Scrappy Question #2 {Can’t Scrap Without vs Never Use}

Jill

Jill

Sugar Cookie : GingerScraps Praise Team
What is/are your favourite scrapbook element/s, those that you use over and over?
And what are the items you rarely or never use?

Tell me YOUR story.

So many...of course flowers/foliage are right up there, I also love curling thread, string and ribbons, love spatters and paint swooshes, love brackets and lace...the list is ongoing. I keep a "kitchen drawer" folder where I file particular favourites separated from their kit of origin such as a favourite piece of ribbon, a particular piece of foliage, a stamp or a brush, page edges, stitches....

I rarely or never use quick pages, ready prepared clusters, ornate frames, word art.....
 
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I love working with almost everything, but I rarely use alphas, I think that I use more fonts than alphas.
For me quick pages are a great help when making albums, I can personalize them by adding a few more elements, journaling, dates, or quotes.
When I scrap my page word art is essential, I love it because it gives a personal touch to the page, and it can often be used as a title, and same story with prepared clusters can also work as titles.
 
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Flowers - I struggle doing anything without flowers. I love berry sprigs and tiny flowers to sprinkle in the clusters. I like script stamps and scatters. Not good with ornate frames. I love word strips.
 
THE most frequent thing that I keep are layouts I find in the gallery that inspire me. My personal folder has hundreds of them now.
So if I add "going right into my personal favorites" that's where and why.

When I'm stuck on an idea for a challenge, I go there and grab pieces, designs, etc. Must admit when I'm finished, it's not very close to the original but very important as the launching pad.

In kits, I look for people, critters, and unusual elements. Flowers with depth...highlighting, multiple tones are a plus.

I rarely use alphas or solid-colored papers. Many scrappers use them beautifully; I do download them thinking that someday I'll be glad I did.
 
I agree alphas are a bit of a pain to place, but I keep saving them anyway. I don't use many flowers, but am all about leaves and dried twiggy bits. Word art is my absolute fave I think. And of course I love a bold patterned paper and a page edger, too. Love ampersands, brackets, hearts, and clocks, too.
 
I rarely or never use quick pages, altho recently coz I'm stretched I've used a few and added bits too
I never use buttons, they are for keeping your trousers up, a flower is more impressive
I do use ready prepared clusters, especially if they are impressive
I rarely use alphas coz they seem to be different sizes that don't match, so I end up binning them and having to start again
I keep layouts I find in the gallery that inspire me, mine end up looking nothing like what gave me a hint of where to start
I have an imp on my shoulder that says I shouldn't look at other layouts, I should just do what I feel but sometimes there is no feel - (his name is MrP)
A bold patterned paper doesn't usually happen, I like plain so I can add all the pretties
 
@pepsibubbles Hey Pepsi...nothing at all wrong with acquiring inspiration from the work of other people, tell that imp to rack off :D What are your favourite elements? The ones that you choose over and over? Ones that you feel you cannot live without?
 
@Jill I love those new cracked holey looking papers, you know the ones that look like someones stuck a shadow under the hole or crack, emm wonder if that's how they make them? Now there's a thort! Textures, that's the word I'm looking for, I would love to be able to make them.
As for elements, I like using ribbons mulitple times standing up by each other so it's not just 1 looking sad on it's own. I like them edges Kristina does, they finish off a layout perfectly without looking like a frame or being over done. I also like the little people, not a huge amount tho, that just looks over done. I like single flowers sometimes with a stalk, what I don't like about flowers is if it's the same one in different colours, that's a waste of space on my puter.
Aye what her above said 'In kits, I look for people, critters, and unusual elements.' I also like them masks but I have a devil of a time getting them right.
Is that enuf?
 
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Whooops... forgot to answer the second part of the question. I never use elements that detract from my photos. I want my photos or the story to be the star of the page. These elements could be paper dolls, little water color paintings, or other detailed pieces that compete visually in my opinion. I also never use stock photography as the whole reason I scrapbook is to preserve my memories and tell my stories. I can respect those who do use stock photography as their reasons can be to not post photos of their loved ones on line, or they just want high-quality images as part of their creative outlet. It's just not for me.
 
@breoni Shana, thank you for the added answer. It has been a lot of fun learning about everyone's opinions. I don't think I have ever used a stock photo (didnt think to add that to my first post) but I DO have some fun in AI and have used the results of that play quite a few times in my LOs. The most recent one got a BB this week which I am very chuffed about, it was such fun to do.
@pepsibubbles Wow pepsi, thank you for the great response!! Mrs Stickybeak is totally satisfied:D
 
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This is a fun question!! I have lots of favorites....flowers, foliage, stitches, thread, lace, vellum, tulle, textural things like gesso or paint, tape, staples... Really for me it boils down to things that make my page look like a physical page. Because of that, I like things that look real OR that look hand drawn/sketched, and I often use a combination. Another fave of mine is white paper. When looking, I LOVE a beautiful bold pattern, and sometimes I will use those if they are stunning, but aside from those standouts, I usually start with a light solid and make it messy.

Least favorite things to use are thick frames (I like paper frames, just not "fat" frames I guess), quick pages, and premade clusters. I don't use basic patterns often either, like stripes, dots etc. Interesting because I used to use them all the time. I also very rarely use people elements unless it is a sketchy style because I feel like they look weird for me since I use so many people photos on my pages.

It's so fun to see how we are all different in what we love and gravitate toward!
 
I love flowers and foliage, and any artsy bits like paint, spatter, stamping or unusual or thematic elements (charms and the like).

I am really bad about, rarely layer paper, use alpha, frames or journal cards.

I am far too fussy to use quick pages as I always want to change things from what's given.
 
Fun question!
-I love word art, word bits, etc. I find those are some of the first things I look for when trying to decide a kit. If I can't find what I am looking for I will often create my own.
-I also like fasteners; brads, buttons, stapes, etc. Stitching is also something I use a lot.
-Also tabs, tags and arrows.
-Paper layering
-Scrapbook sketches are huge for me! They are the jumping off point for most of my pages.

Things I don't use as often as others are
-Pre-made templates (unless they are for a challenge), as I just feel like by the time I use a template and try to make it fit my photos that I change it so much that it is just as easy for me to use it more like a sketch and create my page from scratch.
-Flowers: I do like flowers and leaves, but I want my photos to be my focus and it is not my favorite when I see piles and piles of flowers and leaves that barely show the photos.
-Alphas: I do use them occasionally but find most of the time that it is easier to use one of many, many fonts I have collected.
-Stock photos: I never use these... I just don't see the point. I have literally 1000s of photos that I want to scrapbook so why would I use someone else's photos. (Even for a Design Team layout I am only using my own photos.)
 
Jill said:
@Kristi Martin I used to use sketches a lot before I became a template tragic, Kristi, woudnt it be great to have a monthly sketch challenge here at GS!!
Click to expand...
That would be great! I run a small scrapbook FB group and we used to do template challenges regularly. I love seeing what everyone comes up with. I know for some creating the shapes from the sketch is tricky but I use simply copy and paste the sketch image onto my layout canvas in Affinity and then using the shape tool draw out the shapes that I want to use. Then I move the template image out of the way and resize and move around the shapes to make them work for my photos. This is similar to what I do when I use a template but when doing the template challenges here I don't want to alter the template too much so find many of them don't work well for me.
This is one reason though that I love Gingerscraps so much as there are SO MANY challenges to choose from that if I don't want to do certain challenges for one reason or another I can always easily find 10+ that I want to do and then earn the free kit each month. Yay!!
 
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