You Should Be Playing!

I decided to shake things up a bit, by posting a scrapbook layout instead of a card. Scrapbooking was actually my first love in the world of paper crafting. While I don't do it nearly enough these days (especially considering the hundreds of photos I have to scrapbook!), I still enjoy creating layouts.

These photos are of our youngest cat, Barney, when he was a kitten. This "trackball" toy was his favorite, and he still plays with it 2 years later.

With the patterned paper strips, I wanted to have a "circle" theme, to complement the toy in the photos. I chose the blue papers by Me and My Big Ideas based on the color of the toy. I created the striped paper by blending Scattered Straw & Brushed Corduroy onto white cardstock, using Simon Says Stamp's "Diagonal Stripes" stencil. I mainly wanted to have a contrast with the circles and blue color.

I used an EK Success edger punch (sorry, but I don't know the name) to punch the scalloped banner strips using a piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye "Boy Crazy" 6x6" pad.

After marking where my main photo would go, I adhered the patterned papers at a diagonal onto a piece of mid-tone grey cardstock. I adhered the focal photo even with the lower edge of the bottom strip of paper. Then I glued the smaller photos in a line above that. Finally I glued the banners in place.

For the cat embellishment, I stamped the image on watercolor paper using Ranger Archival Jet Black ink, and colored it to look like Barney with Inktense pencils and water. I cut it out, and went around the edges with a black marker to cover the white. Finally I glued it in place.

I printed the title & date onto pieces of the paper I used for the banners, and the journaling onto a piece of blue cardstock. After adhering those, I die cut circles from patterned paper, and glued them in place to create a visual triangle around the page.

I finished up the page by adding faux stitching along the lower edges of the banners; around the date, title, and journaling block; and around the layout. I decided the background was still a bit stark, so I masked off the elements, and flicked White Linen Dylusions ink onto the background.

I'm entering this layout in Simon Says Stamp's Monday "Anything Goes" challenge.