During this time of cramped quarters and limited outings, I have managed to sneak down to my craft room and get creative from time to time. One of my favorite sources of inspiration has been Scrapbook Generation’s weekend mini crops on the SG Scrap Squad Facebook group. These crops are full of great challenges, discussion questions and fun prizes.
Tag: scrapbook challenge
Stuck Inside with a Stuck Sketch
Yesterday was an snow ice day for my son’s school but he was still running a fever, so I knew it would be another long housebound day for the two of us. After making the trek through the basement to feed the chickens, I flipped on the space heater in my craft room on my way back through the house. I anticipated a crafty kind of day and thankfully I carved out a couple of hours to do just that.
I decided to continue working on my 2011 scrapbook (save the “poor things” and “bless her hearts” please — I know I’m way behind *sigh*) and after I inspected the Stuck Sketch challenge for the second half of the month, I knew I had the right stuff to pull together this page. You see, I’ve been Spring cleaning about the house and I came across an old paper kit in my craft room that I almost tossed into the donate pile this weekend. I’ve had the kit stuffed in my stash for years and figured if I hadn’t used it by now, it probably wouldn’t happen. I reluctantly held onto it (probably why I have so much stuff in the first place) but I quickly realized this Stuck challenge was perfectly made for my weary purple paper pack.
The Kolette ColorbÖk kit included two 12×12 pages already pieced together with a large coordinating strip down the side and stitching all around. The kit also included some decorative quotes and do-dads, which I didn’t use except for the long decorative banner I added down the side with the vellum quote piece ripped off. I ended up using both large sheets of paper because I cut “family” out of the second piece so that everything would coordinate.
Luckily I found the Pembroke 6×6 paper pack by s.e.i. in my stash that coordinated well with my page. All the extra paper came from this pack and I added a white heart doily and white tag for extra interest. I inked all my papers in purple and added all kinds of extras to the page. I colored little white flowers with markers and spritzing spray and added another long-time resident of my stash, the large purple and white flower towards the top of the photo. Some purple and white bakers twine, a little puffy sentiment, sheer purple ribbon and a few purple dots brought this project to a close.
I thought all the purple might be a bit too girly for my little man, but I think it turned out super sweet and I rather kind of like it. After I took the photo, I noticed my bakers twin was a bit wonky, so I straightened that out lickety-split and I’m very satisfied with another 2011 moment in the books.
Back-to-School and Back to Scrapping
Yippee! I finally finished a scrapbook spread for the current year in which I’m living. No, that doesn’t happen very often (I’m still trying to finish a December daily album from 2015). In fairness, I decided to give myself a fighting chance this year by going with pocket pages. . . with the option of a few 12×12 more creative designs.
So here’s my first go at this new approach and I think it might just work for an album that’s, well, “a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll.” I’m going to use Simple Stories-ish papers to keep a cohesive feel throughout the months, and I started with the back-to-school Smarty Pants pack. I received inspiration from the Stuck?!Sketches early September challenge and the Scrap Our Stash Tic Tac Toe Challenge. It was pretty simple to combine the two challenges and the second pocket page gave me plenty of space for multiple photos; because let’s face it, it is really hard for me to wrap up a monumental day with just one pic. By the way, I’m not adding my pocket page to this post just because there is a lot of personal information on it and I try to keep my little guy’s privacy as under wraps as possible. Thanks for understanding. I can tell you that it’s a nine-pocket page with six photos and three decorative squares that complements my large design.
The layout for the main page came from the Stuck?! September sketch pictured below. I thought this was a great layout for my main back-to-school picture and I love all the textures and fun elements. I fulfilled the Scrap Our Stash Tic Tac Toe Challenge diagonally by using an arrow, ruler and dictionary paper. This challenge has become one of my favorites, because I get to decide which way I want to combine all these fun items.
