Last minute entries for Shimelle’s scrappy weekend challenges
I was so excited about the Online Scrapbooking Weekend on Shimelle’s blog last weekend. There was plenty of inspiration to be had, and just in time for me, as I felt I was doing the same old sort of layouts time after time. So these are the completed layouts so far:
QMGS!
A layout to celebrate my son getting accepted to our local grammar school (yay!)…It ties in with the map theme, taken figuratively. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I will be saying it again, but the world really is his oyster (and he really is awesome and the best, in my humble opinion…).
I used a gold foil world map patterned paper from a SC kit for the background – it’s so lovely and luxurious, I’ve been saving it for a special occasion, worthy to be scrapped on such a paper. I’ve used a few Heidi Swapp project life cards, the rest is mostly from the Starshine collection (I’ve managed to get the 12” x 12” paper pad, which is practically a miracle).
I wanted to leave the layout relatively simple, as there is already loads going on with the background pattern and all the phrases, so I didn’t use a lot of embellishments on this page…
Oh, the Places You Will Go!
More celebrating the grammar school success! This is an 8.5” x 11” layout, which will go in his school album. I’ve tried the ‘colour blocking’ thing here, which I’ve never even heard about before (I’m ashamed to say), so I might be completely wrong here… I tried to take lead from the other submissions for this challenge… ;-)
I’ve used six main colours: red, white, yellow, green and gold from the coat of arms thing on the school gate, and dark blue from my son’s clothing. I’ve repeated these colours in the blocks on the layout, using tone-on-tone in some cases (the three small tags at the top), then combining most of them in the square block at the bottom left. This block is sort of an interpretation of the coat of arms.
Just Lovely
This one is a layout for the ‘scrap an old photo’ challenge, and also happens to be a monochromatic layout. Most likely the only one I'll ever do, since I really struggle to find suitable photos for such a layout.… The problem is that I take colour photos and when I try to turn them to b&w, they end up looking all washed out with intermingling shades of greys.
This photo (originally black and white and taken by a proper photographer) is a very special one for me – the best photo ever taken of my mum, in the prime of her youth, looking her best. I’ve been extremely reluctant to scrap it for a long time, as I wanted to make sure that I’d do justice to it. I’ve been completely intimidated by it, in fact. But this is what challenges are for, right? I challenged myself to give it a try, at least…
I’ve scanned the original photo in and printed it out on printable canvas. I took time choosing the background paper. I wanted something special and super-lovely, but I didn’t want it to compete with the photo itself. Eventually I chose this gradient striped paper from the Dear Lizzy Happy Place collection. My mum has never been particularly girly, but this paper somehow matches her personality. I’ve matted the photo on pink tone-on-tone patterned paper (Studio Calico) and placed it on four strips of black and white paper (Crate paper and Pink Paislee) lined up horizontally.
I loved how the shades of pink on the background paper go from red to cerise to mauve to peach – I decided to draw attention to it by matching the shades of the embellishments to the background colours. Well, sort of… I took artistic license (she says, with tongue in cheek) and interpreted the lines at the bottom of the paper as orange. But the rest is quite a good match, I think… I wanted to leave it fairly simple – there are plenty of layouts I’ve ruined by drowning the photo by over-embellishing the page. I didn’t want to make the same mistake here… so I just stuck with flowers, hears and tags. And some ink drops.
I’ve thought long and hard about the title and journaling. There is so much to be said… eventually, I decided to just focus on the picture and the loveliness of it, rather than raking up any deeper agendas… this photo is about my mum, after all, celebrating who she once was…
I’ve tried my very best with this layout and I’m quite pleased with the overall look of it. The photo of the page itself didn’t come out great – whites and red based colours do not agree with me and my camera. This is as bright as I can make it look without turning old mum bright blue… so I’m leaving her in semi darkness instead.
Core Values
This layout is for the ‘photo with value’ challenge. To be perfectly honest, I’ve started this one a while ago, and got completely stuck with it. I bought the background paper (Pink Paislee, I think) knowing I would use it on a layout about my son - it’s masculine in colours, and I find the pattern dynamic, therefore youthful. The colours I used on this layout correlate with the background paper, or are neutral. They also complement the photo. I got as far as arranging the strips of paper, some secret journaling, hidden behind the photo, and the placement of the title. And then I got stuck…
Shimelle’s challenge inspired me to complete this layout. The fact that the theme of the challenge matched the title of this layout seemed more than just a coincidence. So I decided to force myself to complete it. It was hard work. I can never find anything in my stash suitable for moody pre-teen boys… so I went mostly with stars. This is the layout that can’t have too many stars, because this layout is about what I love the most about my son. Again, not enough embellishments, but very busy background, so we’ll just admire the colours, instead...
