us feel so at ease we all attend her workshops. One girl brought in a Westrim album in tears because the band had broken & there was nothing that could be done. She changed over to the IR album & refuses to use anything else! I think she should become a consultant because she has turned many to the IR's products. The ISO assures me it has been through lots of testing (if the other companies are doing this testing I'm sure they'd advertise it!) & for the $$ & time I put in my albums I want something that will be handed down through my children & grandchildren because I've seen through my own experience what the 'contraband' will do to an album from my 32 yo son's album & how the acid & lignin & glue sticks & rubber cement can ruin the paper & the pictures. It made me sick when I checked them out a few years ago. We get what we pay for, we live in a country where we can decide how & what we want to do for our personal albums & I think that's wonderful! With that said, though, my granddaughter's album will be nothing but IR & the remaining pages I do will also be the same. Happy Scrapping!!
I was one of the liberal camp until I got all my old albums out and saw that the pictures had faded and the pages had yellowed. Did some research, now I'm an IR user. I do hate to see others make the same mistake I made earlier.
As for the hammers: I don't want anyone banging anything at scrapbooking events--unless they can do it without me having to listen to it!
I have read everyones post, and I was slightly offended, however I would like to say that yes, I am an "IR" consultant, however prior to joining IR, I had been a consultant of 4 other direct sales scrapbooking comanies, one closed down, and I had a downline of 49, one takes forever to ship your products and most everything is always on back order,one everything has the exact same pattern, just in a different color, and the other is great, but all of the products can be bougt at my LSS.For 3 years, I even used my business license, an bought wholesle and sold over 600 products on an online scrapbooking store, but the business just wasn't booming enough for me to justify the overhead I did actually have. I purchase at the LSS as well. I use a variety of products in my albums, not just "IR", I dont have rules on bringing non "IR" at my crops. Most "IR" consultants are non-threatening, non-agressive citizens. We really do want what is best for our customers, and not everything out there is. I have been in some of the larger craft stores, lets say "Diannes", and they carry a line we will call "Producing Albums", which as we know has it's on magazine. The items have got to be some of the cheapest crap I have ever seen. I mean I shouldn't be able to see the adhesive through the vellum phrase on the qoute blocks.I mean they do may vellum adhesive for a reason..hello...And being one of the very first scrapbooking magazines, they should now that. But anyhow now that I have rambled...my point is, that I chose "IR", because I have tried the rest, and to me "IR" is the best, for quality, and design. "IR" has changed alot over the years, with the new products, and digital products, I think more people will give it a chance, once the more agressive consultants back down or retire.
Crack me right up. Any IRC reading this and feeling defensive oughta go look in the mirror. Y'all are out there. I've seen you at Area Meetings, Regionals and The Big Midwest Meeting.
The Fundies have just about driven the company into the ground. They're still working on it. Might just do it too, as they are very determined.
I should add here that every scrapper I have ever met says they love the IR tools even if they sniff their noses at the rest of the product range. . .
just buy a boat and go fishing!
I'm with upstream...only last time I joined him on his boat I was sick as a dog. So my suggestion is buy a backpack and go bush!
Hobbies are meant to be fun...
Make sure you take your camera wherever you go so you can scrap with you nice, high quality "IR" products upon return.
PS- My wife is soooo envious of the studio you set up at home, she likes the squares on the wall...nice touch!
I am an IRC and I do not tell people they have to use IR products. If you come across and IRC who says you can't use anything else. Find someone else. There are quite a few really good companies out there with great products. I too have "contraband" in my albums. But I tend to stick with just the stickers from other products. I will not use any other album other than an IR album. I personally like that it has a lifetime guarantee. I also don;t like to use all the decorative stuff. It adds too much bulk to the album. But that is my style. Everyone has there own style. Please just make sure it's acid free and lignin free products. We all want the same thing and that is to preserve out photos for generations to come.
Happy Scrapping!!
ROFLMAO
Interesting. I'm not against IR. Never have been. I've found some of the stuff to be a little, shall we say, dull, just as is BCI (the "other" team, so to speak) as they don't necessarily allow for true freedom of design and interpretation. Or rather, the albums all tend to look the same after a while.
But I digress here.
My point about it being interesting is this - lets just re-read these comments to see who, and how many, are..... oooh, let's see..... "Anonymous". If it's that great, and you love it that much, why don't you put your money where your mouth is (so to speak) and actually tell us your names?
Like I give a monkey's who you are anyway.....but it sure says a lot.
I had wondered about the sudden rash of anomymity. . .
How sad that this post has gone un-commented for so long. To remedy that:
It's just scrapbooking people! I personally think it's hillarious that people are getting so bent out of shape here. Product is product, some have been tested, some may not have been. Some are duddy, some are more creative. In the big picture, I think it only matters if the memories are getting preserved, and "IR" is one of many avenues to do so.
Being an "IR" consultant myself, I may be shunned or even fired for saying so, but the big importance is preserving memories, whether you choose to do that with IR, BCI, or Ma Nature herself!
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