Chatique with Laura Lou

One of the first online places I visited when I looked for scrapbooking on the internet 5 years ago, was The Digital Scrapbook Place (DSP). I joined with the amazing membership number of 891. Amazing then because there were that many members for a site less than a month old, and NOW amazing because the membership has grown to 148,314 as of today, April 1, DSP's 5th birthday.

I have never left DSP and may be one of their longest active members other than the staff of this amazing place. The forums are many and frantically active. The challenges continue to be creative and educational. The tutorial section is filled with help for the beginner to the advanced scrapper. The galleries are filled with breathtaking inspiration from all over the globe. There is a monthly newsletter that continues to give me a thrill of excitement when I see it in my email. Their Club Digital is a bargain monthly assortment of kits, word art, and other scrapping supplies. The friends I have made at DSP are among the best in my life.

The forum known as GT or the Granny Thread, sprang up a couple of years ago growing from a poem posted about grandmothers. It very well may be the largest and most active forum out there. Many of the Grannies are "Grannies in Training" or "Granny Wannabes" and range in age from 16 years old to, oh, near 75 and supportive of each other from homework to health to family issues. Many Grannys have met in real life either meeting for lunch, overnight visits to each other's homes, or attending the same laptop crops in far away cities.

If you have never explored or joined an online community, there is no better place to start.

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, DSP