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Whenever I'm scrapping or stamping with others, I tend to freeze up (or something). Last weekend, I had a class here to make 30 cards from one scrap kit... people had 20 done in a couple hours. Not me, about 7. My total though, was 17 for the night. I did so much better after everyone left & I just played.
I have had the same problem when scrapping with others (This will be my 5th year going to the WI scrapbook Convention. Woo hoo!) I freeze, get shy, or something...I just have so much trouble getting going or getting comfortable.
Yes, I've tried having a page in progress to break the ice. That helps some, but not a lot.
Along the same line.... I seem to only scrap around convention time (annually, in March) Before conv, I work on getting organized if I've picked out a particular album to work on, etc. Then, scrapping during convention. I come home all revved up, but put it off, get busy, whatever.... and it all sits again.
I love to say that scrapping is a hobby, but I think I'm lying. :( I should just say collecting scrap supplies is a hobby....
I mostly do chrono albums, (what?!?! where is the finished proof of that!?!?) but have one for ds scouting, one for when our village was hit with a super-cell storm[read tornado, that's what it really was!] and a christmas album. Those are in good shape, but my chronos? DS is 12... I have his first year in a photo album & scattered pgs here & there, but am really lacking in finished pages. (now, that sounds closer to the truth!!) Please help!!! Any thoughts or advice?
I don't know what's wrong with you, but I have exactly the same problem. I have to go with a card or two already made, so that I'll be able to work instead of just watching everybody else. For me, it's a shyness thing. I'm much more comfortable on my own. I always think crop nights and card swaps will be fun, but then I get nervous and freeze when I get there. (I like to work out alone, too, and I got my degree online, so at least I'm consistent!) It's also seems easier to scrapbook when I'm in my own space because then I have everything I need and no one will be critiquing me...I don't know. Does any of this help? I'm glad to know there is someone else out there....
Call your local scrapbook store and take some classes, you would get some pages made. And go to some crops. You can go to most scrapbook stores anytime, they are open, and work on your scrapbooks. Set aside one or two days a month to go to a class, crop, or just go to the store and work on it.
I hope this helps.
I think shyness is a big thing for me too. My scrapping/stamping buddies are the best, but I freeze & don't want to work in front of anyone. I don't exercise in front of others either. I'm glad to hear I'm not alone either!
Quote:
Originally Posted by kirstindel
I don't know what's wrong with you, but I have exactly the same problem. I have to go with a card or two already made, so that I'll be able to work instead of just watching everybody else. For me, it's a shyness thing. I'm much more comfortable on my own. I always think crop nights and card swaps will be fun, but then I get nervous and freeze when I get there. (I like to work out alone, too, and I got my degree online, so at least I'm consistent!) It's also seems easier to scrapbook when I'm in my own space because then I have everything I need and no one will be critiquing me...I don't know. Does any of this help? I'm glad to know there is someone else out there....
Quote:
Originally Posted by stamper_jamie
Call your local scrapbook store and take some classes, you would get some pages made. And go to some crops. You can go to most scrapbook stores anytime, they are open, and work on your scrapbooks. Set aside one or two days a month to go to a class, crop, or just go to the store and work on it.
I hope this helps.
Unfortunately, the nearest lss is an hour away :( I think I will make a goal of scrapping one or two days a month, even if just at home. Maybe if I do it more, that will help.
Thanks ladies!
Nicole
This happened to me recently and I scrap a lot. There is a new local stamping store and I like their approach-- they sell fibers by the yard at a reasonable price and all kinds of cool stuff like little thises and thats individually so that you can only get one or two of everything and not break the bank. They also give 20% discount on all special orders-- total opposite to most places. Love them.
Anyway, I ordered my melting pot and supplies from then and decided to take my first class at their store to bond with my pot. Got there and I couldn't make anything! It was weird. I've never taken a class from anyone before. I've given classes cause I'm a SU demo and I enjoy being in the drivers seat, but as a customer, I felt strange and humble and out of my element. Brought the pot home and bonded with it well, in my space, surrounded by my stuff, everything within arms reach when I whim hit me.
Honestly, I think it was perfectionism. It seems that when you are being watched, even casually in a company sort of way, it's hard to make a move cause you're afraid that you'll make a mistake. When I am teaching my classes, I don't worry cause I have it all planned ahead and I know it's cute. But just forging ahead new! I can't do it. Nope. Too hard.
Scapping can be the same way. I think if you put too much store in those first pages, you'll never get going. Just stick those pics down. Use a Higgins sketch-- they are always good bones. And then do some stamping, slap on a title, write something cute, and voila, it's done. It may not be perfect, but it gets easier and faster the longer you have been doing it.
My pages used to take 2 days minimum because I would have to dry fit everything and leave it on the desk overnight, then finish the next day with new eyes. Now they take 2 hours-- only because it is hard for me to know when to stop.
Good Luck
Geez I'm chatty tonight. I'm never gonna get those stamps mounted! And as for doing some scrapping--HAAHAAAHAAA.
