Thursday 4 February 2010

Journaling Junkie Mid January Layout {Challenge 72B}



Yeah I know I've been a bit slow on the scrapping front this year & you know the reasons...to add to them I've been playing nurse to various members of my family as they take it in turns to catch the gastro bug - it ain't pretty & we sure are going through the air-freshener around here...nuff said...

Here are the specifics:- Your challenge is to look back over your life and take stock of the cards you've been dealt, both good and bad, to document them and how you feel about them and what, if anything, you can do about it.

You may choose to use the same title and to include cards but neither is compulsory.

The main emphasis of my layout {& most of the rest of the design team} was on the journaling. To try to condense the "hand that I was dealt" wasn't easy, nor was it at all easy to verbalise either {I prefer not to think about it to be honest - despite what psychologists recommend - real life & text-books ain't the same} but I am on the Journaling Junkie design team {I hope I still am lol...as my latest challenge is overdue - busy working on it SS} therefore I am obligated - and I wanted to do the challenge justice & rise to the occasion.

I was surprised that there was only ONE participant that sent in a layout for this challenge! This was an excellent challenge girls...c'mon now...we need some participation!

So I started with the journaling this time {not the way I usually work}- I had to print it pretty small & I printed it in bands of colour so as to try to make it look less monotonous lol... I printed out a Picasa Collage {you know I'm the Picasa Collage Queen...} then cut it up {if you print your own photos this is an economical way to use your A4 printer page space & not waste photo paper} I then positioned my photos - which meant quite a bit of overlapping to fit everyone in!

To keep things interesting I used a cool Sassafrass paper with many different bands of design, as opposed to cutting into a lot of different patterned papers {another good tip for economizing}. The paper used behind the photo of me is hologram packaging from Claire's & really cool but photographs flat unfortunately {I have enough paper to start a scrapbooking store yet I love using packaging - go figure...} & I added some bling to the top for sparkle {see photo below}. I used a dark green Bazzill base with a salmon pink matting cardstock {weird colour combo I know but I tried a few & this worked best!?}.

Most of the embellies are felties from last year's Sassafrass collections {I got a whole warehouse box to myself remember?!} - the cherries, cupcake & heart & you can read on to understand that they {& the miniature playing cards - courtesy of one of our Christmas crackers!} are SIGNIFICANT. I love using symbolism in my layouts {anyone else here do that?} The large pink heart is plastic & comes off a broken lampshade {from my scraproom no less...} that I cut up ( I was so sad - I loved it but it toppled over & the bulb burnt a hole through it - boo hoo ;-(...) so I saved all the hearts for scrapbooking {The crazy things we do hey?!} The paper behind the cherries is also glossy jewellery packaging from Claire's (they have some super snazzy stuff!) & I used a Making Memories sugar-coated brad as one of the flower centres. The satin bow came off a pair of recently purchased knickers {remember the 2009 layout I devoted entirely to this obsession of mine?!}& I couldn't be bothered to sew it back on so I just glue-dotted it on to the top of the heart!

Don't you just LOVE Sassafrass's trademark paper edging?! {see above left}. I adore it & wish all the manufacturers would copy this & also that SL would bring out a pack of BORDER STRIPS ONLY. {I haven't seen much of the CHA new releases so maybe they have...?}. The journaling can be read over at the JJ blog {see link above} although the left-hand side of it is obscured for some reason {as the journaling was so long I sent the original Word document with my layout & think it wasn't playing nicely when trying to upload}. Anyway, if you're really nosey you can read it there & you'll get the general jist of it!

I bumped up the cards with some foamcore for dimension, to match the chunkiness of the black thickers, which I combined with Pink Paislee alphas for interest - I matted one of the words & bumped that up too after mounting, and I matted another word & cut around the letters on that one. Reason?! I'm not one for slick, uniform layouts, give me artsy interest anyday...The flowers are Prima - with a bling crystal in the centre. The leaves are from the local craft store & were quite big so I just cut them down to size.

Title:- "More than I ever imagined" {which also serves as the last line of the journaling}.

The cherries symbolise the saying {my} "Life is just a bowl of cherries" {meaning it's all good...} & the cupcake implies {everything that has happened since meeting DH has been...} "the icing on the cake" & the hearts are obviously a symbol of love & happiness. The King & Queen cards symbolise my husband as the king & me as his queen.


I copied that text from the JJ blog - which explains why Blogger is refusing to format it to the right size!
I love this addition to my {very slow in forming...} BOM {book of me!} Me hopey you likey too ;-D






10 comments:

topkatnz said...

I love this layout and all the symbolism you have incorporated into it. The close-up shot looks fab - I'm sure even better IRL, as is often the case! This is a very good challenge indeed.

somebody who needs to love herself said...

Helen this is a fabulous Layout! I am very intrigued about the Book of me! at the moment I am doing it in a journal ala moleskin(not a real one yet lol) but I wanna see yours when its finish.

have to say it again I love love love this LO.I enjoy looking at every element.

btw thanks for the love! hugs to you Helen :)

Michelle Ramsay said...

Awesome layout

tania said...

saw this one over at journaljunkie, very very beautiful.like the cards and the journaling.

Jessy Christopher said...

What a beautiful layout created. I love how u filled the whole 12x12 paper with journaling & photos! Honestly that I can't do. Lol!! Maybe I should give it a try soon. Thanks for the inspiration :)

Lynette Jacobs said...

Wow...this layout is an achievement. I don't think I have the courage to go down that road. I love your use of symbolism.

Bernadine said...

Love you idea with the cards....

Pearl said...

lots & lots of awesome details ! what a fab journaling challenge !

It's also the theme of our sermon this weekend !
& I've been sharing it - so here goes - let's not focus on the changes that go on in our lives - but rather the transition- ie the mental & emotional responses that we have to the changes & manage them better ! perhaps I can also journal along these lines in a layout one day !

You did such a fab job here , Helen !

Andrea said...

LOVE this layout....STUNNING STUNNING STUNNING!
xxx
A

Ella Swan said...

Thanks for the love girls...It actually came together really easily, as is often the case I find with layouts that turn out well. Others that I struggle with I never end up liking as much! Bee your journal sounds beautiful - knowing you it will be a funky altered art one! Jessy I usually hate filling the page, but this challenge required such a lot of journaling I didn't have a choice! But I liked it so much I've just done another one I'm planning on sharing here tomorrow...Great words of wisdom Pearl, thank you! Change is inevitable, I always tell myself "Change is Good" although I sometimes have a hard time really convincing myself ;-D