Long Time No Scrap

It has been far too long, I know.  At this point in time you probably thought I had given up the blog.   Though I would like to tell you an exciting story about being off on some great adventure, the truth is just that life got in the way.  Work got the better of me for a while and took up all of my time.  Then a bout of bronchitis kept me from my beloved scrap room.  Those two things paired with a lack of creativity resulted in months of no scrappy escapades.

This weekend I finally returned to playing with pretty papers.  The result is a bit meh, but it is an important first step to getting my groove back.  I need to keep cranking out the projects until a brilliant idea strikes again.  It will happen.  It just takes time.

Today’s installment features a bit of a fuzzy photo of a scrap busting design.  You know how I hate to throw any scraps away.  So I rummaged through my scrap bin and pulled out pinks, teals, greens, and blues.  One piece in particular caught my eye.  It’s that multi-colored dot print behind the photo.  Doesn’t it just say birthday to you?

Going with the birthday theme, I found a photo of this beautiful birthday cake.  (That cake is vegan! Can you believe it?)  I didn’t have any other photos to go with this one.  Placing a small 4×4 photo on a 12×12 page is a challenge for me.  I know there are some beautiful pages out there that use one small photo on a large page.  The artists are masters of using white space.  I am not one of those masters.  So instead, I decided to fill my space with those paper strips.

I am quite fond of paper strip layouts.  They don’t require a whole lot of fuss.  Nothing has to be lined up exactly.  The paper can be in a variety of widths.  And, of course, it is a great way to get rid of those scraps.  I was even able to throw a couple of branding strips into the mix.  It only took a few minutes to layout the strips in a purposely uneven manner.

Then it was time to work on the top of the layout.  I double matted the photo so it had a bit more weight.  That left some room for a fairly large title to the right.  At first I was going to lay the silver Thickers right onto the background paper.  The silver blended into the white and was too difficult to see.  Rifling through a die-cut pad, I came upon the turquoise piece.  It wasn’t the exact color I was looking for, but sometimes perfect is over-rated.

Finally it was time to add in some embellishments.  I started with the silver leaves.  Leaves logically need flowers.  Immediately I knew the Simple Stories’ Bloom & Grow collection was exactly what I needed.  A few flower die-cuts later and some puffy stickers from Pinkfresh Studio and I was done.

It feels good to be back in the saddle again.  Stick with me.  I plan for this to be quite the ride.