Georgie Girl

     I wanted to do another artsy layout using an Anna Aspnes template.  She is having a challenge right now over at Oscraps.com.  Since I had recently taken some pictures of Georgie and had never done a layout about her -- thought I'd give it a try.
     Since the artsy style does not come naturally for me, it took me several hours to use the template because I HAD to tweak it to make it mine.  I also had to work a while at the coloring.  I had a dickens of a time getting the coloring adjusted on the photo of Georgie and Rachel.  I had used the wrong WB on the camera and thought it would be an easy fix in post production -- NOT!

Artsy Layered Template 100 by Anna Aspnes
52 Inspirations by Sue Cummings, paper
Grateful Heart & Moments by Cinzia L Designs, flourishes, flair
This Love by Dawn by Design, heart
Chalk Graffiti by Rebecca McMeen, heart
Fonts: Parisienne, MTF Big Ideas, Georgia

Ewan

     I've had this layout in the works for over a week.  I knew I wanted to use the large picture again but I got stumped with how to use the smaller photo.  I tried to do an artsy, blended treatment and it just didn't work.  I opted for a frame and a few elements.  I changed the black and white photo to sepia tones.  The sepia seems more like a warm black and white, oh well....  I had the opacity at a low 20%, but ended up raising it to 30 something.  I used orange elements because orange is Ewan's favorite color.
     Ewan's smile is so sweet, I  just had to scrap it again.

It's a Guy Thing by Dani Mogstad, elements

Hello Sunshine by Laurie Ann HGD, paper

Postage Frames by Carina Gardner

Fonts:  Appleberry, Old Press

Ewan & Georgie

     It was so fun to get a couple pictures of Ewan with Georgie.  I rarely see him playing with her; he usually is shooing her away.  She obviously loves him.

Artsy Layered Template 51 by Anna Aspnes

It's a Guy Thing by Designs by Dani, paper

Fonts: Parisienne, Dancing Script, You Art Loved, Old Press

Ballet Recital Costumes

     Alexis took a couple of pictures of Vivian and her ballet classmates trying on their recital costumes.  The costumes are so cute and the pictures are just as precious.
     I used a template that had a fabulous brush-alike.  I spread one of the pictures across four photo mats; a technique I've wanted to try for a long time.  I used a background paper with some texture but not much color.
     It's a simple layout that really showcases the costumes and Vivi.  I thought it turned out just great! 

Heart Felt Template by Ashalee Wall

Tell Your Story (paper) by Joie de Vivre

Fonts:  Sweetness, KG Eyes Wide Open

Gallery Standouts

     I got the treat of being featured in Gallery Standouts.  It was my layout about my addiction to sugar.  It really made my day, I giggled like crazy when I got the notice that I was picked.

Addiction -- My Drug of Choice is SUGAR

     I have been wanting to do an Art Journal layout about my weight and how I'm feeling right now about it.  I tried to start a layout and realized I needed to begin with the journaling.  One word came to me and that began the page.  The rest just evolved.
     I had the whole page done when I decided to put my own image somehow into the layout.  I did a filter of some type on the photo after changing it to black and white.  I deleted part of the background of the photo because it was making the layer too dark for blending with the paper.  I couldn't find which filter I had used on the photo.  I think it was something grainy.  I used the blending mode linear light and the opacity of 85%.  I thought it worked well so I left it in.
    I used very little scrapbooking supplies on this layout.  It is mainly one sheet of paper and two elements.  The rest is fonts.

One Moment by Rosey Posey

Fonts: Very Damaged, Sidewalk, You Are Loved, Downcome, Old Press

Pixels & Company May Challenge

     I've worked for the last 2 days on the May challenge at Pixels & Company.  There are 3 areas of challenge (design, photo, words) with each having 3 levels (entry, management, executive).  If you do a single layout which covers all 3 areas and fulfills the highest level in all three that is called the CEO. 
     I've done the challenges for 2 previous months and have never attempted the CEO level before, but I thought I could pull it off this month.  I get 20 points for doing it which translate to a 20% discount on a purchase.
     3 of the photos had to show action and one had to show depth of field.  I only had one set that would fill the bill; it was from a photo shoot I did with Buddy for my photography class. 
     The title was not my choice but a requirement.  It had to got vertically.  At first I had it going around the corner, but was afraid that might not qualify, so I fiddled around until I got it all to go vertically.
    I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Pixels & Company May Template

Mye De Leon - New England Cottage, Making Memories

Karen Funk - Race Day

A Wolff - All Time Low

Blagovesta Gosheva - Things I Love About You

EnKay - Comic

Wild Blueberry Ink - Love Story

Echo Park - Little Boy

Gina Marie Huff - Sweet & Simple

Fonts:  Appleberry, Calibri, Arial

My Heart is Captured by You

     This layout is another Art Journaling challenge.  The challenge was to do a layout about heart.  I saw the background paper with the birdcage and instantly thought about a heart being captured.  The paper was 8 1/2 x 11 and I needed to make it be 12x12 but I didn't want the birdcage to be larger than it originally was.  I enlarged the paper just enough to get it up to 12 inches tall; then I duplicated the layer and filled the width to 12 inches.  The pattern in the paper made it too obvious that I had done just that so I did some selections and layered them on top of the obvious sections.  A little work with an eraser brush helped erase the straight edges and blended the textures a little.  I think it worked out pretty well.  I had to do the same to add some stitching to the blank areas.
   The birdcage presented another challenge.  I wanted to add the heart behind the bars so I made another selection around the birdcage and erased all the paper between the bars so when I layered it over the background and the heart the heart would show through.  I realize now I probably could have done a selection of the cage itself to save some time and effort.
     I had to do some erasing on the font, so I needed to simplify the font layer which was new for me.  I learned once you do that you can't find out the font name again later.  It might be a good idea to add the name of the font to the layer next time. 
     The journaling strips presented another challenge because they were too long and I couldn't shrink them down small enough to be as short as I needed.  I made selections and deleted part of the labels.  Once I did that the cut edge was just too sharp, so I made selections of the ends of the originals and added them to the cut off edges.  I had to do some blending with the eraser tool again for a seamless look.
     The dates on the tags are special dates:  my wedding day and the birthdays of Alexis, Rachel, Ewan and Vivian.  Each is important to me as all these special people in my life have captured my heart.
    This is the most complicated layout I have made to date.

Background paper: Journal Your Art Out 5 by Nancie Rowe Janitz;

Locket: Warmth of Family by Amber Shaw;

Translucent hearts: Finding My Way by Rosey Posey;

Heart: Sweet & Simple by Gina Marie Huff

Journal strips: Something Pretty by Zoe Pearn

Fonts: Meander, Angelic Peace, Always in my Heart, Diesel, KG Eyes Wide Open