The Sprague Lab

I’m safely in Chicago, ready to hit CHA for the weekend! :) 

So I had this idea.

I thought it would be fun to list 10 ideas for digital techniques, random inspirations, and other miscellaneous stuff (still related, of course, to scrapbooking…). 10 things a day for 10 days. I just want to make a cool list of things to refer back to, perhaps when our well is feeling a little dry. :) 

But to make this idea even weirder (cue Twilight Zone music), I stumbled on an awesome book at Borders today, called Caffeine for the Creative Mind. The subtitle is “250 exercises to wake up your brain”. I bought it. :D I read many of the 250 challenges on the plane. And it fit PERFECTLY with the idea I had to create a list of ideas and challenges. It’s so cool when little things come together like that.

The book opens with this quote:

“Ideas are the real currency in our business. Without a good idea, all the technical proficiency in the world is just window dressing.” …

In its purest form, a “creative” is anyone who creates. Anything. If you make something, you are a creative. If nothing existed, and then you appeared, and then something existed, you created it… 

Idea generation [ed. note: yes, even in scrapbooking] is paramount to success…the question is, “Where do we find ideas?”

The answer is in yourself.”

 This fits so perfectly with this list of 100 things I wanted to create - providing a jumping-off place for generating ALL KINDS of ideas. Some of them will be about WHAT to scrap. Some of them will be about HOW. Some of them will be completely random and a little nonsensical, but that’s ok too. :).

BUT.

Post a Challenge, Technique, or Idea 

Here’s the 2nd part - I would love for this to be a collective effort. Scrapping is all about sharing - not only sharing our stories and our experiences, but also sharing ideas and inspiration, I think, and I’m hoping that if I go first we can create some cool ideas together. :) So post a challenge, technique, or idea in the comments. If you are reading this, here is a little pang of guilt for you for lurking and not posting. ;) hehe. So post! Let’s gather up a pile of great ideas and challenges! If you have a link to an example in your gallery, that is awesome as well! I hope you’ll participate in this list, and we’ll see how many ideas we can add to the original 100 we’ll have 10 days from now.

NOTE: I know this will cross the minds of at least a few people who read this… so I’ll come right out and say it. :) Nobody is trying to steal your ideas. I think that almost every good idea started because of another idea, and that most ideas are a synthesis of lots of good ideas. Get the idea? ;) Creativity is a well that you can dip from forever, not a loaf of bread that’s only eaten once. :)

Okay, I’ll start:

The First Ten Ideas 

1. Place a photo and a patterned paper side by side, about 1/4 inch apart on a sheet of cardstock. Round the corners where the photo and the paper touch. Like so:

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2. Create accent text by opening a digital patterned paper and typing, then print on photo paper and punch or cut. Like so:

Click for Larger

3. Create a layout that’s called, “I have this picture in my head…” The layout can have a photo or not. Up to you.

4. Scrap a layout that has 8 photos: 1 big, 3 medium, 4 small.

5. Go to your ribbon stash, pick three ribbons, and use them on your next project.

6. Try drawing and stroking a frame just to the inside of a block of photos. Create a new layer and draw a rectangle with your Rectangular Marquee tool. Then go to Edit > Stroke, choose about 10 pixels of white, and click OK. Like so:

7. Scrap a layout with some black and white and some color photos. Also like above…

8. Think about something you’ve been meaning to do (scrapwise). Go and do it. Be brave! You can!

9. Type on a photo. See #6.

10. Stand up, right where you are, close your eyes, spin around three times, and point your finger. Whatever you’re pointing at must be incorporated into a layout. This could be a layout about the thing (a book? the story behind your dish set? your computer?), or incorporating the design of the thing, etc.

As you read this, please add one challenge to the list in the comments. Let’s make a collaborative list!

And if you use one, come back and post it! We’d love to see what you make!

-J