Admit it. You have purchased a scrapbooking supply that you thought was a great idea at the time, only to find out that you never use it. Washi tape, brads, and papers with corner prints have all been my kryptonite. All of those pale in comparison to this pack of Crate Paper frames that I bought back in 2012. They were all the rage back when I purchased them. I was all on board, until they arrived and I tried to actually use them. I finally gave up, and put them under a pile of supplies that I would “get to someday.”
A fellow scrapbooker put out a challenge to put together page kits. One of my goals is to include those hard to use items in my kits. That way, at least some of them will make it onto a page. So for one of my page kits, I tossed in the entire pack of chipboard frames. I was DETERMINED to use them. For this kit, I also included some very old chipboard shapes and cork hearts. (I honestly love those hearts. I just don’t tend to reach for them very often.)
The papers came together quite quickly. I pulled an old lime green tone-on-tone print for the background. Then I added that lovely teal vine paper on top. It’s so pretty! I also added a bit of blue from a paper pad, then used a border punch on it. The blue paper is also an attempt to use up some of those thin papers I purchased very early on in my scrapbooking adventure. I much prefer the heavier cardstock weight papers for my projects.
Once the papers were placed, then the fiddling began. I’m not talking about the good kind of fiddling that you can tap your toe to. No, I’m talking about placing, moving, and placing items again. At first, I was going for a diagonal design. I simply could not get it to work. Finally, I realized I could group them in more of a horizontal design. It still took quite a bit of finessing before I was happy.
After I got the frames where I wanted them, I needed to choose the paper scraps to fill them. This then began the game of “move the frame without bumping any of the others out of place.” This is not a fun game. I did make sure to take a photo of the frame placement before I began gluing papers. Still, it’s difficult to keep everything exactly in place. Admittedly, I did end up adjusting them a bit more before everything was attached to the background.
For once I actually enjoyed embellishing a layout! I am as surprised as you are! The frames took up so much space and added quite a bit of dimension. Each little space invited its own little decorating space. The best part? Those old chipboard pieces finally came out of my stash after sitting for years. I also included a couple of die-cuts and mixed in cork and wood hearts. It was so freeing to not work by the rule of threes or use a diagonal design. Nope, just place here and there until I was happy.
Going out of my comfort zone took a little extra time, but it was totally worth it. This is one of my favorite layouts that I’ve done in a long time.
Disney tip: If you want some nice photos without any people in the background, get to the park early. This photo was taken before park opening. Though not all parts of the park are accessible, there are definitely some nice photo opportunities available.
Scrappy Escapades 