Thinking outside the Box

A couple of days ago, one of the Scrapbooks-Plus DT members sent out an SOS email for ideas for my December DT kit that wasn't a Christmas theme. So I thought, besides the obvious "winter theme", what else could one use these gorgeous SEI Christmas Mint and Winter Song papers for? With that being the challenge, I set out this morning to create something "non-Christmas" and "non-snow". Well here it is...in draft form anyway. I'm not completely happy with my sub-title/journaling memory frame, that sits empty right now and still hasn't been glued down yet...maybe a charm, Tinkerbell perhaps?
Anyway, this is my husband and me at Cinderella's Castle in Orlando during an unseasonably cold spell (I had to buy a jacket and a scarf!). But the foil green swirls were a perfect match and just the right contrast to the bright blue castle.

Even if a paper seems meant for a certain purpose, it doesn't mean you can't change it up. I've nearly finished my projects for the December kit (as the designer of the month, you have to go above and beyond). So far, I have four single page layouts (and another in the works) and one double page layout plus a card. And surprisingly, only two of my layouts are Christmas...the rest have varying themes of birds, dogs, playing in the snow and Disney. It is amazing how creative you can be when you challenge yourself to think outside the box!!

New Interim Lines from Basic Grey

Today, my favorite manufacture, BASIC GREY, is announcing two new interim lines of patterned paper and embellishments, Origins and Sugar Rush. Origins is by far my favorite. Love those earth tones and the fact that the paper is double sided. Sugar Rush is cute. Designed with Valentines Day and Romance in mind, it's not too pink - and you know I don't do "pink" well at all. I'm not sure when they will ship, but will keep you posted.

Late Autumn

The rain has been so dreary the past several days. I was scrolling through my recent photos from Skyline to scrap and maybe put me in a better mood. I love this one of all the colors of late autumn. The hues are deeper at the higher elevations ealier, which resembled then as things look now in my back yard (although I don't have this view!).

I've been working on my December DT kit. The two-page layout is nearly complete. It's a spin on a design from an early All About Me class. (My two-page design Mo Jo is running low!)

I'm also waiting for an on-line order of product to create Pam's banner for my in-laws at Thanksgiving. Just need that Graphic 45 paper! Also need to decide what pics to use. The project uses three portraits. So should I choose my in-laws now (together) and two others of them when they were infants, OR of relatives that have passed on - their parents and our nephew who died 7 1/2 years ago. The former is safer, the latter is more sentimental but may cause too much heart ache. What to do? I'm sure I'll figure it out soon enough! Will post my version when I finish.

Page Maps

Seems Page Maps are the new trend, and we've been scrapping to a lot of them on the Scrapbooks-Plus Design Team in recent weeks. I will be the designer of the month in December, so the members are busy creating with the kit that I put together to mark the beginning of winter and the Christmas holidays.

All weekend, I have been working on Christmas gifts that I am making (nearly all my gifts this year will be hand made since I hate shopping - unless it is for scrapbook supplies!). But in addition to taking the dogs out for a woodland run in Lucketts, attending the C-League Champoinship football game on Saturday and making gift albums from old 78 record storage albums, I whipped up my first page map this weekend.

If you want to get started early on the December DT challenge, put your thinking caps on for the pics you'll choose for this map.

Skyline Drive and the Absolute Beauty of Autumn

"...with the smell of the woods, and the wind in the trees, they will forget the rush and strain of all the other long weeks of the year, and for a short time at least, the days will be good for their hearts and for their souls." Franklin Roosevelt said this of Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah in 1936. I used his quote on this layout featuring my son Zach and our adventure last weekend on Skyline Drive. The layout features SEI Monrovia papers and flowers by Prima (my new favorite manufacturer). I've added just a few of the photos from our Sunday drive. My friend Carol Wingert asked for a little Virginia autumn - since she doesn't get much of it out in Phoenix - so I thought I'd share some of those photos I sent to her with the rest of you!

Here's Zach and I at one of the lookout points. Some nice man took a photo of the two of us.

The chaotic Blue Ridge Skyline.

A gorgeous sugar maple.

Sassafras along the side of the road. While I was taking this picture (and not paying much attention to much else) a small bear crossed the road right in front of us. I wasn't quick enough to get his picture though!

The Massanutten. Notice the difference in the formations of these mountain - more even and organized than those of the Blue Ridge.

Another Maple...I love their colors best!! Stay tuned, I have more lovely autumn layouts in the works!!