A Closer Look: Catan Fan

Hi, everyone!  Thanks for all your nice comments on my recent beadwork post, as well as your comments on my "Ten on the Tenth" post.  My husband was tickled to know that so many of you agree with him about the Popsicle resembling a USB drive.  :)

Today I want to give you a closer look at "Catan Fan."  I have a few more tidbits of information to share about this layout, which I did not get a chance to mention in its "Ten on the Tenth" snapshot post.
 

Journaling: "Scott played Catan at a party and enjoyed it.  I bought him a game...and then he got another, and then a third.  He's become a real Catan fan!  We all like to play from time to time."

First, I want to tell you about the inspiration for this piece.  Would you believe that a purse is involved?!  

Here is the story.  I saw a magazine picture of a purse that had a row of three fabric hexagons appliquéd on the shoulder strap.  There was also a cluster of three hexagons appliquéd on the main body of the purse.  "Great design!" I thought, and I filed the idea away in the back of my mind.  When I began working on this layout about Scott's enthusiasm for Catan, which has a game board made of interlocking hexagon shapes, I recalled the purse and decided to use its basic design on my layout.  You can see the vertical row of hexagon stickers in the upper right-hand portion of the layout, which was inspired by the design on the purse strap.  And in the lower left-hand portion of the layout, you see the cluster of three hexagon stickers that was inspired by the main part of the purse.  Who would ever have thought that I would use the design of a purse as inspiration for a layout about my husband!!!

The aspect of this layout that I wanted to touch on is the photo on the layout.  When I was ordering prints, which I do in batches each month, I could not decide whether I wanted this photo in color or in black & white (with a slightly green filter).  I decided just to order both.  As I was working on this layout, I decided that I preferred the color photo.  However, the objects on the shelves behind my husband were a bit distracting in full color.  So, I cut around the outline of my husband (and the table with the stack of games) on the color print, and I adhered the resulting silhouette onto the black and white print.  Problem solved!  Of course, this sort of thing can also be done in a photo-editing program, but I lack that level of skill.  This hands-on approach proved to be a quick fix, and it also adds subtle interest to the layout.

~~~

Before I sign off for the day, I also wanted to mention briefly, on an unrelated note, that submissions are indeed open for the current Scrap for Help challenge.  There has been a bit of confusion about this, since last month's entries still appear in the linky collection.  Don't worry, you can simply add your creation to the collection.  The design team members know that all entries numbered 31 and up are for the May challenge.  You have until the end of the month to link up!