Soak up the Sun - a musical challenge

I love music. I often listen - and sing along - while I create, so it seems only natural that sometimes I create layouts inspired by songs. This particular one was inspired by Sheryl Crow's "Soak Up The Sun".

left page

right page

The bright, sunny colors of the Dream Pop paper were the perfect with the photos and the title - Sheryl’s title - soak up the sun. 

I stamped the title using two different sizes of letters from the Trinity alphabet set. This is my current favorite alphabet because the three sizes make it so flexible. I don't usually use many themed embellishments, but the wooden sun burst was just the right touch. The round sun was also just the right balance to other very linear elements on the page. I decided to accent with buttons to add a few more round elements. 

This is the park nearest our house. We go there regularly. Every summer. I have already created other pages from this year (and other years) that told the story about going to the park. This time I decided to tell a slightly different story by listing the necessities of the trip. I borrowed (and modified) a line from the song- “we’ve got our 45 on” - to include it in my list-style journaling.

*Tip - If you have multiple sets of photos of very similar events, create a layout that tells a different part of the story.

*Tip - Create a visual triangle with similar embellishments. I used the washi tape and buttons in three different places.


What about the challenge, you ask? Create your own layout inspired by "Soak up the Sun"! You might choose to focus on the title, the lyrics, a memory of the song - whatever inspires you! Why not play along? Link to your layout in a comment on this post sometime this month. I'd love to see how this song inspires you. Also, this is the challenge I created for all of my friends who attend  Crop N Time events. If you're around here, why not join us on September 21?

Sailing Away with Tommy on the Paper Trail

Welcome the the Paper Trail Blog Hop! This month we are sailing away with the Tommy paper packet. If you're coming aboard from Diane's blog, you are in the right spot. If this is your first stop, never fear, this hop is circular, so you can start your travels right here! These papers fit right in with the nautical trends in design and the colors - Cranberry, Honey and Outdoor Denim - are terrific!

We don't do much boating, but fortunately, I had some fishing photos which went well with the nautical theme. I created two coordinated one-page layouts that could easily sit side-by-side in my album.

Learning to Fish

I love nautical chart B&T paper! It made a perfect background for this layout.  Other bright colored B&T papers helped to lighten the layout as a whole.

The blocks of paper and the photos were very boxy so I chose to complement all of the boxy, cornered shapes with a half-circle for the title space. I used some old circular letter stickers from my stash along with the Cocktail Alphabet to create the title.
*Tip - Including one or two round elements can help to balance a layout that uses mostly straight lines and rectangles.

 I created this corner embellishment from strips of B&T paper, white baker's twine and Durables Round Studs. I folded the strips of paper over the twine and adhered them back to back. Then I trimmed the strips to the pennant shape and attached the Round Stud. I hung the pennant over the corner of my page and the rest is history!
*Tip - Use regular scotch tape to adhere the twine to the back of your layout. No one will see it and it is less expensive than scrapbook adhesive!


With Dad

This photo is from the same day as the two in the first page, but since I had already told the story of this fishing trip, I took the opportunity to write about fishing with my dad through the years. The text-print zip strip inspired a tribute to my dad. Since the journaling was a bit more personal, hid it between the mats (you can see the honey B&T peeking up).
*Tip - When you have "leftover" photos from an event, use them to tell a story about the person or the place instead!

Since my goal was coordinating single-page layouts, I used similar embellishments - Durables Round Studs and white baker's twine. For the title I dug out some other old letter stickers from my stash. I used creative capitalization because I didn't have any lower case "a's". It also helped to emphasize the word "dad" in my title.
*Tip - Use all caps - or all lowercase letters - for emphasis (as well as when you run out of the other!)


So glad you were able to sail this portion of the journey with me. I hope you'll stop back again soon. For now, bon voyage as you head off to Linda's blog where I'm sure you'll be inspired!