Rebecca's Creative Process

Rebecca

 

Yesterday I showed the kit and sketch I'm using to complete the final few pages of a mostly completed project. Today I'm going to show the process I usually go through when scrapping and working on a kit.

How I'm going to approach these pages really shows my usual scrapping process, too. For my own challenge I've picked my Mexico vacation from February-March 2012. I have most pages completed, thanks to a couple of months of Counterfeit Kits earlier this year, but a few pages are still waiting to be completed. Whether I got bored with the supplies or just moved on to something more recent, I don't remember. But here's my process for starting fresh and completing an older project:

1. Figure out what's missing: That's half the battle for me. Did I foget to tell a story? Was I waiting for a picture to be printed or printed in a different size? Did I just need to come up with something to fill the back of a page protector? Where are the holes in the page order?

For this project, I identified 4 8x10 pages to do, along with a row of 3 spots on a divided page protector and some journaling space that needs to be filled on a folder insert.
    2.  Now that I know what I need, how can I get it done? Once I have an idea of what I need to complete, I make of list of anything I need - prints (maybe reprints in a different size), supplies, missing ephemera - and get all those things together. I often go ahead and put those items in the page protector as temporary storage. That way if I happen to get distracted again (who, me?!), at least the pieces will be all in one place for me later. I'll include a sketch or picture of another page I'd like to scraplift at this point, too.

In this case, it looks like I had all the pieces together, just waiting in the page protector with a note to do some journaling. (Thanks, me, that's really helpful now that I'm trying to finish the project!)

     3.  Time to pick supplies! Do I want things coordinated (one kit) or individual page supplies? This is the fun part, but I have to resist the urge to start pulling tons of stuff. Otherwise it's an hour later, and I'm buried beneath an avalanche of supplies, and no decisions are made.

I try to stay pretty limited for a page kit. But, I also don't mind cheating and reaching for something from my stash as a project comes together, so a limited kit works fine for me. 
 

And then I get to work. Nothing really complicated, but it works for how I think. The closest thing to a hard-and-fast rule in my process is picking my pictures first. Each month when I look at our inspiration kit, I start thinking about what pictures I want to use for my projects that month. I have pretty limited time for scrapping projects, so I need to make the pages I want to do work for the pages I need to do for challenges that month. Don't get me wrong - I don't feel limited by the kit making process. Rather, I find it pretty inspiring to take an inspiration kit and twist the colors or theme to match my chosen topics. It helps me tackle groups of pictures and pages within the month, and it gives me a way to take a unique path with the inspiration kit.

Yesterday I showed the page kit and sketch to help me with my Fresh Start project. I've challenged people to tie-up loose ends in the past, and now I'd like to issue that challenge again this month. Think about the things you meant to do back in January or earlier this year and use the looming January 2013 as motivation to finish that project! Make yourself a page kit or use the inspiration sketch to get one of your own lingering 2012 projects completed. Post a link to your completed project here or on my own blog, so other people can be inspired, too!!

If you click over to my blog, today I will post my full vacation album (yesterday I just showed some of the final completed pages). I never really posted much of that work earlier in the year, and what I did post was out of order. By the time this post posts, I imagine most of us could use a look at some tropical weather :).

And that wraps up my two days of posting for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog. I'd like to take the opportunity to say Happy December to all! I look forward to the new year and the Fresh Starts it will provide for all of us!