The Not So Famous Five...: Layout Catch Up

I know, I know, I'm not blogging very often at the moment. But I'm going to try harder from now on. I'm not going to make any promises about being a better blogger, about writing more often. Someone once told me "Never break a promise so... erm...never make a promise!". I am, however, hoping that home/work/scrap life will now settle down to a better rhythm now that Noah is at school full-time. In theory I should have more time. Funny thing, theory!

So, layout catch up. Even though I haven't been blogging I have been busy on other things, not just work or family life but I have been scrapping. A little. These 2 layouts were for a class I taught at the December 2006 Scrappers Unlimited Crop using acetate, glitter and paints. The acetate shapes were cut out using my CraftRobo (boy did it have steam coming out of its ears by the time I'd finished) and then Stickles glitter glue applied to create definition and dimension. I then used the negatives left in the acetate, once the baubles/snowflakes were removed, to paint a band of pattern across the background cardstock in varying shades. The red strips were created using my favourite scalloped edged decorative scissors (see they can still come in handy!). You can't tell from these photos but they really are VERY sparkly in real life.

This next layout was based on a cyber crop layout by the wonderfully talented Shimelle. It wasn't a 'do this, put that here' type of class but more of a design principle, one based on keeping everything in the middle of the page and the balance of white space around. I love this style anyway so this was no hardship to me. The hard thing was actually scrapping this photo. It was taken WAY before scrapbooking was a twinkle in my eye and so is a terrible shot but I love it. Love what it represents and the emotions it stirs when I look at it. It also went great with some Imaginisce papers that Fiona had given me at PaperArts which I had been feeling very guilty about every time I came across them stash hunting as I had done nothing with them (orange is not a colour I do!). I mix of hand-cutting and CraftRobo-ing on this one and some colouring in (how therapeutic is that?) on the little Jenni Bowlin journalling card.

The next was for a Scrapbook Inspirations feature in their January 2007 edition. They asked 12 different people to each cover just one month and come up with a calendar page to represent that month. The results were really interesting. Interesting on how people had interpreted 'calendar', the thing they focused on (some the season, some the month etc.) and there were some amazing layouts. Really inspiring. I've never done a calendar page before, thinking they would be boring but now I might have changed my mind. I'm not saying I will do one for every month of every year but they could come in very handy if you need a 'filler' layout in your album.

Finally just a couple of random layouts. The double layout 'Splashdown' and 'The Many Faces of Harriet' were both inspired by a Becky Fleck sketch. 'Splashdown' really is straight in real life and does line up - honest! I loved the sketch for 'The Many Faces of Harriet' and in particular the placement for all the little photos. Such a great idea. 'Christmas Concert' was a layout I did for the ScrapManic weekend, back in November, for my Ad Inspiration class. Obviously, it was inspired by an ad. Got to love ads, such a great source of free inspiration.