I've wanted to start an "art journal" forever but it seemed like double effort since I tend to experiment with color combos and materials on most of my projects.
Some pages work out. Most fail the awesomeness test.
Michelle's Page Awesomeness Test
- Are the colors, patterns and item sizes vibe-ing with (or BETTER yet- against) each other?
- Does this page make me wanna do a karate chop while yelling "DAUM! That's HAWT!"
- Does this page do something different from the ones I've done before?
- Do I feel like I used up all my energy and ideas making this?
If the answers are yes- we are good to go.
If not, I redo the pages at a later time.
But, while educational, that way of working is getting incredibly inefficient.
A solution was needed.
Enter K & Co's Smash line.
I've actually had 2 of these books in my stash for over a year without ever opening them up!
Then I got the "Eco" Smash book as homework.
My assignment:
Fill 5 pages using only products available in the store.
The book was to be displayed to hopefully entice shoppers to get their own.
What I came up with:
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| Sorry for the crappy iTouch photos. These were meant to record the page as a sketch for my next project. |
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| All stamps, papers and embellishments are available at Paper Source. |
The book on display:
So how did this help my with my scrapbooking?
1. I made a page made in about 2 hours (a third my usual time).
2. The Smash pages helped define color combos, embellishment placement and photo sizes.
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| A Flair For Buttons Sunburst White/Color and Woodgrain Days of The Week pins. LOOOOOVE!!! |
3. It helped me define what I actually wanted to say.
I had 3 theme ideas and 6 photos all jumbled up in my mind. This is actually a huge sticking point for me in a lot of pages and I avoided it entirely this time.
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| Scrap FX Kraft journaling notes item #2012191k |
When I first got this in a kit a year ago I really hated the colors. Not anymore!
I also found some graph pattern vellum online. I did a little jig for joy when I saw the listing! You'll be seeing a lot of it in all my pages.
GRATUITOUS TODDLER SHOT!!!
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| Salome at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. |
How do you kick start your creativity?
MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle
I loved your idea of planning.
ReplyDeleteThe yield with respect to time must be better.
And the result is wonderful.
xx
What a great post! Although, I do have to say that all of your pages = awesomeness in my book! Love what you learned by smashing and its so cool that you have your book on display in the store! I usually kick start my creativity by watching scrap videos or playing with my supplies.
ReplyDeleteLove your smash book layout!
ReplyDeletegreatpost...good question...I'm feeling mojo-less right about now and if you could peek in my studio, you'd definitely know that there is a problem....starting Friday, I'm going in! I'm gonna organize by manuf and then I'm gonna commit to making 10 projects this weekend! Maybe SMASH a bit too!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to use your Smash journal as a warm-up for your LO or artwork. I'm liking your thinking!
ReplyDeletex
What a great way to "plan" your page! Hadn't really thought of using a smash book to do that...well sometimes I art journal but most times I seem to zone out and visualize/plan my pages (like while driving..yikes! or just before I falls asleep). Totally digging the zoo page, especially your buttons and that mini camera!
ReplyDelete