Challenge # 55 week of September 3, 2012

Today in the States we celebrate Labor Day. Traditionally, this marks the end of summer. It being my favorite season of the year, this makes me a little blue.

And nothing makes me less blue than reliving good memories and putting them on a scrapbook page.

Take this layout for example...

To me this is the perfect summary layout.

I know many of you have been quite busy this season with kids, grandkids, visitors, travels, etc. I am sure you have collected a decent number of photos. I want to challenge you, or really just help you, to create a summary layout of Summer 2012. You can go back and create as many different pages as you want to document this summer. Or you can finish that mini-book you wanted to create over the next few months when things slow down. But instead of overwhelming yourself with all the many photos not yet scrapped, create ONE layout that sums it all up and throw away the guilt.

Some helpful tips on how to accomplish this layout:

* use many of your favorite photos in a grid pattern under the title "best of Summer 2012"

* create a pie-chart like layout with a photo representing each of the activities you spent time doing - example {here}

* select one photo you feel completely embodies the essence of your summer and sum up the rest with journaling

* create a layout with no photos and a list of all the things you did or that made it great. You can alternatively use a post-card or other collected memorabilia instead of a photo

Most importantly, don't stress. You can always go back and really catch all the details of your summer later. But having this page in your albums will make you feel "caught up" and will remind you of all the happy times you enjoyed this summer. So indulge in the process and forget the rest!

If you join us in this adventure, please remember to post your layouts to our flick'r gallery with the tag WM#55.

xo,

Pamage

ps: we will be back shortly with our giveaway winner.

#53 Inspired by Grids

Another week is over. Does it seem to anyone else like this year is picking up it's pace? Time seems to be flying.

Anyway, I have two layouts to share with you, so I will get right to it.

Being that this blog is meant to bring you scrapbooking challenges with a twist, I tried to look for ways to change up the typical grid of 3x3 square photos. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that grid, in fact it is my fall-back option when I have a lot of photos. But with this challenge I wanted to show you how you can spice it up to make it interesting.

This first layout was completely lifted from this album cover {here}. Even the colors were inspired by it. I am a music lover so often I find inspiration in album covers and I have been keeping my eyes out for grids all week, so I was delighted when this popped up on my Pandora.

I was brave on this layout in that I used really old stickers left in my stash from the days I used to use themed product. Admittedly, the thought of theme product now makes me cringe, so I tried to find ways to use these stickers in a natural way to my current style and I think I pulled it off. I didn't use all the stickers on the sheet, but by adding small elements here and there I reinforced the story being told here.

This next layout is all about the ribbons. Aside from a few punched butterflies, this layout uses no patterned-paper whatsoever! I finally found a way to make a dent in my ribbon collection.

Again, I wanted to find a way to "twist" the concept of a grid... and that's exactly what I did here. I tilted the grid. I did this before even having pictures to scrapbook, so I didn't know how I was going to finish it off. I thought about tucking in the photos behind the ribbons, like those tufted fabric boards they sell for room decor, but in the end I found this printed instagram photo that perfectly fit into four of the squares. I added the smaller pictures from the photo strip because I wanted to tell a more general story and not just talk about the one photo.

How did you use this concept of grids?

xo,
Pamage

#52 Inspired by past challenges

I can hardly believe we have been doing this for a full year. Looking back I am amazed that this little venture has added 52+ stories to my efforts to document my life and that of those around me.

In clicking through each prompt I was again reminded of all the great challenges we had throughout the year... and some I wanted to take on again. I couldn't narrow it down, so I ended up creating 4 new pages! And that in itself should be cause for celebration.

dream big & dare to fail

for this layout, I took on Challenge # 2 to be inspired by Norman Vaughn's motto of "dream big & dare to fail". The first time around I had been intimidated by the boldness of his words and ended up making a trivial layout. This time I wanted it to have more oomph and true meaning to my dreams. But alas, I am still not daring enough to put them out into the universe, so they sit in a little pocket for my eyes only. The layout was also inspired by this recent pin {here}.

