Narrowing down cardstock colours

I love to read about and see pictures of other people's scrap spaces, so I was interested to read Ali Edwards' blog entry about her scraproom.

But the thing that really intrigued me was when she said:

"I have pretty much narrowed down my cardstock selection to just a few colors - white, cream, kraft, black, and red - which has really simplified my process and helps me focus more on the story."

Well if you look at her gallery there's a bit of yellow and khaki/green - but yes the colours are pretty limited - no blue, purple, pink...

Could I do that? Restrict myself to a few colours?

I have done so in my clothing. I had my "colours done" and found out that I am a "winter" (though I can wear summer colours too, especially in the summer). Which meant I could forget about brown and green. I now base my winter wardrobe around navy, black, grey and purple with turquoise and blue accents, and some red or fuchsia, and my summer wardrobe is chiefly blue, aqua and turquoise. It makes it much easier to shop (except when one of the key colours is out of fashion, as navy has been for several years!) and to choose basic pieces such as jackets with which everything will go.

Could I do the same with scrapping supplies?

Not really - because photographs can be in any colours (unless you go so far as to choose your clothing in the colours of your cardstock!), and I choose paper and cardstock to match the photos usually. However, I do have my favourite colours and paper ranges (blue and turquoise feature here too...) I don't think I'm ready to limit my colour selection just yet. How about you?

Ali Edwards' forthcoming book

Oo-er - think I might have to buy this one when it comes out! I think I am becoming the world's biggest Ali fan. She really seems to speak to me!

Transitions and changes

Ali Edwards, in one of her Studio A columns (PDF file) for Creating Keepsakes magazine talks about documenting transitions in one’s life. Every one of Ali’s layouts set off a lightbulb in my head. I’ve never been a chronological scrapper and I don’t stick to albums of particular people either. Ali’s attitude exactly suits the way I want to document the essence of the moment, the feelings, the traditions, the way we are or were at a point in time.

I am at a point of transition now. It has been crystallised by Scrapdolly’s All Work and No Play challenge. I just can’t do the challenge – the prompts are too painful. My work situation is uncertain and I’m not sure what to do for the best. I am so unsure that I took on a career counsellor, and I couldn’t even begin to answer the first set of questions she sent me.

So scrapping and journalling other times of transition in my life are strangely comforting in helping me decide where to go from here.

Here are some titles:

Transitions
Changes
What a difference a year makes
From X to Y
My new XXX
A tapestry of changes
Transformation
Differences

And some quotations to inspire:

"It is not the years but the changes that make us grow." - Neal Maxwell
"All appears to change when we change." - Henri-Frédéric Amiel
"BE the change you want to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." - James A. Baldwin
"Only I can change my life. No one can do it for me." - Carol Burnett

Here are some journalling prompts to add to Ali’s great article.

What was the most significant transition in your life?
I changed when ...
What I wish most was different is ...
When I look back, I see I coped with change by ...
If I could go back in time for just one hour and change something it would be when...

Ali Edwards Archives

I'e just discovered via Ali Edwards' blog that she has an archive of wonderful articles - her Studio A articles from Creating Keepsakes magazine. I rarely get to see the magazine because it's American and I rarely go anywhere that I can buy British scrapbook mag (s) let alone American ones. So this is a really inspiring find.

The only thing is - I want to rush off and start scrapbooking and that isn't possible right now.