Even though it's been two years since this photo was taken, the bond between Ethan and I remains the very same as it was at the moment Krysten, a wonderful photographer friend of mine, captured this image of us together. Suddenly, Ethan is "all grown up" as he reaches the "five" year mark in a few short months. Though he's growing into himself more lately, he's still willingly inclined to be close and I routinely make it an effort to express to him the importance and magnitude of his existence in my life. Our bond continues to prosper and my love for him is immeasurable. All the while, he gets bigger and bigger....simply said, "I can't keep up!"
The quickest means for me to finish a layout is to conveniently make reference to an accessible pre-printed photo. Unlike most scrapbookers, my library of pre-printed photos is rather small in size. Most of my photo collection sits on a hard drive, so if I'm to scrapbook a project, I have to pull up the preferred images and print them. Let me just openly confess, this isn't the best photo storage option for the average scrapbooker. Actually, I'd been reminded over the weekend to get them onto disks if I wasn't going to print them right away, which makes perfect sense, but I'm more of a "external harddrive" kind of gal. At some point, I'm going to commit to the idea of "sooner rather than later" the preserving of images..it's the next "to-do-item" on my list. For now, of what's readily available pre-printed, I'll take advantage of, especially when tight on time like I was this weekend!
Negative space or "reverse" imagery is favorite technique of mine right now - to create a butterfly such as this one, a die-cut machine isn't exactly necessary! Instead, utilize your shaped chipboard collection and search out a shape to your liking - use the chosen shape as a template and trace around just like any other typical template. Finally, trim the tracing from the paper with the help of a small pair of sharp scissors. Back the trimmed, open area with a preferred material. I chose a simple butterfly shape (GCD) and positioned a bright yellow patterned paper behind the opening.
I wish I had a larger collection of these little white frames from Melissa Frances!! They're the tiniest of frames and are perfectly suited for crafting of all kinds! I embellished the inside of one with a bird image (Amy Butler/K & Company), a "together" sticker (Making Memories) and a thin, Kraft pinking border. As the final touch, I adhered a small yellow/white trim bow to the top of the frame via glue dot.
I'm suddenly taken a liking to "Kraft" cardstock...I see it everywhere too! It's the sort of neutral color that fits well no matter what color it happens to be next to - I prefer it partnered with light hues like pinks, pastel yellows, light blues, peaches, white, tan, etc.
I got lucky a few years ago when I came across an extensive sequin collection at a local bead store. I bought tiny sequin flowers of every color and surface treatment. They also had various basic shaped sequin types - bought a bunch of those as well! They're housed in glass jars via color - I'm almost a 100% certain I'll never run out of them!!
Another embellishment item I seem to enjoy these days is the wood look-alike sticker/die-cut/paper, etc. When emboldened with bright, vivid color, the texture of wood takes on a life all it's own!! I'm truly excited that with this last CHA event, the natural material took center stage! It's potential is infinite, so I'm hoping that manufacturers will continue to work with it some more later on down the line too...keeping my fingers crossed!
I'd like to wish all of you a wonderful start of the week! I've to start on work elsewhere for the next few hours..that being said, "How are you utilizing Kraft Paper on your projects?"
~ CM ~
