I'm a rule follower, and that used to pertain to scrapbooking, too.  Here are some of the guidelines that I felt the scrapbooking police required of me:

*Every picture I took had to be scrapbooked.  

*My scrapbooks had to be in chronological order.

*Each page had to be a masterpiece.

*I could only scrapbook on one size layout.

*My scrapbooks had to be of a particular brand only.

*All the scrapbook pages in one album had to fit cohesively by a theme.

Wow!  No wonder a hobby that I once loved was becoming more like a chore.  Thankfully, my sister-in-law introduced me to an awesome book called The Big Picture by Stacy Julian.  In her book, the author states that the most important function of scrapbooking is to capture family memories and tells you how to go about it without all the stresses I mentioned above.  I wish I'd read this book fifteen years ago when I started scrapbooking.  Although this book has an older copyright (2005), I turn to it often when I get back into a rut or need inspiration. 

There are other great books on the theme of breaking the rules of scrapbooking.  Here are two:  Scrapbooking Life's Little Moments by Rebecca Sower and Cut Loose by Crystal Rieger. 

One of the best rules that I broke was feeling that all my scrapbook pages had to be 12x12.  Now I enjoy making other sizes, too.  The following 6x6 page of my son was quick, easy, and fun to make.

Materials Used:
Paper:  whisper white and green cardstock (SU), green and white polka dot (Creative Memories)
Embellishments:  rub-ons, chocolate chip satin ribbon (SU)
Tools:  scallop edge punch

Are you a rule follower?