Author: Stacia Hall

It’s always a nice end to a busy Monday to spend a little time looking around the digi-galleries. I’m amazed as usual at the level of talent and creativity in these sites. There are a multitude of styles represented, some galleries lean more toward a certain genre, others showcase a more different style but the enthusiasm of the scrappers most certainly shines through no matter where you look.

Let’s see what I found to share with you today:

Live Enjoy by Navaja77

I love the ombre and how it brings out all the different colors on the page. I like how the diagonal stripe leads right to the vertical strip and then the page design seems to flow right around the focal photo with the outline of the stitching. Truly gorgeous clustering, both over and under, but it takes nothing away from the precious photo.

Everyday by dvhoward

I love the frames within frames and the dark stitching just POPS against the neutral background. Nice use for the photo frame to be the anchor for all the little tucked bits and love how she uses the paint to create color repetition around the page. Really pretty!

Remember This by twinsmomflor

Fun photo treatment, it can’t have been easy to extract the people in the shot with so much movement. Stunning shadowing with all the layers, it looks so very realistic on the stark white backdrop. The vertical paint strokes and the doodles echo the movement in the picture.

Wings in my Dreams by wombat146

There is an ethereal quality created with the black and white photo and the gradient nature of the girl. Amazing reflection in the photo and it adds so much to the “story”, it feels like she’s looking in a mirror, contemplating. I love how only her wings are in color, making them definitely feel real… like she could fly.

9/10 Challenge by tammybean04

LOVE the bold colors! This just jumps right out of the gallery at you! Nice mix of colors and patterns all held inside a shape of its own, with the addition of beautiful clusters. I love how it all feels anchored with the fasteners and stitching.

Inspiration Challenge by mcurtt

I do love me an expansive credit list for a page and this definitely has one, you can just tell! And we all know how tough it is to mix a lot of different kits and still make it feel cohesive. It seems almost like a travel journal or smash book, with lists and brochures, maps and keepsakes. There is A LOT of information on this page but it feels organized, not cluttered. Nicely done!

I hope I’ve inspired you a little tonight, maybe to scrapbook or maybe to look around the galleries for a bit yourself later!

I hope everyone can forgive me for a little brevity tonight, my home closing was moved up a week and it’s a flurry of activity around here. The digi galleries have a lot of travel and back to school pages, have you noticed? We all seem to be remembering and scrapping about the fun we had this summer while looking forward to the schedules and the bit of normalcy that a new season brings. So let’s get to it, shall we?

The World Is Wide by shivani

I love the focal photo set on point like this, especially how it echoes the valley view of the coastline. I love the small patterned papers on the crisp white background mixed with additional photos and how she used the colors in the patterned paper to accentuate all the angles on the page.

Rain and Mushrooms by ArmyGrl

I like the little slivers of borders on the edge, they really make the white background POP! I love the doodled cloud in combination with the dimensional rain drops and storm clouds. The subject of the page is cute and whimsical, too!

Keep Right America by ouisiekelly

It has an almost urban feel to it with all of the doodle/sketchy marks. The paint splats, brushwork and blending definitely give off a graffiti type vibe. Very eye-catching!

Yes, I Am All Me by amandac

All about me pages are definitely some of my favorites. This one makes me think of her flying free among the stars. I love all the repeated circle shapes and how she’s used the white to make all of the journaling strips pop off the page.

Life is Beautiful by athenais

I love the centered photo on the dark mat and the asymmetric pastel cluster on one side. Gorgeous shadowing on all the little bits in the element grouping. Really pretty!

California Fire 2016 by wimpychompers

This page is just stunning! Photo-less layouts always make you work a little harder to get the whole story.  The ombre fire colored paper hints at the story. I love the mix of patterns, the warm colors and the blue shades echoed from the title, the wood paper. I love the breadth of the page, the template choice allows for a longer story but the width of it symbolizes the importance to me.

I hope you enjoyed my picks for tonight. As always, if you’re visiting the galleries for a closer look, leave the scrapper a little love!

 

 

It’s a beautiful day here in sunny Central Florida, with the humidity that everyone dreams about…NOT! So we’re all about the indoor activities around here. A little bit of shopping, some housework and cabinet cleaning followed by some Olympic coverage and digital gallery browsing for me. Let’s see what I found around digi-land for you this evening.

Cub Camp by jak

As the parent of an Eagle Scout, any scouting or camping layout gets a long hard look from me. And this one is a beauty! I love the horizontal based page design, the natural elements peeking from behind the layers, the color repetition in the orange and yellow colors. She captured much of what cub scout camp is all about in just her element choices. Lovely page!

Love You to the Moon and Back by tammybean04

Well isn’t this just adorable? I like the duality of the horizontal stripes in the paper choices, the bright pink and yellow colors. I like the echoed florals on the background paper and the happy paint drips and brushwork. And her shadowing is truly divine!

