This week I'm gonna have you putting on your thinking caps and creative aprons. I'm going to give you an exercise that will really have you FLEXin' the creative part of your mind. This week I am challenging you to create something with the following two guidelines, a double-whammy, so to speak: use less-than-stellar photos and patterned paper that you have in your stash that you're not so crazy about anymore.
For the first part of the challenge ---- We all have photos where - darn it! - someone's eyes are closed and it would have been a perfect shot....or little Johnny ran right into the bottom of the frame as you snapped the picture....or the lighting wasn't right. You know what I mean. But when you look at those less-than-stellar photos there is usually a good story behind it - am I right? I had to dig back to my pre-digital camera pictures to find some of this kind. Back to when you shot a roll and couldn't edit out the 'bad' ones. You got what you got. This was challenging for me because I like to have 'nice' photos on my pages. I shy away from my boxes of pre-digital photos because a lot of them are no where near as nice as the pictures I take now. (I am by no means an expert photographer but I have definitely improved over the years.) I forced myself to find pictures in those boxes that had a story behind them. They are just as much a part of me and my family and my life as the new and improved digital pictures.
The second part of the challenge ---- As you grow and mature as a scrapbook artist so does your style and taste in supplies. I think we all started out with the decorative edge scissors (which are now making a comeback!) and the pictures cropped into all sorts of weird shapes. We all have those papers hidden in our supplies that we bought eons ago because they were so cool and now we look at them and think what was I thinking? Dig deep and look for them - they're in there! Now look at the paper in a new way. Can you alter it? Paint lightly over it so it's not so prominent. Cut out part of the pattern. Use a small amount of it to make an accent. Sand it or distress it with ink. Not so bad anymore? This is where you need to push yourself as an artist. Make it work. You'll be surprised!
My entry for this week's exercise uses some patterned paper that looks like pool water. I've had that in my stash for at least four years. And I kept passing over it because what on earth am I gonna do with it? I bought it because I thought I could use it for pool pictures but I never did. And now, four years later, it is very 'dated'. I found pictures that I took of Sarah and Todd in my parent's pool at dusk back in 2003. The lighting was not good at all and the pictures got blurry. But there was an important story to be told in those pictures. Sarah was four years old and her personality has not changed much since then. She's so afraid to try something but once she does, she likes it and finds out it wasn't so bad after all. Here's my layout (click to see pictures larger)
I 'updated' my pool paper with new supplies from the Jenni Bowlin May kit and some pretty Tres Jolie buttons from My Mind's Eye that coordinated so nicely with the color of the paper. Some close-ups...
The word "remember" is a Heidi Swapp stamp; the staple is an EK Success Fastenater staple; the bird and bracket transparencies are from My Mind's Eye.
The 'little miss independent' sticker is from Making Memories. I sanded the edges of my focal point photo (and if you look close at the picture you'll see that Sarah's eyes are in that mid-blink state. Less-than-stellar, yes, but it was the 'strongest' photo of the bunch and I used it and made it work.
The dotted lines on the Jenni Bowlin die-cut are rub-ons from her May kit. The green letters 'spread your wings' are rub-ons from American Crafts. And, the journaling......
Remember - there is no time limit! This is supposed to be fun. When you complete your project leave a comment in the appropriate exercise post with a link to your work (see exercises in the left column). And - if you just found me - anyone can join in at anytime!!! Please play along - the more stuff there is to look at the more inspired we all become!
Check out Roos, she did the '12 months 12 moments' exercise; and Lis did a layout for the 'be' exercise; Gigi made a cute album with some 'old stickers'. Thanks for playing girls! :-)
That page is simply divine! Love it!
Posted by: Tammy | May 16, 2007 at 01:45 PM
i've been out of it for a while, but i am making it a point to sit and scrap.
i have the same pool paper!!! and when i read your challenge, i immediately thought of that paper! well, i have to dig out my "not so perfect" pics. with my 2 kids never wanting to pose - i have lots of pics to choose from.
Posted by: ellyn | May 16, 2007 at 04:03 PM
ok, here it is...
http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?gallery=1&cmd=display&layout_id=1154798
i had a hard time using this paper - not sure why i bought it in the first place. we tried so hard to get a perfect picture of my parents with all their grandkids and it just didn't work out. it was fun trying though.
Posted by: ellyn | May 16, 2007 at 10:45 PM
Ok...this challenge is pretty darn cool! You LO is freakin' off the chain! I would not know that you used less than wonderful stuff and still...your photos don't look bad. You are so talented!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have a creative day today and thanks for sharing with us!
-Karla
Posted by: Karla Dudley | May 17, 2007 at 09:09 AM
Patty you ROCK!!! This LO is phenomenal...I can't wait to see you again this summer at CKC!
Posted by: Cris | May 18, 2007 at 08:06 PM
Thought I would have problems with this one, finding it hard to create lately let alone do it with a blurry photo.
Ended up all comming together nicely though.
http://lifeinsegments.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Lis | May 21, 2007 at 10:12 AM