Scrap Around the World

Happy International Scrapbooking Day (ISD)!!!  Hope you get some time to play with paper today!!!

ISD seems like the perfect time to share my entry for the first challenge of the new Scrap Around the World blog.  I am so excited about this new challenge blog.  It has everything I like--international fellowship, a design team I admire, and challenge guidelines that leave room for personal interpretation.

Supplies: blue/brown woodgrain paper by Kaisercraft; orange woodgrain paper by My Mind's Eye; alphabet stickers & grid/latice paper by October Afternoon; Bingo cards & house sticker by Simple Stories; rust-orange paper by Bo Bunny; dotted paper by Fancy Pants; aqua paper by FabScraps; floral paper by Echo Park; journaling card by Doodlebug; decorative scissors by Fiskars; corner punch by Creative Memories; key by Zeus & Zoe; button by Blumenthal Lansing; metal finding by Olla Podrida; decorative tape by 3M; orange paint by Plaid; white pen, white paint, & glitter by Ranger; ink by Clearsnap; stamp by Paper Inspirations; upcycled items: wheat penny, corrugated cardboard,bubble wrap, & book page.

Here is my layout, entitled "Home."  It's part of a new project that I started recently, an 8x8" album with cute photos of and stories about my three cats (RIP).  It's a nice way to remember them.

Above is the sketch for the challenge.  In translating the design to the 8x8" page, I adjusted the proportions of the elements.  It was fun, and I'm enjoying working on this smaller scale.  Most of the photos of my cats are old ones, from before I had a digital camera, and I think this kind of photo works well on this smaller page size.

The little clipboard is a pull-out tab with hidden journaling.  It explains why a simple cardboard box came to symbolize the idea of "home" for my cat, Shadow: 

Shadow felt a bit confused when she and Scott moved to the Twin Cities.  A few days later, Scott and I got married.  We received a wedding gift from my aunt and uncle, and Shadow immediately jumped in the empty box.  Since she liked it so much, we kept it for her.  It became her special place to sit and rest.  If the other cats were feeling feisty, all they had to do to annoy Shadow was to sit in her box  We brought it with us both times we moved.  For Shadow, the box symbolized home.

The mood board above provided the inspiration for this challenge.  As you'll see from the detail photos below, I was inspired by the colors (turquoise/rusty orange), the wood (the door); the repeated circles (the chandelier), the swirly pattern (the tablecloth); and the overall aged/vintage look.

Let's take a look at a few detail images from my layout: 

Here is Shadow, sitting in her box.  My goodness, you can certainly tell that Scott and I were still students at this time.  Our apartment is furnished in the "early attic style," with cinder block bookshelves and a camp stool as a TV stand.  No DVDs at this time, but you can see our VCR and extensive collection of VHS movies.  :)

I got artsy for this part of the page.  The base is an old book page, covered in acrylic paint mixed with a dash of turquoise glitter.  After this mixture dried, I stamped over it in gold ink.  Then I used a thin strip of bubble wrap to stamp the row of circles.  I purposely chose a book page with the word "box" printed on it, and you can see that I penciled lines around the word "box."  I never miss an opportunity to reinforce a theme.  :)

In this part of the page, I explored the idea of "home," with the house sticker, the Bingo cards, and the antique-looking house key.

Layers, layers, layers.  I even layered multiple pieces of the tape.  This is actually the first decorative tape I've ever purchased--true story!  Up until this point, I had resisted jumping on the washi tape bandwagon.  But then I saw this high-quality tape, made by my favorite adhesive manufacturer, 3M/Scotch.  So, now I own my first roll of decorative tape, and I love it.  :) 

Layers, layers, and even more layers!  The 8x8" album I'm using doesn't have page protectors, so I don't have to limit the height of my pages.  I'm enjoying that.  :)

Thanks for stopping by my blog to take a look at my layout.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!