What prevents you from scrapping more?

[SeattleSheri]

What prevents you from scrapping more? Pick the choice that applies the most to you ... I recognize, that it's probably a combination of things for most people, but what is the most predominant reason?

[SeattleSheri]

It's definitely time for me! Working full time and parenting takes up a lot of my time, not to mention I'm a pretty active person.

[Libby Pritchett]

Absolutely time! Being self-employed and a sahm, I feel like every "free" moment I have needs to be spent working. I miss doing layouts!

[littlekiwi]

Time definitely - I study full time so am away from home from 6.30am til 5.30-6 each day plus im often doing assignments during the evening too

[abm234]

Hands down time! No doubt about it! This summer has been particularly hard.

[KristinCB]

Time is sort of the answer but I posted other, I'm sure if I browsed the internet less I could scrap more but since I design as well I find that once I'm done my kit for the week I don't really want to be doing scrapping?

[Darcy Baldwin]

SQUIRREL!

[jacinda]

Facebook and the internet. I'd have soooo many more hours to scrap if I didn't let myself get distracted so often.

[scrappurple]

Mojo. If it is lacking, I have a very hard time scrapping. Every once in awhile real life gets in the way too.

[Lyd]

For me, it's mostly time. But, the lack of time affects my desire for sure. When I have a hectic week, I find myself wishing I could scrap. But then, when I actually do have some time for it, I find that I just want to sit and stare at the wall cause I'm so exhausted. And, like Jacinda said, distractions are a big problem for me too.

[lingovise]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

SQUIRREL!

*snort ... i can so totally relate

[SeattleSheri]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

SQUIRREL!

lol, next time I post a poll, I'll include a rodent option

p.s. is there some hidden meaning to squirrel I'm not privy to?

[scrapweaver]

I voted 'other' . . the thing that stops me scrapping is stress. Now that I'm not working, I am still busy (doing mum and house stuff!!) but I am WAY less stressed and now I make the time to scrap because I want to . . mojo is finally returning!

[NeverendingJen]

lack of subject matter. I wish I could scrap more, but I run out of ways to document our lives outside of project life since its just the two of us

[littlekiwi]

Originally Posted by jacinda

Facebook and the internet. I'd have soooo many more hours to scrap if I didn't let myself get distracted so often.

I agree Jacinda!

[xboxmom]

Mines time and lack of Photos actually. I always forget to take my camera to events and i just don't take pictures unless we are going somewhere fun!

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by SeattleSheri

lol, next time I post a poll, I'll include a rodent option

p.s. is there some hidden meaning to squirrel I'm not privy to?

The whole perceived ADD thing...look- shiny..can't concentrate...SQUIRREL!

[marlathrall]

Mine is mostly time, but I also seem to loose mojo when I have a lot of other stuff going on in my life. I'm also a photographer and actually have two weddings that I'm slowly working on right now. The last thing I want to do after editing pictures all day is play on the computer. Oh and my eyes and hands start hurting too!

[LJSDesigns]

I am with Kim. Time and lack of photos. There is that pesky thing I call a job that sucks up at least 10 hours of my day. And the house work, and the kid, and the mom. When I do have time for me, there are too many things I enjoy doing, so finding the time to do them all is hard. And when I do remember to take photos, I am the worst photographer ever. It is on my list of things to learn.

[Jengerbread88]

Mine is actually kind of twofold-- products, and the "rules" I put on myself.

For example, when I just scrap pages however, I don't have too much of a problem, but a lot of times I want to set out to create a cohesive album. I'll grab a template set from the store (currently, Traci's Insta-Album for my Instagram Vacation Photos, and Nettio's Photobook Frenzy for all of my DSLR shots from the week, to make two different little vacation albums-- the coffee table album for myself, my parents, and my grandmother, and then a small silly Instagram album for my son's bookshelf).

Anyway, when I set out to do that album, I try to stick to one kit or one set of colors to make it look most cohesive-- I want, as you flip through the album, to see the common colors and themes throughout, rather than each page being it's own unit with it's own color scheme.

This is great, when I'm gung ho at the beginning... but as the week or album winds down, I'm going "UGH! I HATE THIS KIT!" (which I don't, but I'm just at that point where I feel like I've exhausted it's potential for that little moment). So a lot of times, I'll end up with a half-finished album and never get it printed, because of burn out.

The second part is product:

I'm facing that burnout. It's Friday, and I'm on the home stretch of my album, getting farther into my vacation albums than I EVER have before, and I'm SO proud of myself... and then Miss Lynnette releases her cute little Summer templates for that mini photobook. Well, yeah, sure, I can buy it and start in on that project NEXT week after I get back... but it's so new and cute and something different from the templates I've been staring at all week and it reeks of fresh potential and newness...

....and I want so badly to unwrap my new goodies that old layouts and albums sit unfinished.

