Humble thanks for inviting me to be a #StickItDown Guest Design Team member this month.
My springboard inspiration for this challenge was the large photo. It's not often that I need to incorporate such an enlarged photo into my scrapbooks. The first image I thought of is a favorite of mine from 2019; a formal photo of my sister-in-law and her niece and nephews at her wedding. There was so many great moments to document from this much anticipated family event that I've had trouble motivating myself to jump into this project for over a year. So, this challenge was my excuse to get it started!
My style is generally not soft and romantic, but I had a ton of 12x12 Valentine's Day paper from my son's elementary school class cards years ago sitting in my stash. I usually tend not to purchase an entire collection and work within those perimeters, but I admit, I found it easier to quickly make decisions on layering by limiting myself to a collection of coordinating paper, so I may just have to start purchasing some of those bigger Happy Scrappy Bags and full collections from my favorite suppliers! Wish I had shifted the large photo over to the right a little more....
At first I put the circular patterned paper where the sketch shows the triangular pattern, thinking that was a geometrically similar. I knew I wanted to use horizontal stripes to subtly reference the old barn walls in the photos somewhere, and after trial and error I decided to reverse the locations of the circular and striped patterns, putting the bolder pattern in the center and focus on highlighting the title. I'm not a pocket scrapbooker, but I was gifted a small tile card set, that just happened to be a wedding theme. The patterned black and white graphics worked well with the Valentines day paper, so I'm looking forward to incorporating more of that set on future layouts for this project.
I mentioned on a previous post that I don't own a Cricket, so most of my titles are handmade. I've seen and used this technique creating a banner connected with bakers twine through grommets last year on a Pinterest page and was reminded of it again just a few days ago while watching a process video. I didn't have any really large alphas to use that worked so decided I would use a different font for each word in the tile, varying sizes to capture the spirit of the sketch. I love incorporating metal, grommets, wood and fibers. My architectural background probably influences these materials and is often reflected in my layouts, even on this softer palette. At first I used single ply bakers twine, but after studying an overall progress photo, I decided to braid some more bakers twine and lay it on top of the single ply, to make it pop out from the patterned paper.
Finally, I wanted to highlight the soft teal blues and burgundy in the papers, so I used embellishments, mostly flowers... (what layout wouldn't be more appropriate for flowers than a wedding?) I am sad that these are the last of the real pressed flowers I have in my stash! I've been experimenting more and more with pastes and gels on my layouts lately, and took this opportunity to use a new stencil to ground the photos more. I really like the stencil's bold graphic and how it compliments the circular paper pattern. Do you know when you take that one extra step you regret on layouts? In this case it was adding the glitter gel and blue fluff powder to the wood arrows... one step to many but, oh well!
The reason this photo is one of my favorites (of what seemed like millions of boring and monotonous formal shots of all the possible family combinations the professional photographer is diligently required to take on a wedding day) is because I grabbed the photographer and asked for a quick photo of the bride with the kids. It was a stressful and emotional day, not only because I was very self-conscious (as many are) in formal attire, but because our entire family were members of the wedding party, traveling 3 hours out of state and requiring this mommy to pack and keep track of boys and husband suit parts, shoes, ties, strategic uncomfortable undergarments 😳 and overnight bags while simultaneously hoping my high heels don't get too painful, too early in the day.
I was watching the kids and the bride from afar, in the middle of a large room buzzing with energy of an enormous (and much younger than me!) wedding party, and was so overwhelmed with emotion seeing my beloved sister-in-law, who became an aunt to my oldest when she was 12 years old, that I started crying. She was regally standing there as a beautiful woman loving my embracing boys. This once little girl, (who was my flower girl at my wedding!) has been a playmate, babysitter, friend, teacher, confidant, and mentor to my boys. She means so much to me, especially because I'm so grateful for the influence she has on my boys' lives.
So, there I was, crying ugly happy tears, and the photographer captured my reaction to the formal photo, hence the page and title inspiration.
It's so hard for most of us to make a point to incorporate ourselves into our scrapbook images, especially because the COVID-19 emergency has forced us to face our own mortality. It also reminds us our future generations need remember our personalities and faces and including ourselves into our creations is so important. I'm going to really try to resolve to incorporate my own image more often in my scrapbooks from now on, even the ones where I'm making my "ugly cry" face!
P.S. My heels and I made it down the aisle successfully, but not past the cocktail hour, when I changed into my comfortable flat shoes for the rest of the celebration!
sdm-
Supplier: MyLittleScrapbookStore: West Orange, NJ (I also entered this page into the Spread the Joy March 2020 Virtual Crop challenge #7 Bingo.)
Nuvo Glitter Ruby Slippers and Crystal Ebony Black Drops.
GinaK Glitz Glitter Gel Gold.
Vicki Boutin stencil.
LittleBirdieCrafts Song of the Sea Sparkle Florettes.
Authentique everlasting authentic life tile cards.
Tonic studios double ended glue pen.
Supplier: Michaels:
Valentine Paper, Valentine Polka-dot and Red Glitter Lettering and adhesive foam squares by Reflections.
Artist's Loft 0.3 black illustration pen.
Representative: Kristine Tanase Easton, PA
Wood embellishments by CTMH Urban Collection.
Supplier: Stampin up!:
Polyester vanilla 5/8" flower trim by Stampin up!
Blue fuzzy powder and enamel embellishments by Queen and Co.
Vellum Lettering and Stickers and teal marker by Polaroid.
Real flower confetti by Pressed Petals.
Lace tape by Pavilio.
Paperclip embellishment, gold plastic dots, grommets and alpha punches: unknown.
Powder puff coconut and coal miner chalking ink by Quick Quotes.
Sentiment sticker tab by DCWV. Supplier: HSN.
ATG Adhesive by Scotch.
Permanent Marker by Sharpie.