we go on the best dates 

For this layout I wanted to take on my own prompt, Challenge # 13 to be inspired by a triadic color combination. I decided to do one I hadn't done before, red-yellow-blue. When I think of those colors I think Elementary School and boy toys. So I was interested to see if I could pull it off with this goofy picture and I think I succeeded. The sketch came from October Afternoon's blog {here}.  Another cool element of this page is that I was able to use the menu from the restaurant right in the layout.

love life

I had been itching to re-do this prompt and do it justice probably since I first took it on. Challenge # 23 was inspired by my new room decor, but my initial resulting layout didn't have the feel of the room although it used the colors. I recently bought a 6x6 paper pad - MME's tangerine collection {here} and it had the perfect colors. (here's a little known secret about my work: I use a lot of 6x6 paper pads). I added a few more touches and turned out the perfect layout reminiscent of my room.

momofuku

for this layout I revisited Lisa's Challenge # 30 to be inspired by the current trend of geometrics. Although hexagons were all the rage a few months ago when this prompt first came out, these recent pins prove that the new trend is triangles {here & here} or maybe just coincidence.

Overall, I had a blast going over past challenges as looking at how I have evolved as a story teller. Thank you for all your support and I can't wait to start another year with tomorrow's prompt.

xo,
Pamage

ps: remember that you have until the end of the month to upload a layout to the gallery using the tag WM#52 for a chance to win a prize. 

#20 Inspired by turning points

Happy New Year to all! I am so excited to be sharing another year of scrapping with all of you. Lisa kicked us off with a great topic - Turning points. The new year is a great time to reflect about those turning points we have had in our lives.

As Lisa, I came up with a few ideas for this week's prompt. But I settled on highlighting the fact that I love new beginnings. It came to me while sorting memorabilia in preparation for Stacy Julian's Twelve class. The photo reminds me of a more innocent and inexperienced me who was apprehensive about change. That is no longer true about me. I now welcome new beginnings.  I wanted to document that.

This was the resulting layout -

I kept the embellishing simple because my focus was on the story I was telling and the huge picture. I left some white space in the middle to allow the eye to rest, but now I am second guessing my choice and wonder if I should have butted up the photo and journaling. Anyway, it is done and I am happy with it.

Thanks for looking. I truly hope some of your creative resolutions for 2012 include playing along with us. We would love to have you. If you created a layout featuring one of your turning points please remember to add if to our flick'r group under the lable WM#20.

I will be back later with our new challenge.

xo,
Pamage

#19 Another layout created with scraps

Well, folks. This has been a quieter week which is a welcome change. I still have family (and kiddies) around, so my scrapping time is limited, but I could not take another second of my desk in disarray, so I buckled down and set out to clear it.

If you remember from my post earlier last week, this is what my desk looked like once I was done with my challenge layout.

 the b-side to the colorful scenic route paper is that yellow with orange dots pattern. I used that and several punches to create the sun below and this layout came together in 15 minutes, including drying time for the watercolors used. That's what I call productive.

The nieces and nephews pictured above are the same ones in town today. I have been thinking a lot about how much they have grown since the last time I saw them, so I just needed to do a layout with all of them together like this.

Hope you will be joining us next week as Lisa kicks off another fun challenge for us on Monday and we embark on what could potentially be a 52-challenge year. Oh, how exciting!

xo,
Pamage

#17 Inspired by photos we love

I'm happy to have found time to tell my story today.

This week Pam challenged us to scrapbook just for fun, grab a photo we love and just go for it. No pressure, no specific reason, just because.

Well, I love this sort of creating! I have so many totally random photos that when I flipped through just one pile I had, I sorted out around 10 that could easily have fit the prompt. So I went through them all one more time and this photo of the two of us kissing won through. There's no story, it's unrelated to what else was going on that day (it was my autumnal colours walk) and was certainly an imperfectly composed photo with the shadows rather unflattering and way to the right of the photo. But I love it as I know we are kissing and the long autumn shadows are indicative of the time of year.

