Saturday 6 June 2009

All I have to do now is finish....

We cropped today. Not a royal 'we'; I mean the small group that make up the scrapbookers that comprise 'Ludgershall Crop'. (Good Lord, how many words...there's a Rolf Harris song like that..about the ladies in the court of King Caractacus!). I will share what I did, just as soon as I've finished them - yeah yeah, I know, but I've evolved since I started going to a crop. I used to be completely unable to leave a LO even slightly unfinished..to the point where I'd compromise my original plan. Hmm, that not only sounds incredibly pompous, it sounds like every time I start a LO, I know what I'm going to do - ha! What I mean is that I can now wait till I get home to cut out another title or a different size, or if I've got stickers with me and feel chipboard is better, I can wait..now. So I did 4 LOs, one needs journalling and 3 need titles. And they're of fairly current events. That's what inspires me. When I first started scrapping (about 5 years ago, perhaps), I was frantically trying to make up for lost time and started on Miss Dunnit's short life. Soon got bored with that - chronological and all in the past..not for me. I've evolved as a scrapper in many ways and certainly in the subjects that I choose to record now. Oh I still intend to tell Miss Dunnit's life story, and I still take photos of birthdays and 'milestones', but more often than not, these photos are neglected in the computer files that Creative Memories refer to as the 21st Century shoe box. Too true, huh! Part of the reason for this is an innate stubborness; I kinda feel that you're 'expected' to scrap these moments and that makes me not bother. I've got some fab holiday photos, unscrapped....I'm like that with films - the more people tell me I 'must see' such and such, the less likely I am to bother. Titanic. Mama Mia. Just examples - I don't know why, but that's in my make up. Weird yeah. My photography isn't wonderful, but I am a prolific photographer. I once had an ambition to learn to play the mouth organ, and believed that I'd then carry it around with me all the time, to whip out and provide soundtrack at the drop of a hat. Obviously, that never happened...turned out I can't play the mouth organ without real effort and I can't read music and I certainly can't compose on the spot or play by ear. So I carry a digital camera with a whopping great memory card around with me instead. Makes more sense really..moments of busking fame would have been fleeting compared to the massive number of scrapbook albums that will be my life's work! I can record the here and now and moments of spontaneity, as well as the every day that we might forget, and they I think, have made some fun LOs. So now I've come to terms with my scrapbook psyche, I really enjoy the crops. A distinct camaraderie and bouncing inspiration and lots of show and tell - it's good for the soul. And the Slipper Lady brings her diary and makes us commit to more fun things - and that's when you realise that the crop is all about your social life. Why on earth didn't I photograph that?

In the cold light of day, 'What's On Your Worktable Wednesday' seems to appeal to a few of us, so let's do it. Anne said we could do with a logo thingy and I couldn't agree more. I've just spent two fruitless hours at Blogger Help trying to understand how to make and distribute a button. Haven't a clue. Anyone wanna help? Or shall we do this discreetly, and erm, button-less?!

5 comments:

Becky aka HyperHeavenly said...

Great layout. I love the puzzle pieces!

CoventryAnn said...

Can't be of any help with the blogger button thingy i'm afraid.... i do like the social side of cropping, but i'm one of those annoying people who likes to get things done, and rarely leave a crop without a completed LO (or 2!)

Anne said...

No idea how to make a button, but I will investigate!

I can't do chronological scrapping, either. I just go with whatever I fancy at the time, and I'm definately more inspired by recent photographs. I've stopped worrying about what I do and don't end up scrapping - I figure it's meant to be fun!

Anne said...

Tra la la... have a look on the right hand side of my blog - a little test just for you! Obv. we still need a proper image, but a button is possible - it links back to your blog. You like?!

Jo Power said...

I agree that I can now leave a layout to finish at home but rarely get round to finishing them. I hate having to think about what to scrap and tend to scrap the here and now because the memories are still fresh but have a real shoe box with real photo's waiting to be scrapped and they have been waiting for 4 years so another 4 wont matter. xx