Monday, June 9, 2008

Don't hate on it

I'll readily admit that my gut-reaction to scrapbooking is less than savory. It's honestly less to do with the concept and more to do with the massive (we're talking WalMart scale), everyone-and-their-mom-loves-it, sell the shit out of anything gingham printed and backed with adhesive mentality of the industry that seems to have taken the country by storm. So it's really refreshing to the work of Nicole of niklindesigns1225 putting a crisp, clean and classy face on the denim-jumper, sunflower-hatted image marketers would otherwise have us swallow.

Nicole is a graphic designer who creates original paper accents for scrapbooking and collages and her scroll work is breathtaking. What I most love though is the way she's created a set of frames that are quietly elegant and a stunning compliment to any photo.

The fact is that scrapbooking's revival is a good thing. No, really. In an age when most of our memories live on a portable USB drives instead of our walls and in albums, documenting our lives and experiences in a creative and personalized way is an admirable thing. Not to mention time consuming. While I could personally forgo the sparkle pens and raised-applique icons, far be it from me to say it doesn't take a sincere amount of effort.

So here's what I'm thinking: take a cheap Ikea frame in black. Something simple with clean lines. Grab yourself a mat that's at least three inches deep on all sides and have an interior space cut so the angled inside seems to come from the innermost edge of one of Nicole's beautiful frames. I know, I do a crap job describing it but you'll just have to wait and see what I mean since I ordered a bunch of her work and will be using the frames to highlight photos from the wedding. Don't worry... I'll be sure to show and tell.

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