exploring creativity

I would not consider myself a truly creative person. Doesn't that strike you as an odd thing for a scrapbooker to say? :P

Growing up, I prided myself in being a rule-follower. I did my best to fit in and not get noticed during my elementary school years. In junior high school, I decided I liked English grammar more than English literature because there was always a right answer... none of this fuzzy, in-between stuff. In university, I studied science, the world of hard and fast rules, mathematical formulas and other things that required very little lateral thinking. Or so I thought. When I got to grad school, I realized there was a certain degree of creativity required in doing basic research, even in the world of physical and chemical truths... ACK!

Fast forward to today, and I can tell you exactly what kind of creativity I possess. I am a derivative thinker. My strength does not lie in coming up with new ideas... I would much rather just put a twist on what's already been done. At work, I can take several other people's ideas, analyze the pros and cons of each one and then come up with a mix of this and that to solve the problem at hand. In scrapbooking, I like to look at magazines and take little snippets from other people's projects and add bits and pieces of those things to my own projects. It's not raw creativity... it's not the kind that wins Nobel Prizes in Chemistry or the kind that'll land my creative works on the walls of an art gallery. But it's MY kind creativity, so I've learned to make the best of it.

.......

Enter this new, soon-to-be released eBook by the one and only Stacy Julian. Founder of Simple Scrapbooks magazine (RIP) and Big Picture Scrapbooking, she is one of the most inspiring people in the scrapbooking industry. Her "simple" philosophy changed my way of scrapbooking and allowed me to tell my stories in a guilt-free, rules-free way.

.......

 

I followed Stacy's instructions and made this... it is my creativity fun book, a spiral-bound sketch book that'll accompany me on the creative journey that Stacy's going to guide me on. And I'm so very happy that my seven-year old son, James, has agreed to play along with me. There are lots of fun exercises and activities for us to try... I can't wait! I'll be sure to come back and post bits and pieces from the pages of our book as we go.

I hope you'll take a peek at Stacy's book, available around midday on Wednesday in the Ella Store, and consider exploring your creative side too.

......

Edited to add: Stacy's eBook is up on the site now. Click here to get a peek inside this delightful title.

Comments

[katie squires]

I Love that your son is going to do this with you!!!! That is very cool :)

[JJ]

The process is exactly the same for me. I've never considered myself a creative person at all.

[noel culbertson]

creativity is a journey isn't it!

[Cheryl]

you sound alot like me, I like rules as well and find that I am a better scraplifter than raw creator!!

[Barbara]

I hear you on the creativity thing. I'm not very creative either. By the looks of it, I'm in good company.
I'm so envious of people who can just fly by the seat of their pants in scrapbooking.