Scrappin' Scrapbookers
Here's a news story I wrote for the paper today. It's weird and vaguely funny, so I thought it would fit the theme of the Kitten.
Scrapbook club secedes, rivalry ensues
Last year the Whitewater Room in the Idaho Commons was full of scrapbookers on the second Tuesday night of every month. They came from all over campus to this quiet haven, where the sound of scissors, Scotch tape and laughter filled the room.
Those were the glory days for the University of Idaho Scrapbook Club.
Now two scrapbookers remain, pasting their photos onto colored paper in silence.
It began after a dispute between the presidents. The club maintained a relaxed atmosphere, allowing scrapbookers a time, venue and free materials and creating a haven for them to preserve their memories. However, Heidi Hallman, co-president, envisioned something different.
Hallman wanted to introduce scrapbooking lessons to the meetings. The lessons, she said, could be provided by local craft store instructors for a nominal fee, allowing people who weren’t experienced in the scrapbooking arts the chance to refine their skills and learn new techniques.
Co-president Carla Houghton, who has since graduated, disagreed, arguing that the club should stay the course.
“When it got to the politics of scrap booking (Houghton) didn’t want an agenda, just meetings. I wanted it to include classes and study. She disagreed, and she didn’t want to compromise, so I told her she could keep her club,” Hallman says.
In November 2005 Hallman seceded, forming the Scrap N’Crop club after her vision.
Raechel Bianchetti and Teva Palmer are now the only members of the Scrapbook Club.
Palmer is more than willing to show off her latest work, which documents her spring break visit to Mexico. Within a small, bound journal, mementoes and photographs are artfully pasted, and each page has pullouts and envelopes to open.
“I like (scrapbooks) best when they’re interactive,” she says. “It’s more fun than just looking through a photo album.”
The best part about scrapbooking, says Bianchetti, is that it’s relaxing, and “you can’t lose your pictures.”
Although the two admit they’re lonely, they don’t blame the existence of the Scrap N’Crop club for the loss of their members.
“There are a lot of closet scrapbookers out there,” Palmer says. Both guess there are enough for two clubs.
The two say last year’s in-club fighting frightened off the majority of their members, making the once-serene environment no longer conducive to their art. Bianchetti and Palmer agree that although they do not have any ill will toward the Scrap N’Crop Club, there is a perceived enmity.
“We keep hearing rumors about (the rivalry),” Palmer says. “It would be really awkward going to one of their meetings.”
Things may be looking up for the Scrapbook Club. After a booth was set up at Vandal Friday, the club received nearly 30 names of potential members for next year. And Palmer says the number of people who sign up for the club is usually the same number that attend.
The Scrap N’Crop Club doesn’t need to wait for new members. Hallman has networked and advertised bringing in students, neighbors, parents and children. The club membership is at 10 and rising, she says.
Hallman charges the club’s didactic approach for its success.
“My club is all about improving skills and practicing. Like, once in a while we’ll have a lesson, or an all night scrapbooking party where we just scrapbook all night,” Hallman says.
Hallman doesn’t express remorse for possibly taking members from the Scrapbook Club. She says if Scrap N’Crop is the better scrapbook club, it’s the one that people should attend.
“I don’t even know anybody in (the Scrapbook Club) anymore,” she says, “but they’re welcome to come to mine.”
**30**
Last year the Whitewater Room in the Idaho Commons was full of scrapbookers on the second Tuesday night of every month. They came from all over campus to this quiet haven, where the sound of scissors, Scotch tape and laughter filled the room.
Those were the glory days for the University of Idaho Scrapbook Club.
Now two scrapbookers remain, pasting their photos onto colored paper in silence.
It began after a dispute between the presidents. The club maintained a relaxed atmosphere, allowing scrapbookers a time, venue and free materials and creating a haven for them to preserve their memories. However, Heidi Hallman, co-president, envisioned something different.
Hallman wanted to introduce scrapbooking lessons to the meetings. The lessons, she said, could be provided by local craft store instructors for a nominal fee, allowing people who weren’t experienced in the scrapbooking arts the chance to refine their skills and learn new techniques.
Co-president Carla Houghton, who has since graduated, disagreed, arguing that the club should stay the course.
“When it got to the politics of scrap booking (Houghton) didn’t want an agenda, just meetings. I wanted it to include classes and study. She disagreed, and she didn’t want to compromise, so I told her she could keep her club,” Hallman says.
In November 2005 Hallman seceded, forming the Scrap N’Crop club after her vision.
Raechel Bianchetti and Teva Palmer are now the only members of the Scrapbook Club.
Palmer is more than willing to show off her latest work, which documents her spring break visit to Mexico. Within a small, bound journal, mementoes and photographs are artfully pasted, and each page has pullouts and envelopes to open.
“I like (scrapbooks) best when they’re interactive,” she says. “It’s more fun than just looking through a photo album.”
The best part about scrapbooking, says Bianchetti, is that it’s relaxing, and “you can’t lose your pictures.”
Although the two admit they’re lonely, they don’t blame the existence of the Scrap N’Crop club for the loss of their members.
“There are a lot of closet scrapbookers out there,” Palmer says. Both guess there are enough for two clubs.
The two say last year’s in-club fighting frightened off the majority of their members, making the once-serene environment no longer conducive to their art. Bianchetti and Palmer agree that although they do not have any ill will toward the Scrap N’Crop Club, there is a perceived enmity.
“We keep hearing rumors about (the rivalry),” Palmer says. “It would be really awkward going to one of their meetings.”
Things may be looking up for the Scrapbook Club. After a booth was set up at Vandal Friday, the club received nearly 30 names of potential members for next year. And Palmer says the number of people who sign up for the club is usually the same number that attend.
The Scrap N’Crop Club doesn’t need to wait for new members. Hallman has networked and advertised bringing in students, neighbors, parents and children. The club membership is at 10 and rising, she says.
Hallman charges the club’s didactic approach for its success.
“My club is all about improving skills and practicing. Like, once in a while we’ll have a lesson, or an all night scrapbooking party where we just scrapbook all night,” Hallman says.
Hallman doesn’t express remorse for possibly taking members from the Scrapbook Club. She says if Scrap N’Crop is the better scrapbook club, it’s the one that people should attend.
“I don’t even know anybody in (the Scrapbook Club) anymore,” she says, “but they’re welcome to come to mine.”
**30**
posted by sean_garmire at 12:53 PM
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