Come on, you know you want to… it won't take long… just a quick scrap… just an easy one and you'll be done in no time… The seductive whisper in my head is so sweet and so smooth, I invariably cave in. Even though I know it lies. Shamelessly, blatantly, unapologetically… for I know - I really do know - it won't be quick, and I most definitely won't be done in no time… I don't even know what 'in no time' feels like.
I'm talking about challenges, of course. My source of inspiration… and the bane of my existence...
There are easy ones like 'use a minimum of five photos' which are so much up my alley, I get started immediately… only to realize - half way through - that the ten or so photos I have for the page are so mismatched, Dali wouldn't know how to put them together artistically and Homer would struggle to spin a coherent tale with them.
There are deceptively simple ones, where I am to 'use no more than 7 items' which inspire me to start a page because, let's face it, how hard can placing SEVEN elements can be?? A splatter, a branch, a flower, a string, a photo, a frame and a wordart. Nothing too complicated…. Well, you must know by now that my mind doesn't do 'nothing too complicated', so two hours later the practical me is groaning in frustration that the creative me takes 15 minutes to place just one element, to which the latter shrugs and flamboyantly demands a different background. Do I really need to explain what THAT entails? Let's say - just for the sake of keeping appearances - there's a chance the splatter might remain unchanged.
There are thoughtful challenges, you know the ones that invite me to take a moment to reflect on my life. Do you have any idea how long 'a moment' lasts in my world? Suffice it to say, that my creative side takes pride in not being bound by such conventionalities like time and space and personal deadlines. It likes to play games with me, draw a blank, make me give up, and then flood my brain with brilliant ideas right when I least expect it, because what better time to feel inspired to scrapbook than at 3am mid-half-asleep bathroom trip. I kid you not!
And then, there are challenges that aren't what I'd usually go for, but somehow somewhere some cosmic scrapbooking overlord decides I must partake. Once in a blue moon, there'd be a challenge that would slide right into my page, like it was meant to be there all along. As I rule, I tend to avoid song-based challenges because I don't really know that many songs, let alone can recite the lyrics of. So, when I saw this month's challenge #4, I groaned inwardly - and then, as if on cue, a ghostly voice hummed 'those were the days, my friend'. And off I was scrapping happily. A true scrapbooking miracle indeed…
…or it would have been, had I read the instructions for the challenge properly. The words of the song that came to me inspired a page documenting the lockdown of 2020 - because those indeed were THE DAYS… but… it turned out the challenge was to be inspired by the specific lyrics provided by the host. Ooooops… I sat there totally dumbfounded, like a student who just realized they submitted the wrong assignment for the wrong subject. How did I manage to get it so massively wrong???
That's when the rational me, tired my nonsense and eager to get back to real life (and the dishes in the sink), unceremoniously shoved my creative side aside. "Your whole layout is about a few of your favorite things from the lockdown" it pointed out dryly. "Just slap "Remember" as a title and call it a day." And thus, my accidental masterpiece was born. Behold...
I think we all have those times when we are scrapping. One of mine is "Save for web" then can't find which folder I have saved the finished LO!!! I have a real close relationship with the "Search" on my computer lately!! 
