I try to stay present with my scrapping, but like so many others have plenty of photos & stories that I want to go back to record. So I work on 2016 layouts & photo edits, and also go back and scrap what photos I have printed for past years. I’ve cut way down on the amount of photos I print throughout the year so it does not become overwhelming. I will make a one-photo page layout for certain memories and moments I want to record, then for remaining photos I will add into pocket pages with journaling cards. This process has made it a little easier for me to keep up and let this be the creative outlet I need versus feeling pressure to make everything a certain way every time.
I’ve been sort of stuck on the white cardstock, simple layout, so I wanted to get outside of that a bit with this layout. I challenged myself to pull out some of my older, still loved supplies from my stash and to use a bit more color for this layout.
I decided to scrap this photo of my nephew on the monkey bars, I truly was impressed at how good he was on them! I wasn’t feeling super inspired to pair this with a long story or even a deeper one. It is what it is at first glance! I searched through my MAMBI big stickers for a phrase that would work, I always forget I have these (something that happens more often than not!), and landed on the So Totally Awesome. The Awesome is more orange than it looks, so I used that and the green in the photo as a jumping point for color. I found the Echo Park This & That Charming collection, which is one my much loved boy collections and decided to work with it, selecting various pattern papers to layer. I inked a few edges to make it pop more.
The banner was cut from a sheet of border strips, then I used my craft knife to cut around each banner. I do this technique often, I like for embellishments to hang off the paper a bit. The three boxed words came from another sheet of pattern paper, I just cut around the few phrases I wanted to use and embellished with a staple on one side, adhering them down with roller tape. I added the yellow ruler washi tape, using numbers on kid layouts seems to make sense for me, sort of implying growth or getting older. The kraft J is from the American Crafts DIY shop 2 alpha collection.
I used a white pen to record some thoughts, the Uni-Ball Signo, which I originally received in a kit from Amy Tangerine, but you can find them on Amazon here.
I had a weird moment with this layout, I usually date all of my layouts, at least put the year somewhere. But for this page I just couldn’t decide where it would look ok or with what color ink, so I figured, well it goes into the 2015 album, so I know the year. Sometimes I will pencil it in on the back of the layout, so I may still do that.
Do you date all of your layouts? or do you make sure the date is recorded somewhere?
I actually liked putting this layout together and using coordinating papers from a collection, even though I usually try to have more contrast. Do you prefer collections or kits? Or do you like to pull from different ones to make it a little different?
