this was my first layout with the april kit. although the kit is overflowing with patterned paper in lovely saturated colors and the nice tight patterns that i love, this first layout came out rather muted. laugh if you will, but i was totally inspired by a piece of "trash" that was calling to me before i even got the kit out of it's cellophane wrapper. the square behind the title is the backing from those sweet prima flowers. i had to use it. had to. a few of the letters were rubbed off as i gently removed the gluedot boogers that were left after i plucked off all the blooms, but that just added to the soft shabby chic effect. i just painted a little pink paint behind it to make it pop off the cream background and then stapled it to the page. a few other tidbits from this page: i love all the gorgeous vintage book pages from the project kit, i love how mist lets the subtle texture of the jbs coredinations cs shine through, and i added a few sequins to the pp border to balance the sparkle of the glitter and rhinestone flower. i also wanted to mention that these were the best quality photos, but they told a very sweet story so i wanted to use them. i have found that black and white photos are much more forgiving of technical flaws. they also soften adult skin tones next to a baby's flawless complexion.
i was also immediately inspired by the large apple add in the add-on kit. i am often intimidated by the ads. they always seem too pretty to cut into. with the apple ad though i knew i wanted to use the award ribbon as a frame, so i cut into that baby right away. also totally digging how useable the exclusive coupon patterned paper is. glad the kit comes with two pieces as i used up the first piece right away as a background on this layout.
this layout was so easy. one of those that just threw itself together. love it when that happens. goodess. with the label stickers and border stickers, i barely even had to cut or adhere anything. the hardest part of this layout was actually the photographing of it. i couldn't do it on the balcony floor like i usually do because of the bit sticking off the top. it was too windy for my next go to place on the balcony railing. i did snag a pic there before the wind blew it off for the 3rd time, but that pic had too much blowout so i had to try again another day. the next set of pics were taken just before dusk right as i finished layout #5. #'s 4 and 5 were taken flat on the sidewalk and turned out ok. this one i guess was in too much shadow. oops. there are some detail shots over in the gallery that are better though.
oh was this layout painful for me. there is this interesting phenomenon that occurs with my mojo. i can usually crank out 4 layouts fairly easily and then get stuck on the 5th. i guess this must have been a #5 in my mojo cycle. i just kept pushing stuff around trying to make it gel. bah. i finally got this much and just had to quit. it wore me out. after i photographed it, i remembered that i was thinking about adding a stitched heart on the playing card. and i kept thinking i should change the blue scalloped borders to the doillie border, but i was too darn lazy and worn out with it all. oh well. it'll do and it tells a sweet story.
the good thing about mojo drain is that once i get past it the next layout is usually effortless once more. this layout was just a delight to create. i cut the patterned paper at random angles and love the added sense of energy that created. i doubt i would have ever bought those border stickers for myself, but i'm glad jenni got them. now i'm totally addicted and need to see if there are more colors. also totally in love with jenni's new tiled bingo alpha cards. another thing i didn't quite understand until i saw jenni use them once and then i was totally hooked. also wanted to mention another perk to black and white photos. i totally didn't realize when i was photographing my niece this day that her nose was boogerfest. i mean really, who's looking at the nose when those amazing eyes are staring at them? to save the photos, i blew them out a little bit (that means lighten them too much) and then converted them to the forgiving black and white. bye bye boogers. :)
check out the gallery to see what some of the other girls have done so far this month. and be sure to check back on the 10th for more goodies with this kit. i know i could hit double digits with this one. it's packed!
