What CAN’T you do?

Mixed media for me, too.

And sketches. It takes me longer to use a sketch than to come up with my own design, and I never like it as well if I use a sketch.

Until yesterday I would have said making nice clusters. I actually made a layout yesterday that has 3 cute little clusters!

In general I struggle with embellishments.

For me it’s getting things straight!  Ugh, it’s always been an issue for me, from drawing a straight line, to lining up mats, to even sitting straight when I’m getting my hair cut 

It’s also the reason I can’t freehand banners/fishtails/dovetails!

Cutting straight. I don't know if it is my eyeballs (they're not getting any younger!) or my cutters (I've tried 3!) but my cuts are always wonky. Sigh....Also knitting. I have so many friends that churn out beautiful knit items (knitting is cool I guess and scrapbooking is less so lol-I don't really think that, but then why do I have so many friends who knit...anyway...) I have tried, I have had people work slowly with me, I just can't seem to get the hang of it. I even have a "famous" knitter neighbor (her patterns are in books that sell to knitters ect...) and I went to one of her classes, nope. Not my cuppa tea.

I can't do clusters and I can't do mixed media. I try both, but am not pleased with the results.

Anything with a computer. Can't do digital beyond some very basic photo edits, and I refuse to get an electronic cutting machine. I'll stick with my Big Kick. I know my limits.

She really is!  I watch her spritzing this, dabbing that and for a while it will look like a big ugly blob but she ALWAYS pulls it out and presents a beautiful layout.  

I thought it was just me. I almost always have to trim my card panels after adhering them because there is a bit sticking out on one side and any squares/rectangles cut on the trimmer are always just a tad wonky.

Coloring. Copics would be a total waste of money for me.

I got myself a lovely, large set of colored pencils. I really enjoy using them, but my color combinations are always just a little off.

I love watercoloring stamped images, but using water-based markers is beyond me.

I’m terrible at making DIY backgrounds with distress inks. Every time I try it looks like I spilled the water I was using to clean my paint brushes.
I can’t use glitter without making a mess. This is why I love Stickles and glitter gels.

I can’t cut straight with scissors. I use my paper trimmer for everything I can - I can’t even manage to do the thing where you chop off the overhanging bits along the edge of the paper. (I used to have trouble with cutting squares and rectangles but that turned out to be a non-square Fiskars trimmer, not me).

I struggle with adding MOAR! I usually forget to embellish and I’m very timid with my embellishments.
I can do a little basic mixed media but again, struggle when it comes to adding the right amount of MOAR! (I watch Shimelle do all of this stuff and I can see what she means - sometimes adding just a little bit looks worse than adding all the things, but I struggle)
I never managed to make washi tape look good on a scrap page or PL card.
I have a hard time taking a beautiful paper and covering up most of it.

I can't measure or cut straight but don't let that stop me from cutting and gluing things down. It is actually the reason that I tear edges and have alot of tilted photos!

I might be able to do digi if I had the right programs and took the time to learn how to use them, but I think it is a lost cause. I have done a few pages using pretty basic templates, but have never picked up the skills that would produce the digi results I drool over, like blending photo edges and getting a sense of depth on a page.

I struggle with clusters. Mine always look contrived and they have either not enough or way too much stuff in them.

And ever since grade school, I have had terrible skills with COLOURING! I see all the lovely results you gals get with pens and crayons, and water colour pencils, and when I try it the results look worse than a kindergardener's. Blending colours? Never picked up the knack.

Purely digital pages/photo books. Well, it's not that I CAN'T do it, I just can't do it well! I think it's because I've been paper scrapping for 15+ years and I have definitely improved over that time. I got into hybrid scrapbooking about 5 years ago and have slowly worked bits and pieces of it into my pages. But when I try to do purely digital designs (such as to create a photobook) I am such a beginner and they just don't come out looking very good! It's definitely something I want to get better at, for sure.

"Messy" cursive. I love the "messy" handwriting that Ali Edwards uses and wish I could do pull it off, but even though I have decent handwriting and have worked on handlettering, I have to do the stylized "clean" look and can't pull off the "looks like you just scribbled it, but it actually looks super beautiful" look. If I try, it actually just looks like I scribbled.

Minimalistic spreads with clean lines & lots of white space. I LOVE these pages when I see other people do them, but if I try to recreate it just comes out looking... blah. And I get bored. And I can't figure out how to include as much of the story as I want to add. And I just want to use my embellishments. And ugh. But... the pages just look SO BEAUTIFUL in other people's albums.

Consistency. This kinda goes with the last one... but I love seeing other scrappers who have such a distinct style that flows across their entire album (typically project life). They always reach for the same supplies, cards in the same style, and when you see their pages you instantly know who created them. I just can't find this style for myself. Maybe it's because I have too short of an attention span or because I love so many different styles? But one page I will make hybrid with clean lines, the next will be colorful and include stitching and paint. I think to myself... man I love vellum and I use it a ton for like a week and then I forget it exists for months. I'm not sure I want to change this because I love creating such a variety of styles, but a part of me wishes that I had a more cohesive style that was "me."