To Scrap or not to Scrap? (Or "A Tale of a Crafting Nemesis")

Hi Everyone...

I am enjoying my daily little chat on here with you... hope you are too!

So why this topic today?  Well it all comes about as a result of a little conversation I was having today with Docrafts Creativity Manager and PR Guru, Emma Collins, and Tina Piper, Docrafts Creativity Magazine Editor....

Let's start at the beginning... we all have things that are a little bit of a problem for us - maybe they seem jinxed, maybe we just can't get the hang of them, maybe we have built them up into such a problem we just can't get over it, and some are just plain and stupid phobias and they scare us silly...

For me three things come to mind and I'll start with my two extremes...


OFFENDER NUMBER ONE: CROCHET

Ok some of this is going to sound really daft so we might as well start here... WHAT???? I hear you cry... well, it's like this... I would LOVE to crochet, I ADORE the amazing projects created by a whole wealth of talent out there, I felt absolutely green with envy when I read on facebook that my friend was crocheting her little girl a hat this week.... I am not scared of it but I do have mild bouts of anxiety when I think of learning to do it...

Why is that?  Well I know its perfectly achievable but in this case I have tried so many times - whether it is being shown or trying to teach myself and I JUST CAN'T GET THE HANG OF IT GGGGRRRRRRRR!!!!  It now really frustrates me so much that I have built it up into my mind that I am not able to do it...

Of course one day I will manage it - I know I will - but until that day arrives it causes me a little bit of nervousness...


OFFENDER NUMBER 2: FLYING

Ok I have to be really honest about this one - this scares the pants (and possibly more - but we won't go down this route because it isn't a pretty sight) off me....  I CAN'T DO IT...

I remember the fateful flight when I was sixteen where everything but everything went wrong (short of us dropping right out the sky, though there were several darn good attempts by our pilot at doing just that)... ever since then even the thought of it brings on shortness of breath, hot flushes (no that isn't my age) and fits of nearly passing out... 

Now if you read back a couple of days in my posts you'll find that I wrote I used to fly all over Europe with my job....  Well, yes I did and I was a lot older than sixteen when I did it... one of the reasons to take the job was that I hoped beyond hope that flying that much would help me overcome this....

OOOOOHHHHHH NOOOOOOOOO! It got worse.... much worse... so much so that my hubby always tells the story of when we were on our honeymoon and flying back.... Apparently I wasn't as white as a ghost, I was whiter.... at 10am that morning.... we weren't flying until 9pm that night....

Oooooooo yes fear of god time here....  I should add I haven't been on a plane since... I should also add that means I haven't been outside our country in nine years!

Of course there are so many reasons why I should - I would love to visit Egypt, Italy, New Zealand, take my husband to see the Grand Canyon (I have managed once many years ago to gather together the nerve to go to the other side of America but I arrived back home from that journey somewhat under the affluence of incohol due to the fact that the lady next door to me realised I was a tad frightened so kept the stewardesses bringing the Jack Daniels and coke to me... my mom and dad were somewhat bemused when a 8.30am at Birmingham airport they collected a daughter with slurred speech and an inability to walk straight), and I would sooooo love to visit CHA in the US... its my dream..

Am I ever going to get over this one... well the jury is out but it doesn't look good at the moment.


So let's move on to

OFFENDER NUMBER THREE: MY REAL CRAFTING NEMESIS "SCRAPBOOKING"

Now I will be honest my reaction to this is not quite as severe to that of flying - that would be down right silly but it is somewhere in between the first two and it is probably closer to the latter than the former..

The very thought of having a piece of 12x12" paper infront of me and having to fill in with a/some picture(s) and a selection of embellishments makes my brain switch off... crafter's block sets in and I scurry back to my safe haven of cards and altered art...  I'm not certain what it is that does it - the size of the paper or the pictures...  though I have been known to ask at work could I make a scrapbook page without a picture so I suspect that is the sticking point....

Saying that I have recently made a few projects incorporating pictures... they just haven't been your standard layouts - I would class them as altered art - our lovely Katy Godbeer at head office repeatedly tells me" it is scrapbooking!!!" which makes me smile. (I wish I could show you them so that I could have your opinion but unfortunately I can't yet - when I can I'll make sure we talk about that then!)

Of course I know what the problem is - I am in absolute AWE of the amazing scrapbookers out there... At work I am constantly amazed by the gorgeous creations that our fabulous scrappers come up with.... Katy Godbeer, Beckie Dreyer, Emma Collins - if you are reading this you are AWESOME... and I doubt my ability to create something that stands up in your company....

I ABSOLUTELY ADORE the work of you scrappers out there... I read every issue of Scrap365 and pour over the artistry.... Girls, you know how much oooooo-ing and aaaaahhh-ing goes on when I am reading it....  But... oh dear until now my brain just switches off....


And so I return to the conversation I was having with Emma and Tina.

Last week I was heard to mention to Katy I might maybe possibly could have some scrapbook ideas starting to filter into my consciousness...  and today Emma and Tina were talking about a card that I had created that they thought had a very scrapbook-y feel...  Beckie has told me several times she would love to see what I would create if I made a layout... all these talented people have faith in me so why don't I... well maybe all their positivity is starting to work its magic as sometime in the next couple of weeks I may just get those photos out and have a go... 

You'll be the first to see it when I do!

So what's the answer to the question " To scrap or not to scrap?"

Don't be too surprised but the answer most resoundingly is


TO SCRAP!!!!!!

Its time to stop procrastinating (see my new year's resolutions!), lay the ghost to rest and get out there and scrap!!!


Before I go I thought you'd like a little inspiration to maybe give you some crafty idea's for the weekend. 

I love to dabble in many crafts - one of which is jewellery making...  I absolutely love these gorgeous bracelets I found on one of my favourite facebook pages "Romantically Vintage" 

I think I know what I will be doing with all those spare ribbons now!

 

Nighty Night - speak again soon
Becky
xxx