Please Motivate Me

[PollyannaMom]

I've been so lazy about scrapbooking lately!

The "scrap table" got turned into the "wrap table" back at Christmastime, and somehow never recovered. (I did get the supplies switched back, just not my motivation.) I've been working more - but really, that shouldn't be an excuse. I really love scrapping when I get going. But it just isn't happening lately.

So what do you do to get over a creative slump?

 

[Tropical Wilds]

Pulling up a chair and taking notes.

Seriously.

I'm stuck on page 2 of a 2 page layout and I just can't seem to put together something fun/interesting for the second page, so I'm just letting it sit. Sad thing is, the kids POUR over what I've done so far and that just isn't enough to break me out of my funk.

 

[dogcarbon]

I schedule a scrap day with friends.

Nothing like getting your butt moving like meting up with friends.

 

[dsneygirl]

I was in a big creative rut and then I found some good websites with layout templates, like www.scrapbookgeneration.com and there are lots on Pinterest. Took away the hardest part for me. I could just pick my own papers and photos and get started.


Good luck. I was way behind in my scrapbooking and now have over 60 layouts down so far this year.

 

[Tropical Wilds]

Thanks for the links above, some good stuff in there.

Happily, I pushed through my creativity block and finally finished my page. Whew!

 

[LindaBabe]

One thing that seems to stop people is the quest for perfection. Forgetaboutit!

Last night, dh & I were looking through some of our early albums. You know what? I can barely remember the matterials / arrangement on any of the pages - but we sure enjoyed remniscing over the memories. In the long run, isn't that really what's important?

 

[lynner]

I concur with Linda....you do get caught up in the whole perfectionist thing, which leads to procrastination and creative block.

One thing that really helped me was a suggestion from Stacy Julian very early in my scrapbooking life...if you have no motivation, just sit down and do a "throw away" page...something that is not perfect, that forces you to adhere pictures and patterned paper down in some semblance of a page, but keeping in mind that it is not necessarily a keeper. I tend to do this a lot with kits - I kit up some pages based on sketches from Scrapbook Generation/Sketch Support or on pages on Pinterest or here in the gallery. The kits include my cardstock base and the cut up strips of patterned paper and stickers, plus a few embellishments, if I am so inclined, in a large baggie with a copy of the sketch I am working from. No pictures yet.

When I have a need to get my motor running, I will sit down with a kit and just start putting everything together. Usually as I am doing this, an inspiration of what pictures to use comes over me and I am able to finish a page pretty easily. If I still don't have an idea how I will use the completed page, it goes in a pile until I find the right pictures to use. I don't force myself to search for the pictures, though, they usually just come into my hand as I am working on something else.

Does this make sense? I force myself to sit down and put kits together about once a month, and make a handful for the future and to tote for portable crop opportunities! I also belong to a kit club, and that gives me another 10 or so pages kitted up each month.

Look for the blogger Shimelle Laine. On her blog, she has some suggested layouts for "starting points" that are very simple to put together and hopefully provide some inspiration. Here's a link to her blog:
http://www.shimelle.com/

Forgive me for my long-winded answer, but this is something I had to deal with about 2 years ago and I haven't looked back!

 

[PollyannaMom]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone! (and dsneygirl, congrats on 60 pages!)

I'm off work today, so my goal is to try the "throw-away page" idea this afternoon.

 

[newtexan]

Let us know how it goes.

I'm so outta mojo I don't even feel like shopping for scrapbook things...

 

[Tropical Wilds]

I have a digital scrapbook programs that I use to inspire me sometimes. Tinker with ideas, so on and so forth. I don't actually ever use digital scrapping, but it's nice for inspiration.

Honestly, I didn't remember that I had it though until about 4 hours ago. I need something to inspire me to be inspired to look at my digital kit! LoL!

 

[PollyannaMom]

I tried lynner's "throw-away" idea, and did a quick page that I actually really like! (I've also planned out another, but that one requires writing a bit, so I'll hopefully get it done today.) Thanks for the motivation, everyone!

 

[lynner]

Great to hear that one of my ideas worked for you! I will admit, often when I do my "throw-away page" I end up liking it a lot because I do techniques or use products that I would not normally use (like the other day - remember the Bazill library pockets? had em in my stash for 7 years, I bet, and used a few on a page- loved it!).

 

[PrincessNancy96]

I hope to scrap some this weekend.. this week has just had one thing after another happen... at least it's almost the weekend and next week we can get back to regularly scheduled programming!

 

[Reddy]

I plan on scrapping tomorrow - wile DH is at work but boys are home

someone want to post a challange??

 

[dsneygirl]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone! (and dsneygirl, congrats on 60 pages!)

Thank you! Glad we could help you get motivated. I also agree with the comment about not waiting for it to be "perfect". I hope when my kids are older and look back through their books they enjoy the memories and the photos and not look for imperfections.