I have always loved memory keeping.

As a child and into my teens, I always kept a diary - recording various events, experiences and feelings. You remember those kinds of diaries?

Dear Diary, [such and such] was mean to me today...
Dear Diary, [this certain boy] told me he likes me today...
Dear Diary, Today was awesome. I got 0 mistakes on my spelling test today. Everyone rolled their eyes cos I had made no mistakes again like every week...

Laugh out Loud. I wonder where I've put them? Hmmm...

 I, later, received my first point-and-shoot camera from my Mum and Dad for a birthday and my love of photography and capturing memories flourished. I had quite a stack of photo albums.
Then, enter scrapbooking.
And I was hooked.
I created many (very amateur) layouts and enjoyed the process of working photos and paper and other goodies on a page to make another whole piece of art. And a memory recorded in a decorative, meaningful way.

I love to create. I enjoy many a craft. And I have created lots of things over the years. Whether it be knitting, crochet, paper-crafting, sewing, quilting, writing, drawing - I've dabbled in many crafty, creative areas. And one of my creative dreams was to one day maybe create for a particular brand or organisation/publication, to write, to be published...

Enter Jot Magazine.

 

Yes, I have mentioned this wonderful publication before but I am bringing it up again - with a good and exciting reason.

Becauase I am ultra passionate about Jot and everything about it - when the call for a creative team came up, I was KEEN.
Jot Magazine and their Mood Board Challenges were the reason I had gotten right back into scrapping more regularly again. The love was always there but I always put it off due to time constraints or the fact that my studio workspace was not much of a workspace. Well, I'm still working on the workspace bit but I AM scrapbooking and paper-crafting again. I am making time to create - because I love it and it's a part of me and what I like to do!

I must admit, I did slightly waver in applying, as doubt and a lack of confidence set in. Why would I be picked? Everyone I've seen is soooo much better at this than me!
But I sat down one night and created a random layout (refer HERE for the mentioned layout) and when I finished it, I was a tad shocked at myself that I had created it. I loved it.
And my thinking began to change.
So with renewed confidence, I wrote my application, attached some photos of current works, clicked send. Step one DONE in chasing my dreams.

Then the wait.

A few days later, the 21 finalists were announced...