So... I guess my problem, in the end, isn't actually finding time to scrap at all... it's finding time to finish the darn layouts and albums I start. :/

(holy novel, batman. Sorry.)



ETA: Oh, and P.S. this sounds like I might be complaining about the amazing products the designers release. I'm not. The products are great. It's just that when you work with ONLY one kit (or one theme, or one set of colors) for one week, and use nothing else at all, then you end up kind of getting kit burnout. The kit itself is great, and I can think of a million other ways I want to use the kits I'm working with, other than that last 2-3 layouts of my album.

I think the problem is that the designers release so MANY good things, that I am using one kit that I'm starting to reach burnout on, just as the designers release something and I go "ooooh shiny!" and get distracted by the new, and want to just toss the old for the time being. :sigh: Total first world problem, honestly.

[carrie1977]

I chose time because I do have a full-time job and two children and that leaves me only a little bit of scrap time. If only there were more hours in the day.

[Sherri Tierney]

I voted other. Time definitely plays a role in things so I can't rule that one out completely, but it isn't the whole picture.

I am going full time at work in the fall (work at a school, currently out for summer) rather than the part time hours I've worked the past two years. Even working part time, I've let things slip at home... projects, organizing, etc. Knowing that I will have even LESS time after August makes me a little nervous. I always manage to make time for things I really want to do but I don't always make time for the things that I should be doing. So, this summer I am working on finishing as many as those things as possible so that once school is back in session and I am full time then I won't be worrying every last minute about all the stuff that isn't done and instead I'll have more time to do what I really want to be doing.

We have lived here 4.5 years and have boxes still packed. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about... and painting a few rooms, and organizing my crazy huge craft supply mess, etc.

[MamaBee]

Oohh... good question... I selected time, but now I think on it... it's more than just time. As odd as it to say, I think it's guilt that stops me from scrapping more. When I was on a lot of CT teams, I was always on the computer... getting pages done for deadlines... that I was missing living in the present. Granted I take photos of everything... but it was like scrapping became a full time job and I felt like I was missing out on just "being" with J, one of the reasons I became a stay at home mom... so now I try to keep not to scrap when J is around... and when I do hybrid or create a Sticky Learning, I involve J in the process of helping me. On the other side of the coin - I have guilt that I'm sooo behind on all my scrapping projects and I only have 20 or so pages of 2012 scrapped... haha...

[Nixenkind]

It's only partly time for me- sure, days are busy, but I have a lot of time in the evening once my kids are in bed. The main problem for me is sheer exhaustion. Often, when I have time for scrapping, I'm just too tired to do it. So it's a mixture of time and tiredness for me.

[SmallMoments]

Time. And also the guilt of spending time on the computer over spending it with my family.

[Lindsay]

Originally Posted by Loriebug66

I am with Kim. Time and lack of photos. There is that pesky thing I call a job that sucks up at least 10 hours of my day. And the house work, and the kid, and the mom. When I do have time for me, there are too many things I enjoy doing, so finding the time to do them all is hard. And when I do remember to take photos, I am the worst photographer ever. It is on my list of things to learn.

I could probably say this word for word (except the mom part). We've also got only one computer, so like today I got it from 5:30-7:15 and now I have a 8-year-old pestering to get on. My time is confined to early morning and late evenings and somewhere in there I need to sleep lol!

[Gemma]

Time!!

The baby doesn't seem to get that I need him to have a long nap now and then so I can scrap

[Keely~B]

I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that struggles with not having photos to scrap. Between being busy, redundant days, and photo unfriendly surroundings/ lack of skill, I find myself always needing more pictures to scrap.

I agree with the time constraints, all those pesky things that need to get done get in the way. It's also a balance thing for me, I'm not very good at working everything I want to do into the time allotted. I'm not a very fast scrapper and I have other hobbies beside scrapping, I love to read and crochet, play with other arts and crafts etc.

[Jenn Barrette]

What Darcy was saying about getting distracted. I will go on the computer to scrap and then end up checking my e-mail, browsing Pinterest, a kid will come and interrupt me, etc.

[scrappurple]

"squirrel" was in a movie too ... what movie was it? Maybe showing a clip of it will help. Haha.

[Paula]

I got hired full time in the school district teaching second grade and then working on my sped credentials, I barely have time to eat and sleep.

[SeattleSheri]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

The whole perceived ADD thing...look- shiny..can't concentrate...SQUIRREL!

{slaps forehead} ... lol, got it.

[Jenn Barrette]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUXXzN26zg

[SeattleSheri]

I struggle with having the right photos too. I take a lot of photos, generally, but they aren't always photos I want to scrap about .... meaning I'm okay with having the photos tell their own story, without scrapping them.

