Scrapbooking in a Filipino Community

Yesterday I shared with you the recently concluded Scrapfest and the Scrappin’ Moms Idol challenge in the Philippines. It is the seventh Scrapfest so far, while the Scrappin” Moms Idol is on its third season.

What started as a simple desire to form an egroup (Scrapbooks-Exchange@yahoogroups) to engage local, passionate scrapbookers to converge in just one cyber “place”, eventually gave way to a whole lot of dimensions with the birth of Scrappin Mom’s website, Scrapbytes e-zine and more recently, the prestigious Scrappin’ Moms Idol competition.

Image: Scrappin' Moms site

When the Scrapbooks-Exchange egroup started, there were only a handful of members exchanging tips and ideas about their personal family photo-documentary. Acid-free scrapbook materials were not even locally available then, so these same members resort to online bulk orders from the United States, which subsequently cost them an arm and a leg in shipping costs alone!.

To-date, there are more than a dozen local scrapbooking strores in Metro Manila, and they are still growing. Gone are the days when it took ages before the new CHA releases become available. These days, the Philippines is one of the firsts to receive a fresh shipment of the same and more!

Scrapbooking has indeed come a long way in my country. And I am proud to say that the community continues to grow in leaps and bounds. What with a myriad of talents that has slowly made names in the international scrapbooking scene, and they continue to do so exponentially in the categories of challenge blog, kit club, or manufacturer design teams.