Confession Time with Theresa

Alright.  Get ready.  *deep breath*

Some paper out there?  Yeah.  It, um, scares me.

And I've thought about it a lot, trying to understand why that is, and I've come to a rather startling conclusion.  The paper that is scary to me?  Yeah.  Well.  See... I'm pretty sure it's all in my head.  I think I'm doing it to myself.

Whoa, right?  And I think I'm not the only one out there.  In fact, we've been chatting about it on the Message Board, and everyone seems to have their own hang-up.  Florals... stripes... vintage... large graphics.  I guarantee you that you can show me a piece of paper - or even a line of paper - and I'll find someone who loves it AND someone who hates it. 

So I think it is inevitable.  At some point, Tammy will offer a kit with a piece of paper, or even multiple pieces of paper, that scare the gee-whiz out of you.  So, I'm here to offer solutions, or at the very least, some coping mechanisms.

Solution 1:  Chocolate
This is one of my favorites, and it seems to work for just about any problem, to be honest.  The great thing is that you don't even have to look at your scary paper to do this step (although I recommend that you have it out so you can give it the hairy eyeball and think while you enjoy your treat).

Solution 2:  Snoop
For every piece of paper or paper line out there... there is a group of brave women who conquered it.  Most of them probably actually loved working with it, too.  Remember, your nemesis is someone's all-time-favorite (crazy, I know).  So... Google it.  Type in the manufacturer, paper line, and even name of the paper itself.  Try to find the reveal blog post if you can.  And then (*ahem*) come back here and look at what we did for you in the Gallery.  Heck, every kit even has a recipe card so you can just read, cut, and assemble and not fret at all about that scary paper.

Solution 3:  Turn it over
Yeah, let that B-side help you out.  If the main side is giving you fits, nobody said you have to use it.  Turn it over and move on already!
 
Solution 4:  Wreck it... creatively
Crinkle it, ink it, paint on it, fold it, sew it, throw glitter on it, CHANGE IT UP.  This helps with those large graphics, too.  Cut a strip through a graphic, pleat it, distress it... no one knows you started with a bicycle or a bunch of flowers.  Here are a few examples... and I won't admit that I used paint and stuff because the paper scared me.  Because what if you really loved that paper and are now offended that I didn't?  *wink*  But I will say up front... these two layouts?  I ended up loving them.

"Summer Soul" using Fancy Pants Summer Soul

"The Wine Expert?" using Crate Paper On Trend

Solution 5:  Cut it into really small pieces
Now I'm really nervous to tell you about this one.  I do this quite a bit - both to regular print paper and to papers with large graphics or border/card prints.  Apparently I am frightened by many, many papers out there.  And I am a grown woman!  Paper should not scare me!  And I will not admit that when I am cutting up scary paper into little pieces... I'm sort of maniacally laughing.  Nope, not going to fess up about that!  LOL

"You Me & GPS" using Bella Blvd Kiss Me

"Happy Up North" using Crate Paper On Trend

Solution 6:  Isolate colors
I hesitated to call this a solution on its own, but I caught myself doing this with a kit earlier today.  I just couldn't deal with a particular paper, so I had been avoiding all the others with it.  (It was being mean!  And scary!)  So to start, I just pulled out all the green paper - turns out there were a few sheets of tone-on-tone patterns.  Then I started building a layout.  No, I never used that original scary paper, but I ended up dipping into some others I wasn't planning on.  Here's an example... with some clever cutting, I was able to isolate blues and browns from all the other colors.  Then it became easy to work with (and I see some pink snuck its way back in)!

"Team Sovacool" using Bella Blvd Kiss Me

Now, I won't claim to have invented any of these ideas.  I do claim to have used most - heck, let's just say ALL - of these.  But I'm sure these aren't the only solutions out there.  What have I missed?  Leave a comment below and help us in the fight against scary paper! 

- Theresa/Savi