Explore Week One

So here we go. I finally got my act together to photograph and finalise weeks ones prompt creativity for Shimelle's class 'Explore'. This class has been brilliant so far and each prompt is pretty workable by how much time you have in the day. By creating your own little playbook on Day 1 you have a portable little notebook for jotting down things about the day or sticking prompt related photos in. I have been using images a lot more in this class than journalling. But I am creatively challenging myself to not be such a perfectionist.

Perfectionism in my scrapbooking (and crafting generally) is something I struggle with regularly and I can often lose my mojo for weeks on end over a perfectionist paddy I have thrown (its not always pretty!! My poor old craft room looks so sad and dejected after I've thrown one!!). But this class so far is making me challenge my own notions of the creative journey. And I think I might be growing as a crafter as todays LO (last photo) is one I'm really not happy with. But I am going to proudly place it in my album and not beat myself up that it didnt go quite to plan.....

My 'Explore' playbook.

I kept this super simple with 6x4 chipboard cover and back covered in favourite paper scraps. I embellished with a few stickers and my trusty dictionary.

Prompt 1: A self portrait.

I wasn't at all happy with this picture till I started playing around with effects. I much preferred it in black and white/tinted.

Prompt Two: Postcard & Adventure

I journalled on the back of this Australian postcard about my definition of adventure.

Prompt 3: Scraps of maps

This prompt was about making circle embellishments and using maps. I went to the local charity shops and looked for old city guides and maps. I found an old road map really cheap and an old New York guide so I played with making embellishments and circles out of places that I love (New York, Isle of Wight- obviously, and Hawaii). I was trying to represent my lifes adventures through maps.

Prompt Four: Perfection

Rather than journal about perfection I simply stuck in one of my favourite spring time photos from this year. I took this is my Mum's garden of the apple tree. I also wrote out the 'perfection' quote from the prompt at the top of the page as a reminder to not get too caught up in my own issues with perfection.

And finally, Friday's creative project prompt was about using 9 circular embellishments on a main LO. I chose two pictures from my year in New York and I tore lots of pages from the old guide book I found. I created this page using bits and bobs and scraps that I found. I have actually changed it a bit since i photographed it to give a blue skyline behind the chipboard buildings to make them stand out a bit more. I think it ended up too busy. But like I said before, it is part of the process, so it is staying in my album all the same. I made all the circular embellishments out of buttons, maps, a subway map, my old dictionary, brads and photos. I created a mini collage of NY images.  My favourite element is the subway map title cut using my Cricut.

Thank you for reading this rather long winded post. I'll try not to blog a weeks worth of prompts at a time from now on......

Happy crafting ;0)