I will admit it. “No-frills” pretty much sums up my scrapping style and my life in general.
No fancy clothes, jewellery, flash cars and expensive furnishings for me. I am much more comfortable in jeans and a jumper, wearing what little jewellery I own everyday, and living in a house where you can touch everything (and play ball in the house) rather than somewhere you can look but don't touch.
My scrapping style is similar. I have trouble doing collage layouts, mixing lots of patterned papers and using lots of ’stuff’ on my pages. No matter how much stuff I load onto my pages I always end up taking most of it off again. I love the look that other people can manage but can never seem to be comfortable with it when I am trying it. Instead I prefer straight lines, straight photos and minimal embellishments, focusing on the photo and the story rather than the ’stuff’.
I am a slow scrapper. Very rarely can I create a layout I am happy with in less than 2 hours. Actually that probably should read 2 days. I am also a procrastinator and putter-offer till the last minute. As you can see these things don’t work well together. You can’t really put things off till the last minute and then take 2 days to create a layout. Lol.
I tend to discover something fun and then use it to death. At the moment I am enjoying machine sewing on my layouts. I need to remind myself not to sew on ALL of them though. I have a bit of a BasicGrey obsession. I don’t use it all the time but I pretty much have every paper they have ever made, just in case. I love most of Heidi Swapps embellishments, particularly the journaling spots and chipboard, and love to add a little bit of ‘bling’ to the girly layouts.
Inspiration for my layouts come from many places in may different forms -
Other scrappers - I love cruising through internet galleries and ideas books looking for those special layouts that catch my eye. It doesn't have to be a complete layout, just the way a photo is taken, a catchy title, an embellishment or a topic that the scrapper has chosen may be enough to inspire me. My mags are full of little scraps of paper poking from the tops of them, marking layouts that I liked and want to refer back to.
Quotes, lines from movies and lines from songs - Sometimes I hear or read the perfect quote for a layout I would like to create or one that I have already started. Usually in the most inconvenient time, while driving, showering etc. The ones that I remember I print out or write down on scraps of paper and stick to the wall next to my desk with sticky tape. Not the neatest way of doing things but the wall needs painting anyway. At least this way I am guaranteed I will not lose them. They are joined by spare photos I haven't used, layouts I have printed out from the net and other ’ideas’ I come across. As I use them I take them down and another quickly takes its place.
Other pieces of inspiration - Everyday life is sure to throw in some inspiration too. Page layout designs can be found on anything from junk mail to cereal boxes. Gorgeous colour schemes can be found in the paint aisle at the hardware store. Funky pictures and embellishment ideas abound on children’s clothing. Pretty much anything can be a source of inspiration.
