A similar struggle that everyone has with scrapbooking is just "starting" - once you start, the page goes together naturally. It is that "starting". Scraplifting is perfectly legal (as long as you are not entering a contest) and is a great starting point. Grab a layout you like, or grab a sketch book, pick a layout and just start. Often, your finished layout looks nothing like the original by the time you are finished. And if it does look similar, that is great too. It is done!
I highly highly recommend taking my FREE Getting It Done class. (It runs monthly at a different time each month, the next one is April 27th.) It goes over a lot of the very silly pressures we place on ourselves (there is lots of giggling and nodding of heads in class as everyone recognizes themselves) that aren't necessary, and how to create a "kit" in 5 minutes or less, so that when you sit down to scrapbook, you are actually scrapbooking within a few minutes, not staring at your supplies for 2 hours. At the start of the class, most people look at me as if to say "there is no way I can pick out all my supplies in 5 minutes", and yet every single person does it! (Of course I have the whip out, so you have no choice! lol just kidding.)You will also find a great selection of "Getting It Done Kits" in the store. They include patterned paper, matching cardstock and various embellishments so that you can quickly start scrapbooking. And they save you money too! 10-15% off the price of buying everything separately and we've done the co-ordinating for you.
But seriously, you could spend 2 hours finding the PERFECT shade of blue, but it doesn't matter when the shade of blue you found in the first 2 minutes looks great. The 2 hour "perfection" time, is the time you should be actually creating the layout(s), not looking for something "more perfect". No one is going to look at your album and say "why didn't you use pink on that layout?" or "why didn't you cut this picture into a circle?" or "how come your layout isn't piled with stuff?". They are going to look at your photos, and be interested in the story you wrote to go with them. That is it! Sure, they will notice that your page looks pretty and is more interesting to look at than a pile of photos, but they aren't going to notice the stuff, they are going to notice the "done"!
Remember, those who look at our pages, don't care what company the paper is from or what technique you used, they do care about your photos and your story. Period. So just get something done. Simple, easy, and done!
I used to put waaaaay too much pressure on myself to make my pages perfect. I finally let go of that silly pressure a few years ago, and I have created waaay more pages. I keep it pretty simple and love the results. Using my "kit" method, means when I do find time to sit down and scrapbook, I get lots done.
So join me in the movement to "release the perfection gene", and enjoy the process of "getting something done"! This weekend, set an egg timer for 5 minutes. Grab a set of photos and from your stash, pull out cardstock, patterned paper and a few embellishments that look good with the photos. Once the timer goes off, STOP! No more looking, what you have in front of you, is what you use. Now grab a sketch book and your basic supplies and create a simple layout. Within 30-60 minutes you will have a done layout including your journaling. Now breathe and smile and pat yourself on the back that you have one more memory done. Repeat as necessary ;) Trust me, it feels great.
Then post about your results and how this works for you.
Michele
I have actually just started doing this with my new found love of making cards. I started with scrap layouts, then board and acrylic books and now have started to enjoy card making too. I am drifting between all 3 realms of pure scrap joy :) !!!! I just grab my envelope folder of card stock and patterned 'scrap' papers and just grab some and start. I add ribbon or grommets and pop up stamped images - all colored now with my new lovely Copic markers! I plan to try this with my layouts too. But first off, I need to print my images. I'm just so stuck on tweaking them a bit first in PS, that it takes me way longer than it should. Thanks for all the great tips. Happy Easter weekend all!
Posted by: gloria | April 09, 2009 at 03:52 PM
That is another "time/perfection" trap we all fall into. Not printing our photos now because we "don't have time" - guess what, you will have even less time to get them printed once you have more photos you add to your computer because you don't have time to deal with them! Or not printing them, because we want to tweak them and make them perfect. I had to really let go of this one, and the majority of my photos now, I just print as is. I can always crop them after the fact, and except for a few special ones that I have fun editing, I just print them so I can get it done. The magic of a picture happens once it is printed!
Posted by: Michele | April 09, 2009 at 10:13 PM
Yes, I think you are totally right! As I now have left the idea of completely planning every detail of my cards out prior to starting (which of course made the process longer and way too laborious), I plan to print the photos as is and 'get more done'. Thanks again....sooo loving the blog!
Posted by: gloria | April 11, 2009 at 07:26 AM
I can't wait to get my kits together. I have so much "stuff" that I don't end up using the good things. What a great way to start using the little embellishments I seem to miss. Usually I'm the one who doesn't get more than a couple pages done at a 3 day retreat. Thanks Michelle!
Posted by: Tracey Smith | April 13, 2009 at 04:37 PM
Tracy, make 2 kits a night (don't let it take more than 30 min! which is being generous) and you will get tons done at the crop!
Posted by: Michele | April 13, 2009 at 07:42 PM