11 Feb Using a Scrapbook as a Creative Outlet and a Source of Inspiration

Let me introduce you to the next guest blogger here on Baking Magique; Emma Dai of Paris by Friday. I recently found her beautiful blog and fell head over heals in love with her sketchbook and scrapbook posts. Just like Emma, I love everything that’s hand made, hand written and hand drawn. Sure, you can create some really cool stuff with the help of computers, being an architecture student you realize that computers can do things that we can’t. That being said, we can do stuff that computers can’t. There’s something so very interesting about the things you’ve made with pen, paper, scissor and glue, the only things you need to scrapbook. Emma kindly agreed to share some of her thoughts on using a scrapbook as a creative outlet and a visual dairy. So now, I’ll just give the word to Emma!

If I had a penny for every time I saw someone describe their blog as a “creative outlet”, I’d definitely be living in a pretty Parisian apartment by now. The phrase has been used so much it’s almost become a blogger cliché, along with rose gold everything (guilty as charged) and starting a YouTube channel. When it comes to discovering new ideas and sharing beautiful content, blogs are defining the frontiers. But as a girl who appreciates the art of handwritten letters and keeps track of her life via a planner rather than an app, I’d cringe for humanity if the term “creative outlet” become solely associated with digital platforms one day.

If by some chance any of you have stumbled upon my blog before, you’ll be familiar with the fact I like to put an art/design focus on my posts and occasionally – i.e. whenever I’m not scrambling to catch up on work – I enjoy sharing snippets from my sketchbooks. And although my heart lies with graphic design and has done so for some time now, I find it somewhat therapeutic to empty the contents of my imagination onto paper, into physical existence; so that I have tangible evidence of my thought processes. As much as I love pinning perfect pictures from all over the web onto virtual boards, nothing quite replaces collaging magazine spreads in a scrapbook. Similarly, there’s something about the little imperfections in handmade artwork that give them a really personal touch in comparison to pixel-perfect graphics or clean-cut, smooth illustrations.

Expression

Unsurprisingly, I was the kind of person who kept a diary when I was younger, but after many years of recording reams of my innermost thoughts and feelings, I needed a quicker way to document my memories. The answer? Scrapbooking, of course. Old ladies and young children alike love this pastime, and for good reason – it’s simple, it’s visual and I don’t think I’ve met a single person who doesn’t love flipping through finished pages full of interactive objects and moments caught in time. Why buy souvenirs from your adventures when the ones that serve as the best reminders come free with the experience? Old cinema tickets, a branded napkin from that restaurant you liked, a swatch of the lipstick you wore on that important date. That’s the beauty of a scrapbook: all these physical mementos connect you to your sensory memory, to the point where you don’t even need words.

Inspiration

Of course, the creative outlet is more than just the world according to you; it should be a curation of the things you love and aspire to be or do, things that spark motivation, innovation and action above anything. It sounds obvious but the most successful creative people are those that use what inspires them to better themselves and give themselves direction. I am by no means an expert but my sketchbooks have been a great help to me over the years; through them I’ve learnt more about my artistic skills, interests and how to apply them to make something I feel has purpose or meaning. Art usually involves a lot of self-analysis and critique – you’ll rarely hear a serious artist toot their own horn about their work. Instead, using different mediums to explore your thoughts can open your eyes to a hundred other possibilities and give you all the reason you need to be a productive human being.

I hope you enjoyed my insights and a big thank you to Thea for giving me this wonderful opportunity to share them with you. You can find me and keep up with my adventures over on my, dare I say it, creative outlet: Paris by Friday (or I’m @parisbyfriday on Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest, if you like things short and sweet). Until next time, have a wonderful week everyone!