A Whole LOADa Fun!

LOAD February 2011 is full underway and the creativity is flowing. It's a bit tricky to keep up with the important things in life such as cleaning the bathroom (yeah right! ;-)  ) and feeding us both in the evenings, but the Martha Stewart in me will just have to wait until March (as if!).

I am targeting old stash which may be out of date, but it's stuff I still love (or it wouldn't still be sitting on my shelf) and therefore, it's a pity that it is forgotten. So far, it's working and I love seeing these papers reappear out of the depths of my room.

This month's theme is "Inspiration" and Lain is giving us a daily inspiration prompt which are encouraging us to really think about all the places which can spark our creativity. So far so good.

1st February

Take a stack of photos and flip through them. Take out the first that grab your attention and away you go.

These gorgeous ones of Cameron did exactly that and off I went. I can't take any credit for the photos - I kind of swiped them off Liberty's laptop (with permission of course!). I teamed the photos up with some really old product from BG - these papers were some of the first I got  but I still love them and have just been waiting for that special moment to use them up. Bizarrely, I seem to have two copies of each so I don't really feel like I have used them up!

2nd February

Go to ebay and type in your name. Take inspiration from the results.

I was really skeptical about this one - what one earth was that going to bring? Well, there was a book by Lisa Something or other which featured a blue monochrome cover with lots of branches that I thought was interesting. When I saw what others had done with this idea in the gallery, I realised just how wide that "take inspiration" can be. This is definitely something I will do again in the future. It was a lot of fun.

3rd February

Use the title of a song or the lyrics to title and feature on your page.

Those of you who know me personally won't be surprised by this one. I chose Elton John's The One to highlight the one and only time in more than 12 years that we have danced! The words say it all. I loved how this came together.

4th February

Five on Friday - the five product challenge. Two pieces of patterned paper, some bling, an alpha and 18" ribbon. Lain generously allowed us free cardstock, pens etc.

I started off by deciding I would use this Bella Blvd paper left over from a magazine layout last summer. The line was perfect as the papers were double sided, with elements and strips on the other side as well as having an alpha which included two fonts and some stickers. So I guess I "cheated" a bit! But I couldn't work in the ribbon so I saved there! As soon as I had decided on the papers, I then knew that I needed to find some of these Maddie photos. She is a cutie and a half!

5th February

We were given a page from a magazine as inspiration - a contents page.

I liked the large and two small photos and after flipping through my photo files, I knew that I wanted to do a teenager in the house page and another set of half used papers from American Crafts seemed to fit the "house" theme.

6th February

Look into your inspiration file and use it.

This design was from the Nic H class I did last year "Colour! or is it Color?" that I just love so much. I love the strips of paper and the space for a lot of journalling. I used the anniversary card I created and I made a small pocket inside the card for the silly little copper wire hanger I had included as a little present.

7th February

Use colour to conjure up an emotion even if it's not a colour or combination that is usually thought of.

I'd seen a lot of greys aroudn the galleries recently and decided that I wanted to try it out. I matched it up with a pretty picture to make a calming layout. More old BG (Ambrosia and Blush).

8th February

Product inspiration - use buttons in a new or original way.

I used my Flickr favourites file and looked for ideas. I came across a gorgeous digital layout with a tree topped with heart leaves. I grabbed this favourite Scrapagogo kit from last year and pulled this together quite quickly. I know it seems like I do a disproportionate number of  Ted layouts but over the last few years he has spent a total of about four months with us and we have tried to do a lot of local sightseeing and activities. Therefore, I have a LOT of photos of him and events which makes for a lot of layouts.

9th February

Use a sketch.

The is based on one half of a double sketch and I decided to even things up by featuring the adorable Isabella having done the other two Chance kiddies earlier in the week. Photos courtesy of Liberty again. Using up some more old papers. Every time I use Crate Paper, I realise how much I love it. So looking forward to their CHA released papers to hit the shops. Portrait and Emma's Shoppe look like gorgeous ranges to get.

10th February

I didn't follow the prompt today as I had the idea of this layout and wanted to get it finished. I had sorted out these photos when I had done the Ted layout two days ago and decided that it would be nice to get these Köln (Cologne) Cathedral photos done. Again using the Nic H design from a few days ago but also a fellow LOADster, Cathy D's 4 photo design.

Well, that was the first ten days of LOAD and as usual, I'm having a ball! It's so wonderful to be creative every day and to be surrounded by talent, by inspirational scrapbookers and LOAD friends and to be having fun.