Stella, I see the stars and think of you

 

Supplies: template – Aly Dosdall, BPC; inspiration – Studio Calico August Mood board; fonts – Bradley Hand, Arial; shadow actions – One Little Bird; kits – Shabby Miss Jean – Starfighters, TDF65: ange – eternally, tMartin – missing you, tmd – morethanallthestars, PCO: laidback & carefree, Karla Dudley – Bestie

Pastel Rainbow was a design trend that inspired this page for the Get It Scrapped Creative team blog contributions this month. I felt compelled to utilize stars for Stella. The template featured what I perceive as "cosmic rays." I used the blocks of the beams of light to place my pastel rainbow in this tribute page to my Mom. I've been thinking of her especially since her birthday month was October.

I had also chosen to do the "inspired by" challenge since those are my favorites. This month it was Corrie Jones. I include here a layout that was published and another that was not, both inspired by Corrie. Quality templates of Corrie's designs are available for members at Get It Scrapped. You may recall my "Gram and Her Sushi Roll" page based on a Corrie Jone's template. I encourage you to consider membership in Get It Scrapped as you'll discover a lot of value and fun at the site.

Supplies: gesso and light molding paste – Liquitex; stencil – Crafter’s Workshop: houndstooth; ink spray – Ranger; Dylusions, melted chocolate; felt embellishment- AC: Amy Tangerine, camera; rain dots – Cloud 9; glimmer glaze – Tattered Angels, sassy silver; alphas – AC Thickers: LAX, Pebbles ABC, Dear lizzy glitter; markers – Tim Holtz, Distress Markers, Ranger; wood veneer – Prima; sticker – Basic Grey: Pops; flair – October Afternoon; sticker – Basic Grey: Herbs & Honey; stickers – Freckled Fawn: August Kit, clear doodle; arrow paper clip – Two Peas in a Bucket; font – Avenir; date stamp – Sparko; ink – Staz On; stickers, buttons, flair, brads, washi tape, epoxy flower, ribbon, enamel dot, wood veneer – stash

Supplies: wooden stamp - Portafolio; stickers - Jillibean, Lawn Fawn and October Afternoon; patterned paper - crate paper:  pretty party, cake stand, Bella Blvd: snapshots!, My Point of View ; chipboard stickers - crate paper: pretty party; wood veneer - Studio Calico and Prima; gesso - Liquitex; alpha - AC Thickers: Amy Tangerine,Yes,Please; date stamp  - Sparko; ink - Staz On; shaped paper clips, stamps, enamel dots, flair, buttons, thread, water colors - stash

I had a lot of fun with these. As you can see, I created a mix of digi and paper layouts. I like digital, but it's not stopped my love of getting "down and dirty" with my paper crafting supplies. I may have a couple of both layouts going at once since I like to work in small segments and return to my project. I do submit my designs to the critique page at Get It Scrapped and receive helpful suggestions. In fact, I believe the changes I made to the page I featured in my last post are a nice improvement. I am happy with the suggestions I obtained. That extra orange helps direct your eye down the diagonal flow.

Hope you are getting a chance to listen to some of the episodes of the Digiscrap Geek Podcast. The latest show should be up in a couple of days. We are discussing trends. You'll note the concrete /texture with flowers and doily from the Vinnie Pearce kit I used with the Fiddle-Dee-Dee template.

Using a Digi template

This week's Digiscrap Geek Podcast featured a guest, template designer Cheryl Ashcraft of Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs

So, of course, I had to try one of her templates. My page is about construction but her designs feature lots of flowers and layers and made me wonder if I could make it work. Easy! No worries at all, the designs are very adaptable. I kept a lot of the layering but limited the flowers to two stickers from the main kit I used. The template is rotated and the journal block and title realigned. The top photo was moved after all photos were increased in size.  

I loved the distress elements and colors in the Vinnie Pearce The Rise Collection so used it for my page only adding in modified LaurieAnn HGD stickpin. The fonts are ChunkFive, arsenal white, Adobe Garamond and Arial Narrow. Distress brush from Karla Dudley, shadows from the template, One Little Bird, Mommyish and me. I used one of my favorite techniques of using a very faint eraser on the edge where some elements meet underlying structure. I think it makes things a bit more realistic.

Templates make digi faster and can push your style, too. 

Too much "cool"

One feels obligated to listen to podcasts one has been a part of and it can be painful. I say "cool" entirely too much. Note there is a lot of "cool" stuff I commented on.

The Digiscrap Geek Podcast episode 2 is up, and I think it is "cool". We discussed scrapbook inspiration which applies both to paper and Digi scrappers as well as card makers and artists. We also got into the topic of feminism, too. Rabbit holes are an intrinsic part of podcasts, I fear.

Not much scrapbooking this past week but will have a couple of pages to post here soon.

I've been trying to catch up on so much paperwork at home but it really is something that I find overwhelming. Too much mail, too many forms, too many details and I hate taking care of all of that. It must be done! So, again keeping it short today so I can get to it.  
 

It's Just Talking

I hope that many of you will click on the button to The DigiScrap Geek Podcast here on my blog.
Carrie Arrick, the DigiScrap Geek, herself is the host and I'm one of the regular panelists on the show.
Sometimes we could get into techie matters but we do deal with universal themes of inspiration, story, design and life. I hope that some paper scrappers and non scrappy folk will find it interesting and entertaining as well as the target Digi audience.
Talking is not a problem and about a hour a week is not too tiring. It's been fun. We're on several platforms now, like iTunes, and the first episode is  posted with the second soon to arrive.
Looking forward to the weekend as today; well, technically yesterday since it's now past midnight; was a very good day.

Sometimes life gets in the way

Found this photo of my Mom from 1946 and wanted to add it to my blog and Facebook today.

Not finding time to sit down and blog much recently..

Creating things and needing a lot of rest. Not sleeping well at night and the arthritis is bad some days.

Still talking though.

Hope you are enjoying The Digiscrap Geek Podcast. It's been fun to talk Digi scrapping. Anything you want to hear on a future episode? Shoot a note to Carrie or put your idea in the comments here and we'll see if it will work in an episode.

Yes, I'm still around and writing blog posts in my head.

I've tried to post at least twice a month and will strive for at least weekly and sometimes 5 days of the week but we'll have to see how it goes. Trying to stay healthy.

As always, love your comments.