[taracotta7]

It is usually time for me. Real life gets in the way...............which I am okay with. I need time with family and friends to make memories to scrap about. I also have too many interest that I have a hard time splitting my time between all my hobbies and then responsibilities. There is just not enough time in the day some days.

[SeattleSheri]

Originally Posted by Jenn Barrette

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUXXzN26zg

Ha, ha

[carriesmom]

Time for sure, with some mojo mixed in. sometimes I get overwhelmed by it all and can't get started.

[breakingbrie]

I'm the first to vote cost I actually do have quite a bit of time to scrap. I like to have shiny new kits to scrap with. I use most of of my kits 2-3 times, and some I love as many as 6 or so times. I know if I could buy as much as I want I would totally be scrapping much more. I have a ton of pics left to scrap, I feel like I'll never be caught up!! And my list of unused kits right mow is like 3 kits but 1 is the recent ssd freebie I will be using soon, one is a bigger collab freebie and one is a ssd kit bought for a specific lo I just haven't made yet

[jessica31876]

desire most of the time. I have plenty of pics and plenty of time. I just lack the mojo to do it a lot of times.

[origami]

Originally Posted by lingovise

*snort ... i can so totally relate

LOL!

[mrshobbes]

I always say that I wish I could get the equivalent of 8 hours' sleep with just one hour. I dream of all the pages I could finish with all that extra time. :/ I know it's also partly my fault--I have a tendency to focus entirely on work when projects come. I think I could do better with a little more advance planning.

[maryinaz]

Tiiiiiiiiiiiime. Full-time job, 4 kids (and they are even more work as they get older, just in different ways), and then I volunteer way too much and take on too many big projects. I keep hoping this next school year will slow down with 2 gone off to college. But then the next 2 are entering their high school years which means lots of activities.

[lovely1m]

Time. I work full-time and have my son and we stay really busy with activities, the gym, etc.

[nietis]

For me it's time. I now prefer to spend more time with my baby son

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by Paula

I got hired full time in the school district teaching second grade and then working on my sped credentials, I barely have time to eat and sleep.

Congrats on the new job, Paula!

I voted time. I don't scrap when the kids are around, though once in a while I can find enough daytime free time to make an exception for a last minute CT LO. Between being a very slow scrapper and not getting any scrap time until 9 pm or so, it usually takes me 2 days to finish a LO. If things have been busy or stressful, I'm wiped out by the time I get to scrap and can't focus. Then it's hard to scrap at all, and when I do I get distracted too easily. During those times it can take me 4-5 nights to finish a LO. But I'm still calling it a time thing, not a mojo thing, because if there were more hours in a day I'd be able to sleep or relax more and not be so tired and distractable.

[JulieB146]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

SQUIRREL!

This is it!

[sprauncey1]

Hey guys...sneaking a peek in here...

Honestly and its quite embarrassing
I spend so much time on photography. There said it. I always rolled my eyes (well figuratively) when people became photographers because they wanted better photos to scrap with and then spent all their time on the photos and forgot to scrap...but I am so there. Its hard because its a whole 'nother ball of complexities, personalities, and lets be honest a little competition in the momtographer world. Those of you who are also members of a photographer site for moms know what I'm talking about...its addicting. So much so that you just simply push off the scrapbooking part to perfect those photos whether they be portraits or lifestyle shots. Then your kids get fed up with your obsession and you turn to other people, because they tell you how great your photos look now on facebook and you figure "why shouldn't I try to make a go of this and at least pay for some of these costs" (I am simplifying it a ton and I do run a legal business with taxes and insurance etc). So then you take on clients and the game is brought up a whole 'nother level because now there is money involved and expectations and customer service and emails and such. And suddenly you find yourself busy with other people's photos you barely ever edit your own.

And so I sit here today. Scrapping my first page in months. After I again lost it in the rush. So really its not time, its not motivation per say but its somewhat distraction of the photography part and its over-seeking perfection. And I'm not sure how to cure that now that I'm in "so deep" into the thing. Sigh.

So feel free to roll your eyes and such, but I could also maybe use a if I do get a page done! I miss you all, I almost never check in because of .

I should though, maybe this summer as I take an official break from my business during the holiday. I've learned so much from my friends at SSD over the years!!

OH and you all REALLY need a like button. I kept looking for it throughout this thread and others!

[d2vasquez]

It is time for me - I want to scrap all the time but my job just keeps me from doing much these days. I feel sometimes overwhelmed that I will never scrap all my girls' moments because I never have the time I want.....

[solagratia]

I'm working on Project Life this year, but I got behind in March and haven't really kept up even with printing photos, so I guess I'm overwhelmed at the thought of going back and catching up. but I just got some new supplies and I used Traci's tutorial on putting QR codes on layouts, and I'm having a lot of fun with it now.

[jk703]

Originally Posted by SmallMoments

Time. And also the guilt of spending time on the computer over spending it with my family.

This is me....