I think my scrapping creativity is dying

This may sound weird, but I think the Project Life approach turned people off from scrapbooking. It was about buying reams of preprinted cards to slide into slots with your photos. To me, it was no different than the old photo albums we used in the 80's of sliding photos into sleeves, but now you added the pre-printed fillers. I think a lot of people left creative scrapbooking of making personalized pages with unique combinations of pattern papers, titles and embellishments and instead invested in Project Life. When they realized what PL really was (sliding photos and pre-printed fillers into slots) it left them feeling unsatisfied.

I would love to see a revitalization of scrapping from the pre PL era. But I don't know if that will ever happen given the explosion of digital media and the reality that our printed photos are no longer special,unique treasures that need to be preserved now that everyone has access to the digital images. At this point I think scrapbooking is pretty much only being done by those who love paper crafting as an art/craft.

I think it is probably quite normal to go through periods where one does not participate in their hobby as frequently as they may have at other times. It is called life. And that in itself can be documented especially within your PL. I am not a PLer myself, but I could see where right now, for whatever the reason you do not really feel like scrapping, make a page with the story that documents how you are feeling and that there may be a gap in your album until you once again feel like participating in the activity. If during this lull you do happen to take photos, I would try to get them printed relatively soon after you have taken them, slip them into pocket pages or a photo storage box and just quickly jot down the date, place, people, event facts, so that when your inspiration does return you will have these photos of this period in your life, and maybe your PL gap won't be as big as you think, and you may see that you were putting your creativity into other activities during this period and that is why were are feeling no scrappy mojo.

Do you have any scrapping buddies. I do struggle with the "loneliness" I feel in my hobby, because I have absolutely no one to share my love of scrapbooking with. I soldier on through those times, because I do LOVE this hobby so much, but I do wish I could find a small group or even just a one fellow scrapper that shared my passion that I could scrap with occasionally.

You will make the right decision for yourself.

I'm sure your health struggles have contributed to your feelings. Hugs. I am glad you finally have a diagnosis.

When I lose my mojo, what works for me is to dig out a favorite photo and scrap that. Or, I find a layout I love and just copy it.

Whatever you decide, hugs to you and a prayer for better days ahead!

I went through a period in my life where I was struggling with depression and that definitely killed my desire to be creative. I just took a break from scrapbooking. I still kept in touch with the paper crafting world though and I started making cards. It was a quick burst of creativity, vs sitting down for an hour or so with a layout. And the payoff was that I was able to send these cards to loved ones and that made me feel better.

Now, whenever I go into a creativity lull, I will watch You Tube videos of others doing layouts. I still enjoy the hobby, I just don't have the time or energy to do it myself. It's a nice substitute for me. And I sometimes will find that burst of creativity by watching a video. Also, organizing my stash is a favorite pastime of mine. I enjoy going through my things and just looking at them and re-arranging where they live. I'm weird like that.

Have you considered doing digital PL? You would have the end result but it would take less energy. And then use your creative energy to make an occasional layout? This is something I'm considering because like you I just struggle with PL but once it's done I love it. I might go digital next year and then have it put in a hard bound book. Just something to think about.

I concur with everyone about your health issues. Hormones can really screw up your mojo! I think realizing that it's your health issues that are screwing around with your desire to scrapbook will help you eventually get out of your scrappy funk. Tell yourself that you won't make any decisions about your future scrap plans until your body chemicals are all in sync.

I think when you're dealing with long-term stress and issues, it can definitely affect your creativity and energy for making. Sometimes you just need to buckle down and work through it (almost like your creativity needs a jump-start and reset) and sometimes you just have to wait until you feel up to it again.

I'm totally dying creatively right now! Hoping if I keep making an effort it will get all sorted out.

Ugh, me too. I'm sorry you're having issues with your health. It's bad enough to have that going on, but then not to feel like your good ol crafty self is just insult to injury. I think mine is just an overall lack of interest anymore, which is really really sad to me.

I think it helps me a lot to just put a day on the calendar and invite some friends over to MAKE something happen. Some days things fall easily into place and I get a few layouts done, other times I have to fight through one thing just to finish it up and sometimes I just move on to organizing some stuff. The end result is that I usually do get a few things accomplished, I get to spend some time with my friends (which does a LOT for my mental wellbeing!) and occasionally I get some of my junk sorted out and organized too, so it's all good in my book.

What I've noticed now that my studio is (mostly) done and I've hosted a couple scrap days, my friends are eager to know when the next one will be so we can ALL plan on it! I picked this house in large part because my space would be big enough to host friends, and planning on having them over gives me the kick in the pants to keep it somewhat picked up and ready without a lot of work.

