To Trend or Not to Trend

I am really not sure how I feel about following trends.  On the one hand, I love trying new things and hate to feel as if I have been left behind.  On the other hand, I really don't want to create pages that look just like every other page that I see on pinterest and in galleries.  Individualism is very important to me but so is stretching myself creatively.  So where is the balance between being true to your style and trying other scrappers style?  Is scraplifting something that you can do too much? 

Some of my favorite scrappers have styles that do not suite me at all but I really enjoy seeing their work and can normally pick their pages out as soon as I see them.  They try new things but I never get the feeling that they are chasing trends.  And their work never seems boring to me.  They change it up just enough to keep their pages from looking like they fell in a rut.

I find that if I sit and just create what is in my head and never look out of my shell, creating becomes less enjoyable for me.  For whatever reason, my layouts don't feel "right".  But if I give myself permission to venture into styles that are way to the left of what I would do on my own, it makes me more inventive on my own stuff.  Working this way really helps me to walk the creative line between copying and uniquely me.  How about you?  Any thoughts on the subject? 

I really love the trend of the huge, hand-cut titles but I don't necessarily want to hand-cut my titles this way.  Maybe a page here and there but I think that I will admire this one from afar and try to find ways to create titles that look like I cut them by hand.  I always title my pages.  Always.  But more often than not, the titles are created using the smallish thickers or from a journal card that has a message that I like.  This page has a really big title on it that almost looks hand-cut.  The font is actually a really, really cute one from the silhouette store.  I didn't even remember that I had it!  It was perfect for this page......

That is my dad flipping on the trampoline for the kids.  He is the best grandpa ever and really spends a lot of time talking to, playing with and loving on our children.  I love how they are all sitting down looking at him in awe.  And seriously, whose granddad does this?  This photo was taken in 1996 or so but my dad would still do flips for the kids today:)

By the way, this is a Kelly Goree scraplift...

I still have to journal and add a couple more tiny photos (I plan to do all of that in the film slots) but this layout is done and going on my wall for a bit before it gets put into an album. 

Happy humpday everyone and thanks so much for stopping by!