LOAD213: A Royal Layout!

I didn't use today's prompt for Layout a Day. I so badly wanted to scrap this photo of my son in Cinderella's Castle. It's been on my to scrap list for a very long time. I must admit I was also motivated by the Simon Say's Stamp Challenge this week.

Before I get into the main point of today's post, I wanted to share the back story behind the photo. My son, like most boys, could care less about Cinderella. We had wandered around the Magic Kingdom and my son loved the castle. At this age, he loved knights and castles. When we mentioned that you could eat in the tower, he of course wanted to. We didn't have reservations but luckily, with a short wait, they could fit us in. My son spent the time waiting by exploring the throne room style lobby.

Shortly after our day at Disney, I came across a die cut of Cinderella's Castle. It was one of the few supplies I ever bought with a specific layout in mind. For whatever reason, I never got around to making the layout. Today was going to be the day! After pulling the layout from the package, I discovered that parts of it were no longer in good shape. Some of the laser cut lines did not show up well and made the castle look dingy. I decided to omit some of the layered parts and to dress the castle up a bit on my own. The parts I omitted were pink. I thought that was a shame. Sure, it's a boy's layout and Cinderella wore a lot of blue. Omitting the pink would not be a big deal, but yet, here was the chance to add some pink, frills and bling to a boy's LO.

With the gold throne, blue curtains and visions of pink accents in mind, I set about trying to find the perfect patterned paper. Once I had chosen the perfect pink paper filled with gold scrolls, the layout came together.

Let's Eat in the Castle by Christy Strickler
Supplies| Patterned Paper: Pink Paislee, Basic Grey; Alphas: American Crafts, unknown; Flowers: Maya Road, Pebbles, Making Memories; Stickers: Pink Paislee; Ticket: JBS Mercantile; Buttons: JBS Mercantile, Maya Road; Jewels: Imaginesce; Die Cut: Paper Wizard; Chipboard: Studio 112; Ribbon: Prima; Mist: Ranger, Homemade





The textures in the photo guided my choices. Velvet ribbon, jewels, and gold tones set the stage for my tiny son in the giant throne. I chose the bird and clocks to remind me of the Cinderella theme. The die cut was, admittingly, a little hard to work with. I never considered its size all those years ago when I purchased it. Though it is a bit dated, updating it and using the castle with my current scrap style makes it the perfect fit for my layout.

Consider older items in your supplies. Can you alter them? Can you update them to work with newer products from your stash? Blending in old supplies with new ones can give them new life. Try making a kit of your own. Select products from your earliest days as a memory keeper. Choose another set from supplies that are over 6 months old, then add a few things you purchased in the past 6 months. Allow the theme of your photo to drive your choices in texture and motif. The result will be a fresh layout that highlights the story.

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• Challenge: Ever After
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A Fish Tale

We live close to a beach and so, we decided to take advantage of it with evening walks several days a week. We've been going on these walks for months now and nothing much exciting has happened. We would find a few seashells and call it a day. After awhile,I had decided to leave my camera at home. I am so sorry I did. Last weekend, a stingray, of rather large diameter, followed us along the shoreline for a bit. That might have been the end of things, but the next thing we knew, there was a school of puffer fish swimming around us at the edge of the water. We were wading knee deep and there must have been at least 40-50 of them. Some were caught by the waves and carried to shore.We quickly grabbed them and tossed them back in. We saw puffer fish ahead of us, also accidentally being beached, so we combed the shoreline, saving the ones we found. I was truly sad I had left the camera at home.

For our next walk, I made sure to take my camera. Sadly, no puffer fish or rays appeared. I still wanted to document the story though,so I snapped a shot of my son scanning the sea for a school of fish. I went online and found a vintage puffer fish print then set to work creating this layout.


Puffer Fish Rescue Patrol by Christy Strickler 
Supplies Cardstock: Colorbok; Stencils and Stamps: JBS Mercantile; Ink: Tsukineko, ClearSnap, Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye;Image from The Rusty Hodge Podge; Other: Book paper, glass beads, cellophane; Most items from my JBS Mercantile kit

I experimented with stamping for this layout thanks to the Second Floor Challenge at the Balzer Designs Blog. A day or so ago, I had created a page base using my newest JBS Mercantile stamp and some cellophane. I sewed the cellophane onto the page. I then came back, inked up a JBS stencil and used a brayer to create a stamped image. I used the same stencil to fussy cut patterned paper which I then adhered the hexagons to parts of the stamped design. If you are wondering about the purple ink, well, the puffer fish were purple.I wanted to have the color association there for my family.I also used a JBS chevron stamp on book paper with purple ink. I used a stencil to create the letters, fussy cut them out and then added torn bits of the stamped book paper underneath while allowing bits of the layout to show through.

I liked the added touch of the torn book paper beneath it.The stamp is faint, but the hint of purple ties in nicely with the purple of the stamped stencil. The tiny bit of text means I can add this page to the Simon Says Stamp weekly challenge. Well...and it is Stamptember too, so the second floor challenge this month is really apt!