How do you scrap the special photos?

I go to pintrest an find some amazing layout to try to copy! Or if I have some kits that match the color and theme, I break a new one open.

Shimelle has several Glitter Girl episodes that are very helpful.

jamh

I find inspiration via Pinterest or somewhere else, and scraplift a page design.  That way I don't put pressure on myself to come up with a 'super-amazing-wow-you-right-off-the-bat' page design that will do the photo justice- I find one I like and re-create the essence of it with my own papers and supplies. 

I may also do special extras on one of those pages that I wouldn't ordinarily do on most of my layouts-  something more time-consuming like painting, hand-stitching, fussy-cutting things to add embellishments instead of using pre-made stickers, things like that.  And I agree about making a copy-- if you do that, or think to yourself "it's a digital photo, I can always get another one printed" then you shouldn't have such a fear of 'ruining' it.  If you REALLY don't like what you've done, toss it in the garbage and start again!

Somewhere though, at the end of the day, you need to be satisfied with what you HAVE done, though, and let go of the pursuit of 'perfection' for your pages, even those extra-special ones. 

For example:  I scrapped the professionally-taken portrait of us that was taken at a luau in Hawaii.  The picture is gorgeous-- it's one of the best photos of the two of us that I have.  The extra-special layout I made for it started out with great intentions: I cut out stamped images of flowers, stamped on the background paper, added pearls to the flowers, etc.

I really liked the page idea in my head that I started with but now that I look at the finished page, I don't like it as much as I thought I would; I could have done better. But that's just me, being super-critical of my own work--  other people have looked at it and oohed and ahhed over it.  As much as I might think 'it's not exactly how I thought it would be' I'm leaving it alone and NOT re-doing it.  It's made and in the album, which is better than being in a box or living in my computer. I might scrap that photo AGAIN sometime, but I'm not getting rid of the page I did. (yet, lol)

I've started to feel less pressure to scrap special pictures perfectly. I want to take advantage of the little bit of time I have to scrap and I want completed layouts in my albums. I realized I have to do the same thing with those pictures that I do with all the others - find a sketch and look for inspiration. The only difference is I will use my favorite supplies without hesitation.