And then I was totally delighted to notice that between our heads a heart has been created that I hadn't noticed before. It might be a bit wonky and difficult to see, but it's there and that sort of coincidence is just too good an opportunity to pass up ;-)

I went to my scrap inspiration Pinterest board to find some new inspiration as I've been having fun recently trying on some different scrap "hats" and this design by the amazingly talented Tara Anderson over at Crate Paper got my brain working (here). I loved the overall design, the single photo, all those layers and the loopy threads which is something I'm seeing a lot of recently and have been trying out for myself.

I used some recently purchased BG Sweet Threads and made it pretty colourful. I even did a bit of paint splattering which is also a new design idea for me - I liked it! And it doesn't make the page warp like some of the mists do.

Thanks Pam for permission to just play with paper today. I really enjoyed it as I've been doing a lot of stuff for a "reason" recently and this was a welcome change.

Don't forget to link up over at Flickr with the tag WM#17 and watch this space for the new challenge which should go up tomorrow morning.

I'm off to the Christmas Market now for a Glühwein ;-)

#17 inspired by Photos we Love

Hello, Friends! Another week has past us by and here I am again happy to report another layout completed. Earlier this week I challenged us all to make a layout "just because" and focus on the picture.

It didn't take me long into looking through my pile to find the perfect picture for this project. I printed the picture 9 x 12. When I am selecting pictures to print I usually don't have a specific layout in mind. I just go with what feels right for the picture. They are usually all 3 x 3, so having such a big picture in the pile instantly drew me to it.

As I sat with it to create, and in trying to come up with a title, I asked myself, exactly why did you print this so huge? And Ta-da! The title was born and the page came together hitch-free.

 I set up the main elements (photo + leaves + title) at 2am one morning in about 15 minutes ... but it didn't feel done. So I let it sit there a few days to allow me to mull over what it needed. The next day I added buttons, another 5 minutes and still it didn't feel done. The next day, my new Studio Calico came in with the wonderful Amy Tangerine border stickers (the leaves) and the tiny type words (the strips of words). Those two elements added that little something the page was missing (in my opinion) and I knew I'd be proud to share my page with you.

This long-winded story just goes to show that when you are not quite done with a page, don't rush the process. Don't hurriedly try to fix it as you may end up "ruining it". Instead, let it rest, simmer. Come back to it at a later time and it might just speak to you. (and now I sound completely bonkers).

Hope you had a great December week. I cannot wait to see Lisa's take on this challenge, although I know she has limited time to play today. It'll be fabulous regardless. If you played along, I can't wait to see your creations in our flick'r gallery later. Remember to tag them WM#17.

Bye for now,
Pamage

Challenge #17 Week of 5th of December 2011

Hello again friends. I have had a very fun week celebrating my Birthday with my best friend as Lisa mentioned. Now, I know you all think I'm spoiled to be getting a whole week off to party. But trust me, my birthday has never been this big of a deal. I just got lucky this year.

Anyway, because I have loads to catch up on and because I know some of you are participating in December Daily/ preparing for the Holidays / making handmade gifts, etc... I will keep the challenge simple this week.

Here is my little example -

the entire purpose of this page? To use those photos. Why? because I love them. The journaling/title/page isn't about the date, time and place. It doesn't tell a story about this day or why we took those pictures. It is a 'just because' page, and I am ok with that. Now, I know some of you may be cringing. How can I take time off to just play when I have so many important moments to document? Simple, I just do. If you are making 5 or 20 or 100 layouts a year, I am sure you are getting those details in there somewhere.

But often we have this picture (or pictures) that keep getting pushed to the end of the pile simply because we don't have a story. Your challenge this week is to take that picture and make a page. Allow yourself to play and have some stress-free fun.

Make a page using a photo or photos which you love - Just Because. 


For journaling or a title try to come up with a quote, saying, lyrics, leave them out altogether or go with "just because". Keep it simple. This is about that picture you love. Trust me, it will feel good.

As always, Lisa and I will post our fun pages by next Sunday. If you decide to play along, please add it to our flick'r gallery so we can all be inspired by you and tag it as WM#17.

Until next time {oh and Be Awesome Today}.

xo,
Pamage