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Face Your Fears
by Jennifer Sizemore
(Sep 29, 2006)
"Panic at the thought of doing a thing is a challenge to do it." Henry S. Haskins Everyone has something in life that causes great fear, or at least some mild panic. So it only stands to reason that most scrapbook enthusiasts are fearful of some element of their hobby. I recently asked four designers what facet of scrapbooking makes them get the shakes and white knuckles. Each of them then faced down that fear and created a work of art. Their bravery encouraged me to face my own fear, and so my own triumph is also shown below. I challenge you to face your own fear, whether it is one shown below or something else. Only by facing it can it be overcome. FEAR: Using my hand-writing on my layouts.
-- Dianne "Fontnut" Dahlin Supplies:
Tip: In order to overcome her fear, Dianne used striped paper to keep her writing straight and neat. FEAR: Not using my computer.
-- Cheryl "Dell" Overton Supplies:
Tip: Cheryl wrote her journaling on paper, and then cut into blocks. This method allowed her to discard mistakes before adhering the blocks to the layout. FEAR: Scrapping something other than a square.
-- Samantha "Size Matters" VanArnham Supplies:
Tip: Samantha kept her layout linear and blocked, using an almost square photo on her rectangular canvas. The use of black around the blocks emphasized the linear quality of the layout. FEAR: Digital scrapping
-- Libby "Digiwoman" Weifenbach Supplies:
Tip: Libby started with a free digital kit and kept her page simple, linear and in keeping with her style. Once she accomplished a beautiful layout, she had the confidence to move on to more complex digital techniques.
"Pastel colors are not my favorite and I always feel challenged to use them in scrapbooking, even when they are what would look best with my photos. My usual solution is to change the picture to black and white, but that is really just avoidance." -- Jennifer "Pinky " Sizemore Supplies:
Tip: I mixed pastels with neutrals and used patterned paper with brighter shades of pinks, greens and oranges to liven up the softer qualities of the pastels.
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"I have to have lines to write on, or I go uphill, plus I am always concerned that my writing will somehow 'cheapen' the look of the page. It's not that I mind my hand-writing, but I'm one of those people who think that a computer font will always look nicer." 
"I think I have to use my computer because I have found my scrapbooking style preference - clean and graphic. I feel like my handwriting messes up my pages. I also type three times faster than I write and make far fewer errors with my keyboard. I realize the importance of having your handwriting in albums but I find it much easier to use my computer. It does limit me though for things like crops and the times my husband is fighting me for the computer." 
"I've been a dedicated 12" x 12" (or 8" x 8") scrapper for so long I've become way too comfortable with the size and proportion of a square canvas. I also worried about what to do with the layouts since I already have a system of albums that are all 12" x 12". Once I heard the idea of just mixing in 8.5" x 11" page protectors in a 12" x 12" album, I finally felt like I had a solution that worked for me. " 
"I feared digital scrapping because I knew there would be a major learning curve. It wasn't that I didn't think I could do it; I was just afraid of the amount of time that I would have to invest to learn even the basic steps of completing a layout. I honestly never dreamed that it would be as easy as it was." 
FEAR: Scrapping with pastel colors
