Finger Pointing – August 29th

Hello and happy Saturday! Today I am standing in for my friend, Marianne, to bring you some of the joy I found in the galleries. The appeal of today’s picks ranges from whimsy, beautiful photography, hope, love, good stories, inspirational messages, fun stuff you have to look twice to notice, and brackets. Yes, brackets, which called to me twice today, and I think you’ll see why.

This is Liz, and these are my picks.

Dad& Roli by golya

The creatively placed strips of patterned paper on this page makes such a great background! I love the shadowing of the strips too. Look at the wonderful expressions on the line of photos, which look so fun surrounded by the doodly frames. This page has the feel of casual whimsy, but I know that it took careful planning to lay down and shadow each paper strip and all of the elements supporting the photos. The unusual color combination of aqua, kraft, red and yellow worked like magic to make each piece stand out. Love the string of tickets! I looked at this one for a long time, and am in awe of the design. Well done.

middle school locker by Jen Flaherty aka jennyf92

In honor of all the moms of all the kids going back to school all around the United States over the next few weeks, I have to applaud Jen on a page that gives voice to all of our anxiety, hope and love for our kids as they make that journey into the strange unknown landscape of school. This heartfelt page made me bite my lip, hoping that he could remember that locker combination! And that is the sign of a well-told tale, one that gets the reader invested, hopeful, cheering on the subject. I love how she used the kraft mat to ground the photo, elements and text. That is a truly clever way she leads us from one side to the other with the bracketed journaling. Love the title.  Really wonderful page, Jen.

Winter in Spindleruv Mlyn by amonit

This delightful winter scene really appealed to me. I love the icicles hanging down from the top, the great doodly word art frame, and the adorable little reindeer looking up at the scene. That subtle background just barely lets us see the trees, and once I noticed them the scene just came alive. This page has strong shadowing, and that was the real eye-catcher. I loved the combination of doodly and real elements on this one. Wonderful!

Kaydee 7 months by KLLee

Here’s another example of effective use of brackets . This darling baby has the most beautiful eyes, and the photography and photo treatment are really special. The use of the brown and kraft elements against the black & white photo is a surprisingly effective combination. Love that vertical line of paper, lace, elements and sprinkles. And just as I finished admiring the pretty, feminine design, I noticed the shirt the baby is wearing. Too funny! This had to get noticed today.

choose happiness by bao

I actually found three pages by bao, in three different galleries, and would have picked all of them if there had been room. This is a very talented person! I enjoyed this page for its simple, positive message, delivered succinctly and with such a nice photo! Great depth and clever cropping on the photo. I enjoyed the little touch of the stitching leading to, but not beyond, the word art. The subtle bit of polka dot tape brings a nice alternating color, and worked better than I would have expected. I love seeing upbeat note-to-self type pages in the galleries. I am looking forward to seeing more pages by this artist.

Family – Montana trip (right) by hillareyd

This is actually a two page spread, and you can visit page two here (and I really recommend that you do!). That big-weave textured paper made a super background for this terrific multi-photo page. I enjoyed the combination of fun photos, great colors, and a nice family story. The small inset pieces of beautiful patterned paper worked so nicely with the flowers, tags, sequins and word art. And the second page has a cool cut-out chevron design that is so fun! I like that Hillarey included really fabulous family photos with hilarious out-takes, all on the same spread.

I hope you love the stand-outs today just as I did. If so, please click on the link in the title and leave a little love for the person who created the page. Have a great weekend!