At That Time by *gina*

How totally fun! Using a heritage photo goes so well with the monochromatic color palette. The ink drips make me think of an old printing press while the vintage telephones are a perfect addition to tell this story in such a visual way.

I Need by seniorgal

You may as well be able to laugh about stuff like this! Many of us need glasses, some earlier in life than others. I notice that much of her layout is slightly blurred and blended, while the journaling is in two sizes (I’m guessing to symbolize the eye exam) and crystal clear reinforcing the tale of a new pair of glasses. Love it!

Hope by catgoddess

She has such an amazing style, I can always pick her pages out of the galleries. I love the vertical orientation for this layout along with the small turn it takes for the title placement. The clustering is gorgeous and effortless, looking like the flowers might have grown that way. Really beautiful!

London Eye by caliten

I LOVE all the echoed circles on both sides of this two-page spread. What a great way to reinforce the theme of a ride on the London Eye! Black and white possibly for the often cloudy and rainy London skies, huge photos for the stellar views captured. Love the embellished circle on the right balancing the parallel journaling on the left side.

I hope I found something that inspired you tonight. As always, if you’re looking up close in the gallery please leave the scrapper a virtual high-five!

 

Browsing the digi galleries is the perfect activity to go with my Olympics watching tonight! {come on, be honest… you’re probably watching, too!} We’re starting to see the back to school layouts online but they are combined with some outdoor fun and plenty of those last minute vacations before the summer break comes to an end. I’ll get right to it so we can get back to the sports!:

1st Day of School 2016 by Iowan@Heart

The page design implies a heart shape to me (which may or may not be representative of how they felt on the 1st day of school). I’m a sucker for school supplies, even now and having the more realistic ones included on a page along with the increased depth of the shadows here really brings out the realism. The use of primary colors also reinforce the education theme.

Kindle Story Time by MrsPeel

LOVE the vertical orientation and all the little bits she included. Really like the parallel lines of title work and the sawtooth border balanced by the horizontal elements, the pops of red, the mixed alphas, the stitching and paint to anchor the page and the little clips that just scream bookmark to me. Gorgeous page, Cynthia!

Hello by pagefrocks

I love that it’s monochromatic all the way down to the gorgeous dog! It’s a beautiful photo to showcase, sharp and clear, the focus on the eyes reinforces the theme of watcher and protector. I like how she included just enough elements to make the page feel complete but still so clean.

Escape to the Beach by huyentrang43

First off, are those matching outfits precious or what? I love the juxtaposition of the photo and card set on the diagonal on top of the classic grid, the crisp white paired with the red and blue, the soft retro feel of the photo editing, the beautiful shadowing. Lovely page!

Swiss Alps by suladesign

Gorgeous! Love the wood elements, grass and mud to bring out the nature theme along with the multiple triangle mountains, the meandering path created by the tiny triangles and the sky blue and leaf green color palette.

Scrap Challenge Camera by farrukhj

Fun photo! The sharp vs blurred elements reinforce the idea of cameras. I like the echoed items, the circles, the muted colors, the stamped word art. Those eyes just grab you out of the gallery!

I hope you’ve been inspired tonight! If you check out a layout up close, please leave the scrapper a little love. You’ll make her day!

 

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday, spending time at home or enjoying moments with your family. I find that taking a few quiet minutes to browse the online galleries always leads to my finding inspiration. I hope you carve a few minutes out of your day today for a creative pursuit, whatever makes your heart happy.

Let me show you a few pages I found in the galleries today:

You Will Hear Me Roar by AnikA

You can just see the positive attitude and thoughts spilling out of her head. I love the simplicity of the design, no need for extra embellishments, the variations in the bold paints on the white background make the page pop out and grab your attention. Adding the paint to strictly the eyes was a strong design choice.

My Inspiration by Biancka

I always gravitate toward beautiful element clusters, there’s something about precise arrangement that still feels effortless. This page with all of its bold, bright color choices doesn’t feel the least bit cluttered. It’s a gorgeous mix of patterns and scale. Proof that tiny things can be powerful.

Mermaid Hair by hosanhelwa

I love how it almost looks like she’s part of an undersea world with all of the paper and element choices. It feels more like a place to visit than a scrapbook page. This layout grabbed my eye right off the bat! Nicely done.

If Only She Remembered by sthomsonfot

 

What a powerful page! Photos spanning a lifetime with bits of handwritten journaling. I feel the shift in the loss of vibrancy of memories from the past toward the present through the use of color. This will be a layout treasured by her family.

