My last post of the week, it kind of makes me sad to come to an end. Thank you so much for joining me on this journey of self reflection. I have enjoyed all your comments and if you haven't had a chance, go take a peek in the Write. Click. Scrapbook Flickr gallery, I was a little worried I'd have to hold onto that gift card for Studio Calico. But no worries, I was rather pleased at how many of you played along with me. Thank you! I'm always amazed at the different directions two people can take the same inspiration piece.
CATALYST #9 LOSING & FINDING
**WARNING** Very much a section wherein Emily looks into the depths of her soul and shares some deep dark insecurities that she may have had.**WARNING**
When my one of my favorite magazines closed, I was crushed and really thought it was all over. I know I'm not alone, because that's how Write.Click.Scrapbook came to be. Instead of being sad and moping, Marnie, Elizabeth, and Tina got to work creating this amazing concept, to keep the message of simple scrapbooking going. That's probably why you're here too, am I right? It's a really good idea, this whole thing about not going overboard, just getting the story told in a fun and stress-free way. Well I was raised on this philosphy, it made sense to me, but I thought I had to scrap a "certain" way to belong to a group who believed in this. I guess I thought it was more about the style than it was about the philosophy. So when it was all gone, I was kind of like a teenager who finds themselves all alone and can try anything. I stepped away from my style and decided to start experimenting, going way outside the lines I'd drawn in a large part because of the magazine. I guess you could say I decided to go the opposite of simple scrapbooking, at least design-wise. A few years ago, I was shopping in Boulder and discovered this really fun collage artist's work, she goes by the moniker Curly Girl and she's fabulous at layering things, but keeping a simple look. But most of all I found her work FUN and humorous. I had been drawn to her work and decided to take the plunge and be inspired by her in my own work. This is one of the first pages that I remember doing after that conscious decision. I have a LOT of stuff on this page. And there's a LOT of texture. When I take close up shots for my design team work, I like that I can
have 5-7 products in a very contained area. But I actually really fell in love with this new style. Knowing when to stop became the new challenge, and that was really fun.
I thought I'd really strayed from my roots. When I was approached to join WCS, I felt a little like a fake, like I didn't really fit in anymore. But then I read the ABOUT US section, have you read it lately? I realized that even though my style had changed, I still believed all the same things.
1. We believe in telling stories. {CHECK}
2. We believe that understanding photography and design make scrapbooking a little more fun. {CHECK}
3. We believe in the power of color. We also believe in the power of kraft, black, and white. {CHECK}
4. We believe that scrapbooking should be fun and guilt-free.{CHECK}
5. We believe that there is no one right way to scrapbook. {DOUBLE CHECK}
So while I did lose something, I ended up gaining it right back, just in a new form. And I still can scrap in a very simple style, both of my October and November gallery layouts are really simple, and I'm OK with that. Actually, I love them! I learned that it's alright to play around with your scrap style, see #4 in the list above.
CATALYST #10 THE INTERNET
My last changing point can't be nailed down to a specific time, probably because I'm right in the middle of it. I've been discovering just how very helpful the internet can be in inspiring my creativity. I'm going to walk you through my processes. Open a new window. Go to Google and type in the word "art." See above the Google logo, the word Images? Click on it and you should come to a screen similar to this one. Hello inspiration! I can see 5 things that immediately inspire me on this page. And if I took more time, I know I could find something in each image. This is kind of similar to the Pub Ad Challenge, but it's much broader.
I found this image on the web one day, I don't know the original artist so if you do, please help a girl out. It's REALLY important to give credit where credit is due. There are laws to protect artists and they should be followed. So if you know the artist, please note them as your inspiration. Even better, shoot them an email and let them know you were inspired by their work and share what you've done. I've had some really nice interactions with the artists that I've corresponded with in the past. Anyway, back to the inspiration piece:
I took this and made this:
Can you see how valuable Google Images is?
Another favorite place to find ideas is Flickr. Open another new window. See how there's a spot to find a group? Type in something that interests you, like art or creativity.
One group I recently found is called Fuel Your Creativity. Lots of really fun images to be found there. Every group is different, but I've learned that if you share your work and not just take take take, you'll have a better experience in some groups. Most artists enjoy sharing, but they want to be inspired too. So look and see what that group has and see what you can contribute. Don't forget that Write.Click.Scrapbook. has it's own Flickr group. Just a plug.
Yet another place where I've found inspiration is a site called StumbleUpon. This concept is kind of hard to explain, you let them know what you're interested in, they link you to a random website or blog that has to do with your interest. For this example I clicked on Graphic Design. You can create an account, or just stumble when you have a few minutes.
This is the first website I got. There's so many possiblities from this page, you could use it as design inspiration or you could actually go through the tutorials and learn how to manipulate photos if you have photoshop. See the ad for Premium Textures? I love it. I will use it sometime.
Now look in the upper left hand corner, there's an arrow pointing to the Stumble button. There's also an I like this button and a Share button. You can start to narrow your field of interest by clicking on the I like it button or, you can do just what the Share button sounds like it might do, email the link to your friends. But we need to go back to the Stumble button. Click on it.
I got a website where a bunch of walking tables would follow my mouse cursor wherever it went on the screen. Actually a little bit creepy. I'll stumble one more time.
And I get this really cool site about a parking garage that has uses distortion to direct patrons to the correct area. It just depends on how you look at it. Very cool.
So you find all these really cool images, pictures, and websites online, but you're having a hard time keeping track of them? Enter my next and last thought. Go check out Tumblr. It's very late here in Denver and I can't think straight. I'm afraid if I tried to explain how to use this grand device, you might end up eating a cheeseburger at Starbucks. So I'm going to bed, I'll give you a mini tutorial on Tumblr tomorrow. But I will leave you with this quote on inspiration, that I find not only visually inspiring, but also very mentally inspiring.
