What do you do for scrapper’s block?
Something that I know happens to all of us at one time or another is losing the mojo. No motivation to scrap. Ya kinda wanna scrap but ya kinda don’t :) Usually scrapbooking is all I think about, but sometimes I just don’t feel like figuring out all the things that have to be done to complete a page. That’s when I turn to a few things to break the scrapper’s block.
Probably my favorite thing to do for motivation is to make a mini book. I love mini books because it’s easy to pick the papers, (different patterns in coordinating colors or different shades of the same color), they’re quick and easy to put together because they’re smaller, a couple hours later or half a day later you’ve got a project done and something to show for it. I love being productive.
I actually plan my mini books out ahead of time as far as picking the pictures and separating them into different containers that are labeled with what the mini book will be about. For instance, I have a box with photos for Me & Summer, a box with photos for Daddy & Summer, a box of photos of my best friend from our teenage years. These are constantly being planned in my head when I’m shopping and when I find an embellishment or a paper I want to use for a particular mini album I’ll buy it and bring it home to file in the box with the specific photos I have in mind. Hopefully when the mojo disappears I can just open up my photo box and find all the stuff I need in it to make my mini book! :)
What do YOU do?
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Filed under Projects | Comments (4)Who Inspires Me — part two
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Have you met Donna Downey, or “Donna D” as I like to call her? :) She’s an awesome scrapbooker and artist. I read her blog faithfully. She is always writing something funny on there. I bought my first “penis drill” because of her influence :) (an inside joke for your scrapbookers who’ve taken a Donna D class).
I have 2 of her books, and they are awesome! She has a way of looking at the world that makes you stop and think as an artist/scrapbooker, “What could I do with that?” or “What could I use that for?” Lots of cool projects in these books. She inspires me for sure. She also inspires me in the way she decorates her scrap studio with things she loves. She has Ikea shelves that make me green with envy!
In February I drove to Springfield, Illinois an hour and a half away to the Scrapping Bee to meet Donna, get her autograph, and take a class with her. She was awesome! So funny! I don’t know how she teaches all day long without going crazy. We learned how to make a portfolio album with pockets out of just patterned paper with chipboard covers, and she taught us how to use her famous green Fiskars drill. The work room in this store was very large and wall to wall conference tables, and there was not an empty seat in the place. The class was SO cool and fun. I’m looking forward to taking an online class from her someday soon when I can afford it. Go visit her blog and sign up for her newsletter. Also fantastic! Full of ideas and inspiration always.
She’s got this thing planned for 2008 that sounds so awesome for all kinds of art media. I want to go so bad I can’t stand it! But I know I’ll never be able to afford it. Maybe 2009. It sounds like a multimedia artist/scrapper’s dream!
Wow, can you tell I’m a Donna Downey fan? 
A cool scrapbook e-zine
http://theuntamedscrapper.com/TheView807.pdf
This is a great free scrapbook magazine online. I’m signed up to receive it every month and love it. This month I submitted a layout and it was accepted (thanks Lissa!), so I’m extra excited about this issue. Go check it out. They show some awesome stuff with paint this month.
Make a Scrapbook Bouquet
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Here’s a little project I made for my mom for Mother’s Day. I was totally broke and couldn’t buy her something, so I made her a (priceless! ) flower bouquet scrapbook with pictures of her grandkids. She loved it, of course. Here’s a little how-to:
I covered thin sheets of chipboard (I bought 8.5×11 at Office Depot) with my patterned papers. Freehand drew my flowers on the opposite side (yea, I’m not an artist in that aspect). Cut the flowers out. Inked around the edges. Used a circle punch to cut the photos into circles and used Glue Dots to adhere the photos to the centers of the flowers. Stapled the straws to the backs of the flowers. Got a $2 vase at the dollar store (I actually used papers to coordinate with the vase colors) and filled with those marbles you use for flower arrangements. Then I just stuck the straws into the vase.
In hindsight, I would use something sturdier than a straw. My mom has a lot of grandkids, so that made for a lot of photos/flowers and some of them got droopy. But as Ali Edwards would say, “it is ok.” :)
Filed under Projects | Comments (3)
