Fox Layout and Six Artwork Tips

Sometimes you just have that perfect photo, one that stands alone and demands it's very own layout. This is one of those pics! I love one-page layouts for just this kind of perfect photos.  Our little granddaughter, Sage has done quite a bit of modeling for online catalogs and websites, but this was her very first magazine spread. Daysha (our sweet daughter-in-law, and Sage's mommy) caught the excitement of her seeing it for the first time.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the look on her face!

I used the June Stamp of the Month (Hello Foxy) to create this layout. This stamp set is only available in June, and is only $5 ($12.95 savings) with each $50 you purchase (before shipping and tax).  Order $100, get 2...and so on!  When ordering on my website, you'll be prompted to add your set(s) before checking out.  I've shared some of the tips to create this layout below, as well as adding a complete list of all of the products I've used, complete with photos and links for your convenience, at the very end of this post.

Layout Tips:

• I stamped everything with my Black Memento Pad, let it dry for a couple of minutes, then used my trusty Watercolor Paints to color and shade.  I LOVE the Black Memento Pad!  Once it's dry, there is no smudging when watercoloring, coloring with markers, or even colored pencils. This pad is a must have!
• When teaching watercoloring, the first tip I give my students is: LESS IS MORE!  If you want that soft look, use less color and more water in your mix. As it dries, it darkens a bit. The more paint there is in your mix, the chalkier it will look.  The more water, the softer it will appear.
• The only other stamp pad I used was our gorgeous Sea Glass Pad. I stamped some flowers in the top strip of the layout to create my own patterned paper.  
• See those fun enamel dots that match the Thistle Cardstock so well?  I just used my Peony Purple Shin Han Alcohol Marker to color some White Dots. Color them right on the carrier sheet they come on and that way you can get right down to the bottom edges without the color getting on anything else.  Let them dry for about 2-3 minutes, then take them off the carrier sheet and you have your own customer colored accents to add to your project.  
• Do you ever purchase a paper packet and then have some odds and ends left over after you've created whatever it is you bought it to create? Well, I certainly do!  I used a strip of left over paper from the Prickly Pear Paper Packet (the pretty striped Sea Glass paper that goes horizontally across the middle of the layout), one of the Picture My Life cards (the orange diagonal striped one) that I had left over from Prickly Pear,  and one of my left over zip strips (the polka dotted orange one) from the Hello Dreamer Paper Packet.    I thought they went nicely together on this layout.  Don't be afraid to mix paper packets!  You'll come up with some fun combinations, and at the same time, use some of that left over paper!  Win/Win!
• The "Notes" card that I used for my journaling was a bit bigger than I needed (4" x 3"). I wrote my journaling, then trimmed the unused portion of the card off (my finished journaling square was 4" x 2"), and rounded the bottom corners to match the top. Easy, peasy! Don't be afraid to think outside the box and make things work for your needs.

Hello Foxy�June Stamp of the Month	12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock	12" X 12" Thistle Cardstock	Prickly Pear Paper Packet
Little Dreamer Paper Packet	Sea Glass Exclusive Inks� Stamp Pad	Black Memento� Ink Pad	Watercolor Paints
Paintbrush Set	Black & White Dots	ShinHan� Touch Twin� Peony Purple Marker	1" X 3 1/2" My Acrylix® Block
3" X 3" My Acrylix® Block	Surecut� Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer	Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors	Thin 3-D Foam Tape
3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive

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Pink and Purple Layout

This layout of our granddaughter, Sage at the fair, is made entirely with the Adventure Fundamentals Paper Packet and some White Daisy Cardstock, and accented with our Adventure Fundamentals Complements and a bit of Gold Sequins and Gold Shimmer Trim.  Really, there are very few products used here, but the look is awesome sauce! I love our Fundamentals Line!  (layout inspired by Becky Lehman)

Here are a few close ups of the layout. You can find a complete products used list at the end of this post, along with links and photos for your convenience.

Adventure Fundamentals	12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock	Good Life Complements	Gold Shimmer Trim
Sequins Gold Assortment	3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive	Thin 3-D Foam Tape	Corner Rounder
Surecut� Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer	Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors

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Journaling Matters

If this layout was created without the journaling, it would be pretty, right?  But, it's the journaling on this layout that makes it meaningful.

