Scrapbook Inspriation

I have been a scrapbooker for about 10 years now. I started when not many folks knew about it. You certainly couldn't go to Wal-Mart to buy adhesives or paper or albums. My only source for most of my supplies at that point in time was Creative Memories. In fact, I even became a consultant for about a year shortly after I started scrapbooking. I loved it. However, I was the only one in my group of family and friends who scrapbooked. I used to go to crops alone so I could work on my albums. I got quite a bit done but I was pretty lonely.

Since I started way back in 1998, I have completed well over 30 albums. Yes, I keep a list of all albums completed. Unfortunately, said list in on the hard drive of my dead computer so I can't access it currently, but at last count I think I had 33 or 35 albums done. That included all sizes from small brag books all the way to 12x12 albums.

Over time I have started loosing the zeal to scrapbook and create that I once had. Don't get me wrong. I still enjoy it, but just not as much.

I used to host a monthly gathering when we lived further south. I had about 10 regulars who came & we had a lot of fun together. We even gave ourselves a name & went to various "benefit" crops which were all the rage in the area a few years ago. The biggest one we attended was for a local elementary school's PTA. They used to rent the local armory building & we had well over 300 croppers attend. It was amazing!

Now I go to my sister's house each & every month - for the most part. Her & I and our great friend, Tammy, spend about 12 hours together scrapbooking. It's still fun, but I'm not getting the same enjoyment out of my layouts & creations as I once did. I now go for the friendship which is great! But I want to start enjoying the scrapbooking process again. I want to enjoy the creative aspect of it all.

So I spent some time on the computer today looking for some sites to do just that - get me inspired.

The first one I found was a scrapbooking blog called "Scrapbooking Layout Inspiration" - pretty appropriate wouldn't you say? I enjoyed reading her posts and I came across another site that really has me pumped up called The Scrap Witch. They post monthly challenges on there - everything from layouts to color schemes to quotes and more. I'm planning to do those and just post here & share with my IRL friends as well.

I'm also planning to use some "page maps" (i.e. sketches) from this website as well. I love sketches or page maps as they take the guess work out of it all for me. I just need to follow the steps to create an eye-catching layout - for the most part anyway!

So do you have any great inspiring websites or blogs that will help get my creative juices going again? Please share!