Kristen Elise: February 2016

Challenge: Scrapbook with Hearts

08:46

An Evening at the Seaside

16:27

I have a very pink and turquoise page to share today! I love this colour combination and I find that using my favorite colours really stimulates my creativity. I had a fun story to share about these two very dark photos, and I can't tell you how many times I'd taken these photos out to scrap them, and then put them back away in frustration. The only colours that really stand out in the pictures are brown, grey, and a little pop of orange-yellow. So, every time I pulled the photos out, I looked through my stash for brown, orange and grey papers, however, the colours seemed so 'blah' to me, and I couldn't get excited about creating the page. This is why I tend to only scrapbook with the supplies that I love and that make me happy when I look at them, instead of worrying about matching the papers to the photos. I definitely tend to be more happy with the end result of my pages when I use the supplies that I am excited about.

Today I was inspired by a page created by Shimelle Laine and was posted in a recent blog post at shimelle.com to finally get these photos onto a page and get this story into my album.
http://www.shimelle.com/paper/2117/scrapbooking-with-a-woodgrain-embossing-folder/
I was drawn to all of the layering and that she used a floral pattern for the background.

I began with a turqoise polka dot paper from The Sweetest Thing Recollections paper pad and used it to frame a distressed cream, pink, and aqua floral paper from the Be-YOU-tiful collection by Kaisercraft. Next I cut a 4 inch strip of yellow paper with a blue print, and a branding strip from a Crate Paper Craft Market paper, and ran them horazontally along the bottom third of the page. Where the photos overlapped the branding strip, I cut a bit of it away so that I could stick it at the top of the page. I layered my two portrait photos in the bottom right corner of the page. One of the photos had another person's arm and leg sitting awkwardly in the frame, which made me decide to overlap it with the picture of the boat, and then add a label and my title lettering overtop of the picture. This helped to minimize some of the distracting parts of the image. The pink glitter thickers are Heidi Swapp, and the tile alphas are from the Maggie Holmes Confetti sticker sheet (I love those!).

I gathered some 3x4 cards and other small pieces from cut apart sheets to tuck in behind the photographs and create some layers. I used a few pieces from the Crate Paper Notes and Things 6x6 cut apart sheet, and the coordinating Project Life value kit. I added in a few bits and pieces from various sticker sheets, including the Simple Stories I AM collection, Maggie Holmes Confetti, and Jen Hadfield Homemade. To finish everything off, I added 6 pink gems.

In other news, I finally found a date stamp that goes back to 2011...and even further! It is by Recollections and I spotted it at my local Michaels. Previously I didn't have one...oh scrapbooker problems!

2 photos

Layout Share: A Sunny Day at Cala Azzura

11:57

I've really been loving incorporating project life cards into my 12x12 pages lately. I have a few Becky Higgins Project Life Value Packs and there are a few reasons why I just love the designs and how they work on my pages. 1. The rounded corners add a softness to the otherwise hard square edges on the page. 2. They are so easy to work with and to tuck in among my layers. 3. They can help build the page by contunuing lines and directing the eye across the page. 4. They can help to incorprate the journalling into the page as a design element by providing a dedicated spot for writing. 5. I don't always have an easy time journalling on my pages, so this has been the perfect fix. Lined journalling cards make it more simple and stress free because I know that if I make a mistake or want to change the wording, I can always replace the card with another. For example, the first time I tried writing out this journalling, I wasn't happy with the way the story came out. I simply pulled up the journalling card and exchanged it for a new one.

This page uses 3 Project Life cards (one is cut in half so that it could appear both on the top and bottom of the page). The journalling cards are very prominent features of the design and I think that they really make the page. Without the cards, the layout would be centred in the horizontal strip running down the middle. This design is more dynamic. The cluster of cards at the top right and bottom left extend the design upward and downward at opposite corners of the page, and therefore create a diagonal flow to the page. The top cluster catches the eye first and the bottom cluster directs the attention across the page.