Pretty Paper Party- more LOs

Despite having a young daughter, I'm not really a pink and lilac type scrapper. I had a set of papers left over from a class kit though, that were all the things I'm not! Oh dear. What would normally happen is that they would get left amongst all the other pp I have that is no longer loved until the day came when I would donate it (either to the bin or school!).
However, Shimelles Pretty Paper paper prompt encouraged us to make up kits of paper, chop into them with no particular plan in purpose and then use them to make a LO.
Despite not really loving these Echo Park papers, I took them out, added some Crate Paper Paper Doll remnants and a couple of sheets of cardstock and Voila! A new kit.
Cutting into it was difficult even with papers I didn't love but trusting Shimelle, I just did it!
The Lo's that follow are pretty much exclusively the result of that trust. (And for paper I didn't love, I don't think I did too badly?)

My Em at the farm in summer- a rare moment of quietness.... Digging through my photo stack I found this photo but rather than journalling about that moment in time, I decided to be retrospective and journal about how familar that grumpy face has become to me- my daughter certainly knows her own mind!

This photo was just ideal to highlight my dads nickname for Emma (and I threw in a splattering of paint, a la Shimelle, for good measure!)

This was using strips of leftover paper- paper I would normally have thrown away! I actually really like this LO in RL (it doesn't show up as well in a photo):

Another weaning photo (think I've finally seen the end of all those!):

Another summer photo from the farm- Emma chasing the chickens!

And then a few cards to finish off:

T4L xx

Shimelle challenge: round up

What a manic week I've had. Exhausting isn't the word for it (seriously can't wait to return to work in a couple of weeks- being a full time mum is HARD WORK!) but in amongst it all, I've tried to complete a few more challenges from the scrapbooking weekend that Shimelle had last weekend (a girl's got to chill out somehow, huh?)

Firstly, the RETRO challenge:

Whilst looking through my albums for a previous challenge, I stumbled across a LO that I really didn't like, pulled the photos off carefully and thought I'd have a go at scrapping them again! From that, this LO was born (no pun intended.) That's me as a baby, Oct 1980!

Secondly, I did this weeks SKETCH challenge using pictures of my mum and dad, otherwise known as 'Ma & Pa'. A very typical photo of them two; mum is pulling a face at the camera and dad is doing that thing with his tongue when he knows he has to smile...

Next, I did the AQUA, RED & WHITE challenge using a DLO and a series of photos of Emma eating yoghurt. My girl has to be one of the messiest eaters I know and most of my photos of her involve messy faces!

This was one of those occasions were the title had to fit the alphas I had available, hence the range of types and the fact that the word 'Yoghurt' wasn't mentioned (not enough individual letters in one font for that!)

GRID challenge was up next so I decided on another DLO using some October Afternoon 'Modern Homemaker' paper, some stickers from Cosmo cricket and some more imaginative use of lettering to fit the title. I journalled around the grid to give it a frame.

Finally, EMBELLISHMENTS IN 3. I used 3 journalling boxes and 3 chipboard numbers as areas for journalling on and thought I'd ask my son what his three favourite things are at 3 years old. Clearly, that'll have to wait til morning though!

Shimelle weekly challenge

Slightly later than planned, but completed all the same, here is my take on the sketch for the week before last:

Explore: a response

How do you scrap?
I'd be pretty happy to guess that when scrapping you have a fairly routinous process that involves selecting photos, then your papers, then embellishments etc until you've got a fairly complete LO. If you're like me, you then wonder where on Earth you can squeeze in a title and possibly, some journalling. You do the same process on most layouts, occasionally choosing papers first over the photos but the rest remains the same.

Having signed up for Shimelles latest class, Explore, she's given me a few ideas about how to change that process and possibly create layouts that are slightly different in style as a result. Watching the class videos has been inspiring; I have serious Shimelle love going on in this house at the moment! lol! I haven't always had time to follow the ideas through to completion but itchy, crafty fingers got the better of me today and whilst the girlchild slept, I made the most of it!

I decided to try and mix together two prompt ideas:
1) scrapping from the inside out i.e. starting with embellishments and finishing with paper
2)choosing colour to suit a mood.

I had these two 6x4 photos in mind. The story I wanted to tell had nothing to do with the photos, except that they both involve Jack. The story is funny and cheerful (as is he!) and it was told to me last week (summer!) so from all that I decided that I'd try scrapping in sunny, cheerful colours aka: yellow! I went through most of my accessible papers/kits and collected anything that I thought would be useful and put them into piles e.g. paper, lettering, stickers, die cuts etc. This was interesting as it brought together a range of different manufacturers and products whereas, because a lot of my stash was bought in kits, I usually scrap in the same manufacturers stash for the whole LO. Already stepping out of my comfort zone!

I then looked through the papers I might possibly use, eliminated ones that didn't 'go' and then from this found some co-ordinating cardstock that I could use to matt my 6x4 photos.

Then, rather than reaching for the pretty papers, I grabbed the pile of stickers and die cut labels and quickly choosing a few different but co-ordinating ones, layered a selection at one side of the photos. I was thinking that this would be either title or journalling space.

Using other embellishments and border stickers, I created a similar section at the bottom corner of the photos, adding an offcut of paper behind the photos to the same height as the embellishments on the other side. Once I could see the whole picture, I decided where my title and journalling etc was going to go- no leaving it til last minute! I think by this point I'd used about 5 or 6 different manufacturers products!

It seemed rather flat to me by this stage so I looked through my flower box for some flowers that might match and added those to the layout along with some black gems.

Once that was done, I was ready to start choosing a background paper which probably took the longest for me! I started with the yellows that I'd pulled out earlier as I hadn't really used those yet:

I decided most of them were too busy against the embellishments although I did rather like the chequered paper.

This stamp effect border was too much:

as was the polka dot (kinda liked it but figured you wouldn't see the journalling):

Too much lemon?

But darker yellow didn't work either:

Light grey?

Dark grey?

White?

Black?

It was really interesting to see the way that the effect the layout had, changed with the different coloured backgrounds from more lighthearted with the brighter colours to serious with the darker ones.

In the end I went with the medium grey, mainly to tie in some of the grey from the embellishments although it was a hard choice between that and the white.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this layout and it took much less time than usual because I'd already made most of the decisions before I started sticking. I might possibly paint a yellow border around it to bring it all together but only because I've seen Miss Shimelle do that quite a bit recently on the videos. See? I told you there was a lot of Shimelle love in this room! xx