Go Ahead, Give Yourself Permission to CHEAT

When I first started getting involved in digital scrapbooking communities in 2004, there were only a handful of digital designers that sold their designs.  There were resources and online classes in many places to learn how to design elements and papers.  I thought that I needed to create all of my own papers and embellishments in order for a layout to really be mine.  I thought it was cheating to use supplies created by someone else.  I did use items created by other people once in a while, to speed the process up, but the layouts that I wanted to truly be MINE, were mine from start to finish!  The above layout is one of those layouts and I still love it today!

Then, I evolved and realized that I didn’t LOVE making papers, nor did my papers turn out quite as well as some of the designs I could purchase.  So, I stopped making stuff for the most part and bought the gorgeous supplies I used on layouts from talented designers.  About this time was also when LOTS of people started designing, so my options on supplies got much larger as well.

Layout, as seen in Digital Scrapbooking Magazine, stitched arrow, ‘M’ and papers from The Shabby Shoppe; stitched doodle alpha unknown.

Every layout that I made from then on pretty much, used supplies created by other people.  A lot of my layouts created during that time  I still love…even today.

Then, layered templates came on the digital market, but silly me, I thought it was cheating to use a template, because the layout wasn’t really MINE if I used a template…it was cheating!  Then, something happened and I started using templates more.  The more I used them, the more I discovered that I can make a layout my own, even if I use a template as a starting point.  I realized that I could delete layers, flip the whole template, rotate part of it, and have a completely different look!  I started giving myself permission to use templates more often.   I still love my layouts created using templates, even years later!

Papers and sticker by Mindy Teresewa at Designer Digitals, button and ribbon by Angedawn (no longer available).

After our move this past summer, we left the scrapbooks I had made over the years in storage tubs, but we finally pulled them out this past week.  I don’t think we realized how much we had missed them (okay, I knew I had missed them, but the rest of the family…I’m not so sure)!  It was thrilling to see that my family loved the scrapbook pages I have created too (and missed them)!  They went through the albums and we talked about all of the memories on the different pages, they laughed and even sighed.  I am so glad that I evolved and gave myself permission to cheat, because in the end….it’s the memories that matter most!!

P.S. Corinne was the random winner from the Catscrap post yesterday!  She won $10 of product from Catscrap!  This is what she said: “Love the Innovative kit- great for my baby boy, and I also really like the About a Boy kit which I ‘m sure will be great for my little man as he gets older.”