February at Simple Scrapper #2

With LOAD keeping me busy this month, I've struggled to keep up with blogging over the last few weeks but just scraping in under the wire to share this second layout I made for Simple Scrapper this month.

I used a current story prompt to scrapbook a Pinterest quotation find. This photo has been sitting there for some time just waiting for the perfect moment to be used and I decided that another retrospective about my feeling regarding Bowie's death was the right time. I reflect on something I saw online when the news first appeared. It really did the rounds and summed up what so many were feeling at the time:

The design of the page was driven by a Simple Scrapper sketch. Each month, members receive a set of story prompts and a collection of sketches to help inspire their pages. This is a sketch that I had used before but I love it so much with those layers in the middle that I knew I wanted to go with it again.

 I used my May 2015 Counterfeit Kit Challenge Rejuvenate kit for this and I have to say that it might have been my favourite kit last year. The mix of pink, gold and aqua was just so good.

I love the way the sketch had all those layers tucked into different levels of the middle band. It gives a lot of dimension without the bulk.

To find out more about the many resources available to inspire you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership.

February at Simple Scrapper #1

February at Simple Scrapper means a new set of gorgeous sketches/templates and inspirational Story Starters on the theme of "Quotables". 

My first layout is using one of the sketches featuring a 5x5" photo. I don't usually use such a large square photo so it was interesting to find out just how much I like it! I will be trying this bigger size again.

I chose a black & white photo I found online of my musical hero, David Bowie and matched it up with neutrals and basic prints which don't try to compete with the bold contrast of the photo.

My journalling is short and prompted by a story starter from some time back, "Right Now..."

Some of the embellishments are a little symbolic such as the music washi, the note clip and elements of gold as well as the cork stars.

With the combination of the sketch and the story starter, this layout came together so easily. This was the second of now four layouts I've made about Bowie since the shock of his death at the beginning of January. Scrapping thoughts such as this has been a very therapeutic activity and I'm happy that they will have a place in my albums.

Come back early next week for my second February Simple Scrapper layout. Can't wait to share with you.

To find out more about the resources available to inspire you to create beautiful pages and tell meaningful stories in a supportive, communicative community environment environment, check out the Simple Scrapper premium membership go here.

Inspired by... advertising

Happy Monday everyone!

It's a short week for me (Thursday is a Bank Holiday here in NRW) which makes the week even better.

I have to admit to not being a Monday person. I don't get this whole, "Monday's my favourite day of the week as it's a new start...." For me, it's just the beginning of what feels like a looooong time until the next weekend! Yes, I know, I'm working on the positive thinking thing... it takes time :-)

However, last week I had a lot of free time in the evenings and nothing on the TV to tempt me out of the room (it's summer - repeats and family stuff only), so I used my time creatively.

My June Counterfeit Kit Challenge kit, All A Flutter, has proved great and I've already created four layouts from it. To help us during the month, the Counterfeit team post mini-challenges for us along the way as well as tutorials and all sorts of inspiration (you really should check out the site if you haven't already - it's proving such a great resource) and the first mini-challenge was to use advertising for inspiration.

I've done this before and it's really a great place to find all sorts of ideas. Some of the design team went for the design itself, the wording, the colours, the feel of the ad and so on. I had a bit of a problem in that I don't buy or subscribe to any mags at the moment apart from CK and The Scrapbook Magazine and was finding it difficult to find something that jumped out at me. Then I found some old publications that need throwing out from literally years ago and flipped through to find this rather serious banking ad:

It may be a bit on the boring side but I liked the title off to the right and the full width photo so off I went and pulled out some photos of Maddie for this layout:

I have hundreds and hundreds of photos of my adorable nieces and nephew and sometimes I need to look beyond the photo itself to find a reason to scrap them. I could've made this into a "Maddie on her big girl bike page" and in fact, I have more like this so that might still come, but I love the fact that Maddie really is a *pick herself up* kind of girl and so this take on the pictures came to mind.

Everything came from my kit and I even found place for 15 (!) brads which can only be a good thing.

Thanks to visiting this yesterday evening...

... I wish you a song filled Monday. 

I woke up with "Take Me To The Pilot, which is a very old Elton track, going round my head. But pick your favourite today and see how it makes you smile! 

(Go on, he may be a bit on the uncool side, but I bet there's one track out there that you like!)