This post was previously published on Emmo’s blog as part of her Vuoroin Vieraissa (Blog Takeover) series. There is a challenge connected to my guest post and there is still time to participate if you’d like!

When Emmo asked me to contribute to Vuoroin Vieraissa, my first thought was ‘Do I even have a scrapbooking style?’. Well, of course I do: all scrapbookers add a certain personal touch to their pages. And I know when a page ‘feels’ like ‘me’, but I had to think long and hard about what it is exactly that ‘makes’ my pages ‘me’…

I went to my albums to look for clues and as stated in the video: some of my go-to-elements were there from the very beginning. Scrapbooking is like fashion in a way: trends come and go, but the basic elements that define your style are likely to stay the same.

Here’s what I came to conclude about my personal style:

Basics: Photos (a lot of collages) and journaling (handwritten or typed), patterned paper, white or crème cardstock (sometimes kraft), machine stitching, (dimensional) letter stickers, (date) stamps, (spray) inks.

Design: My favourite lay-outs are leaning towards clean & simple scrapping. I’m what I would call a graphic scrapper at heart: clear lines and balance please my eyes and even if I don’t consciously think about design principles when I create, I’m aware that quite a few of them are always present.

Colours: I have a huge preference for bright colours and colour combinations. You will definitely not find a lot of pastel combo’s or murky, dark colours on my pages.

Patterns: I love patterns! I prefer patterns with a retro feel and I’m especially drawn to polka dots, stripes, chevrons and flowers. I’m not a fan of themed papers.

Embellishments: Ah, the accessories of the scrapbooking world! If you would have told me years ago that I would grow to love pearls and bling… I would have laughed! I guess the embellishment is one of those trend-based elements of scrapbooking. Buttons are an all-time favourite and I’ve been using quite a lot of washi tape and stickers recently. In general: I don’t use a lot of (store bought) embellishments and if I do, they are often of the generic kind.

Combo’s: I hugely prefer combining papers and embellishments from various product lines over scrapping with just one complete scrapbooking line.

Brands: I took inventory of the paper brands I used most in the last two months. Recent favourites: Basic Grey, Crate Paper, Echo Park and My Mind’s Eye.

And now over to my VV-experiment: am I still capable of scrapping in my good old travel album/A4-spreads-style? I don’t know… Let me know what you think!

I’m definitely not used to these proportions any more. Between the amount of photos I need to fit on one page and the journaling, there’s just not a lot of room left to play. I’m determined to keep this experiment going for a little while longer though: my goal is to release this project from it’s UFO-status (UnFinished Object) before the end of the year!

Kiitos Emmo for hosting Vuoroin Vieraissa and for inviting me to join in! It’s been interesting and fun!!!