so lucky

Hello! It was a busy two weeks, so I'm happy to have a minute and a layout to share!

"So," I said to myself, "I seem to like those template thingees.  And I like using them 'my' way - where I paint the stencil with the inks and then press it into the paper, rather than laying it on the paper and spraying or painting over the template.   But I probably need to 'invest' in another one or two styles."  

So I did.

"And," I said to myself, "I like the way people are smashing that paste-y looking stuff into the templates.  It looks cool, and texture-y.  I want to try that. BUT, there's no way I'm buying something new.  There's got to be a way to use what I've got to do something fun/cool/new (to me) with these templates.

So put the template at the top of cardstock and used my fingertips to smear in some Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive, and then I sprinkled a little bit of two of my Martha Stewart hairy glitters and a little of my Martha Steward beads into the glue while it was drying.  Sadly, I thought the glue was dry at one point and wiped the damn thing with a paper towel.  Yeah, I don't know what I was thinking either.  Up until that point the chevron design was very apparent.  But I decided that the messy look was okay and I was too cheap to abandon another sheet of American Crafts white cardstock.  

Things I like about this layout: that it was created using nothing but scraps from recent layouts.  I like the muted but still-happy colors.  I like the hearts, especially on the newsprint.  I like those hearts on the newsprint so much that I didn't even take off the branding strip.  Thanks, Simple Stories, for a fun and unexpected design element. ;)

Things I don't like about this layout: It's a little light in the journaling area.  But there wasn't too much I wanted to say.  We've been trying to get out and about every Sunday, but other than saying where we were, I was able to narrow it down to three memory joggers: acorns, big snake and chili.  For those of us that were there that day we'll know which walk in the park it was.  I figure that's enough, but I still wish I had something deep and meaningful to say.  

(gratuitous detail shot of "title" and "journaling")(feel free to make exaggerated air quotes while reading that)

Other item to note: friend Kathleen D sent me some Lawn Fawn baubles as well as a gift certificate to Lawn Fawn's site.  I can't thank you enough, Mama Du! While I only managed to use one of the baubles (the YAY fabric covered brad) from the original package, the washi tape, aqua-ish enamel dots and the blue bird at the bottom were from their site.  As it turns out, I may love Lawn Fawn, which is news to me because they hadn't even blipped on my radar screen yet.  You're like the match.com of the scrapbooking world. ;)

And lastly, looking forward: I really want to try this:

It maybe hard to tell from this shot, and if you're curious to see what I'm talking about you can watch the video that shows it better here.

At any rate, she paints spray mist onto the background, right in the center, but then adds a spritz or two of water and paints a little on either side of the original swath and then adds more water and paints on the outside.  The final effect is a subtle ombre wash over the background.  It's so soft and yet adds a nice base.

Ok.  I think that's all I've got and things are starting to get hectic around me.  I guess I should quit goofing off and work a little.