Pushing on

Can it really be day 23 of October already? Well, my diary says it is and I have the pile of layouts from LOAD to prove it.

It can be hard to come up with something new and interesting every day but maybe that is because I try to really change it up each day. If you look back over the days, I hope you might find that each day is a bit different and I am trying to use a different combination of colours or elements. It helps that I have been using up old kits so of course each one of these are different. But I have also just been grabbing old papers each day and scouring the room for bits and pieces that need to be used.

Very often, the designs have not turned out as I saw them in my mind, but these are just for me and so it's ok. Like Libby always says, "The scrapbooking police are not going to come knocking on the door!"

Each day in LOAD, there has been a prompt which I have been using most of the time to give me a jumping off point. This also helps. But again, if I have another idea, I will use that instead. I am not getting hung up on anything. I remind myself that this is supposed to be fun. And yes, this month it has been fun. And therapeutic!

October 18th

** The prompt was to make a hybrid layout - as in use your computer for some aspect of the page. Hence the printed journalling which I often avoid as it takes too long to get the size right! Another two pager which surprised me too. But I saw these gorgeous autumn photos and I was lost! They were so gorgeous that I knew I had to use them all - untrimmed. The little cluster was inspired by the Create Free mini book I have been working through. The kraft label in the background is the base we have been using for the collages for each page and just thought it would be ideal for this. Problem is, I have a bit of trapped space underneath the "M" but I can live with that. What I find more difficult is the lack of margin on the RHS. I suppose I just should have stopped talking but the journalling was all about what I love about autumn and nothing could be left out so the victim was the common margin. Design sin #1!

** See that gorgeous Gretel Woodland paper there? Well, when I looked through my PP stash, I appeared to have about 10 sheets of the same paper. I mean, I love this paper but 10 sheets? I think I wanted to use it at some point for a selection of inspiration cards but never got around to it. So anyway, I have been using it up over the last couple of weeks. It features on my 12 on 12, my Create Free mini-book and generally wherever I think I can get away with it! I think I have used up 3 or 4 sheets so far. Any ideas of what else I could use it for???

** Yes, more evidence of the lack of a margin. It's not bothering me (*twitch, twitch*), really not (*twitch, twitch*).

October 19th

** The prompt was to use a Page Maps sketch (here) which was great as I love her sketches. I need to remember to use them more often. I adapted it to fit my 12x12 format and then I realised I wanted to make it a spread so I mirrored it. I take a lot of photos. Many of them seemingly have no point to them, but I like them nonetheless. These photos are examples of this. I have scrapped before about going "home" to Birmingham and being a tourist there these days but this time, I used similar photos to just note a few things I remembered about the Bull Ring from my childhood and compare it to its modern reincarnation. Do you remember King Kong ???

 October 20th 

** The prompt today was to make a 30 minute layout. Mmmm. As R always says when he is driving too fast and I remind him of the speed limit, "Yep, got that!" So, don't even ask me how long this took me. But I had come across this gorgeous CC paper that I just had to buy when I saw it - Fleuriste - and I was determined to use it. It was so grungy and proved a bit challenging! the layout  was not as successful as I had in my mind, but overall I was playing and kind of like it! The cutting along took me at least 30 mins so maybe I will try this prompt another time. 30 minutes sounds a bit scary but I think I could do it if I put my mind to it! The main thing I keep thinking is that I am using up stash and photos and writing down thoughts and stories so it is all worth it - 30 minutes or 3 hours. This actually looks better IRL if you can believe me! 

 October 21st

** Make something larger than the rest to make it stand out. I went to my large photo box and my eyes fell on this photo which I still love. No, more like LOVE! So there it was. A simple design made the 5x7 stand out even more and there's that gorgeous BG Origins again. A favourite for sure.

 October 22nd

** The prompt today was to use different methods to make the important part of the layout stand out or to guide your eyes to the main thing in the layout. Flipping through my storage binder, I saw these photos and challenged myself to use them. BG Boxer had the perfect colours as I wanted to bring out the red of the poppies and the blue and greens of the uniforms. The photos themselves are not stellar but it's a story about something that I miss now that I live outside the UK. And I miss the poppies even more. When I realised what I wanted to say about the photos, I realised that there was a perfect poppy in the photo, a proud looking older veteran directly next to some flags, and a young cadet in the foreground. They all seemed to sum up what I wanted to say and so I decided to highlight them.  The title said everything we need to remember.

 October 23rd

** Still trying to use up the Scrapagogo kits. This one from May is a little underwhelming but I loved this green paper and decided to be a bit brave and use it all! More photos from my 2007 storage binder which really need to be used up but which don't have a specific story. So the thing that binds them became the subject of the layout. Texture. The ubiquitous cluster and done. 

I have much more to share as I have spent a few hours working on my Create Free mini book but you will just have to wait - maybe till tomorrow!