Is Scraplifting Really Alright?

by Nicole Humphrey | More from this Blogger

15 Jan 2007 01:14 PM

One of the questions, I am posed most often, when I am teaching a scrapbook class or workshop, seems to be "Is scraplifting really okay to do?". While many scrapbookers have formed their own ideas and opinions regarding scraplifting, some are still pondering that question.

So here is my opinion on scraplifting.

Scraplifting: The act of copying another scrapbookers ideas and designs to use in your own scrapbook albums and layouts. Partial ideas or whole ideas can be "lifted", and all are considered scraplifting, though the definition for some is subjective.

Why do some people scraplift?

The main reason people scraplift is to get layouts done at a more rapid pace. Often copying someone else's ideas, can get ones own creative juices flowing and allow for extended freedom on a scrapbook layout.

Another reason for scraplifting, taken from a poll, is that some suffer from scrappers block, which is a lot like writer's block; when you just cannot seem to come up with any ideas.

So the age old question posed, really is - is it okay to do?

Personally, I can only think of one situation, where scraplifting is most certainly not okay. When you are creating a layout for publication, or payment, it is unacceptable, to steal someone else's work. In a case like this, a layout by another scrapbooker might better serve as inspiration for an entirely new design, but to copy a partial or whole layout, and at any time gain recognition or payment for it, is absolutely not okay.

However, if you are doing a large number of scrapbook pages, trying to crawl out of a scrappers block, or just in general admiring another scrapbooker's layout, and you plan to only use the layout that you have partially or entirely copied in your own personal scrapbook, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.

Some scrapbooker believe that somewhere on the page you should include a credit to the original creator. I am not sure how I feel about that, since I don't typically scraplift. However, as a writer, I am big on "give credit where credit is due" and it honestly makes me upset, when I see my work on someone else's web page, with no direct link, tying me to the authorship. So I guess I actually answered my own question on how I feel about it. Instead of mucking up your scrapbook layout with a strange "credit", you might include the information on the back of the layout.

So tell me, what do you think of scraplifting? Is it okay in your opinion?

Related Articles:

Finding Inspiration For Your Layouts

Should I Get A Scrapbook Magazine Subscription?

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Learn more about Nicole Humphrey

Nicole Humphrey is a freelance writer, consultant for CTMH and a Sr. Blogger for families.com. She resides in St. Charles, Missouri with Mike and their five children and two furbabies.

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Julie Gentry (5915) 15 Jan 2007 09:05 PM

Just call me 5-fingered Julie. lol. I scraplift all the time! Isn't that why people post their layouts, to inspire the rest of us? I wouldn't take someone idea and claim it as my own, but in my own albums, heck yeah!

Nicole Humphrey (15757) 16 Jan 2007 09:13 AM

LOL Julie. Five fingered it is! :) I have trouble understanding those who get upset when they see a layout they have offered in a gallery, used by another scrapbooker. To me it would be an honor to have someone use my work and wish to have it displayed in their own books. I say keep up that five fingered scraplifting!