Peas & Carrots

I scrapbooked! And man did it feel good. I've been working on pocket pages for Project 12 and Week in the Life. But those take me soo much longer! I feel like they require much more planning & printing & photo editing. Basically, they aren't my strength, which is why it takes me twice as long.

So today, I decided to scrapbook. As in make a layout. 

   

I've been watching my Big Picture Classes videos & reading my handouts for Hello Story and Art + Science. They had me itching to jump into the Art + Science prompts and back into Hello Story. And of course, after taking Jill's Scrapbooking from the Soul class, my journaling has forever changed.

This page is a conglomeration of a few prompts. First, its for the right brained process challenge from Art + Science. Which was to think of a story I wanted to tell, find photos and discover the title & journaling. 

This was a bit of a challenge, which surprised me. The creative bit wasn't a challenge, but rethinking the order of things definitely was (i.e. the process...hence the challenge!). Originally I had a different title in mind. I kind of couldn't help myself! But the further into the process, my journaling & title evolved into something different.

Another part of this challenge was to include a pocket. I tucked some ephemera, a journaling card and typed notes into a vellum pocket I stitched directly to the cardstock.

Here's the view of everything pulled out from the pocket a bit.

I had a lot to say about these photos. So much, I included 3 different journaling spots!

I originally stapled a bit of scrap cardstock to the receipt, just to add stability. But it ended up being home for journaling about this past Saturday and how mama & I love to visit Hobby Lobby together. And how we bought a bunch of stuff to make a project.

Note how messy my handwriting is for this bit. I "wasn't on my best behavior" so to speak. I knew it wasn't going to mess up the design since it was in the pocket, so I just wrote. Didn't worry about the spelling, not so much the grammar either, just a stream of consciousness.

I loved this patterned paper with the page. I unearthed it from my scrap pile and thought the colors worked well with this fall-esque themed page. But knew it would be too busy to print my journaling on and I didn't really want to cover it with vellum. So instead, I added a label sticker indicating the journaling was on the back side.

I used a pointy finger stamp. Remember when those were so popular? I had them in a few different stamp sets and think this was the first time I ever used one. Since this is also slipped into the pocket, I don't want someone looking at this later down the road, to not notice the journaling on the back.

Here's where I incorporate the latest Hello Story prompt which is also about opposities. How my Mama & I are very different, but a little the same.

This last tiny journaling card is just a guide to the photos I used on the page. It was a mix of photos from a few different places and occasions. I also included the dates. I think it makes it look a little like a library card & I absolutely love that! Especially since one of the things Mama and I have in common is that we love to read.

Oh and about the background paper. That's also part of Ali's prompt, which was also about contrast. I repeated "for the love of fall...for the love of pumpkins...for the love of orange...for the love of skeletons and crossbones" over and over again using the best white gel pen in the world!!! It is a lift of a background paper she made and used on one of her page prompts.  I obviously loved it so much I wanted to lift it. But I love how my page is different enough from hers and that it also feels very me. 

I love love love the colors in this! Probably because I love fall. I love the gray mixed with the orange and the green and the warmer tones in the photo.

And that title, it definitely came last. I think I had originally wanted to title this page "For the love of Fall..." to talk about how much Mama and I enjoy this time of year. But after writing the journaling, I thought peas & carrots would make a better one. And, I couldn't help but get excited that the colors so perfectly matched my page!

Me and Mama, we're a lot different. But a little the same.

I'm loving taking classes lately, in case you can't tell. I'm learning so much and totally enjoy being a student. What about you? Have you taken any classes lately, that you love? Share in the comments!

cheers & besos,

Hello Story Pages

Morning yall! I wanted to jump on quickly to share the last few pages I put together using prompts from the Hello Story class.

