It’s time to wrap up Labor Day weekend festivities and get ready for another week of work and school at my house. I know many of you in the US have kids starting school tomorrow and this weekend signaled the end of summer. It’s a season of change we’re in right now and I don’t know about all of you, but I’m super excited to be welcoming in fall. Soon enough there will be layouts about pumpkins, and leaves and rich colors. For now, the layouts in the galleries are still showing all the fun people had on vacation and this little bit of extra time (with kids in school) has let many of you have more time to scrap. I love spending time seeing what my fellow scrappers are up to in their own creative minds. I hope today’s layouts will inspire you to get some scrapping done this week too!
My first pick is a primarily black and white layout titled Be Bold by cinderella. In the comments for this layout the scrapper says that she was participating in a monochromatic challenge and I have to say she did a fabulous job! This black and white page jumped out of the gallery at me with all the graphic images mixed with the stripes and the newsprint. It’s like all my favorite scrap things wrapped up in to one nice layout. I really like the way the message is at the middle of the page. Even though this page is graphic, the scrapper still put a cute photo on it and the tiny pop of red in the crown is so cute! I really like how the wash of black makes all the other black and white doodles look balanced. What a great monochromatic page!
Next up is this adorable page by robinsasmai titled Boy’s Best Friend. What caught my eye right away was the angle of the main photo and the smaller photo. I love that the photographer is taking the picture from up above. It really gives this an interesting perspective. The black and white really stands out well with the purple and blue flowers as well. I love these clusters and the little details like the rope, the butterflies and the bits of spatter. Everything works together nicely to compliment and accent the photo.
My next pick as a totally different feel. Long for NYC by Breeoxd is a spectacular display of what I call mixed media style art journaling (okay, so a totally made up scrapbook category, but it works for me). Your eye can go all over the pages and find something new at each pass because there is so much going on here…but it all works together beautifully. In fact, the amount of things going on all at once pretty much fits the idea of New York City to a tee. I like the use of the border in select areas to bring your eye back in to the middle. The middle cluster with the title, the spats of yellow and the one red spot really captures your eye. The the face to the bottom right really makes is mix together beautifully. I just love this type of layout and this particular one is so well done with all the blending and mixing of doodles and more traditional scrap pieces. So nicely done!
Up next I have a layout that is a little bit hybrid – a mix of pocket scrapping with traditional scrapping. Swing & Slide by Deekaa really captured my eye with the large title at the top and the fun angled photo. I like how she mixed in clean photos with no matting or frames and then to be playful some ink spatters. Finally, there is a great story at the bottom, which is so perfect. I love everything from these bright colors to the nice use of black in the title for some contrast and even how she worked in some fun word art. A perfectly balanced page!
Next up is this fun Backyard Oasis layout by Jerilie. I just love the dark patterned background paper mixed with all the bright colored flowers. The flowers look as if they are floating across the page and really bring your eye in to the photo. I also love the use of sized down journal card and the mandala stamps to add some color on the dark background. This page has such a nice feel to it and it makes me want to go outside and have a little sunset fun myself!
My final layout choice for today is Bear @ the beach by AmandaJ. The white background with the hand cut looking rectangles had me giving this layout a second take. I really thought that this might be a paper layout until I saw this was made with a template – you had me fooled! I really like how the story is told here in both photos and in journaling. Something about this textured white background paper really makes the whole thing pop. The journaling in the typewriter font down the right side looks awesome and the photos mix so nicely with the patterned paper the scrapper chose. This is so well done and I just love this look for a page!
Well I hope you enjoyed my picks today and that you found something in one of these amazing layouts that inspires you to do a little scrapping some time soon. Have a great first week of September everyone!
