I have been pushing various pieces of paper under one photo after another, and end up putting it all in a stack and giving up. Nothing meshes. Nothing pleases. I don't know if it's burn out or not liking what I have in the stash, although I could go through it and "discover things I've never seen before." I've even gone through all of the page LOs that I've loved and saved and still nothing.
What do you do when your mojo left you a couple of years ago and hasn't returned yet?? The last pages I made were the ones when we all were doing the 6x6 papers class. Maybe I need to take a new class? Give all of this away and start over? Give it up entirely? I'm still trying to be creative by making cards, but it's just not transferring over to pages.
I had a couple years where I didn't really scrap at all other than a two week crop in May, and that only because I talked my sister into sending me photos to scrap, so I feel you. For me, I've been going through my stash and purging (I have one ore TH bin to go through before sending you that box), and as I find something I forgot I'm setting aside what I was doing to work with my rediscovery while I'm still excited about it. And I found that I enjoy mucking about with paints, stencils and a Dylusions journal, or tags and TH/Ranger products if I'm not feeling inspired. I'm also realizing that I need to purge stamps... and how do you purge unmounted stamps without just tossing them?
No. 28 in the Order of PAO Chief Bearer of the Torch and Admin
Monica,
It depends on the unmounteds you want to get rid of. If they're Club Scrap I think most of us here have burned out with that style. I gave a lot of mine away and then donated a box full of the leftovers to Habitat. I asked the art teacher at the HS if she wanted them but unfortunately stamps are below her expertise level. Sometimes I wonder if people know how much creativity goes into using them.
Elizabeth,
We used to do that. I think Pam C was the ringleader on those challenges, and then Monica posted some for the summer camp. Those topics should still be in the board index under Challenges.
My problem isn't finding ideas that I want to use. The problem is pulling papers and embellies that will work with a photo, and then I end up pushing it around and around and not coming up with something that I like.
Maybe I should just concentrate on making cards for now?
pbp908 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 10:42 am
Maybe I should just concentrate on making cards for now?
I was going to suggest this.
As for Club Scrap stamps...I have more than my share of unmounted and wood mounted stamps. I also wonder what to do with them. The monies have been spent, some, not all, have been used. Now they live the quiet life. Do you just chalk it up to a different time and move on? Donate to a charity? Those folks on Club Scrap Exchange say I need a PayPal or Venmo (?) account to facilitate the sale of said stamps, not to mention paper. I have neither account, and do not want one. Nor do I want to deal with the whole process of listing, selling, boxing, and trip to post office.
Long story short, I should just remove them from my home and call it a day. It was good while it lasted.
Pam P, I think we've all been there. If I get as far as pulling together photos and papers I walk away and come back later/tomorrow - I try not to abandon a started page. Did that today actually; was very excited about a layout I saw online so ordered the papers so I could replicate it. Put them on my desk this morning, printed my photos, and felt meh about the whole thing. Read some emails, went online shopping. Forced myself to get out embellishments - at which point I decided my photos were much better suited to completely different papers. Now I'm excited about scrapping these photos with these other papers; I'm sure at some point I'll use the original papers which I do really like, just not for these photos.
Sometimes I find looking at my own scrapped pages most motivating; not only do I see things I know I like, but I'm reminded of how nice it feels to put together a page that's kind of good. I actually pull out the scrapbooks; looking at real pages is far more satisfying than looking online.
Sometimes I get away from scrapping for months at a time; that's never my intention, but when I decided I didn't feel like dealing with photos last summer, I didn't realize 6 months would go by before I made a layout again. At those times I make cards, art journal, watercolor/sketch, even organize (gasp!); and continue to watch videos or listen to podcasts to keep me in a crafty frame of mind.
One thought is to make sure you're being true to you; not trying to do what's trendy/what you see others doing, but do what you know works for you, where you always like the results. I keep coming back to two-page, multi-photo layouts because they feel like me. Which is not to say I don't try other techniques/formats/etc, but not when I'm struggling to just get a page done. Unless you're intrigued by the idea of a new format. I have found I really enjoy scrapping in a Traveler's Notebook; to me they feel like snack-sized pages. However the smaller page size is more suited to small scale/minimal prints, and smaller embellishments.
Stamps: I'm in the process of purging mine; I'm not thinking about the money spent over the years, or how much or not they've been used. I can see that even stamps change styles over time, and it's been easier than I thought to decide if a stamp or set is something I should keep or not. I'm also keeping single stamps out of sets where I know I wouldn't use the rest; I'm not going to sell them, and have no idea if anyone else will even want them wherever I donate them.
Classes: I agree that classes can be motivating, but caution if you're challenged with scrapping anything right now, pick something simple/short. You could also find a sketch class along the lines of the 6x6 sketch class; assuming that was Allison Davis/Scrapbook Generation, they have others. Shimelle has some inexpensive classes with a simple theme: I really liked her Half & Half class, and the Bold Patterned Paper one.
Challenges: You can find current challenges on various crafters' channels on YouTube, if you're inclined to watch videos. If that's of interest I'm sure a few of us could come up with some we know of: Christie's 30 Days challenge is going on now, and hopefully there are others that don't require FB to participate in. Yes, there are past challenges on PAO, but personally I find it's more fun to participate when there's more than 1 or 2 people playing along. An added bonus is you get to see several takes on the challenge, which might spark your interest more than just the idea of the person posting.
Keitha wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 5:31 pm
Stamps: I'm in the process of purging mine; I'm not thinking about the money spent over the years, or how much or not they've been used. I can see that even stamps change styles over time, and it's been easier than I thought to decide if a stamp or set is something I should keep or not. I'm also keeping single stamps out of sets where I know I wouldn't use the rest; I'm not going to sell them, and have no idea if anyone else will even want them wherever I donate them.
Well said Keitha. I'm going to apply these thoughts to my own stamps.
Further comments on stamp organizing/purging: The thought of tackling all my stamps seemed a bit intimidating, so I'm not doing it all at once. Most of my UM/stamp sets are in 3 bins on my Ikea shelf; I'm doing a bin at a time, with days in between. Along with the purging I'm reorganizing: at some point a few years ago I thought that if I wanted say, a camera on a page, it didn't matter if I stamped it or die-cut it, and as I keep stamps and dies by category/theme, integrated them. But I've found that it does make a difference; I stamp at a different time in my process than add a die-cut. So I'm separating them again, which is making the stamp bins more manageable. I'm also further refining my categories, as I have more stamps now than I did a decade ago when I set my system up.
When I finish the UM/stamp sets I'll tackle the WM stamps; they're stored in trays - and while I'll likely purge some I have no intention of unmounting them. The space they're in works for me, and I don't see the point in spending all that time/effort to unmount them, given how little I use them. I might file images of the WM stamps in the bins with the UM to remind me I've got them, but that's not my priority.
I've even gone through all of the page LOs that I've loved and saved and still nothing.
Sometimes I wonder if people know how much creativity goes into using them.
