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My scrapbooking is an organised a mess! I have a pile of things just laying on my table (leftover cardstock, papers, embellishments) that I will pick up and use on my projects. I work in a cluttered environment but it works for me. For many years, I stuck to a linear design while working in 12in x 12in format, but last year, I started scrapping landscape 8.5in x 11in and found that I was able to do more free and creative things.

Trial and error works for me when planning a page. Creating projects is a major stress relief for me! I will often develop a large stack of photos and then look through them to find one that is calling out to me, and work with those. When planning a page, I start by looking at the picture (or pictures that I plan to put together), then I look around my cardstock pile to find the best-fit background color. I then dig through my piles of embellishments and experiment to decide what I'm going to do.

Think outide the square when scrapping - Be creative! My sister and I have always been into crafts, be it origami, paper clay, crocheting, candle making, knitting, sewing - we did it all, and all of these crafts can spark fresh ideas for your scrapping. My engineering experience also gives me an analytical perspective too. All of that has helped me to be creative and not be stuck in a box trying to follow a particular style. In fact, it encourages me to be creative and think about how to do things differently from both an artistic and practical perspective.

Gain inspriation from others - but keep your own style! My husband thinks I'm crazy because I get about 10-12 magazines a month covering all sorts of subjects from scrapbooking and papercrafts, to engineering, running and fashion. Reading all of those and having my brain process ideas from each of them helps me form my own sense of style in my projects. Don't be afraid to experiment - be inspired by others but be true to your own style.

Fresh body, Fresh mind, Fresh layout. Whenever I get stuck on a project, I step away from it and work on something else. I look at some magazines and see if there is an element on a project that inspires me to do something different. I might also do some exercise to clear my head of 'clutter' and think up a new idea. I'll be honest, there are some projects that I step away from for one or two months and come back to complete them. Or, there might be a time when a project isn't completed at all - but that's ok too!