I Need Help

[Charlene Reeves]

I love scrapbooking, but can't start. I have a mental block. Can I have some help in breaking down mental blocks.
Charlene

[Dan Goodwin]

Hi Charlene!

I'd ask first, do you have enough scrapbooking materials to make a start on something? Then, what is it most you like about scrapbooking? When in the past have you felt most happy doing it, and enjoyed yourself most? What were the key elements in place?

In starting any new project (in this First Steps group or otherwise) I'd suggest picking something small and bite size to begin with, and focus only on following your imagination and enjoyment and see where it leads. Forget about any end "product", just reconnect with what you enjoy about creating, in this case scrapbooking, and have fun...

Keep talking to us here and let is know how you're getting on.

Dan

[Charlene Reeves]

Dan.
I was having fun till I was critized for the way I appoached one piece. I do have all I need but breaking down that wall is something I can't do alone. Are you willing and able to help. I do have subjects I had started on, but halted after that one day.
Charlene

[Dan Goodwin]

Charlene, CCS is an environment where you can share what you create and not get criticised. I'd encourage you to experiment with your scrapbooking ideas again, get back to that sense of fun.

If you want to, you can share some of your work here with us, without that fear of criticism. I know you'll hear only encouragement and supportive words from us because we're all creative artists too...

[Charlene Reeves]

No it was a family member. I have a place in my heart that won't allow me to go there.

[Dan Goodwin]

Charlene, I'm not sure I fully understand when you say: "I have a place in my heart that won't allow me to go there." Go where? Do you mean start scrapbooking again?

[Camille]

Mmmm, so it is a personal issue that is blocking you? Someone criticized you, so you got frozen? Oh, I know that feeling well, Darlene!
There are two books that have helped me get passed a lot of that...
"The Artists Way" by Julia Cameron
and
"Life, Paint, and Passion" by Michelle Cassou

These books really allowed me to understand how to begin break blocks, CCS helped me to take action again!

[Barbara Ann Storrier]

This sounds like an outer critic to me. Only you can give them that power to stop you in your tracks, Charlene. It's an awful lot of power to give to a person. Who are they, anyway? And what does their opinion matter in the grand scheme of things? My advice would be to think about the consequences of letting one person control you like this. It hurts, yes, but it is not necessarily the truth. It could be jealousy of your talent that made them want to insult your work, or something else ... it's something all creative people have to deal with eventually. Everyone here has had great ideas on how to take steps back to your creativity, and we would love to see you try.

Hugs,
Barb

[Rita B. Fox]

I know how that is. My hubby is like that, now I say if I enjoyed making it, thta is what is important.

Keep that in mind what you feel about it,
After a while you can laugh about that when the same person critize again, you think hahaha, I enjoying my self, so what the .... you think about it,

Love and hugs, Rita

[Donelle]

Hello Charlene, and welcome to First Steps. It's terrific that you've joined us!

In addition to what Dan wrote, and may I say, I agree with him about starting off with something small and bite-sized, I have a couple of suggestions. They are kind of related to scrapbooking, in that they deal with elements you might consider, but mainly they are about having fun.

1)Pull out some magazines you may have lying around the house, preferably non-scrapbooking magazines. Say to yourself, I'm just looking at the colour combinations. (I learned this from my mother-in-law, who learned it at a scrap-booking class.) And just look at the way the magazines combine different colours together, and then maybe, when you're out and about, look at the different colours in your environment.

2)This is why I ask you NOT to use scrapbooking magazines: I'm asking you to cut them up. Just flick through the magazines, cutting out images as you go that appeal to you, without thinking about it too much. Then, grab some glue, and the biggest piece of paper you can find, (even a sheet of newspaper,) and arrange the pictures in a way that appeal to you. Then, paste them down. That's it. Look at the arrangement of pictures, they may tell you something about your mental block. But mainly, this is about creating something, even though it's like child's play, not adult play, in a non-threatening way.

It's about reminding yourself how much you enjoyed the process of being creative, or at least I hope you did. You see, you really need to "play" rather than worry about the end product. As an adult, you've probably forgotten this. I know this is true for me.

by the way, my son, 7, asked me what I'm writing about. When I explained, he said, "are you writing about how I'm creative?" Yes, in a way, I guess I am!

[Carol Clark]

Hi Charlene, and welcome to First Steps!

The first thing that came to my mind was writing down some of the images/pix or ideas you'd like to include. Just as they come to you. Find some magazine pix or other, as Donelle said, and get the ideas for how colors work.

Maybe find some photos in your storage boxes, and just creatively pile them, "to include", "not to include" - whichever ones excite you and give you more ideas. See what colors stand out in those photos, and have a ball at the craft store just picking out some of those background papers! I love doing that.

I started a "Christmas scrapbook" last year, with greeting cards and authors' sayings about the holidays, then found gorgeous holiday reds and greens and gold backgrounds. I just tried to let loose, to see what ideas/combinations came to me as I sorted through the beautiful cards and papers.

I think Donelle's suggestion was a good one: to look at it as playing might take some of the pressure off the end product.

Good luck...!
Carol

[Camille]

Charlene, three factors that have helped me in getting to first steps, is to approach it all with an attitude of fun and playfulness exploration and discovery just by acting!

Scrapbooking can be a very forgiving artform, as if you don't like something, you can cut it off or collage something over the areas you dislike.

However, sometimes working in an area that you enjoy, while letting the parts you dislike kind of just be for awhile...sometimes, magic happens, as your intuition is very able to work through the unwanted areas...and you may just come to love what you did in the areas you may have almost covered over.

To think too much about the outcome, to think about trying to make a "Perfect" scrapbook surely can be a huge block in starting. Trust your process, your intuition! Say yes to it, even if it doesn't make sense at first! It will eventually all pull itself together into a surprising completion! There is such power in trusting the process!

Listen to your inner critic...when you hear it telling you things like "that doesn't look good"...tell inner critic to be quiet, ignore it, and listen to what you really FEEL
like doing! It's about being in the FEELING than it is about being in the LOGIC of something, that can help you recognize where you want to go with your first step...then second...then third...

An art teacher of mine used to tell us that we needed to stop thinking so much and just DO it! Like the NIKE sneakers...just do it!



I wish I could give you more help with this block! You could try a few scrapbooking pages, separate from your scrapbook project, just to warm up to become familiar with materials, techniques, playfulness, exploration and discovery! etc...

It will be a thrill to see you come out and play with us, Charlene! Enjoy the process, dear girl!

On CCS, I have posted some of my "clunkers" and instead of getting negative comments, sugesstions, ideas were given, along with comments of CCS who truly liked what I hated...Beauty is in the eye of the beholder! You make, we view. Trust this CCS community! It is a safe place for First Steppers to complete their journey in! HOnest!

Sincerely, Camille

[Charlene Reeves]

I created a piece of scrapbooking paps. There were 2 people whose opinion I value very much who were very very critical rearranging and changing without explaination. It hurt me very deeply. This is the block that I don't know how to cross. Fear itself.