Summer goodness.

Yes, people, I actually BAKED! This is something that I do enjoy - on my own timetable. In fact, I'm learning a lot about my own timetable these days...

At ScrapinstyleTV (my fave scrapbooking site) there was a huge weekend of online challenges to compensate for those of us that had to stay home and weren't able to attend one of the biggest scrapbooking events of the year - the Craft and Hobby Association (CHA) show. It was called a cyber "crop". Now, in scrapping terms, a "crop" (probably derived from the fact that you often "crop" your photos prior to scrapping them) is a gathering of scrapbookers for the purpose of making scrapbook pages. Often, the idea is to make LOTS of them in a short amount of time. Personally, I've never really been interested in this because, a) I want, no need, to have ALL my supplies (all fiftygazillion of them) in front of me when I scrap and, b) I am a slow scrapper. I have no desire to "speed scrap".

Okay. SO. There must have been a dozen or so challenges at SIS this weekend - all with prizes for the "winner" of the challenge. A challenge is when someone challenges, dares, etc. you to do a scrapbook page or project within certain parameters, i.e. there was a "1, 2, 3, 4" challenge where you were to make a page - in this case "1" page, using 2 photos, 3 patterned papers and 4 embellishments (hence, the 1, 2, 3 and 4). And the subject was to be "great friends".

Now, I really enjoy a challenge. I like that some of what you are to do has been decided already for you. BUT - all of these challenges had to be completed by the end of the day (that is, whichever challenge you decided to participate in, your work had to be in by midnight Saturday). THEREIN is where it really became a challenge for me. As it turns out, many of the deadlines were extended and there's even two challenges that won't be decided until about an hour from now. But I didn't know that when I started on Saturday a.m.

So I did seven of the challenges. For two of them, I was albe to use one layout for two different challenges.

Please forgive me for the uber-long explanation, but having said that and having done these challenges, here are some things I've learned about myself:

1. I am a slowwww scrapper. Well, I already knew that. But the point has really been driven home to me this weekend. I like to think about a project for a long time in my head before I ever sit down at my desk. Roll it around in my brain like you would a fine chocolate in your mouth until it melts. And the thinking part, as long as that takes, is just half of the lengthiness...

2. I am a meticulous scrapper. As much as I love the fresh and funky, thrown together style that's so popular right now, I am just anal about lining things up and balancing stuff and having everything JUST SO. For me to depart from that - which is what I've been trying to do of late - takes me even longer! It's like trying to learn how to play a song on the guitar when you've never heard it before. Yeah. Hard. In my defense, I am a very organized person and so, not surprisingly, I scrap that way, too.

3. I really enjoyed the process and was happy to just scrap all weekend (said weekend would be excluding yesterday, but including Saturday and today...) and I'm a better person for it. I don't need to win. It's not about winning - it's about stretching yourself and having fun and getting some great scrapping done.

4. That's a lie. I want to win. I want praise and admiration from other scrappers, I want recognition for my amazing skills and I want prizes.

5. But that is NOT going to happen. Because I scrap just like ME and not like what is really popular and it's okay, sometimes really nice, but NOT amazing!

6. And I'm really, truly, okay with that. Because I LOVE TO SCRAP and it really isn't about what other people think. It really is about self-expression and preserving memories and doing what makes ME happy, ultimately.

So, yeah, it would be awesome to win, but I know I won't. But what I really love about this website is that whenEVER I upload a layout that I've done, someone will make a nice comment about it. And I do lots of the same for other scrappers. Because we like to encourage each other and it's just an encouraging, supportive website.

So, this weekend was fun. It WAS challenging! And I DID learn a lot about myself. Will I ever do another challenge? ABSOLUTELY! I love the push myself to think differently than I might have otherwise. I love having someone ELSE think of an idea! But, I will only do challenges when I have time and I can roll it around in my brain...

like you would a fine chocolate in your mouth until it melts.....