Summer is here!

 What can I say...summer temperatures are definitely here. It brings with it trips to the beach, time at the pool, and afternoon thunderstorms with cooling rain. I think it's time to break out the squirt guns and get some great summer photos. It all sounded so wonderful...until I realized I still had last year's summer photos to finish scrapping. Not only that...I still had last year's summer themed papers to use up! Time to pull out those summer albums and finish up the last few pages. 

   The page I am going to share with you today is actually page two of a layout I did last summer. I scrap in an odd pattern sometimes. While my albums are chronologically organized, I scrap the photos that I feel like here and there. Sometimes, I will complete a full  two page spread in one sitting, while other times, I will do one side of the two pages. I save the photos and papers I use right there inside the page protector. It's nicely organized and things don't get lost. The only disadvantage to this method is that, as my style and skill become more defined, there is sometimes a different look to the 2nd half of the page if I wait too long to scrap it.

  Anyhow, here I sat with scraps from page one...papers and embellishments from the Fancy Pants Rusted Sun collection. I had 4 photos all 3 1/2 x 5 in size. I think part of the reason I had not gone back to this page is that I had been struggling with how I wanted to place these photos onto the page. For whatever reason, I wanted something more than a usual grid with 4 photos. I just didn't know what I wanted to do exactly, until I came upon a wonderful sketch from Sassy Lil Sketches. I saw the circular element on the page and instantly knew I wanted to cut one of the photos in a circular shape.

Sassy Lil Sketch 5-21-11

  Once the photo was cut, I realized the page needed a little something more. I wanted to continue with the sun and beach theme, but did not have the lovely yellow paper from the rusted sun collection. I chose to use a Martha Stewart plaid style stamp and some orange ink on yellow paper. It closely resembled the pattern found on the suns in paper I had already chosen to use. I then decided to add some detail with white opaque marker and brown pen. I remember using pens and markers more often in my early days of scrapbooking. I have happily found them once again. They are such an inexpensive and quick way to add just the right something to many a page.

  Since the two sun shapes seemed to be such a large attention grabber, I chose not to add a lot of other design elements to the page. I am rather pleased with the way it brings your focus right to the photo of my son. Now…I must go and try to finish off some of those other albums. It seems I have several that need just a few pages here or there to be called finished