Scrapropos

QUESTION:
How do you know when simple is better with all the new more creative things out there? - Tonya in Fort Worth

How *do* you know? I’m not even sure how to answer it. Except to say, sometimes the photos and the stories they’re telling just SPEAK to you, if you’ll listen.

What is it that you want to convey? What are the photos telling you? Is the story full of excitement, laughter, energy, noise, action? If so, you can reflect that by using papers and embellishments that are loud, busy, and interactive. Are the photos telling you a story that’s sweet, simple, straight-forward, shy, calm? Evoke those emotions by using colors and embellishments that lean towards those feelings.

For this page, I wanted to convey a feeling of spunkiness, and yet, the colors I needed to work with don’t really say “spunk”. To help liven it up, I chose papers that were complementary, yet not too matchy. Layering, tearing and inking added more personality to the page.

This photo whispered softness and simplicity to me, so I used bare-bones techniques and soft colors:

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that sometimes, I buy papers and embellishments just because I like them. When this Bohemia line of paper came out last year, I snapped it up. I couldn’t WAIT to find a use for it. I went straight home, pored over my photo files, and found one that worked perfectly after I converted it to sepia tones. I knew I wanted it to be a simple layout, but when I was finished, it seemed to still be missing something. Something small, but something nonetheless. The initialed paper clip embellishment was the perfect answer.

Everyone takes photos that aren’t wonderful, but still need to be included in the family albums. Maybe they’re just standard Christmas photos of everyone opening gifts. Perhaps it’s another series of soccer game pics. Maybe it’s your kid playing dress-up, or trains, but there’s nothing really special about the photos except that they capture the sweetness of childhood. In those instances, don’t be afraid to scrap simply. Not every page has to be a work of art. Here are some of my “just get it scrapped” pages where I didn’t worry so much about the creativity aspect of it:

You know whether to scrap simply or creatively when the photos tell you to. My friend and fellow scrapper Elaine in AL is an artist and does some really creative pages. But even she understands the value of a simple page. Tonight as we were chatting, she said, “I just slapped a page together. Felt good. Just cropped the pictures, tore some borders, slapped ‘em down, journaled. Ahhh.”

I know that feeling. Ahhhhhh. It’s the feeling you get when you’ve completed a page, savored the memory, and enjoyed the process. If you’ve agonized over it too much, you haven’t enjoyed it. If you’ve spent too much money on it, you likely feel guilty somehow. Sometimes, less isn’t necessarily MORE, but it’s enough. As Elaine’s favorite quilting teacher once said, “Sometimes the eye just needs somewhere to rest.” If every one of your pages is crammed with trendy, creative blasts of color and embellishments, there’s no rest.

Let the story be your guide. Let the photos tell you that story.
And in the end, remember my scrap hero Ali Edwards’ famous words: “It is okay.”