Layout #42 - Project 12

FINALLY, finished with this one! It seemed to take forever, and there were so many times I wanted to put it aside and do something else, but I persevered, and YAY! So glad I'm doing Project 12 this year, it feels really great to be summarizing each month, and if I got nothing else done in the scrapbooking department, at least I'll have these 12 layouts for the family album.

So, what did I do here? Well, I started with the photos, tried to represent the major happenings and the major players (of course, I'm only in one photo, but that's the way it goes, right?) Then chose patterned paper - I had this cool glossy stripe pp from Imaginisce, with polka dots on the reverse, that seemed to go great with everything, but I wanted a blue background and didn't have any blue. What to do? I masked and brayered some Broken China Distress Ink on both pieces of cream cardstock. It's pretty hard to get even coverage, but I kind of like the uneven look anyway! I also sprayed some Electric Blue Glimmer Mist on there to blotch it up some more. After I laid out my photos and papers, I thought it still looked a bit plain, and that's when I had the idea to make little tags for each photo and tie them with twine. Done, but still a bit plain, so then I had the idea of making each patterned paper block into a little vignette: kites, and trees, and owls, oh my! And don't forget about Mr. Hedgehog, isn't he adorable? I find that sometimes my mind is very grounded in reality, and I balk at the idea of a green sky or a red mushroom, so these little scenes are a bit of a stretch for me! Then it was just the title and journaling, but all this stamping and inking and fussy cutting has me drained! I'm done like dinner, hope you enjoy this little look into my creative process!

Supplies: Close to My Heart cardstock, brads, ink, and stamps, Ranger Distress Ink, Imaginisce and Basic Grey patterned paper, Bazzill orange cardstock, Prima journaling card, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Twinery twine, American Crafts Thickers, Creative Memories pen, My Minds Eye acetate border, Courier New font