arts and crafts?!?  

I have been scrapbooking for over 3 years now, and when I look back at my first layouts I did, they are almost funny, they were simple, and not really much more than photos on colored background with some journaling. Don't worry so much about your 'abilities', I only use magazines and websites for new ideas, and then I might only see one element of a layout that I want to incorporate into my layout. Don't compare your layouts to others, everyone has their own way of scrapbooking. Some like using stamps and inks, some like using a lot of ribbons or embellishments, some like simpler layouts. When I started scrapbooking, I hadn't even looked at any books, websites, etc, about it, I just bought card stock, an album, and just started doing it. Now it's to the point where I'm doing them for other people, and will be going to my second scrapbook retreat weekend in October.