Challenge #285 - week of 23rd April 2018

If you read last week's prompt, you'll remember that I had another idea before I saw the wonderful quote posted by Pebbles Inc on Facebook. So I changed tack and decided to just hold onto it for this week.

Therefore, this time around I'd like you to be inspired by mini-letter stickers.

This is just a selection of the smaller letters that I have but there are some firm favourites there that find their way into almost every single kit that I make as well as on most of my layouts! Jillibean, Sassafraslass and October Afternoon are my all time favourites but any will work for me as long as they stick and are in the right colours!

I'm sure you have some of these little beauties in your own supplies and if you don't already use them all that often, now might the time to fish them out and give them an airing. If you do use them regularly, why not try to find a new way to incorporate them on a layout. Mix them up, arrange them differently, journal with them, use them in a mixed up title. I'm sure you can think of a dozen ways of bringing them onto your layout.

I made this layout just last week with my Counterfeit Kit Challenge April kit, Rogue for a Counterfeit challenge to be inspired by Easter. I knew that I didn't have much to say in the way of journalling so I used up a whole bunch of mini BasicGrey alphas to spell out single words of what was special about Easter 2018.

Ps. have you noticed that several of my favourite letters are from suppliers that don't make scrapbook products any more? *sniff sniff*

If you're inspired to create this week, don't forget that you can add your own creations to our Facebook group here - we love it when you share so please don't be shy! Tag your entry with #WMXX so we know exactly which inspiration you've taken. 

Or simply tell us in the comments where to find you... :-)

#24 Inspired by handwritten letters

In this age of sms, email and Facebook, I might be considered a little old-fashioned because I love to write real letters. I'm not saying it isn't hard - we don't write much these days, do we? My hand starts to ache and my handwriting leaves a lot to be desired but the hand-written word has always been important to me.

I had various penpals when I was younger, I always sent (and still send) out Thank You letters after birthdays, Christmas or visits, I always write postcards when I travel and have several thousand from over the years, I had a romantic letter-based relationship with my first boyfriend when he moved back to France, I've always tried to keep in touch with people via letter and I still have every single letter I received during my 15 months in France 86-87 and also during my 15 months in the Philippines 97-98 (although by that time, email was really beginning to kill off letters). I have letters from over the years from all parts of my life and probably could find them in every single corner of my home and memory boxes. Several spring to mind when I think about meaningful letters.

But I've been going through some old boxes of photos because of LOAD and also some memorabilia that my mum gave to me from when I was tiny and I came across the sweetest little letter and decided that it would be the one.

Not a lot has changed since I wrote this note. It's funny to think that this is another side of me that remains the same :-) Guess that's why Germany suits me so much!

I have no idea when I wrote the note but judging by the handwriting it must have been my first or second year of school. I don't have many photos of me from that time so the one I used is a little earlier - the summer before I started school. But near enough.

Testing out Pam's guide to taking photos at night - still not brilliant but maybe better than usual. The journalling doesn't show up at all however.  Can you read the note?

Ah, loopy twine!

I hope you had fun finding letters to include on your layout or perhaps writing a letter to someone as part of your journalling - it's such a personal touch. Don't forget to upload your layouts to Flickr with the tag WM#24 - we love to see how you interpret the prompts!

Pam will be here in the morning for another prompt and I love the anticipation of waiting to see what she is challenging us with. I always have a little time in Starbucks before work on a Monday morning and it's such a thrill to check into the blog to see what she's thought up for me and you.

It makes Monday mornings so much nicer, don't you agree? ;-)

#24 inspired by handwritten letters

I absolutely adore this prompt. I have so many handwritten letters. I have been lucky enough to receive and wise enough to keep so many little notes and messages over the years. I seldom scrap these.

Early on in the week I created a layout which some of you have already seen in the gallery.

The photo section acts as a big pocket where I included a selection of letters. Although you can see the two different handwriting peeping out, I wanted to do this prompt justice by creating a layout featuring another's handwriting. 

So last night as I was laying in bed, the idea for this layout came to me. I jumped out of bed to search for the letter I had in mind before the inspiration passed. 

Because scrapbooking my father is a difficult subject for me (we have a complicated relationship), I spent the better part of today creating this layout. In fact, I would take breaks in between. I kept getting stuck.

The highlight of making this page however, was that the mailman showed up in the middle of the process and  - I had an envelope from Germany! Yes, our sweet Lisa sent me a cute little card. I adore it.

  I love the little butterflies so much, that I adhered them straight unto what I was working. 

 I find that whenever I scrap a difficult topic the artiness of it all goes on overdrive. So I ended up with something like this.

But in the end I really disliked the results. In all my artiness I had lost my design focus and I felt the page couldn't breathe. So I went back to the drawing board and created some breathing room.

The final results feel more like me. I am happy to have included the original envelope (12 years old), the line of journaling (yes, that was all he wrote on the 8.5x11 sheet he mailed) and Lisa's sweet butterflies. Thanks for the inspiration, Lisa!

If you used handwritten letters in your pages this week we would love to see it, just remember to upload it with the tage WM#26. I am loving all the action our little gallery is getting lately with folks re-visiting older prompts. I'll be back Monday with our new challenge. Can't wait to see what Lisa creates!

xo,

Pamage