Finger Pointing — March 2nd

Hello and happy Saturday! Before I get started showcasing beautiful projects today, I am going to mention a blog rule that many of you might not realize. We don’t have a lot of rules, but this one is important, as we try hard to be neutral and spread the love evenly around the many galleries we visit. We don’t allow any advertising on the Gallery Standouts Blog, as it’s a place to share talent, not to try to influence anyone to purchase a product. Many of you who receive the GSO recognition are on creative or design teams that require you to add a banner or watermark somewhere on the project advertising the products, designer or store. I encourage you to keep in mind, when placing the advertising, that if it obstructs too much of the design of your page, the GSO bloggers may be forced to either pass by your otherwise gorgeous design, or try to artfully crop out the banner (as those of you experiencing a cropped-out banner have probably noticed!). Watermarks are nearly impossible to remove and leave the project intact, and as a result will almost always need to be passed over. We’d love to showcase your scrapbook pages, cards and other projects, but the advertising sometimes gets in the way.

Today in the galleries I saw lots of wonderful styles on display. Good feelings, humor, great use of elements, fun photography, and different methods of story-telling. It was a lot of fun to pick today’s standouts, and I hope you’ll agree they are all quite special. Come take a look, I know you’ll enjoy today’s standouts.

This is Liz J., and these are my picks.

March stuff by Tia

I comment often on this blog about how fun it is to see the varied uses of new templates or kits after a release. I loved the different looks given to this kit, and wish I could showcase more of the fun pages I saw! I loved the bold use of the stripey background here. The color combination with the black & white photos was just stunning. Super mix of elements and whimsical papers to create just the right tone for that very special, sweet photo. Loved this one.

Dreamer by jacinda

There is a whole lot to love about this page! That color combination of the seafoam and gray is just beautiful! I love that unusual woven wood background paper. She used the weave to create a unique date spot, I really liked that idea. The shadow-work on this page really makes a difference, particularly for the frame and title. Loved all the girly touches with the lace and doilies. But the best part of this page, for me, is that she turned a photo taken in a not-terribly-perfect setting (the car) into a wonderfully optimistic moment, just by the photo treatment and embellishments. Well done.

Gone Buggy by Debbi Tehrani

There is a word in paper-crafting that many of us really fear: fussy-cutting. (Okay, that’s two words, hyphenated, but you get my point. And you probably get the point of why that word is feared, just by its obvious meaning.) But, it’s precisely because Debbi fussy-cut all of the cute little bugs that she added to this real-life paper page that earned her a standout mention today! That is a lot of work! And totally worth it, because she created a very dynamic, fun sense of movement with the different size circles populated by all those bugs. If I’m not mistaken, those circles are sewn onto the page? Fabulous look, particularly with the small drawn circles to give this more oomph, on top of the whimsical drawn notebook edge paper. Great way to use up brads too, which totally added to the look (I appreciated her accompanying blog post about using the brads!). What is it about boys and bugs? She captured the idea really well in this fun page.

all about that pace… by MarciLB

And while we’re talking about seriously awesome paper pages, this fabulous sports page gets some recognition today for its upbeat, encouraging style from a proud aunt! I loved everything about this page, from the torn paper behind the photo mat, the imagery with the sneaker, the fabulous action shots, the fact sheet, that fun title (Meghan Trainor would be pleased, I’m sure, at the pun!), but most of all for the story. This is what scrapbooking is all about, to me, telling the great stories of our lives. And, congratulations to Michael for running that marathon!

March BYOC challenge by amandaresende

I love really upbeat pages, don’t you? This one made me smile. What a great attitude to start the day, every day of the week. I like the design using the repeat banners of differing styles. Great word art on this page, and just a fun all-around get up and get going reminder. If I had scrapped this I would frame it and hang it in my kitchen to give me a boost as I head out to work in the morning!

Capture the Wonder by justbnsharon

This was the perfect photo for this technique! That burst of light shining in from the left side, combined with the fade into the paper on the right, is just a fantastic effect! Love the inset photos and the pretty elements to round out this design. Nice use of word art under the title.

Alrighty then, those were my Saturday picks, as we get March underway. I hope you enjoyed today’s picks, and if so, please click on the linked title and leave the artist some well-deserved love.