This first page is all about direction. I don't usually scrapbook my failures. So it was a different kind of approach for this page, which is all about how I couldn't pass the PMP exam. [Tear! ....sigh]

I've had to re-adjust and re-orient and now am on a slightly different career path than the one I had envisioned in my head. Which is fine, it just means I have to look at things from a new perspective which never hurts.

For the page, I used Ali's digital elements to clip the images down into arrows. The rest of the layout was done on an axis. I put down some washi and dug into my stash of arrows to finish off the page.

Math was the theme of another of Ali's prompts. Using some inspiration from the class, I came up with this white + black + dash of red color scheme and design. It's a hybrid page (I'm loving those lately!) with just bits of dimension--silver paint splatters and punched/pop-dotted + and = signs. I also did a bit of stamping with my roller stamps.

In an unlikely turn of events, I went to a business meeting and came away with a kitten. Well...maybe not quite like that but it wasn't very far off! Look me at all innocent and unknowing on a Saturday, then mama to fur baby on Monday. Life!

cheers & besos,

Macclesfield

I scrapped! For the first time in what feels like forever but has really only been about a week. It's the first layout I've done in a while, that I sat down and finished all in one go. Life with this wee lil one has been busy, as you may have seen.

This is her first page! It goes into my family album along with all the other pet pages I make.

I used inspiration from Ali's Hello Story class as the basis for the page. Plus a whole slew of Two Peas CHA Challenges: [One Color] My fave, yellow! With mixes of gold and the white + black + brown neutral that was allowed [Eight Straight Lines] This was an accident. I didn't think about it applying until the end, but once I did, I noticed I was only missing 1 line. I added the stitched black thread at the bottom. [Nine Older Products] This is all from at least the last CHA release and includes a whole variety of washi tapes, some rub-ons, that cute Pebbles tag and some of the darker wood veneer.

I added a lot of twine/thread to this layout since I've never met a kitty that doesn't love some string! Plenty of hearts because we've only had her for a week but she's already loved.
And all the yellow/gold I could manage since it's my fave.

That felt good. I might just scrap another one =)

cheers & besos,

China Timeline

Hey yall! Halfway through the week and it feels like it has been a long one. My social life has been super busy lately so also not getting a whole lot of rest. But I'm happy. So happy =) 

I'll share more about that later, but this morning I wanted to blog my first Hello Story layout. 

You only have until tonight to register for this class, so get on it! I'm like 99.9999% sure you won't be disappointed. Because Ali isn't a legend for nothing. She's the best! So inspiring, simply amazing.

Here's my first page, a double page layout that's pretty much a direct copy of one of Ali's class layouts. If there's anyone I have no qualms about directly copying, its Ali. Her clean and simple style is amazing and she adds just the right touches of design and texture. Ahh! I could gush on Ali all day, but back to my page.

It's pages 2-3 for my China/Thailand album. (See the cover page, another lift, here) It's an overview of where I went the two weeks I visited. And yes, I do recognize that Hong Kong is it's own separate entity. It was just easier for me to include it no this one page. So hope I don't offend anyone!

I used geotags & compasses in fitting with the travel theme and tons of my fave travel stamps; sets from Kelly Purkey, October Afternoon, Mama Elephant.

The rest is just the details. Love these plastic letters from Crate Paper's The Pier collection!

I mixed stamps and brads as my primary embellishments. The Simple Stories Urban Traveler set is absolutely fabulous!

I hand wrote all of my journaling and included some stamping in there as well.

The majority of the stamping was done with the Brilliance gold ink pad. LOVE!

And I added a really subtle background design to the white cardstock. I stamped in gray on a scratch sheet of paper and then used the inked October Afternoon stamp again for a very soft look. You can barely see the "See the world" sentiment but it's there!

I have a process video for this layout coming. And no worries, it's a very different kind of process video. All about overcoming obstacles when you scrapbook, not necessarily showing you how I made the page. Because believe me, you want to see Ali do it, not me! So sign up, won't ya?

Yall have a lovely day!!

cheers & besos,