Intimidated by the Whiteness

This week I encountered a big white poster that intimidated me a little bit.  Rather than see the possibility in it, my eyes started rolling around in my head wondering what to do.

It made me think that sometimes I feel that way when I sit down to make something. The canvas is just too blank.  Here's a quick way to jump start some creativity. Cover up part of the background with just one piece of a colored or patterned paper.  Why does this work?  Because it instantly shrinks the amount of space your staring at into two smaller spaces.

I like uneven things (it covers up the fact that it's not exact). In the case of these two cards I actually used paper scraps left from another project. I "eyeballed" the whole thing so that the piece I attached was  roughly two thirds of the whole background.  

After I attached the pretty paper the rest just fell into place. Really ...  these two cards came together faster than you can say "where is my scissors?" I'd estimate less than 15 minutes.  Are they award winners?? No, but if the contest was for speed they might be.


Speed isn't always important, but when you need a card right now OR your creativity isn't in a heightened state it's best to just get it over with. You don't always have to be perfect or agonize over all the details.

Here's a little secret that makes all the difference for speedy cards. I have two containers that I can pull out for moments like these.  In one box I keep the end of any given package of embellishments that I've already used on something.  The other container is a little tray that I toss all kind of things into. It contains mistakes and scraps and things I found on the floor that should probably be put away. I keep that tray right in front of me at all times. It's amazing how I don't have to clean it out as long as I peek in it first when I'm putting something together. It's sort of like my recycling bin ... even though it kind of looks like garbage when you first glance at it.


This same concept can be applied to a scrapbook page or layout.