These photos of our granddaughter, Sage, are from a recent photo shoot she did while modeling for a children's clothing company. I knew I wanted to scrapbook the beautiful photos, but honestly, that's all that it would have been: beautiful photos.  Instead, I chose to include a recent conversation that Sage and I had.  The conversation went perfectly with the photos, and this conversation is exactly why I scrapbook.  It's exactly why this page will be meaningful to Sage when she is older, why it will be meaningful to her children, and their children.  It's what makes this page have special meaning to me.

Here's how the conversation went:

I got the biggest giggle out of her little, "I knew it!"  This little girl is full of spunk and sass and wonder.  I wish I could freeze time and keep her little forever.  This is why journaling matters. And, by journaling, I don't mean dates and event titles (like December 30, 1998. Easton's 10th Birthday). Of course, those things are important when scrapbooking an event.  But, the most important journaling to include is a memory, or WHY that day was special.  In fact, the events aren't always the most important things to scrapbook. I'll give you a "for instance"...

When our children were little (our youngest, Dawson, was 3), Dan was on a hunting trip.  I decided to take our four kids out to dinner by myself, and not at a fast food restaurant (gasp!). We went to a place called Frontier Pies (one of my favorite places for Navajo tacos).  My older kids (ages 6, 8 and 11) had been to a place like this before, but it was Dawson's first time at a 'sit down restaurant'. He was so excited because I told him we were going somewhere special and that he had to use his best manners. I told him it would be even better than McDonald's (you should have seen his eyes when I said that). I told him the food would be extra yummy, we would have our very own waitress to take care of everything we needed, we would order at our table and they would bring our food right to us. He thought this sounded like heaven.  He was almost jumping out of his skin with anticipation. We got there and got seated and I let the kids choose whatever they wanted from the menu.  Dawson wanted a salad before his meal, like grown ups.  When they brought his salad, I'll never forget it, he stood up and yelled, "Mom! This place is AWESOME! They have croutons and everything!"  I died laughing right on the spot.  Ever since that day, that line has become a family favorite. We say it all the time when we are served a salad with croutons.  THIS is something to scrapbook!  I don't have photos of that day, but I do have random photos of Dawson at age 3 that I could put on the layout.  I can also find a photo online of Frontier Pies and scrapbook this memory.

Journaling matters. It tells an important story.  Here's a thought:  next time you want to scrapbook, think of a memory like this in your life, a memory that tells a story that you want your family to remember.  After you have come up with the memory, THEN think of photos you have or can take that will go with the memory.  Maybe, just maybe, we should scrapbook with a specific memory in mind before we pull out the photos, instead of what most of us do when we scrapbook. We pull out the photos, create a beautiful page, then add a date and title.  Which of these two methods of scrapbooking do you think leaves a real legacy?  I vote the one with journaling that tells a story, don't you?

Now, let's talk about the artwork behind this layout.  I used the darling February Stamp of the Month to create it.

I thought the soft bunnies went well with the soft photos, and the "There's nobunny like you" sentiment made the perfect title. I loved using papers from the Hello Lovely paper pack to compliment the soft photos as well.

This stamp set can be yours (in February only) for only $5 with every $50 you order (before shipping and tax). Order $100, get 2...and so on. When ordering on my website, you'll be prompted to add your set(s) before checking out. Easy, peasy!  All of the products I used on this layout are listed at the very end of this post, complete with photos and links, for your convenience.

Here is a close up of some of the details of this layout:

I thought watercolor paints were the perfect way to keep the 'soft' feeling going that I had on this layout, so that's how I colored my bunnies.

Easter Bunny�February Stamp of the Month	12" X 12" White Daisy Cardstock	Watercolor Paper	12" X 12" Whisper Cardstock
Hello Lovely Paper Packet	Black Memento� Ink Pad	Whisper Thick Twine	Sequins Silver Assortment
Watercolor Paints	Paintbrush Set	2" X 3 1/2" My Acrylix® Block	1" X 3 1/2" My Acrylix® Block
Surecut� Deluxe Craft Paper Trimmer	Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors	3L® E-Z Dots® Adhesive	Thin 3-D Foam Tape

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