Be a Copycat and Explore Your Creativity

Whenever you're in a scrapbooking slump, scraplifting might be just the thing to get your creative juices flowing again. Pick a layout that you like, and then select papers and photos to create a page that is yours. By adding your own embellishments, your design can be personalized as much or as little as you want. Often times, you may start off scraplifting, but as you progress in the project, your own ideas are generated. The end result may be a project that was inspired by another artist, but took on your own flair. I began a scraplift of "This Boy" by Christina P and ended up with "Love This Boy." I particularly liked how Christina used the arrows and the title. I started my layout by basically copying her page design, but in the process of working on the page, I accidentally rotated the layout slightly to the left. Looking at the page from a different angle caused me to refocus, and the rest of the layout came together from there.

Sometimes you may feel overwhelmed when looking at all your supplies and wondering what on earth to do with them. Scraplifting can take away the anxiety and force you to do something. By selecting a page that is quick and easy, you can get a layout started and finished. Nothing motivates scrapbooking more than seeing a finished project! This is an especially good technique when you just want to get something done.

Browsing through the gallery at Scrapjazz always provides stimulating ideas. I am a huge fan of Yolanda Williams, aka Yoslick. Her designs are always so clean, fresh and ultra-elegant. Yolanda did a birthday tag for a fellow Scrapjazz member that prompted my creation of "Young Love."

A scraplift can be as simple as copying a single detail or as comprehensive as copying the whole layout. I've seen scraplifts that even use the same papers as the original design. When artists display their work in online galleries or submit layouts for publication, they hope to inspire others. Putting ideas together to design a layout involves much time and effort, but putting together papers, photos and products to scraplift involves time and effort too. Take a look at the inspirational layouts in this month's Scrapjazz technique gallery and also at the great work done by the Scrapjazz members in Christina P's bi-monthly Blue Crew Scraplift challenges. Go ahead and scraplift a layout. Be a copycat and explore your creativity.