__________________ Life is too short: eat chocolate and stamp up a storm. It will come out OK in the end.
Your thread is freakin me out. Were you in Texas with me last Saturday. Cuz everyone knows I froze and made my self sick (physically). I had to leave for 3hrs cuz I was vomiting. You sound JUST LIKE ME!
Quote:
Originally Posted by nics_117
Whenever I'm scrapping or stamping with others, I tend to freeze up (or something). Last weekend, I had a class here to make 30 cards from one scrap kit... people had 20 done in a couple hours. Not me, about 7. My total though, was 17 for the night. I did so much better after everyone left & I just played.
I have had the same problem when scrapping with others (This will be my 5th year going to the WI scrapbook Convention. Woo hoo!) I freeze, get shy, or something...I just have so much trouble getting going or getting comfortable.
Yes, I've tried having a page in progress to break the ice. That helps some, but not a lot.
Along the same line.... I seem to only scrap around convention time (annually, in March) Before conv, I work on getting organized if I've picked out a particular album to work on, etc. Then, scrapping during convention. I come home all revved up, but put it off, get busy, whatever.... and it all sits again.
I love to say that scrapping is a hobby, but I think I'm lying. :( I should just say collecting scrap supplies is a hobby....
I mostly do chrono albums, (what?!?! where is the finished proof of that!?!?) but have one for ds scouting, one for when our village was hit with a super-cell storm[read tornado, that's what it really was!] and a christmas album. Those are in good shape, but my chronos? DS is 12... I have his first year in a photo album & scattered pgs here & there, but am really lacking in finished pages. (now, that sounds closer to the truth!!) Please help!!! Any thoughts or advice?
Last weekend, I had a class here to make 30 cards from one scrap kit... people had 20 done in a couple hours. Not me, about 7. My total though, was 17 for the night.
Perhaps you should stop judging yourself against your friends - and start judging yourself against ME!!!!! There's NO WAY I'd get 7 pages done in a night, let alone 17! I'm a page a day girl - and, believe me, that's a vast improvement on last year!!!!!
Scrapbooking is not a competition or a race; just scrap at your own pace and enjoy it!!!!
I scrap alone, I am just more comfortable that way. I enjoy getting together with others, but just don't like working that way. Don't fight it, this is suppose to be fun, enjoy your hobby in your own way.
If you still want to attend crops, here is a suggestion - When catching up on past years, I like take out my pictures and plan out the whole years worth of pages, pick a theme and do all those pages in that theme. I sketch out the pages, and then I work in bulk. So I do all of my titles, all of my embelishments, etc. at once. So when I go to a crop I might do titles for 20 pages. It is a little mindless so it is nice to have the company, and since I am not actually finishing a page I don't feel the pressure of people looking over my shoulder.
You could also use the time to get suggestions from others when you are not sure how you want to finish a page. I bring several pages in progress and ask for help - I always like the results.
I love to scrap with other people but I never get as much done there as I do at home - I'm too social! But I don't worry about it because I enjoy getting out and being around other people who are also doing something I enjoy. I read a scrappers bill of rights once that said something about one of the rights being "the right to go to a six hour crop and do nothing but eat and socialize." I'm quite sure there was also one about buying every neat lookin' scrappin' thing you see and not using it. LOL
I think the perfection comment was right on the money!!! One other problem I run into is not having a supply that I really need and getting stuck.
I used to take supplies to play with a new technique (stamping or scrapping) and usually wind up with embellishments or cool paper in the end. I still use my stuff and I can listen/talk without feeling like I'm doing nothing.
I don't get nearly as much done when I'm with others. It's because getting a two-page spread for me is very involved. Lots of decision-making, and I have to be totally focussed to make those decisions. I can't totally focus and socialize with others at the same time. For me to make a crop productive, I generally just have to take a stack of photos to CROP and MAT. I'll try to have photos sorted ahead of time so I already know which ones I want on the same two page spread. And I'll have a complementary color scheme already chosen. I'll drop the small stack of photos and a couple sheets of cardstock down into a page protector. I try to have SEVERAL of these ahead of time. That way, I make tons of progress on the mindless job of cropping and matting, and save the real "design" time until I can be alone and really focus. I love sharing ideas, so I like seeing what others are doing, and am glad to let people browse my albums (not really shy about that!) So - I focus on the idea sharing, the cropping and matting, and make my time productive that way!
__________________ Cindy
"Just when I think I have all the stamps I need... I get a new catalog in the mail!"
This is funny - I'm the same way. I get too involved in watching other people and amazed at how creative they are, then I look back at my blank page and nothing happens. I do so much better on my own. I'm so much more focused on my stuff when I don't have somebody's elses stuff around to fascinate me. I'm very sociable too - so that doesn't help . . . I talk way too much!
The most important thing I learned is that I'm not alone, it's not that there is something wrong with me.
I agree about the perfectionism & the socialization. Also, I think it's a good point that maybe I'm being too hard on myself.
I like some of the suggestions here & will give them a try! I could make all my embelishments, do my cropping, etc, socialize & still make progress!
What's wrong with me?!?! (long, but important)
