Mixed media vs Scrapbooking

Sometimes when I see items in the gallery I wonder if it's really "scrapbooking" or if it's more like "mixed media". How do you differentiate between them?

There aren't any "pigeon holes" in art.

I have not tried MM but I really like it. Seems like a work of art to me. And then again, some scrapbook pages can be the same. I don't think I will get into it, but I enjoy the YouTube vides of some young people during their creative process.

Scrapbooking is about telling a story. You can use any materials you want to tell that story.

I am seeing this as the industry broadening to become more Paper Arts, to which it all falls under. I have used Gesso on my layouts and while mini albums can be classified as mixed media I consider mine to be on the scrapbooking side. I am awed and inspired by the mixed media artist albums, sadly I just lack that level of talent. lol.

Overall, I just love the fact that it gives me more options to play with my stash along with the chance to expand my skill set. Its the industry evolving in my mind. Hard to differentiate when it all works together.

It depends on your definition of 'really' scrapbooking.

How or why do you want to differentiate?

Scrappercaz, the question about the definition of scrapbooking really helped me see the issue clearer.

So taking Bonprof's comment into account, scrapbooking is about visually documenting something in my life, using photos and memorabilia connected to what I want to document.
Mixed media just means using different types of material (ink, acrylic, watercolor, etc) for creating a work of art.

Since any scrapbook will used different types of material, I guess the answer for my question would be "a scrapbook would be a mixed media work if I can consider it documentational art instead of just artful documentation".

Very well said. That is how I think of it too but I never could have articulated it as well.

I am not sure I understand what your saying. I am reading it as if someone uses mix media to make an album (chipboard, mini etc) to put pictures or document an event that isn't scrapbooking only art?

I just call it Papercrafting.

That isn't how I interpreted what she said Jill. Maybe I missed something.

My opinion - scrapbooking has been around a long time and has progressed and changed and the hobby has grown beyond taking double sided tape or glue sticks and gluing down pictures.

When I jumped in around 2007 it included a limited amount of art. Deciding where to put stickers or where to use decorative scissors and to mat or not to mat. That was about as artsy as it got.

Now scrapbooking has grown to be very creative with an unlimited am out of mixed media products and processes available. A scrapbook can be as artsy as anyone wants theirs to be and can include creations that combine photos, mementos, journaling or any other way of capturing memories with paint, gesso, mists, watercolors or any other art product the scrapbook artist chooses to use.

Like Donna says, Scrapbooking tells a story. Its up to the scrapbook artist to keep it as simple or fancy or creative as they want it to be.

Thanks Henri. I think we are on same page as my first post so I will go with that.

Now I am wondering if she was just looking to find what exactly constituted mix media aka a definition?

@Jaxxan: Yes, I was actually looking for a definition of Mixed Media, but also the difference between mixed media art and general scrapbooking.

Technically, all scrapbooking matches the description of 'mixed media', because it all mixes different media (ink, pen, different types of paper'), but I always felt there was a difference between mixed media and scrapbooking.

The only difference I could find after reading the messages on the forum was 'art': Not all scrapbooking is art, even though it uses the material described in mixed media, and I realized that the items in the gallery that I thought of as 'mixed media' were just something that I could appreciate as 'art' instead of 'only documentation'.
This is just my personal thought, and other people will probable have a different take on it.

(BTW, don't take the fact that I make a differentiation between 'art' and 'documentation' to mean that one is more appealing than the other; both are just as valuable but in different ways.)

Wish I had the creativity and talent to do some of the beautiful mixed-media pieces but alas, it wouldn't be very pretty.

Interesting discussion on this thread, making me think about how I view it and how others view it.
Thanks for the clarification about wanting a definition. I like it when I receive specific answers to my questions. I am sorry if I missed that.
I think I struggled because I don't seem them differently or classified differently. To me it is different design opportunities or "looks". or techniques. I consider all of what we do under the paper crafting umbrella as art. I guess it comes down to a personal preference or "eye of the beholder". Which is what makes "art" so diverse.

Thanks for starting a good discussion.

• bonprof Said:

Absolutely!