Inspiration: Time Out Challenge #163 - The Proust quote made me think of my nieces, which I love to bits and whose presence bring tremendous happiness to my life
I'm still on a scrapbooking roll these days and I'm going with it as it's helping me power through the high pile of pictures I have printed and that I want to incorporate in my scrapbook albums. This page was inspired by the Hello Winter collection. I had initially purchased the patterned papers in 6" x 6" format and later, my local store received the chipboard pieces. I thought they were adorable (and maybe there was a sale involved?) so I purchased them. That being said, I usually prefer to incorporate chipboard on my layouts rather than on my cards, mostly because they are a pricier embellishment, but then I was a little unsure how to go about it using the 6" x 6" papers.
Flash forward to all the new info I've recently acquired through my YouTube deep dive (also known as keeping yourself busy while you're in social isolation) and I decided to see how I could make the 6" x 6" paper work on a layout. A lot of the tips I've picked up lately have been about how to store and reuse scraps, of both cardstock and papers. This contributed to me making this layout in a flash. In my reorganization effort, I changed my storage solution for 12" x 12" cardstock. I've used the Cropper Hopper vertical plastic folders/boxes (which were also sold by Stampin' Up! for a while) for many years and I was mostly happy with this option, but I recently noticed that a lot of my cardstock was getting their corners bent and I was not pleased with that. Those boxes work well as long as they are not too full, and mine were starting to overflow a bit. I couldn't buy more folders as I don't have room for more in the bookcase where I store them. In the meantime, I had found those beautiful clear three-drawer containers at Michaels. They were pricey, but I got three of them during a Buy 2, Get 1 Free sale. My plan was to store patterned papers in them, as I've been struggling lately to contain my ever-growing paper pile. That being said, even though the inside of the drawer is larger than 12" x 12", the paper still won't fit... because of the branding strips! I was really annoyed to find that out. I had started cutting the branding strips a smidge to get the papers in there, but this created a lot of unnecessary work. I recently realized that if I switched my cardstock to those drawers, that would ensure the corners stay pristine and it solved my size problem, as cardstock is true 12" x 12", so I made the change and I've been happy with it. While making the switchs, I found some cardstock pieces that were incomplete and that had already been cut into. I made a separate pile - those are meant to be divided by colour in my scrap drawers, but in the meantime, I've made a pile that I keep close to my desk and whenever I'm crafting, I try to see if there's anything in this pile that will work before I dive into my new cardstock.
This is how I wound up with a 8½ x 11 page. I realized that I had a grey leftover that would work AND that by using the smaller page format, it would make using the smaller-sized patterned papers easier. I also remembered that the Page Maps sketches include two 8½ x 11 sketches each month. I ended up using one from the March 2020 selection. One of the chipboard pieces had a very nice sentiment on it: Cold Weather Brings Our Family and Friends Together, and it became my page title. I have a lot of vacation pictures that have been printed recently, so I wasn't sure what I could find that would work with the winter-themed chipboard. I ended up finding a selfie of me with my two lovely nieces, taken when Arielle was still just a baby. You can tell this was taken in winter by her fleece PJ. The picture is also really neutral, so it went really well with the collection.
The only part of the sketch that was a problem was the band at the top. I was looking at my papers, trying to see if I could select a pattern where the seam wouldn't be too apparent and then I realized that I should shop my colour scraps to see if I had anything that worked. Again, in my recent reorg, I've gone through all of my collections and decided which ones I was ready to separate by colours instead of keeping them by collection. When I opened my aqua drawer, one of the first sheets I spotted was a dead-on match to the collection and had a lovely print that went perfectly, so the problem got solved pretty quickly. I added a snowflake punched border and grey washi tape.
I decided my grey cardstock was a little bland and needed speckles. I used the Brushed Pewter Distress mica spray and the speckle brush from Tim Holtz. I bought this at my local store quite a while ago after being inspired by a Tim demo (he sure knows how to make us want his products), but I don't think I had used it yet. Seeing the brush make a comeback in a recent demo brought it to the forefront of my memory and I remembered to pull it out today. It works very nicely, gives good control and also keeps my fingers mess-free, which I appreciate! Since the medium is in spray form, I pulled out my mini media mat and vaporized a couple of spritz on the white mat, then I dipped my brush in it. (On a side note, I thought the media mat was cool, but I knew I'm not doing enough mixed media techniques to make it worth my while. I've also been working on the magnetic mat from Basic Grey (think a more luxurious version of the Wendy Vecchy Make Art Station) and I can't imagine crafting on anything else. Once the travel-size version got release, I realized this was the perfect option for me, as I easily pull it out and put it away again, it comes with the sleeve to protect it when it's not on my desk and it takes up way less space when I do pull it out.)
The rest was just assembling paper and cutting some of the scraps as tags. I also found a white-patterned acetate while digging through my scraps for my earlier project today and I left it out on the desk, thinking I needed to find something to incorporate it in. It was perfect against my dark grey background and with the winter theme. I am really renewing with my love of scrapbooking now that my supplies are better organized - seems like my thoughts and inspiration is as well! I think this page turned out really cute. You'd never guess I initially felt constrained by the supplies I was working with. Let's hope I can keep the mojo going all weekend!
Supplies
Cardstock: Basic Grey, Midnight Muse (Stampin' Up!)
Patterned Papers and Chipboard: Hello Winter (Echo Park); Aqua Pattern (American Crafts)
Punches: Snowflake Edger (EK Success); Elegant Tag Topper, Tag Corner, Bonanza (Stampin' Up!)
Accessories: White Baker's Twine, Snowflake Sequins, Stampin' Dimensionals, Soft Sky Ribbon,
Washi Tape (Stampin' Up!); Silver Gems (Studio Katia); White Embossing Powder (Wow);
Eyelets (We R Memory Keepers); Brushed Pewter Mica Distress Spray (Ranger)
I am so pleased that our quote inspired you to create this wonderful page. Fab photo and I like how you layered up the different papers and all at different angles. The pretty edge at the top adds a nice touch. Thanks for joining Time Out x
Posted by: sandie | June 07, 2020 at 06:36
What a wonderful project of love. Wonderful layout, images, tags nad colors. Perfect for out challenge at Time Out! Thanks so very much for playing with us.
Posted by: Stephanie Lanzalotto | June 11, 2020 at 13:15
Love that you did a layout. Gorgeous! Love the color palette too.
Thanks so much for playing with us at Time Out!
Posted by: Lynn | June 20, 2020 at 09:13