Looking at Every Single Layout - what i've learned

I learned at ton from my first project  (organizing my layouts and albums)!  As I removed every single layout from their album or pile and placed them in a new home I made some little observations about my scrapbooking and even took notes.  It was a good time to give myself little reminders and inspirations.  Here's what I wrote:

-- i should scraplift myself more

-- i love my layouts with sequins

-- the style of layout that appealed to me most were those with straight lines with a little twist thrown in

-- the layouts i put in the "do over" pile were mostly overdone with embellishments and didn't do the photo or story justice.

-- i used baseball card holders in my layouts way more than i remember

-- i scraplifted (and i'm talking copy and steal) Cathy Blackstone 4 times.

-- i need to scrapbook more baby photos of the boys

This was a great exercise to go through!  I do feel I will learn something from this!  If you feel like you may be in a creative slump, or are struggling every time you try to scrap, try looking at a bulk of your layouts with pencil in hand and take notes.

As a creative exercise, I decided to "do over" one of the layouts in my "do over" pile

The layout wasn't bad really.  Not at all.  There was just something that was bugging me about it.  Way too overdone.   Why not scrap it again anyway - I can keep one and give one away to my sil ...

Here's the "before" layout:

sure there's stuff to like about the layout, but it's just too busy for me ... 

And here's the "after layout" I made using my Jenni Bowlin Artisan Add-On (which SOLD OUT quick!):

Definitely Ranjini inspired, don't you think!  I used extra photos I had from the same day.  And I wanted to keep it simpler.  I love it.  See the sweet little round circles ... ?  That's the Grandma's Doily Punch from Fiskars/Jenni Bowlin.  Lovely versatile little tool!

Now, which layout do I keep and which goes to dear sil?!

thanks for stopping by!
Have a creative day!