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I have not done much crafting since May 2015 - when I had to go back to work full time. There was no time for anything relaxing or fun. I was able to quit full time work in August 2018 and return to substitute teaching but I still didn't craft. Now being home since March I have the time but not the creativity. Any ideas how to reclaim it? I have an album from our trip to Prague years ago that I'm about 1/2 way finished but I just can't seem to finish it. I took everything out and it sat. Today I put it all away.
__________________ Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.
I don't know about anyone else, but I like to watch some youtube videos to get restarted...find someone you like on youtube or even search for scrapbook mojo and there are a bunch on how to reclaim your mojo...this might give you the kick start that you need
This is the one I used: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=%23findyourmojowithmercytiara
Mercy Tiara has a series on finding your mojo!
I know that SCT Magazine on youtube has a bunch of videos on it as well. I love them.
I go to these 2 sites for challenges and these both help me come up with ideas i would never think of. They post a new list everyday. I choose ones I want to do and then I put them on my blog and enter the challenges.
I lose my mojo all the time, it seems like I am just making the same pages over and over again. I look at samples on the web and ideas I have saved from magazines and catalogs to get an initial spark. It helps me to have some recent photos printed and just start with the new photos of a special event or holiday or trip. Once that batch is scrapped, I can usually go back and finish some older books/pages. It also helps me to have a new supply item or tool -- retail therapy. Good luck!
Mary Beth
My method of scrapbooking has always been beginning with something to say. Because journaling ideas and quotes will pop into my head at any time, I keep a notebook with me that allows me to write down the thought as soon as it occurs. When I sit down to scrapbook, I can pull out the notebook and have the quotes and journaling right there in front of me. That prompts me to comb through my photos to find ones I want to use with my journaling. That process alone is inspiring.
Scrapbook sketch layouts are also a place I start from when I have no mojo. I've got the journaling and the photos, so having it drawn out where to place them is SO helpful when I don't feel creative.
I have also found that the more I scrapbook, the more the mojo comes back. Ideas seem to feed off each other, and taking one creative path sparks an idea for another creative path, and it just keeps going. Starting after a long hiatus is truly the hardest part, but once you get into the habit of creating a few times a week, the ideas start rolling in.
We are living in some very difficult times. Being shut in since March, the organizer/practical person in us says this is the perfect time to clean out our kitchen closets, go through our clothing closets, organize our craft room/supplies, catch up on ... Just because the time is there, doesn't mean it is the perfect time to do the "shoulds." Be kind to yourself. Do what what is fun and makes you happy.
__________________ Jo AnnMy SCS gallery / my blogThe cure for everything is salt water - sweat, tears or the sea~Isak Dinesen FS 776
I usually just go to my scrapbooks. I don't scrap chronologically but I store them that way. (clear as mud)? I scrap whatever suits my fancy and then I use the pictures to guide what year book to put it in. If I use a variety of pictures from a variety of years, I use the current book as that is the year I made it?
Anywho...I usually go back and use my scrapbooks as inpiration and an idea book. Sometimes I can see just by the way the layout is, that i used a sketch...or I was following a challenge.
I do use page sketches to help me and sometimes I do them exact until I get my mojo back. It's ok to copy someone else to refigure out what you want to do. It's ok to go back to a tried and true as well. Something that has worked for you in the past. WHO CARES IF THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!!! Please go back and read that again, your family will love the stories and the memories the pages bring back. They really can care less about whether that prima flower matches exactly...etc.!
Just do it...and then if you don't like it..redo it!!!
Air Hugs, I hope that helps!
Laura
Laura Lee - I had to laugh at myself when you wrote, "WHO CARES IF THEY ALL LOOK THE SAME!" That just happened to me so I stopped scrapping last week. I will get back into it but I hate looking at my stuff when I don't like it. But you are right, who cares? I need these scrapbooks more than ever now so I can go back and remember all the good times with loved ones 'back in the day.'
Craftyteaspoon - We all have that problem of finding our mojo. I believe the other ladies have great ideas and using those should get you back scrapping in no time.
I have not done much crafting since May 2015 - when I had to go back to work full time. There was no time for anything relaxing or fun. I was able to quit full time work in August 2018 and return to substitute teaching but I still didn't craft. Now being home since March I have the time but not the creativity. Any ideas how to reclaim it? I have an album from our trip to Prague years ago that I'm about 1/2 way finished but I just can't seem to finish it. I took everything out and it sat. Today I put it all away.
I think it's OK to let that one go. You have the photos and part of an album. After you do some other projects, you might be motivated to either finish that album or do something else with the pictures. I think sometimes we get stuck and feel that we have to finish one project before we move on to another one. I've learned to let that go too. I try not to have more than 3 projects going at a time, and I do finish them, but having more than one project going keeps me from getting bored.
For me, ideas come from many different places. I make jewelry and cards too, and sometimes the colors or patterns inspire a scrapbook layout. Sometimes I'm inspired by something someone else has done. Try looking at other things, and you might be inspired by those.
How do you reclaim your "mojo" to scrap?
