I continue telling my creative story, and sharing old scrapbook pages too. If you have questions or perhaps chapter suggestions I’d love to hear them…
As I worked on figuring out what “my style” meant, I found identifying what I was NOT was far easier. I mean – I like both wild shades of pink and bold paint strokes AND delicate lace. Grungy inked and sanded paper edges and rhinestone encrusted projects. Super girly stuff and more rugged looks. Lots of photos and single photos. I felt like a walking contradiction – and it was frustrating.
Some layouts (like the one below) I felt were close – they were pure “May” creations, if just a bit off in execution. So what wasn’t “May”?
The first thing was to realize that I was bad with really graphic papers and designs. Below is a layout (the I and Y have fallen off title, FYI) that is purely magazine copying/trendy attempt. In no way is it me. There is no journaling outside of the date. It’s truly a worthless page. There’s no heart here, and believe that I made note of it (back in ’05) when I was reviewing what I wasn’t.
I also wasn’t great forcing photos I wasn’t inspired to work with at the time. Weird things (like page below) would result.
I was into more creams and browns (not so much black & white for paper choice), and I was NOT good at preventing trapped white space, or planning for my titles. The example below is a page that I felt like almost made it to great – it was so close to the vision in my head – but not quite.
I also didn’t like when I worked with trendy product just because it was the thing to do. Not only did it feel false, but the pages always seemed a bit off to me. As I found more things I didn’t want in my scrapbooking, I also found things I did. The hardest thing for me had to be breaking free of what was expected.
The only person judging me, or critiquing with heavy expectation, was me!
I still don’t have what I consider a “style” in the traditional sense. I had to embrace that I’d never fit into a neat cubby like “linear” or “clean” or “shabby” all the time. Guess what? That is OK! You don’t have to put a label on your style. Just having it, just being intentional and personal in your choices makes it so. ENJOY.
Other things I accepted I wasn’t was good at layering tons of patterned papers, working with striped papers, titles (I still struggle!), warm colors, keeping things super simple, balance, and so much more. In finding what I wasn’t good at I was also discovering what I did NOT want to be. In doing this, I exposed what I did want in general terms, and found myself with goals and things to shoot for.
I wanted pages with more journaling and stories. Pages that looked pleasing to my eye. More fun stuff. Pretty colors. Trendy stuff only when it spoke to and suited ME. I just wanted to be May.
Turns out, it wasn’t too much to ask…
