A Little Bit of Hot Air

  So what comes to mind when you think of hot air? Some might think of the hot summer weather. My husband might jokingly tell you it's the things I say. In regard to science, it's what can make a balloon go up. No...I didn't take a ride in a hot air balloon, though part of me wishes I had. It would have been a wonderful way to teach my son, first hand, about the heating and cooling properties of air. We settled for our own tiny little hot air balloon, made in the comfort of our kitchen with a party balloon and some heated water. We attached a little balloon to an empty glass bottle, then boiled the bottle. My son's reactions to such simple things never cease to amaze me. As the balloon began to expand and rise, he cried out in sheer amazement. Then as we began the process of cooling the bottle in a container of cold water, I heard his tell-tale exclamation of  "ooohhh, cool!" Another lesson learned. Another series of cute photos to scrap. More requests of " Can we start with science today?" What can I say except that I love being able to homeschool my son.
  The experiment and photo taking was the easy part. Picking the right paper was also very easy for me. I had gotten some Kaisercraft papers with balloons in a recent club kit last Fall. How I was going to align the photo and place them on my page seemed to elude me. This past week, a challenge was issued at From Screen 2 Scrap which featured the movie poster from Disney's UP. When I saw that poster I knew it would be the perfect challenge to use these photos on, but I also knew how the photos should be placed on the page.
                                                                       
    Before placing the photos, I splattered the card stock with some home made mist. I had mixed some walnut ink with silver paint as a sort of experiment. The walnut stain had turned the silver paint into this wonderful golden mist. I next matted the photos on a cream and brown paper, rolling and tearing the edges as I went. I felt like it gave a "well travelled" feel to the papers as did adding a little Colorbox Chestnut roan ink. As I placed the photos, I followed the images of the people in the poster.I anchored the photos to the page with strips of patterned paper. I used the title and date as places to add my title and embellishments. I used my new WE R Memory Keepers cloud stamp on the page. and then strategically added chipboard and fussy cut images of hot Air Balloons. I used 3-d foam on the fussy cut balloons to add dimension. Little Yellow Bicycle alpha stickers and some older scrabble style letters created the title floating among the clouds.

  I love how the elements add a hint as to what the photos are about, even though we did not get to experience a real Hot Air Balloon adventure. Using the poster as a guide, I was able to make a fun, yet quick page to add to my album. The poster is also a reminder that we can make a scrapbook page sketch from anything we see. We don't necessarily need someone to make a sketch for us. So if you are stuck in a creative bind, try checking out a few movie posters or ads for inspiration.