Scrapbookers Blog Tour

I have been nominated by my good friend Amy Mallory, to take part in the scrappy blog tour.  You might know Amy by her scrapbooking online name of mymalloryboys.   Amy is an incredible scrapbooker and home schooler.  Her pages are about family and love and her three boys and now one little girl will never have to wonder how much they are loved and adored, it’s all there on her pages.

I was also nominated by my friend, the amazing talented digital scrapbooking designer from Designer Digitals, Lynn Grieveson.  I was lucky enough to meet Lynn when she travelled over from NZ some years back and I can report she is a dynamo.  She creates beautiful products that I’m proud to use.

Right so the scrappy blog tour asks me to answer six questions.

1.     What am I working on right now?

I will be a rebel and talk about a couple of things both scrapbooking and non-scrapbooking related.   As you will know if you read this blog an addition has happened to the family by way of a beautiful baby grandson, so my pages lately have been all about him.  I want to try to keep up as best I can.  But he’s so darn cute, I am taking hundreds of photos!  

I also started a ‘Fifty before 50’ album, with the big one coming up quicker than a steam train.  I was scrapping 50 fun and fabulous things I was doing or what was important to me in the year before I turned 50.  Hmmm, made it to page 4.  I do aim to finish as I have been collecting the photos as the year has gone on. 

And then there was the trip with Esther to the US last year to meet the Designer Digitals creative team, I have only just started on that album, thank goodness (as of yesterday!!) So many projects so little time. 

And non-scrapbooking related because these questions could relate to that too, I’m in the middle of making a chevron crochet black and white blanket as part of a crochet-a-long with my scrapbooking friends Steph, Doris, Chrissy and Mollie.  See, that’s  kind of scrapbooking related too!   (I really must take a new photo, I'm up to about the 7th colour change now, I tell you the black is hard going!!  I usually wear my husband's head lamp of an evening when I'm crocheting the black.

2.     How long does it take to create a project?

I mentioned about the Fifty before 50 project and my US photo book, enough said!   I tend to pick these grandiose projects and it seems to take forever to finish.  But finish them I will. 

3.     What are my fave things I love to create with at the moment?

I’m not one to go with the latest fad.  To be honest I am a big fan of the DIY products that Lynn Grieveson makes and you'll often find them on my pages.  Love that we can put our own spin on them by adding our own colours or papers, gives us so much more flexibility in getting a page exactly how you want it to be.  But then sometimes that’s my downfall, then comes the indecision – will I use this shade of blue or that shade of blue.  And if you know my scrapbooking you’ll know there are very few pages without a brad or two on them!

        

4.     How does my writing/creating process work?

I’m a journaller that’s for sure.   One thing I’ve found over the years that it’s nice to pick up a scrapbook I’ve done, and lovely to see the photos and reminisce, but it’s the words that truly bring the page (and the memory) to life.  I'm fortunate in that I host the Story Scrapbooking Challenge at Designer Digitals, this month's challenge is to tell a story about a birthday (hmmm I wonder why??) so if you're reading this, do join in.  I've linked up the blog challenge.  

I write like I talk too.  I might ask Mike what does he think about a page I have up on my screen, and he’ll start trying to correct the grammar.  Nooooooo!   I meant it to run into one huge humongous sentence Mike, cause I don’t talk with commas or fullstops!    

5.     How do I become inspired and stay inspired?

Oh I lose my mojo on a regular basis, and sometimes I think I have sooooo many photos I want to scrap and am almost paralysed at starting.  But something will (hopefully) just click.  It will be the colours or tones of a kit.  It will be something I want to say.  I’d like to say I use Pinterest for inspiration but I really don’t.  That’s just more for fun.  I think it’s usually I have something to say and then the page just comes.  I do get inspired by the team at DesignerDigitals, those ladies are amazing with the pages they spin out. And for my non-scrapbooking friends reading this, if you are still reading this!! all these scrapbook pages are done digitally, all on the computer, despite so many looking three dimensional, it's all done with pixels.  I also like to check out Gallery Standouts to see what the wider community are creating.    Scrapbooking is so rewarding, and digital scrapbooking for me more so because it’s all I’ve known.

6.     What is my signature style?

I look at my gallery and wonder that.  I really don’t think I have a signature style.  I truly don’t think I would be able to pick my own page in a digi line up.  That sounds weird, because I would have made the page.  But you get what I mean.  All I know is that 9 times out of 10 there’ll be a story on it, cause that’s what it’s all about for me, telling the story.

So I need to pass this blog tour onto some other scrappers.  Having said that I see this blog tour is doing the rounds of the quilting community too as my friend Sharon also tried to tag me.  So everyone I approached has already been tagged, so I'm going to say (and yes this is a cop out) that if you are reading this and if you would like to answer these questions regardless of what craft you do please feel free to consider yourself tagged.  Let me know in the comments if you are playing along so I can check out your post.  Your post will need to be popped on your blog next Friday 12th September.