What a blast I had at Scrapfest last weekend! Sorry it's taken me all week to write again. Came back to DC to much cooler temps that wreaked havoc on my sinus'. But I'm back to normal now :)
So I went to Scrapfest with 2 of my best friends, Ann and Dee. Ann flew in from Melbourne, Florida to meet me. And Dee owns my favorite scrapbook store in the universe, Scrappersaurus! Dee actually sat and cropped with us for a few hours each day, while her gem of a husband, my friend Felix, and her awesome son Emery, ran their vendor booth. It was great fun to sit and visit with my friends while I was creating. I have truly found a creative outlet in scrapbooking. I never dreamed it was possible to feel as creatively free as I do when I am scrapbooking, stamping and paper crafting.
I've been working on layouts for my Disney book, from my trip to Disneyland for Thanksgiving 2005. I've got a good system worked out for my crops. I leave all my Disney stuff in my storage unit so that I only have to bring my tools and various odds and ends with me from DC. It has worked out well since I've moved to DC to work. I got several layouts done last weekend that I'm really proud of. Unfortunately they are still on my camera. I will try to download them this weekend and post a link to them.
Many of my friends and family don't really understand my obsession with scrapbooking. But for me, scrapbooking/stamping/papercrafting is the creative outlet I have looked for all my life. My mother was so incredibly creative and artistically talented. But I could not and still cannot draw, paint and create beauty in the ways that she could. I tried, but I just didn't get it...shading, shadows, depth...it just never came out in my attempts. For many years I was extremely perfectionistic about many things, including creativity. And so for a very long time I stifled any attempts at creativity that tried to surface, because, in my eyes, they weren't perfect so they were no good.
But in the last decade as I have worked on healing and growing, I have rediscovered my creativity. I have also become much less perfectionistic in this time as well, which has made sharing my creativity with others a pleasant experience. Scrapbooking, stamping and papercrafting have provided me with an outlet for years of stored up creative energy. I just love it. I'm good at it. And I'm not perfectionistic about it. In fact, one of the things I love about it is that mistakes and imperfections are what make pages and projects special, makes them look homemade.
I went to my first big crop in Natchez, Mississippi in July 2006 and I was hooked. 3 days of classes, time to work on your pages and projects and vendors galore for shopping. What more could a girl ask for? For those of you who aren't into scrapbooking, a crop is a gather of people who work on their scrapbook pages, cards, and paper projects in a common area. Local scrapbook stores often host small one evening/night crops on a weekly basis for their customers. Its the 21st century equivalent of the quilting circles. And like those quilting circles, there is as much socialization as their is work. I have met so many wonderful people through scrapbooking. In fact, one of the things I most look forward to when I go to a big weekend crop is the friends that I will see there.
Well, I've got a big weekend ahead, so I'm headed off to bed. Til next time . . .
So I went to Scrapfest with 2 of my best friends, Ann and Dee. Ann flew in from Melbourne, Florida to meet me. And Dee owns my favorite scrapbook store in the universe, Scrappersaurus! Dee actually sat and cropped with us for a few hours each day, while her gem of a husband, my friend Felix, and her awesome son Emery, ran their vendor booth. It was great fun to sit and visit with my friends while I was creating. I have truly found a creative outlet in scrapbooking. I never dreamed it was possible to feel as creatively free as I do when I am scrapbooking, stamping and paper crafting.
I've been working on layouts for my Disney book, from my trip to Disneyland for Thanksgiving 2005. I've got a good system worked out for my crops. I leave all my Disney stuff in my storage unit so that I only have to bring my tools and various odds and ends with me from DC. It has worked out well since I've moved to DC to work. I got several layouts done last weekend that I'm really proud of. Unfortunately they are still on my camera. I will try to download them this weekend and post a link to them.
Many of my friends and family don't really understand my obsession with scrapbooking. But for me, scrapbooking/stamping/papercrafting is the creative outlet I have looked for all my life. My mother was so incredibly creative and artistically talented. But I could not and still cannot draw, paint and create beauty in the ways that she could. I tried, but I just didn't get it...shading, shadows, depth...it just never came out in my attempts. For many years I was extremely perfectionistic about many things, including creativity. And so for a very long time I stifled any attempts at creativity that tried to surface, because, in my eyes, they weren't perfect so they were no good.
But in the last decade as I have worked on healing and growing, I have rediscovered my creativity. I have also become much less perfectionistic in this time as well, which has made sharing my creativity with others a pleasant experience. Scrapbooking, stamping and papercrafting have provided me with an outlet for years of stored up creative energy. I just love it. I'm good at it. And I'm not perfectionistic about it. In fact, one of the things I love about it is that mistakes and imperfections are what make pages and projects special, makes them look homemade.
I went to my first big crop in Natchez, Mississippi in July 2006 and I was hooked. 3 days of classes, time to work on your pages and projects and vendors galore for shopping. What more could a girl ask for? For those of you who aren't into scrapbooking, a crop is a gather of people who work on their scrapbook pages, cards, and paper projects in a common area. Local scrapbook stores often host small one evening/night crops on a weekly basis for their customers. Its the 21st century equivalent of the quilting circles. And like those quilting circles, there is as much socialization as their is work. I have met so many wonderful people through scrapbooking. In fact, one of the things I most look forward to when I go to a big weekend crop is the friends that I will see there.
Well, I've got a big weekend ahead, so I'm headed off to bed. Til next time . . .
1 comment:
Chris,
I think you should be proud that you have found your OWN style of creativity, and I am sure it is every bit as wonderful as your mother's was. Shading and depth don't come easily to me, either, so I can relate, but you have definitely not got anything to worry about when it comes to being creative with papercrafting! You do absolutely gorgeous work that I am oh-so-jealous of, and I am so happy for you that you allow yourself this freedom now. You truly have been healing! I love you lots, my friend, and I was tickled to be able to sit and create with you and Ann at ScrapFest!
Dee
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