For the last several months I have completed at least 7 challenges, completed the entire MOC, and then some. And this month...I have one completed challenge. I have tried but nothing is coming to mind. I open the laptop in the evening and nothing hits me. I haven't even dragged it out for lunch for the last couple weeks. Where is my mojo!! I started working on our family history so that is taking some of my freetime, but even with all I have found I am not even creating heritage pages. My mind is blank.
Sometimes you just need a break. When I want to scrap but don't really "feel" like it, I just binge watch tv or do another hobby ..usually two days and then I'm back to scrapping.
Robyn, I'm right there with you!! I too completed MOC and at least 7 challenges the past couple months... and this one? I have completed exactly ONE challenge so far. I did do one other layout and a couple PL spreads... but I'm getting further and further behind with PL. My motivation is gone! I think mine is that I have too many projects going, so instead of deciding which one to work on, I'm avoiding them all. Your mojo may be gone for the moment... but with all of your family history work, you're going to have a pile of great material for when it returns!! Enjoy digging into your family history... it's all part of the scrapbooking process!
i finished MOC but have been slacking on the scrapping lately. for me: i think i'm not inspired by my photos/not taking a lot of photos. plus i'm just really busy right now. spring is always a crazy time of year for me and the kids so scrapping gets put on the back burner anyway. i do know that when i have a big project going on in the background (like your family history one that you are doing) i do get very distracted and have a hard time focusing on other pages. i would switch to something else like Kianai mentioned ... watch something, read something, or just hang out and chat here without scrapping. check out the gallery - leave some love - get inspired by others - read the TLP blog. and when it comes back - you will know!
This. Exactly. This happens to me, there's so many things I neeeeeed to be doing so I end up procrastinating and then nothing gets done then I get sad and so nothing gets done because I'm sad and then it's just a brutal cycle. Sometimes I can shake myself out of the writers/scrappers block by going through really old photos and finding something.. or finding a quote that the kids say, or something that just makes me really happy and then I open up lightroom, fiddle with it, then find a kit and throw down a paper and the photo and then I have a staring contest with it. (I'm usually the first one to blink, I reallllly need to train harder... >.>) But seriously, I stare at it. Then I go clean something because I'm frustrated. Then I do laundry because I'm "still thinking"... and then Ooooh, I should start dinner early!! And I come back after I've done EVERY OTHER THING I CAN and now I have no excuse except to stare at that photo and paper. Then I remember I can look at the gallery.. and so I do and leave love, and then a kit catches my eye from the layout and I spent eleventy more hours looking through the store "just in case" I missed something else, and then, oh, did I clip my nails? Then you know, it's bed time. So I smirk triumphantly at the undone page, throw my computer into sleep mode and hit the bed. Once I'm completely comfortable and almost asleep, I realize that in procrastinating on my page, I got all these things done, and the sadness goes away... then suddenly I have an idea of what I could do with the page... -.- You know. When I'm supposed to be sleeping so I can't get out of bed and do it until the morning. Figures. Have a staring contest. Go look elsewhere you wouldn't think of for inspiration. Look through magazines, look at the articles, or the way stores have displays.. your mojo is there, it's just hidden. (if it's like mine, probably under piles and piles of laundry or something.. I don't know, it's mischevious!) Whatever you do, DON'T make it something you HAVE to do. Then it's a job and there's a part of your mojo that resents that fact and then it's like a stubborn four year old that is NOT going to put their clothes back on no matter how much you beg or yell. (please tell me I'm not alone and someone else had this problem with their kid... >.>) Otherwise, hang out here and chat and one day your mojo will come back bounding into your arms and licking your face to apologize for leaving you alone! ^.^
Dont' force it, don't worry about it. Take some time to do other things. Enjoy a good book, catch up on a TV series, go for a walk, take some photos. I bet once you stop worrying about it, the interest will return. Enjoy looking thru galleries and pinterest. Look up some new techniques, design tips, etc. Don't stress...just enjoy a bit of a break and come back with a renewed vigor for scrapping.
It happens to all of us! I think because we inherently want to stay "caught up" but creativity does not bend its will to a schedule. It's difficult, week after week, to create new templates AND new layouts. I admit that I have to focus on my templates first, and then there's not time for me to make layouts. In addition to that, my back pain betrays me or I'm like @Serena where I'm distracted by the things I need to do on my other job - my homemaking job. I think I snap out of this mode the best when I'm just downright kind to myself. Instead of thinking about how behind I am or how long it's been since I posted a layout, I think, gee, I get to go have some fun. With that mindset, I'm golden. Now. Having said that. It's doggone difficult to be kind to myself. Usually, I'm giving myself a dressing down for not completing a chore or getting behind on some other task relating to a medical bill or visiting/talking with family. And one other thing - having a dedicated time to scrap. That helps me as well. It doesn't have to be the same time or the same day, just knowing that at least once every week or couple of days that you get create, that it's your uninterrupted time, that's good, too. Sending ((HUGS)) and lots of creativity your way! Knowing you're not alone will likely help you a lot in this situation too!
Lol. We have a friend whose son loves to be naked at the park. No matter how much she tries to cajole him into his clothes.
I tell myself I can't scrap until, and put a time limit. Like tomorrow. I can't scrap until tomorrow. Suddenly, I'm full of ideas and thoughts so I jot it down and then when I do go to the computer I'm ready.
I like to watch Youtube videos of other people scrapping. Like *ahem* @gonewiththewind *ahem*. I also like to watch paper scrappers like Glitter Girl. Watching others scrap makes me want to scrap, too.
I've fallen off the scrap wagon too. After MOC I promised myself an hour everyday to do scrap-related something. That has turned into, scrap once a month, maybe, and feel grumpy the rest of the time about the lack of scrapping. For me it is a combo of just not having the drive to scrap, and not getting that hour that I promised myself. I should start having Cheryl (and other scrappy videos) in the background while I do whatever else needs to be done. I do love them, and they might help bring back my mojo.
Lots of good advise here. I have found that mojos seem to come and go in waves. When it happens to me I just ride the wave and wait for it to pass. I like to go to galleries I haven't been to before and see what they are doing. Another thing I have found that helps is go back through my own layouts and see the work I have done over the years.
