Heidi Challenge for August

I have been very bad at blogging recently. It is now two weeks since my last post and then this post is to be the same as the last one! But this time, I have managed to complete my Heidi challenge within the week it was set - almost the first time this has happened!

The challenge was to take a photo that makes us smile whenever we see it and blow it up as big as possible. Heidi printed it directly onto 12x12 cardstock and she also featured a layout with the photo printed onto patterned paper. Then the embellishments were to go down one side with a large title along the bottom and making use of a happy colour.

So I tried printed out my favourite Ralph photo (from Nova Scotia last year which has now been featured several times - must find another favourite!) on both textured cardstock in desaturated colour and also a lightly printed paper in black and white. The cardstock version won as the pattern did not come through very well. So I trimmed the cardstock down to cover the photo on the PP so that the scalloped edge would show round the border and therefore blue became my happy colour which was ok because pink would not really have gone with photos of Ralph and green is just a bit predictable at the moment! I used strips of mini photos - all from the Nova Scotia holiday (the strips were featured on the other featured layout which looked so good) of my beloved as my embellishment rather than the journalling spots that Heidi used which brought some more colour to a somewhat paler layout than normal. I used ghost letters edged in blue paint along with some blue strips of paper and a couple of the Creative Imagination stickers which helps to decorate it up a bit and brings some more blue into the whole thing.

It might not be as bright and sunny as Heidi's example as well as many of the featured layouts in the gallery, but it is somewhat more me.

It was good to use blue for a change and it made me realise that I also like this tone. The mini photos of Ralph were such good fun and made me realise that I took so many of him while we were on holiday last year (- maybe I will use some of these for my Shimelle class). I carried on with this theme to the calendar pages with many more of these index prints and some of the strips of blue paper.

I have optimistically entered our Canada holiday onto the calendar and am just keeping my fingers crossed! I am prepared for Ralph to cancel it but if we DO go, then I suppose we will have the best time!