Inspiration Elevator: Regrets

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow.  

Please join me in welcoming Katherine Sutton.  She is a very talented designer and we are excited to be working with her!  You can see more of her work on her blog, Fruits of my Scraps. 

This month, our challenger was the super talented Cathy Harper. Here is her challenge, in her words:  

"I have been thinking about my challenge for months now. This is such an amazing team, I am thrilled and humbled to be a part of IE...each of you are amazing designers. I often wonder what I am doing here amongst you. I scrapbook for the joy of it, the creativity part of it, the love of paper part of it....I hardly ever bare any of my feelings in any of my work! I often tell my kids that they can make up there own stories to their pages..I am that terrible about journaling. I guess it is a bit superficial or a whole lot superficial. So here is my challenge. I want you to create a page about REGRET. “No regrets”…they say we should live our lives without regrets… if it were only that easy, right? Most of us hold onto 1 or 2 (or a mountain full) of things we feel regretful for in our lifetimes. A lost love, those words you WISH you had said, the weight you wish you had lost….you know them, right? I encourage you to confront them….take those suckers on and scrap about them… or just one. This can be something superficial to something serious and painful… it’s up to you how far you want to dig. I DO encourage you to use this as an opportunity to really stretch yourself. Journaling is very powerful and you might be surprised by how you feel afterward. This is going to be super tough for me (I may already regret it, lol )...as I am one who lives with a mountain of regrets and know in my head that I should move on, let it go. I am hoping this challenge will help me actually "let go" of some of these things. Maybe by putting in down in 12x12 form, creating it, seeing it and feeling it, that I can put some of it to rest! It's worth a shot! Pictures, no pictures...that is all up to you!"


Last month I was inspired by the prompt "I Believe" to start an art journal, and I continued with that this month with the " I Regret".

Honestly, there isn't much I regret doing, or not doing in life.  I mean, there I some things I wish I didn't do, but all in all, those events helped make me who I am today and have helped shape my life.  BUT there is one thing I regret NOT doing....I never finished my Ph. D.  I was only a dissertation away...all my classes were done, I had credits galore, and was ready to go.  But we moved to Houston, and then life really changed when we had kids, and my life focus changed.  That being said, I am still pretty young and there may be a time in the future when I will get the urge and drive again to finally finish it and be called "Doctor"!

I started with the color orange because it reminded me of regret (I have no idea why) and I choose to put it with purple and pink.  The orange is mist that I painted on with some water added.  While browsing through my papers, I found this Hambly print with the butterflies, and I liked the idea of my regrets "floating" away!  The title I just cut out of black cardstock by hand.

I love have some shapes and textures below other layers, so I cut out these painted stars/flowers with my Cricut and layered them under papers, stamps, and some pen work.  Finally, I stamped with the "blah blah blah" stamp from Glitz.  I love that stamp!  :)

I hope you will stop by and see what the designers on this adventure have created:

Cathy Harper

Sue Sykes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Christa Uttley

Laura Whitaker

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Ann Jobes

Katherine Sutton, Guest Designer

We would love to see what you are inspired to create.   Add a comment below and we will be sure to drop by and say hello!