Perfectionism and Me

I struggle against perfectionism tendencies all the time. Lines must be straight and clean. Everything must be symmetrical and balanced. Everything must be 'perfect'.

Yes, in my intellectual mind, I know that there can be balance and beauty in asymmetry too, but I really have to work hard at it. It makes my brain hurt and my hair turn grey.

A friend of mine, who knows about this struggle, challenged me to make an ATC with TORN PAPER only!! I was not allowed to use scissors at all.

Not only that, I had to incorporate both words and flowers on it. Oh my gosh, I was getting edgy just thinking about it. I wasn't sure that I could do it.

But, I decided to give it a try. I used paper from an old magazine that was lying around. I selected the background, ripped the paper, and applied it to a pre-cut ATC chipboard base. Here is the front and back of the ATC.

 

Then, I thought that the background could use a bit of colour. I tore a narrow strip with bright autumn colours and pasted it diagonally near the bottom.

Next, came the vase of flowers and the two words torn from pages of the same magazine.

And I survived the experience! How amazing is that? The world did not fall apart because I ripped paper, instead of cutting it. I'm not sure that I 'like' the end result but I did take the challenge and succeed at it.

I cannot tell you how tempting it was to use a paper trimmer or rotary cutter during this process. After all, they are not 'scissors', right? That did not seem to be in the spirit of the original challenge, however, so I did not use them. *smile*