Welcome to Simple Scrapper’s* March blog hop!

This month I’ve got two layouts to show you: The one I made using one of the new sketches from Simple Scrapper’s March collection and the one I made using March’s Story Starter prompts. Let me show you!

I knew I wanted to make a layout using a “behind the scenes”-photo from a few weeks ago. My niece is a competition show jumper and it’s been so much fun taking her photos and cheering her on on the weekends. But what about the rest of the family? Her mom, my sister, is so busy getting both her and the horse ready. And her father drives them everywhere, holds the horse, etc, etc. My mom comes too, she encourages and shows support in good times and in bad. They’re often left out of the photos and therefore also my layouts.

I started with this photo:

After editing it (no cropping, just turning it into b/w), I picked out the papers I wanted to use. I’ve always loved October Afternoon, especially their double-sided papers with big illustrations on the B-side (like old school books), but they are so hard to use! I always end up putting them aside, thinking I’ll save them for something special. But this time I actually chose the B-side, knowing I’d have to cover much of it up.

I used many patterned papers and also a doily to build the layers on this, also adding a strip of paper on the bottom and some tape to the journaling spots.

Using different alphas helps create a focus on the titlework.

When layering like it, I only use adhesive on the center backs, not around every edge. That way the layers are “lifted” off the page, creating even more dimension.

I used March’s Single 1-sketch for this. If you’re not already a member and not sure if you want to join, use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter a giveaway for a one month trial membership at Simple Scrapper. There are three ways to enter and three winners will be selected. To be eligible, you must enter by 11:59pm CST on Wednesday, March 6.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For the next layout I used March’s Story Starter #10. I built the page around November 2012′s sketch Single 3 and kept very true to it.

I used a simple dotted patterned paper for the background paper. I knew I had to use dots or lines in order to align the very detailed world map die-cut. Of course, I wasn’t accurate enough with the Kelly Purkey geotag stamp and therefore it looks like I live in England (but it is supposed to be Norway!).

I used twine for the lines from my location to different photos taken while at airports/on planes to illustrate travel. The title is made up of different alphas, highlighting specific words.

I used country codes around the photos to show which countries I’ve been to. The photos are layered on Marthe Stewart doily tags.

I added some Studio Calico wood veneer stars to illustrate the feeling of flying high when on airplanes. I also used Ormolu badges about traveling and wood veneer airplanes and camera. The strips on the bottom of the page are both patterned paper and a May Arts ribbon. 

Please visit the rest of the participating designers to see all of their wonderful layouts:

Simple Scrapper (Jennifer Wilson)

Jeryn Carlisi

Lisa Corbin-Polak

Ronnie Crowley

Kim Gehring

Michele Holcomb

Margrethe Aas Johnsen <– You are here!

Amy Kingsford

Samantha Landay

Pam Lozano

Aimee Maddern

Jean Manis

Van Nguyen

Melissa Priest

Celeste Smith

Sara Case Strickland

Thank you for visiting today!

The Premium Membership at Simple Scrapper provides skills and shortcuts to help you simplify and find more meaning in your memory keeping. Each month members receive a new collection of sketch templates and Story Starters, story-focused prompts for pages and projects.