“The writer Jonathan Lethem has said that when people call something “original,” nine out of ten times they just don’t know the references or the original sources involved. … All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.” Thus begins Austin Kleon’s book Steal Like An Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative.

Every month here at the Sweet Shoppe, we issue a scraplift challenge, the scrapbooker’s way of “stealing like an artist.” When you scraplift a layout, you use it as a visual template to copy, in whole or in part, as you create your own layout. In other words, you are “lifting” their page design.

Frequently scrapbookers who are new to scraplifting are uncomfortable with the idea of copying someone else’s work. But as Kleon wrote, “In the beginning … We learn by copying. … plagiarism is trying to pass someone else’s work off as your own. Copying is about reverse-engineering. It’s like a mechanic taking apart a car to see how it works.”

In other words: as long as you’re not taking credit for the page design as your own original work, you’re fine. Submitting a scraplifted layout to a magazine or website for publication or a contest as an original work would be plagiarism. Publishing or posting a scraplifted layout in an online gallery with proper credit is not. All you have to do is include a reference in the credits that looks something like this: “Inspired by LAYOUT NAME by SCRAPBOOKER found LINKHERE.” Easy!

Your Challenge

For these final two months of 2021, we’ll be scraplifting selected layouts from our six newest SugarBabes. This month, three of our veteran Babes chose layouts from Wendy (Neverland Scraps), Mary (Marnel), and Joanne (Jaye). We challenge you to select one of these layouts and “lift” it to create a new layout of your own. Then post it in our Passport to Sweet Stuff Challenges Gallery, and you’ve earned credit for square #18 on the November Passport to Family. Let’s take a look:

Option #1: Neverland Scraps

Sheri (SeattleSheri) selected this gorgeous, cluster-heavy layout by Wendy:

Here is the layout Sheri created inspired by Wendy’s:

Option #2: Marnel

Rebecca (MamaBee) chose this stunning layout by Mary that makes use of a giant title and lots of beautiful patterned paper:

And here’s Rebecca’s scraplift:

Option #3: Jaye

Finally, Carrie (Carrie1977) selected this layout by Jaye that’s a bit more on the clean-and-simple side, with plenty of whitespace and a few strong page elements:

This is Carrie’s take on Jaye’s layout:

Make it your own!

Note that even though Carrie’s layout is less clean-and-simple, with the addition of more mixed media, you can still tell the page design was lifted from Jaye’s original layout. Remember, as you play along with our scraplift challenges, we absolutely encourage you to make them your own. If your style is more minimalistic than the sample, strip it down. If your heart cries out for more clusters and layers, add them. Or if, like Carrie, you want more texture, bring on the digital paint.

“In the end,” writes Kleon, “merely imitating your heroes is not flattering them. Transforming their work into something of your own is how you flatter them. Adding something to the world that only you can add.” I can’t wait to see how you transform one of these layouts and add something new to the scrapbooking world!