Finger Pointing – August 5th

I’ve spent a leisurely day checking out the galleries and I’m left feeling a little giddy with inspiration! There’s so much eye candy out there with all the different styles, ideas and creativity, and I feel so thankful to be part of digi-land, a community that adds so much to my life. It constantly inspires me, lifts me up when I’m feeling a little low, widens my horizons and perspective with the many aspects of peoples’ stories and quite simply, it wows me. In a big way. As usual, it was difficult to choose a small bunch of layouts but my picking process has left me excited to get on with some scrapping of my own tomorrow – I hope my mixed bag of goodness inspires you too!

New Day by Keevs is abundant with sun, sea, sand, Summer, you name it, it’s a beautiful, feel-good page. A great colour mix does a terrific job while the masking and layering add interest and depth. I love how the daisies appear to be mimicking the sun and the use of black, in the knotted thread, doodle swirl and word art, grounds the layout. The word art, by the way, had me singing the Justin Timberlake number in an instant! A gorgeous, free-spirited page!

The stamped backdrop on Love Ya by CatherineDavis captured my attention in a flash. This is a sterling example of how well repetition works on a page, with the textured look of the alpha adding a lovely detailed twist and the two lines of more repetitive text to the bottom adding a subtle foundation to the page. I can hear the laughter in the series of sweet photo’s that add the pop here and those little red hearts are the perfect finishing touch. Just wonderful!

I’m hugely inspired by colour and Isa Marks took her cue from the ledger paper backdrop and used one of my favourite combinations for her Memories page. I’m sure I have ledger papers in my stash which I’ve never used but this layout is inspiring me to dig them out and give them a go. A great mix of different elements create a lovely stack and you can always rely on paint splatters to give a page a playful feel. We have repetition here again with the word art that keeps the eye focused centrally on all the gorgeous detail. Totally beautiful!

I’m on Vacation by hkati features two characteristics that I would love to nail in my own work. Blending and artsy. I love how a larger copy of the brilliant photo, blended with a feint sepia tone, showcases the photo, like a picture postcard, perfectly. A great mix of splatters, scribbles and watery brush work adds the artsy and the chalked edges keep all the vacation energy on the canvas. Love this!

The contrasting colours of Be Brave by Mimisgirl really call for attention and I like how the entire page plays to the title. The framed photo, the title block and that little dotted arrow to the right are small in comparison to the pink and purple colour mix with the dash of yellow, the brush work, the masking, and the lovely flower cluster that are all big and bold, reinforcing the message of the page. So, so striking!

I immediately thought of my two youngest grandsons when I saw this page by tammybean04. And how difficult parenting youngsters can be. In fact, it can be hard no matter the age of the child but I love that this layout depicts how feisty and, let’s face it, sometimes fairly volatile, little ones can be! I love the mixed media, grungy back drop that contains all the energy in this page, the word strips, the wobbly alpha too and the ‘caution’ strips are simply perfect! If you look a little closer too, you’ll see the words ‘not negotiable’! Ain’t that right? An amazing piece of work!

And now my bonus pick will bring a little calm to the end of my post! This page by cocodou is beautifully light and airy. Pretty soft colour tones in the element mix compliment the gorgeous photo that is framed so nicely with the black thread. There’s a little bit of whimsy here too with the cute little owl alongside the word art. Then there’s all.that.white.space. Gorgeous!

That’s all for now folks. I hope you’ve enjoyed my choices for today and that they inspire you to capture some of your own stories and memories. When you have a spare moment, please click on the links above and leave a comment or two for the artists. We all like it when our work is appreciated, hey? Till next time, take care and I’ll see you in the galleries!