Scrap Stories: The Challenge of Doing a Challenge

[Jam-on-toast]

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...

Remember

• Jam-on-toast
• Sunday at 8:27 PM
• 2

Inspired by this month's challenge #4 -...

 

[JeanneMN]

Thank you for FABulous chuckle- filled start to my morning. I don't have a camera on my laptop & Alexa turned away from my desk, though she might have eyes in the back of her Al head, you always seem to be peering in on my scrapping because you literally just described me and my scrapping methods. No such thing as go together quickly, and "I threw it together in an hour" does not exist in my part of the universe. Been there, done that where I finish a challenge and realize I didn't read all of the directions - Yesterday I was patting myself on the back for having so many, for me anyway, layouts finished for April, when I realized one of them had been posted March 31st. And backgrounds, what IS it with them, I try them, change them, blend them, add more , rinse & repeat & STILL can't decide. Why make something easy when you can make it hard? Case in point, all afternoon yesterday on double page spread, by the time I changed templates, changed papers, changed blending mode, messed up with some layers shifting without me noticing & now being a wee bit misalligned, I went back in my history to repair it and it was time for supper. What had I "thrown" together ? A double page with a blended photo on each one. I Never in my life have I said, "Oh, I had 5 layouts to upload."You just have an ability to read my mind, short words; but you keep describing me. Twilight zone for scrappers.

 

[BrightEyes]

Olga, you had me in stitches... laughing so hard. 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!!
Can't wait to read your next Scraping Stories as they so funny.... and always lift my spirits.

 

[LauraD]

I love it! Great job and glad you found a motivation.

I, myself, am not very good at following directions. I usually end up having to change one layout or another because I didn't follow the instructions all of the way. I wish the challenges could be "inspirations" instead

 

[AK_Tracy]

This cracked me up. I will say, I can not relate at all. So it was fun for me to see what is on the more creative side of layouts and what you all go through. And wait, you dont read all the directions on a challenge??? Ten times before starting a LO??? What??? Aren't you afraid the scrap-police will come after you?? And @LauraD what do you mean you want the challenges to be inspirations instead? I freak out when the directions are loose and interpretive. Makes me break out in sweat and totally stresses me. Template challenges are the hardest, why would I rearrange things, its beautiful how it was created.

Olga I am loving these stories. Thank you so much for taking this on and writing them. Its so much fun to read and I love how you write. Such humor (and truth). Thank you!

 

[LauraD]

@AK_Tracy sometimes I just wish the rule were not enforced so much because in the end, the creation is my own and if my inspiration leads one way, but the challenge says to do something else, sometimes I just end up not doing the challenge at all because I like the layout the way it is and I am too lazy to do another one. I have deleted several layouts submitted to challenges for this reason because I did not follow directions to the T so was asked to remove the layouts.

 

[AK_Tracy]

@AK_Tracy sometimes I just wish the rule were not enforced so much because in the end, the creation is my own and if my inspiration leads one way, but the challenge says to do something else, sometimes I just end up not doing the challenge at all because I like the layout the way it is and I am too lazy to do another one. I have deleted several layouts submitted to challenges for this reason because I did not follow directions to the T so was asked to remove the layouts.

Ah yes I can see why and how you would want inspiration types. Sometimes a layout just needs to be the way it is and not follow the rules. I have had one that way and I also didn't submit it.

 

[Jam-on-toast]

@AK_Tracy sometimes I just wish the rule were not enforced so much because in the end, the creation is my own and if my inspiration leads one way, but the challenge says to do something else, sometimes I just end up not doing the challenge at all because I like the layout the way it is and I am too lazy to do another one. I have deleted several layouts submitted to challenges for this reason because I did not follow directions to the T so was asked to remove the layouts.

I hear you... if I start a layout and my inspiration takes me on a wild tangent (happens right left and center with me), I keep going and, once finished, I do a bit of thinking and try to fit the page to the challenge - make a copy of the page, delete what doesn't fit and add what is missing. Challenge rules - especially the ones I don't like - used to annoy me, but over the time I started taking them as practice runs - a reason to get out of my comfort zone and try something new, and I believe this has made me a better scrapper and helped me embrace new techniques.

 

[Jam-on-toast]

I wish the challenges could be "inspirations" instead

No way... I HATE challenges that read something like 'look at what's in front of you and scrap a page inspired by what you see'. My brain gets overflooded by all the ideas: coffee, my phone, weather, glasses, cat, hand cream - I just can't seem to pick one, and if I do, say coffee, then it's round two all over again: daily routine, breaking the habit, favorite cup, morning musings... terrible...

 

[Jam-on-toast]

This cracked me up. I will say, I can not relate at all. So it was fun for me to see what is on the more creative side of layouts and what you all go through. And wait, you dont read all the directions on a challenge??? Ten times before starting a LO??? What??? Aren't you afraid the scrap-police will come after you??

well... to be honest, I don't often misread instructions. And yes, I may have thought of scrap-police too... lol

Olga I am loving these stories. Thank you so much for taking this on and writing them. Its so much fun to read and I love how you write. Such humor (and truth). Thank you!

Thank you, Tracy! This means a lot!

 

[Jam-on-toast]

Thank you for FABulous chuckle- filled start to my morning. I don't have a camera on my laptop & Alexa turned away from my desk, though she might have eyes in the back of her Al head, you always seem to be peering in on my scrapping because you literally just described me and my scrapping methods. No such thing as go together quickly, and "I threw it together in an hour" does not exist in my part of the universe. Been there, done that where I finish a challenge and realize I didn't read all of the directions - Yesterday I was patting myself on the back for having so many, for me anyway, layouts finished for April, when I realized one of them had been posted March 31st. And backgrounds, what IS it with them, I try them, change them, blend them, add more , rinse & repeat & STILL can't decide. Why make something easy when you can make it hard? Case in point, all afternoon yesterday on double page spread, by the time I changed templates, changed papers, changed blending mode, messed up with some layers shifting without me noticing & now being a wee bit misalligned, I went back in my history to repair it and it was time for supper. What had I "thrown" together ? A double page with a blended photo on each one. I Never in my life have I said, "Oh, I had 5 layouts to upload."You just have an ability to read my mind, short words; but you keep describing me. Twilight zone for scrappers.

Backgrounds are the worst!

 

[Jam-on-toast]

Olga, you had me in stitches... laughing so hard. 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!!
Can't wait to read your next Scraping Stories as they so funny.... and always lift my spirits.

Thank you, Kay! What a relief to learn that saving to the wrong folder happens to other people too... How aggravating that being creative requires being organized!