Wake up and Live.

After the horrifying events that transpired yesterday, for me, this sentiment feels more important than ever.  Prayers for Boston.

Photo Hoarder

I take a lot of pictures.  A LOT of pictures.  And while I have read that every so often you should go through your digital files, clean out the less important photos, and free up some hard drive space, I can't bring myself to do it.   Hello, I'm Shawna.  And I'm a photo hoarder.

(Hi, Shawna.)

Yes, it may look to the untrained eye like I have 10 (okay 20) copies of the same pictures but I swear...there are subtle differences in each.  And I can see them.  So yeah.  I can't click delete.  Anyone else have this issue??

Compounding my hoarding issue is the fact that I am pretty much a one-photo per layout scrapbooker.  I'm really, really trying to get more photos into a layout but I swear when I see a multi-photo sketch I get hives.  But I'm trying.  After a good dose of benadryl to get the hives under control, I tackled this one and managed to squeeze four photos into one 12x12 layout.  And...

I like it!

By the way I headed straight to the store and picked up a new pen after this...lovely thing to run out of ink mid-layout.  Ugh.

Thanks for looking!

Loved and Missed

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  I started back to work after a week long spring break and man is it tough to get back into the swing of things!  I spent much of this past weekend trying to come up with a layout for this week's CSI case file  but ultimately I threw away each attempt.  Something didn't sit right and I could not make any of my ideas work.

This case file was by far the HARDEST challenge I've been given yet by the CSI team.  It is National Humor month so the theme and embellishments were meant to conjure up a humorous page about something...likely the funny things our pets do, etc.  And believe me, with a 6 year old lab, I know funny!  However the color scheme didn't feel funny to me...it felt dramatic and I had a hard time building a funny layout around it.  Ultimately, I decided to scrap the one thing I have avoided scrapping for 4 years...the loss of a pet.  Because I had so much to say, the journaling is contained on the back of the layout, rather than the front.  Here's the layout.  I used gesso to build a textured white background and used a vintage clock mask to let a bit of color come through.  Then I used a template mask to add some script to the background, a dishcloth and another mask to add some shading and pattern, and a bit of acrylic paint here and there.  But for the most part I kept it simple, so the focus would stay on my much missed furry friend because she is really all this layout is about.

The Great Hair Band Comeback!

Had so much fun with this layout.  A few years back I had picked up a paper pack from We R Memory Keepers called Teen Angst for a commissioned scrapbook I was putting together for a teen's graduation album.  Most of the paper pack and die cuts have sat, unused for several years now...but like fashion from the 80's....they have made a comeback!  I was putting together a layout for another CSI challenge (that CSI founder Debbi was hosting for the ladies over at Soul Scrappers) and the die cuts from the Teen Angst packet were just too perfect for this photo.  Rock and roll is here to stay, dudes.

Family

Let me start by saying I cannot believe tomorrow is Friday.  I have been on "vacation" this week enjoying my daughter who is on spring break from school.  It has absolutely flown by and I can't believe that it's almost over.  I'm going to miss having all of this time to hang with the kiddo and immerse myself in scrapbooking fun.

One of my favorite things to scrap is my family.  Candid shots are my fave.  When I came across Ashley Horton's layout "Life," I knew I had found the perfect design to showcase this snapshot. The half circle paper scraps, the bold title, and the arrows were right up my alley. I do not often borrow from other designs, beyond the occasional sketch, but Ashley's work was so spot on for what I had in mind for this picture, I knew this would be the exception. While this layout doesn't do the original justice, I love it just the same. I took some elements from her page and changed them a bit, working with Heidi Swapp chipboard, some stitching, some Little Yellow Bicycle embellies, and some Oh Snap Project Life papers. The result feels perfect to me.
Here is the finished product, and below are some close-ups of the details I put into the page.

I penciled the sketch of an arrow then filled it in with black embroidery floss.  Love the way it looks with the chipboard hearts in the middle.  Below it is a stamped heart arrow, which I went over with a black marker to deepen the shade.

More stitching below the photo with two strips of paper, cut at the ends to resemble ribbons.

A hand-cut, double-layered heart with a Heidi Swapp arrow perfectly covered an "oopsie" in the lower left corner.

I should also mention that I am currently loving using the left-over vellum paper-tear strips as borders...I used them both above and below this photo...in honor of scrap my mama never taught me BUT would be proud of...I try to use every bit of product in my stash.  Because my mama did in fact teach me that there's a place for everything.  In this case, there's even a place for the paper tear strips from a wire ringed vellum paper pad. 

Thanks for looking!