Scrapbooking and Murphy's Law

I did these layouts last night. I am pretty proud of them for two reasons. One - After scrapbooking for over a year and a half I think I finally found my scrapbooking style. Two - These are completely original layouts of mine. And since I think it is important to be proud of your accomplishments . . . Yeah me! Okay, uhm, moving on now. It has been quite the struggle for me. I have been seriously scrapbooking for about six months. Meaning just about every spare moment in my life is spent scrapbooking. When I finish a layout I spend days wondering what is wrong with it. Then finally put it in my book and never look at it again. I am not very patient with myself. I like to see results often or I get frustrated. Hmm, maybe that could be what I am doing wrong. I entered the Creating Keepsakes Scrapbooker of the Year 2007 contest. No I did not win or even become a finalist. When I look at the pages entered for the SOY finalists, I know why. Wow, their pages are absolutely amazing. Allison Davis is one of the finalists. You can look at her blog, see the link to the left. For the last two weeks I have been scraplifting. I have been browsing the CK Gallery - http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/gallery/ magazine articles, magazine ads, you name it and I have been looking for it. Then I have been picking out the layouts that speak to me and scrapping my own version of them. Lately I seem to be drawn to white and black backgrounds probably because I feel those are difficult for me. White pages can be hard to get a finished look because of all the white space. White space good. I try to fill it, this is bad. Hard for me to do. Black pages require doodling because very few things show up on black paper. I don't always like my handwriting and I tend to think faster than I write, so mess ups are inevitable. In the past, I have tried Creating Memories, Making Memories and then just doing my own things with whatever came to mind. This worked great for my baby book because I wanted that 70's/80's feel. Very retro. That really doesn't fit my everyday lifestyle I am trying to scrap now. Now I shop all the companies and pick out what fits me or something I was to try. Right now I am trying to figure out how I will feel most comfortable decorating chipboard. It takes me about one hour to finish a page. I used to spend two minutes with the layout and the rest with embellishments and add-ons. Now I spend a good twenty to thrity mintues moving the pieces around on the page and laying it out before I paste anything down. I work the rest of the time on journaling and doodling or very few small touches. I also tend to scrap one page layouts even when I have more than enough photos to go for six pages. I am also slowing down when I take photos. I am thinking about the page I will be scrapping later. Sometimes I even picture a layout or ad I have seen while I am taking the photo and then I can't wait to find time to scrap. But I continue to try new layouts and designs. I am going to venture into Digital Scrapbooking soon. Just a few issues with setting it up. We got a mac last year and I am still trying to figure out how to work it. I have Photoshop CS, but I am even having trouble with the tutorials. I would say I am pretty computer savy, but mac has given me a run for my money. I am looking into Photoshop Elements because I have heard it is easier to work with. Who knows? Challenges are good for me. I tend to challenge myself everyday in all aspects of my life. Probably one reason I married my husband - who is the complete and total opposite of me. But I digress. I am challenging myself to scrap two page layouts and I am carrying around a journal to write down anything that comes to mind. I actually pulled my car over yesterday while driving to write something down that came to mind. It was so good, I didn't want to forget it. It was the journaling for my son's page above. As my mother would say, your thoughts are in your butt. When you sit down you remember things. When you get up to go to the kitchen you foget why. I think it is the complete opposite when it comes to scrapbooking. I think best on my feet or when I can not possibly stop to journal or scrap. Murphy's Law strikes again. Or maybe it is just the ramblings of a crazy woman, again. Welcome to my world.