Thank you all so much for your fabulous questions, concerns, and comments yesterday. I think we covered the gamut from perfectionism, to journaling, to design worries, to product overload, to cranky bosses. While I can't help much with the cranky boss (though I did offer to write a "Please excuse so-and-so" note), I think I can help with a lot of the other concerns!
Here's my secret weapon: Scraplifting.
Now, to some, scraplifting is akin to cheating on your Algebra test or entering the Betty Crocker Cook-off with someone else's recipe. Not so! Simply put, scraplifting is simply using other designers' layouts to give you a headstart on your own page. You can lift just the design, take only the title or journaling, use their embellishment placement or photo idea, or just use it as a springboard.(NOTE: Later this week, I'll be talking more about scraplifting etiquette, but let me say right now that if you are posting a page you "lifted" to a public gallery, common courtesy requires that you give credit where credit is due. A simple "Inspired by..." is sufficient.)
Scraplifting can help you:
- Learn about basic design rules as you learn from "the masters"
- Improve your photography as you learn what works and what doesn't
- Scrapbook more quickly as you're starting from a framework instead of from scratch
- Become more familiar with your own style as you earmark pages and layouts that resonate with you
- Capture more memories as you get ideas from other scrapbookers
- Get out of a scrapbooking rut as you challenge yourself to stretch in new ways
- Overcome product overload as you limit yourself before you even start a new layout
- Generate new ideas for journaling as you get inspiration from others
- Give you whiter teeth, fresher breath, and spot-free dishes!
Today I'm going to show you some of my personal fave layouts, with the pages that inspired them. You'll see how I adapted another designer's page for my own photos or purposes. Tomorrow I'll share some pages from other WCS designers, and then on Friday we'll talk more in depth about scraplifting etiquette. Finally, on Saturday, I'll showcase some of YOUR pages that you're going to post to our WCS flickr group with the tag "scraplift."
Lift #1: Design
The inspiration piece from Elsie Flannigan's 52 Scrapbook Challenges (one of my favorite books!):
... And my lift:
I knew I wanted to do a page about some random facts about me, so I was leafing through my various idea books for a design that could handle a LOT of journaling. Elsie's was perfect! For this page, I took the design but nothing else. Different topic, different execution (you'll NEVER catch me watercoloring a page!), different photo.
Lift #2: Design
The inspiration piece, from Betsy Veldman, published in BHG Scrapbooks Etc., April '08:
...And my adaptation:
I loved Betsy's four-column design the second I saw it, and tucked it away in one of my many (!!) inspiration binders. When it was time to do a multi-photo page about my brother's family, I was leafing through said binder, and Betsy's design grabbed me. I even mimicked her curlique patterned paper with hand-stitching (one of the few pages I've hand-stitched -- I had the time to do so because the design was taken care of!).
Lift #3: Design
The inspiration piece, from the darling and oh-so-talented Celeste Smith:
And my take on it:
Sorry, that scan is definitely sub-par, but you get the picture (wink, wink). I had a single photo of my little gal, and when I saw Celeste's page I knew it was a match made in heaven. I even hand-threaded the buttons (again, I had oodles of time left once the design was set!).
As you can see, these were all DESIGN lifts. For me, that's what I mostly need help with. But I could just as easily have taken the topic, the photo angle, the title... any element of the page where I was stuck. I'll show you a few other adaptations later this week.
Some people say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Me? I think it's the shortest distance between you and a completed scrapbook page! Now you're going to start on your own scraplifts, because I wanna see what you got goin'!
Your assignment -- depending on your personal "stuck" point (journaling, titles, design, etc.) flip through the Write.Click.Scrapbook. gallery, or one of your oodles of idea books, and pick a page you'd like to lift. Don't spend a ton of time on this -- just go with the first page that "speaks" to you! Then start looking through your photos for appropriate shots. Tomorrow we'll talk more about product selection and how to combat product overwhelm.
