I'm a hoarder, of MANY things - mostly paper scraps, cards, fabrics vintage and not-so-vingtage, books, coloured glass vases, old toys, candle holders, anything of paper, fabric, wood, brass. My second lets call it serious hobby was scrapbooking, a hoarder hobby par excellence, isn't it? It started fast and furious, and lasted maybe about eight months or so. That were very happy months, full of walking through papetries, day dreaming, night scrapbooking. I couldn't afford buying many fancy supplies and tons of papers, but I ended up with pretty darn amount of scrapbooking papers, most of them lost, outsourced or donated, because I made lots of wrong choices while working my way through all the options, styles, techniques in the scrapbooking world. (Side note: the first hobby has been and still is, though "on ice", drawing. But that's more artistic than handicraft, so lets not mention it for now.) The third hobby came after I had a child - sewing, enriched through painting-&-sewing, sewing in mixed technique. The fourth one - the actual one - is woodworking. Oh, there was teddy-bear-making somewhere inbetween. And lacemaking. And knitting (as far as for another side note).
But I still get excited each time I see interesting and eye-catching scrapbook works, but that doesn't happen often. Which doesn't mean I'm tempted to get back into that scrapbooking rabbit hole.
Over years I changed. I use much less patterned scrapbooking papers. Stamps - no. Embellishments - no. Fancy stickers - no. Lace ribbons, buttons, or other volume paraphernalia - no. I kept only punches and basic alphabet stamps. And ink pads. I appreciate working with papers, simple papers, that can be found everywhere, in grocery stores, on flea markets. There are for instance paper tissue packs, which are a but fussier to work with, but are great for layering technique. And much cheaper. Yes, I'm working in layers, which I keep pretty simple - paint layers. spray paint layers through old crocheted napkins, silk paper in ribbons, paper tissue, old book or old agenda pages, and some cuts made by hand with scissors. Which I make from gift wrap paper rolls I get for not much money either.
All in all pretty simple tricks, and pretty well known, if you dare, or just at some point can't help but step aside from the classical scrapbooking mainstream.
It might seem it takes more time making such a page. That's not, after you've tried it several times and know which colors you like and how they work together.
Yes, I've been thinking to get back to more "paperwork", not scrapbooking. And right now, where I'm often sawing, sanding, routing, drilling into timber, it sometimes feels good to simply grab some papers and glue, and paint, and just make something "simple", "not-that-loud" and "light". If you work almost everyday with wood as I've recently been doing, you'll know what I mean. There's something meditative, calming and soothing about working with paper.
So why have I been talking about scrapbooking? Simply to tell now that I'm happy that I've gone the way and did a lot of mediocre pages to learn, to learn to accept not to love them and continue the research, and that I took my time to found out my way. Now it takes me very little time to get started and finish a project. And not get creatively "lost". And be happy with it. As this one.
This is custom made, I've put it onto plywood and that's a part of upcoming project I've been working on in last two weeks. Yes, woodworking, but also teddy bears. Stay tuned!
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