Scrapping confidence

Well, last weekend I had my BFF Larisa to visit, and we stayed up to the wee hours scrapping, talking, and drinking wine (not necessarily in that order). Needless to say, it was fun. I began a theme album I have been planning since the beginning of the year--all my autumn pictures from 2006. It was a fall full of photo ops. We had taken the girls to the orchard for a hay ride and the pumpkin patch. Also, they helped decorate the yard for Halloween, and there were all my fall color pictures. Plus, trick or treating and the loot afterward.

So, I pulled out the kit I had prepared--Daisy D's Gypsy Harvest/Vintage Halloween. I also decided to try a different album size--a 8x12 landscape Baybox album. So, I started scrapping, a little nervous at first because I was still getting used to the size.

Well, I chugged along all week, and finished the scrapbook tonight. It was incredibly freeing to use one coordinated line, and be able to put things together easily. I also realized that about half way through the week, the pages got easier to do, no worries about titles or "design" and I began figuring out ways to arrange my page elements to best showcase the stories I wanted to tell.

In other words, scrapping was fun again. No thoughts filled my head about how to arrange the LO, and I didn't stop to look at an idea book once. Very freeing. Also, other than some Making Memories bling Halloween brads and some Karen Foster autumn loopy brads I bought, everything I used in the book came from my stash. I pulled out old vellum quote stacks from 4 years ago, my bins of brads and eyelets, and used up a bunch of ribbon I have been hoarding. Chipboard alphas? check. Sticker alphas going back 3 years? Check. Stuff I completely forgot I even had? Check. Cricut that is completely ignored? Check.

I need to do this more often. I am trying to go back to scrapping for ME. I noticed as I let myself scrap this book my way, I saw my linear, symmetrical style emerge. It looked GOOD. And I was able to see a few of the famous design techniques there on the pages, without me even realizing it. The one page I got a bit more "freestyle" on is my least favorite.

So, I am feeling "back in the groove." And as I love to say, Life is surely good.