Thursday, March 20, 2008

What's Your Creative Process?

I always feel that my creative process is a little bit backwards from what most people probably do. My assumption (which may be completely wrong since I haven't taken a poll & I don't know too many scrappers IRL) is that most people start with a story to tell or pictures they want to showcase and build the page from there. I start with the paper and think about the photos I want to use or the story I want to tell at the end.

So how does that work for me exactly? When I buy new paper, the first thing I do when I get home is turn it into a page kit. I have a bunch of these Cropper Hopper Page Planners which I fill with the paper I just bought, coordinating cardstock, alphabets, buttons, ribbons and any other embellishments:


I keep all the completed page kits in this basket from the Container Store:

It's the perfect size for the Cropper Hopper Page Planners.

When I'm getting ready to scrap or pack for a crop, I just grab the Page Planners that I most want to use, gather any stamps, inks or other tools that I think I might need or want & I'm ready to go!

Once I'm ready to create, I just spread the kit out on my scrap desk and start playing. I do what feels good to me -- I don't worry about the finished product. I just keep adding elements or taking them away until I love what I have left. That's when I know I'm done. When I love it. And usually by the end I know exactly what pictures I want to use. Sometimes I know the story I want to tell, but I don't have any pictures. I don't let that bother me. I leave off the pictures altogether and just do my journaling.

Eventually I get sick of a particular kit & find myself always skipping past it when I am flipping through the kits in my basket. That's when I know it's time to dismantle the kit & use the page planner for something fresh. I sift the scraps, papers and embellishments back into my stash, where they wait until the perfect paper comes along.

How do you create?

3 comments:

Kim said...

I love your process and definitely think the page kits would help me stay more organized, however, I start with the pictures and the story and go from there. I have a very hard time building a page with no photos - my brain just does not seem to work like that!

Anonymous said...

I tend to be a online kit buyer rather than making my own kits... although I generally add stuff from my stash into the final project. I usually leave those kits together and "shop" my photo boxes for pics to use with them. Many times I pull several sets of possibilities and store them with the kits until I get to them. Once I use them and think I'm done with the kit pieces or most of it's used up, I'll take them apart and move everything left into my stash.

Occasionally I'll work the other way around... but I'm a paper addict, so I'm always looking for pics to go with what I've bought!

I love your system though... very neat and organized. Thanks for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

I have to start with a picture. At least, I think I do! I do put together kits (sometimes only in my head - sometimes physically in a paper saver similar to your system)and wait for the right pictures to come along. I am also a paper addict. I tend to sort them based on color and/or pattern although I do sometimes sort by the manufacturer.

Once I get the pics and papers together, I play around for a bit. I will let them sit together for a day or two and mull thngs over in my head. This may sound funny, but I often wake up with an idea or a solution to something I have been struggling with. "Sleeping on it" really helps my creative process!