Creative blocks - we all have them... or do we? What do you do when you are stuck? Here is my story - when I can't scrap, I - among other things - write...
I leaned back in my chair and stared hard at the screen, hoping my two-pager work in progress would look better from a different angle. More complete, more wholesome, more cohesive… but.. no such luck. The transition from left to right was still a gaping hole I didn't know how to fill and the photos at the bottom still looked out of place. I sighed. In addition to being stuck, I was getting slightly annoyed with myself. I shouldn't have picked the kit I'd worked with before. (My first page is here) But I'd loved it and was sure I could whip up another couple of layouts without making them look like copycats. True, the pages would go into different albums more than a decade apart, and no-one but me would even notice, but that was beyond the point. And I really didn't want to start looking for another kit that could go with the current one to spice things up a bit on my screen. So I continued staring at the unfinished pages, willing creativity to descend upon me.
"Mom, can you please make me noodles?" My 16-year-old son barged into my office, face annoyed and phone in hand.
"Whatever happened to the cute little you who loved me so much and never wanted to part with me?" I pointed at the screen. He glanced sideways at what I was working on and rolled his eyes.
"Mommy…' he drawled.
I followed him into the kitchen and he sat at the island, engrossed in his IG feed. Making instant noodles is not exactly rocket science, and he could easily do it himself, but I chose to see the situation as him wanting to spend some time with me. And I could use a distraction anyway. One of the cats jumped onto the stool next to him and fixed me with her yellow eyes. The dog plopped himself right behind my feet because this purebred mutt just loves being stepped on. I nodded at the cat and nudged the dog with my foot. Right here, right now was the very reason I scrap - these are the moments I want to preserve and remember, this daily humdrum of the mundane which warms my heart is what inspires me to take photos and… well, I briefly considered dashing back to the office for my phone and a tripod and setting it all up to take a candid snapshot of the scene, which I totally would have… had I had a magic wand. Instead, I drained the noodles and stirred in the spices.
He mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, grabbed the dish, stuffed a packet of chocolate milk into his pocket and headed back to this room. "I'm gonna finish this and then do Bio" he called from around the bend of the stairs.
"Good talk" I shrugged and went back to my two-pager, which was still as incomplete as it had been 4 minutes ago.
'Not today" I chuckled and closed the document. The elements of the kit smirked at me from the folder that was open underneath my Affinity Designer. "You too, Brutus?" I clicked on the cross in the upper right and slammed my laptop shut. Not today indeed.
PS. Needless to say, the next day I was able to finish the pages in no time - journaling always helps fill the page. Here's the result. The morale of the story - go with the flow and if it doesn't flow then don't go. And scrap another day.
I leaned back in my chair and stared hard at the screen, hoping my two-pager work in progress would look better from a different angle. More complete, more wholesome, more cohesive… but.. no such luck. The transition from left to right was still a gaping hole I didn't know how to fill and the photos at the bottom still looked out of place. I sighed. In addition to being stuck, I was getting slightly annoyed with myself. I shouldn't have picked the kit I'd worked with before. (My first page is here) But I'd loved it and was sure I could whip up another couple of layouts without making them look like copycats. True, the pages would go into different albums more than a decade apart, and no-one but me would even notice, but that was beyond the point. And I really didn't want to start looking for another kit that could go with the current one to spice things up a bit on my screen. So I continued staring at the unfinished pages, willing creativity to descend upon me.
"Mom, can you please make me noodles?" My 16-year-old son barged into my office, face annoyed and phone in hand.
"Whatever happened to the cute little you who loved me so much and never wanted to part with me?" I pointed at the screen. He glanced sideways at what I was working on and rolled his eyes.
"Mommy…' he drawled.
I followed him into the kitchen and he sat at the island, engrossed in his IG feed. Making instant noodles is not exactly rocket science, and he could easily do it himself, but I chose to see the situation as him wanting to spend some time with me. And I could use a distraction anyway. One of the cats jumped onto the stool next to him and fixed me with her yellow eyes. The dog plopped himself right behind my feet because this purebred mutt just loves being stepped on. I nodded at the cat and nudged the dog with my foot. Right here, right now was the very reason I scrap - these are the moments I want to preserve and remember, this daily humdrum of the mundane which warms my heart is what inspires me to take photos and… well, I briefly considered dashing back to the office for my phone and a tripod and setting it all up to take a candid snapshot of the scene, which I totally would have… had I had a magic wand. Instead, I drained the noodles and stirred in the spices.
He mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, grabbed the dish, stuffed a packet of chocolate milk into his pocket and headed back to this room. "I'm gonna finish this and then do Bio" he called from around the bend of the stairs.
"Good talk" I shrugged and went back to my two-pager, which was still as incomplete as it had been 4 minutes ago.
'Not today" I chuckled and closed the document. The elements of the kit smirked at me from the folder that was open underneath my Affinity Designer. "You too, Brutus?" I clicked on the cross in the upper right and slammed my laptop shut. Not today indeed.
PS. Needless to say, the next day I was able to finish the pages in no time - journaling always helps fill the page. Here's the result. The morale of the story - go with the flow and if it doesn't flow then don't go. And scrap another day.
censored
, we all need to do things our own way, in our own time. I personally LOVE seeing all the gorgeous minimalist type layouts that so many people are brilliant at doing but it honestly takes me hours to do something like that as I end up with too much stuff!!! 
I have an ongoing "Work in Progress" folder where I save my unfinished layouts to....... and every once in a while as I scroll through I will spot a layout that I instantly know how to finish it off. 