I don't have any good solutions for you, but wanted you to know I'm sorry about your health issues. Having hormones out of whack does such terrible things to us. I'm sending you hugs and encouragement. When things are more stable I think your creativity will return. Sometimes a break is what we need. Hang in there!

What you've said about your health issues sounds like what I've gone through in the past with mine. Do you mind telling me are you taking anything to help with your adrenals? Also what are you taking for hypothyroid? I'm hypothyroid too, and take Armour Thyroid which is a natural thyroid pill rather than a synthetic thyroid pill. You can learn the difference here http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com  Natural thyroid works much better than the synthetic one. Once I had my numbers back to normal I still felt the exhaustion so I discussed this with my doctor and he diagnosed me with adrenal insufficiency. I began taking an adrenal supplement he prescribed about a year ago, and I was shocked at the difference it made. I now have all of my energy back again. If I run out I can feel the exhaustion coming back within 2-3 days.

I know how it feels when you are physically so tired that creativity just can't come. In all of this for the last 3 years I'm also going through menopause so my hormones are going crazy. I don't take any hormone therapy due to my migraines, but I can tell you that with just the addition of the adrenal supplements I feel 100% better. That and a very healthy diet.

Don't worry about scrapping at this point, and please don't make a decision to give it up. Wait until you feel yourself again, and then decide. If you aren't taking anything to support your adrenals and you'd like to know what this supplement is let me know. You can order it online. The doctor I see is an Integrative Medicine doctor. He combines traditional medicine with natural healing.

Debbie in MD.

I'm without health issues (at least that I'm aware of) & have found conflict, incomplete projects, undone chores, & other stressors affect my (already challenged) creativity. While our (3900+ heated sq ft) home doesn't look different to our guests, my summer decluttering project has organized (& in some instances, completely emptied) walk-in-closets/shelves/cabinets/drawers, lifted a burden, & made me feel more productive!

Until your mojo returns, my suggestion is to engage in the aspect of scrapping that you enjoy or feel like doing at the time; it doesn't have to be daily, more than a five minutes, or even the same task each session. For example, if you enjoy planning pages, look through your saved layouts or sketches & earmark ones you want to try soon, simply decide which story you plan to scrap next, or determine the placement of photos/journaling/embellishments for your next page - perhaps it will inspire you to scrap or, at least, make you one step closer to a completed page! 

{{{HUGS}}}, & hope you feel better soon...

There are some great ideas in this thread...I took scrapnnana's lead and put together some mini kits from my stash this morning to use in a smaller format journal-cross-scrapbook. I made myself a Midori cover to fit Moleskine notebooks and made my first mini-scrapbook layout inspired by a video from Amy Tangerine. It was nice to do something creative but in a very small, controlled format - and because it's in my new diary, it doesn't have to be 'public' so I could just play without wondering if the end result would be worthy.

TracieClaiborne - I love listening to podcasts while I scrap! I also listen on the way home from work to get me in the mood to do something later that evening.

My mojo has been gone a long, long time. I've done other creative things, but always held on to the scrappy stuff. Some of the timing coincided with the second child - just flat out lack of time! And then it seemed too hard...or too messy...or when I could do it, it was too late at night...Then it was just hard to get re-motivated. Then I'd think about it again, and the tough times in life really kicked in, and it was hard to find anything that I wanted to scrap because it seemed that a lot of life was being consumed by the bad stuff. (And although that IS a part of reality, I didn't really want to create wondrous pages memorializing it.) I always hung on to the supplies, since I more or less had the space and there was always a need for paper and glue for school projects.

The other thing that drained my enthusiasm was realizing that no one in my family cares except me. Pre-kids, I knew my husband didn't care (about "memories"), but I had this fantasy that my children would be enamored of my creations, even if it was just to look at photos of themselves, and would have the occasional adoring comment about how wonderful I was. (No, this wasn't a concrete fantasy, it's just that I realized that was what I was more or less envisioning.)

Recently I realized that I really do miss it. And while I know I've missed a lot of time (I've done nothing with it for around 7 years, which is almost exactly the age of kid #2...), I can start now. There are memories lost, but I can help stop that. And I love the creative process, so even if nothing ever happens to the pages, I'll be getting something out of it.

I did try the PL approach for a bit, but I agree, it just turned me off. Nothing against those people who love it or who it works for, it just wasn't me. I still have some of the cards, because they are still useful, but there's something about the pocket page approach that I don't love. It's great to get the memories there and that is important, but it wasn't the kind of creativity I need.