Mermaids by ScrappinRosie

I love the somber, whimsical nature of this one, the mixture of the blended photo with the more realistic antiqued nautical elements. You CAN almost picture the mermaid sitting on the rocks staring wistfully out to sea while turtles and dolphins flock to her to try to cheer her sad mood. Just beautiful!

Family Portrait 1966 by AZK

I love to see heritage pages in the galleries! Perhaps it’s because the photos are so different from today’s, either in the details or the color tones. Or maybe it’s just because it’s a little peek into the past and I’m happy that someone took the time to scan the photo and tell the story so that it is passed down to future generations. Beautiful vintage details and color palette to coordinate with the photo. I love how the antiqued paper echoes the passage of time and the reinforcement of the numbers and the six. Very pretty page!

I hope I’ve inspired you to create something beautiful of your own today!

 

This is starting to become one of my favorite things to do on a Monday! What could be better than a glass of iced tea and browsing the digital galleries after a day of work? As always, there is plenty of eye candy out there to see, so I’ll get right to it:

Makers Gonna Make by wendy85

I think she captured the joy that comes with guilt-free, get-all-messy-and-play, creativity. There are so many layers of goodness here and it almost looks like she fingerpainted the title work. Lovely mix of more realistic and doodled elements all tucked over and under. And on top of that, the shadowing is divine.

Summer Story by Heather Prins

Those little spray jets attract children like bees to flowers! I love how she included the masked close-up shot, can’t you feel the ice cold water? The gesso texturing and water droplets echo the theme so nicely. It’s a beautiful summer page.

It’s a Guy Thing by AliceM

I absolutely adore the clustering she’s done here, totally makes it look effortless. Lovely page flow from side to side, everything grounded by the paint. It’s even more eye-catching because of the bright primary colors on the white background.

Take Me Away by Wombat146

Tremendous symbolism here, breaking free, no longer willing to remain fenced in. The delicate feathers and brushwork reinforce the imagery of flight. Really stunning page!

Free by Ren

I’m very drawn to this one. Perhaps it’s because I have a young man of my own and this page makes me feel like she’s watching him walk towards his future. She’ll be there to support him but is relying on him to take what he’s learned over the years and make good choices as he moves forth into life. I love the balance created by that vertical border and how the journal strips fit so perfectly into the white space of the photo.

Hello World by Lor

Not only stitching but ombre stitching… be still my heart! Love how the variation in shades is echoed in the softly striped alpha and the pale pastels on the paper. Perfect photo placement, she’s peeking out into the big wide world.

I hope you’ve been inspired by my picks today. Head over to the galleries and share a little love with the scrappers.

For those of you in the U.S., I hope you’re enjoying your 4th of July and that you’re able to spend at least part of it celebrating with family and friends. Here in sunny Central Florida, many are taking advantage of local fireworks displays, splashing around in their pools to beat the heat and grilling outside. Because of the holiday, I can spend a little extra time browsing the online galleries today looking for pages that catch my eye.

How about I show you what I found?:

Don’t You Cry by Flo06nice

Beautiful clustering is always an eye-grabber for me. And I’m in awe of someone that can rock the clusters with tiny elements! I love the slight tilt to some elements but not all, the mix of patterned papers, the subtle brushwork . I adore all the tiny bits, layered and stacked, stitched and anchored down and the use of word art to set the mood for the page.

Dream by Gemma

She definitely achieved a dreamy quality here with the soft colors and all the bokeh brushes. I love the juxtaposition of the myriad of circle shapes with the angled rectangles and how she used the limited color palette to her advantage by having it lead the eye where she wanted it to go across the page. Soft, feminine and gorgeous!

Stars by IntenseMagic

Speaking of dreamy, this certainly qualifies as well! Beautifully balanced, soft, simple and thought provoking, looking into a vortex on a starry night. Just stunning!

Jumping for Joy by Arte Banale

This photo certainly captures the joy of summer! I love all the beachy bits, layered and clustered, the dual color stitching, the vertical anchor of the banner with the centered page design. The pops of blue echo the water in the photo and the color of her shirt. It’s a lovely mix of different word art, with multiple textures and styles that work so very well together.

Time by chickypow

Photo-less but you immediately grasp the story through the use of the song lyrics. {great song choice, by the way!} I love the dual purpose of the circle brush, both implying a clock and passage of time but also the concept that distance doesn’t separate relationships. Beautifully shadowed, too!

Stars and Stripes by xxSweeetxx

I couldn’t NOT pick a 4th of July layout today! And I LOVE this one by Jenna! Fun almost retro film editing, gorgeous clustering, bright, happy colors and patriotic, too. I like the checkerboard design with the smaller photos in combination with that adorable large photo. Just love it!

I hope you’ve found some inspiration in these lovely pages today. If you’re browsing the galleries to see them up close, leave the scrapper a big hello and let her know!