Finally Fall

It must be the change in weather where I live because I finally feel like it is fall.  To celebrate this new season I am sharing my first fall layout of the year.

 

 

 

Pumpkins and palm trees-they go together, right?  Ha.

 

I once again felt compelled to play along with Marcy Penner and Stephanie Bryan's Creative Jumpstart challenges.  This challenge, number two, was to scrap with one color.  I went with the color orange and used papers from Crate's Open Book and Elle's Studio's Sycamore Lane. 

 

Not sure I can go back just yet to scrapping summer photos now that I have played a bit with these beautiful fall products.  Might just have to save my summer photos to scrap during the cold winter!

 

Michelle



Citrus Twist Tutorial

Hello!  Yesterday I shared a scrapbooking tutorial on the Citrus Twist Blog and today I wanted to share that with you here.  More and more I am finding myself drawn to non-scrappy related images as inspiration for layouts and I want to show you an example of how I did just that.

To start the process off, I browsed through my board titled "Scrappy Inspiration" which is where I file away images of the non-scrapbooking kind.  For the most part, it's a blend of various graphic designs, cool title work, and magazine-type images.  This is the image that I chose to work with:

Source

 



 

I really liked the mix of colors and placement of the squares and rectangles, so I set about cutting my own from the various papers and the envelope included in the October Pretty Pieces Add-On Kit. 
 

 

Next, I played around with the placement of the shapes while keeping the inspiration piece in mind.
 

 

Using my pin as a jumpstart really took the guess work out of figuring out where I wanted my papers to go and left me with lots of time to play around with the fun embellishments in the October Add-On Kit.  This is what I ended up with:

 

 

 

 

You can definitely see the resemblence between the inspiration piece and the layout, but you can tell that I made it my own. I took the simple composition and ran with it.  More and more I find myself going to non-scrapbooking related images when collecting ideas for future layouts.  What inspires your papercrafting? I would love to hear from you :).

 

Michelle

 

 

Underground Layouts

Happy Monday morning!  This time last week I was starting to come down with a cold which meant I spent an entire week in what seemed like a fog.  Luckily, this week is starting out better all ready :).

Today I want to share with you two layouts that I made last week--yes, even a little bit of cold can't stop my scrapping (consequently, a cold can put the breaks on housework and laundry though!) 

This first layout started out with wanting to focus on layers and using lots of patterned paper.

 

My initial direction involved a different color combination, but after fiddling around with it I went with something a little different.  Instead of a more predominiatingly blue/red/pink combo, I worked in the floral paper which I think helped to tone down the red paper while limiting the blue.
 

 

 

The second layout features my favorite piece of woodgrain paper ever.  I swear it is woodgrain perfection and it comes from Teresa Collins Life Emporium collection.

 

 

 

 

I chose to use the beautiful paper by using it as a background.
 

 

 

 



This last photo showcases my absolute inability to correctly use a date stamp! Ha.  After all these years, my stamping skills have not improved.  I just tell myself this flaw adds to the charm ;).

 

Michelle



Let It Go

I think one of the challenges that a scrapbooker faces is narrowing down the pictures one wants to use.  Ideally, of course, I would scrap them all, but that would mean I would be years behind and my album load would be insane. 

My solution, well more like lack of solution, was to be brutal and scrap just a few from each photo set.  That was until this past January, when my whole perspective on scrapping changed....

I officially retired from Project Life last December.  I say retired, because for me, Project Life was like a job.  A job I did not like.  I liked the concept and the finished pages, but for me is was too time consuming and the creativity, for me, just disappeared.  I always felt so much pressure and it was not fun.  And most importantly, it took time away from traditional scrapping, which is what I LOVE to do. 

Yet, even though I released myself from the bondage of Project Life, I still loved all of the PL products.

My solution then was to incorporate the "pocket style" into my traditional scrapping.  Simple, but game changing.

My scrapping went from exclusively 12x12 to a mix of 8.5x11 and pocket pages. My albums are now an eclectic, but organized, mix of pages.  And amazingly, I am now able to include pictures that before 2014 would not have made the cut.  I am now in my happy scrappy place.

Here is an example of two co-ordinating pages that sit side by side in my son's album:

 

 

     

By using pocket pages to fit in more photos, I feel that my stories are more complete and I am able to share a bigger picture....I also get to use all of those awesome PL cards! 

 

 

 

 

Project Life is absolutely a fantastic project.  Like I said earlier, I like looking at other's PL work. I am amazed by some of the PL spreads that I see, but I found that the project wasn't entirely my cup of tea and I am okay with that.  By taking what I did like about it and letting go of the rest, I found my way back to feeling incredibly happy and content with the hobby that I love.

Michelle

Hug. Laugh. Smile

I scrap almost daily.  So, when I found myself unable to create for a week, you can bet I was itching to do something when a block of free time finally appeared.  To scrap a little faster this time (you know, in case my free time was really just a mirage and I would once again have to abandon my paper and glue), I turned to a past SC Sunday Sketch + a Creative Jumpstart from Marcy Penner and Stephanie Bryan to get me going.

This is what I made:

 

 

 

I had to laugh though as I was working on this because as it was coming together I realized the layout was looking sort of familiar...
 

 

This must be my "default" layout, because I have maybe five more pages with a similar design.  They are certainly unique and different, but at the basic level they are the same.  Do you find that you have a design that repeats itself in your work?  Or are you way more original than I am??  Ha ha!

 

Michelle

 

 

 

 

Citrus Twist October Reveal

Happy October!  Today is the first day of a new month and that means it is reveal day at Citrus Twist! 

This month I worked with the October Pretty Pieces Add-On Kit.....

And here is a look at the four layouts I made:

 

 

 

As I said earlier, all products used (except for the doily) came from the October Pretty Pieces Add-On Kit which is full of lovely Heidi Swapp and MME.  My favorite piece of the kit was definitely the MME Flair-it's gorgeous. 

 

 

 

And just so you know, the flair comes backed with a pin, so you could even wear them if you want!  Ha ha.  But seriously, they are so cool I wanted to wear them.  (No worries if you don't want to wear them though-you can remove the pin or use the sticky pad it comes adhered to.)

 

Now for those of you looking to try a new kit club, here's a deal that just might push you over:

 

October Citrus Twist Special

 

Start a new 6 Month subscription to the Main Kit and you can take $10 off your first kit!  Just use this code when you check out:  6MONTHMAIN10OFF. (*This promotion expires at the end of October.)

 





Michelle