... I found this and it really made me think about 2008.
It was posted by Leslie (http://oranginadreams.wordpress.com/) who is Michelle's (www.scrapcouture.typepad.com) cool sister.
“There are two ways…
of spreading the light; to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it.” - Edith Wharton
I have always loved this quote. And today I realized that I’m the mirror.
And. That. Sucks.
But it’s true. I wish more than anything that I could be inspiring instead of inspired. I can’t come up with any good ideas on my own. I’m reflecting the light when I scrap lift other peoples ideas. I’m reflecting the light when I look at a magazine and decide I want to wear a certain item of clothing. I’m reflecting the light when all my decorating ideas come from magazines. I’m reflecting the light when I knit something exactly like it is in picture. Nowhere in my life am I the candle.
I’m having a bad day. I was trying to make Christmas cards, but I only made one. ONE! I couldn’t come up with any ideas. Well, I came up with some ideas, but they weren’t mine.
We decorated our tree last night, but we only had about 10 ornaments, so I made some today. And they’re pretty. Everything I make is pretty.
I remember a few years ago, I read an article on Christina Aguilera in Rolling Stone. It was all about how she was changing her image (this was before the whole Xtina thing). She was getting piercings and what not. She was at a meeting with someone to pick out the cover for her new cd. Someone says to her, “What about this picture. You look very pretty.” And she says, “I hate pretty. F*ck the pretty.” That’s how I feel. Does that make sense? I want to be edgy and artistic and funky, but somehow I warp it and it becomes sensible and pretty.
That’s me. Sensible. I’m the Gap when I want to be Urban Outfitters. Or Anthropologie. There isn’t any edge to me. Not my clothes, not my hair, not my furniture, not my bedding. Not my scrapbooks. I’m so unoriginal!
I bet you Edith Wharton never had to question if she was the mirror. But I guess we need mirrors in this world just as much as we need candles, right?
And so it has got me thinking. Am I just the mirror too? Have I gone through 2007 just being a mirror and reflecting all i've seen. I can honestly say that some of my scrapbooking has. Alot of my ideas have been altered slightly, changed to what I like but they maybe haven't been 100% orginal. I have not lifted for the whole of 2007 though, so I guess i've not whole-y been a mirror??? So this is my resolution for 2008, alittle before time but i'm ready to commit. To be myself, to inspire people to feel free to love their own style, their own ideas and for me to be me. For me not to be that mirror all the time.
And if Leslie is Gap, I most definately am something like primark.
2 comments:
Sometimes I forget that I am scrapping for my memories and not some embellishment contest. I am right there with you and going to just scrapbook my heart out they way I do it. Cause when I go, and my boys get those scrapbooks they aren't going to care how pretty my page looks, just the pictures and the words I left behind.
Awww. I was just feeling sorry for myself! But sometimes I feel like I am overloading myself with "inspiration" and I just lose myself in the process. A huge part of scrapbooking for me is the artistic part. I want to be like Rebecca Sower or Celine Navarro when I should just figure out what my style is.
And if scraplifting is part of that, then that should be ok! We can take a layout someone else has made and then make it our own.
Leslie
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