Challenge Accepted: Christmas 2016

You guys. Seriously. I have issues. After TSSR Relaunch Week 2017, I totally intended to take it easy this week and share a finished/almost finished page.  Instead….I started a page almost from scratch to participate in a fun challenge and I freaking love how it turned out. And yes, I did scrapbook Christmas when it was 93 degrees outside.

The Challenge: Citrus Twist 3 to Inspire (July 29 2017)

1. Breath new life in to your old, tried and true stamps by stamping in colored ink. Ok, dug out some lime green ink to stick to a quirky Christmas color scheme. As you will see, it was kind of a fail. That’s why it’s a challenge, right?
2. Use something unexpected – maybe from another hobby? Embroidery floss was suggested in the description for this challenge and I instantly thought of an idea I had just seen on Instagram. This choice was a no brainer.
3. Give love to a neglected supply. This one was a toss up between doilies and sequins right up until I started to glue things down. I had done some light organizing of my supplies over the weekend and it made a lot of things much more accessible. Hopefully they wont be neglected for too much longer!

This may absolutely be the strangest spread I could have chosen to jump right in on. The short story is that my mom and sister came to visit for 11 days last December and we did all the things. Since we had such an epic time, I decided to print all the photos I liked and worry about page layout later. In the end I had 25 spreads. Plus inserts. For eleven days. Not even sorry.

So, when I decided to do this challenge I flipped through those pages to see if any spoke to me. This one is the second layout for the entire trip, but it is a strange choice to start with because it is actually two different days. The left side is the end of December 8, with the start of the day on the previous page. The right side is the start of December 9, which continues on the next page. Because I didn’t want to preplan or cull down there are several such spreads in this section of my album and I am totally fine with that.

Shortly before reading the challenge I had seen a post on Instagram (@theinkshow) with stitching down the edge of a grid card, which I though was just the coolest idea. When the challenge prompt mentioned using embroidery thread, I immediately knew this is how I wanted to go. I think it is also one of the reasons I started looking through my Christmas layouts—it just says warm and cozy to me. Since my printer has a mind of its own, the gap between the stitching and text was an excellent place to add a lime green phrase. I will definitely be repeating this technique, probably on another page from this week.

As I mentioned, the right side is the start of the next day. Through the pages for this trip, I typically have one page/spread for general photos from the day and at least one spread for a specific site. This formula is one that I do for all of my trip pages in order to fit in all the stories that I want to tell.

Because nearly every day has multiple spreads, I plan to put a big date at the start of each day. I will probably also use a standard size date stamp on most of the pages between for clarity. I actually only used one doily across this entire layout, with the bulk of it appearing on the date card. I love that having the date at a larger scale allows me to keep the card super simple but still distinctive.

I am not instinctively a video taker, but my sister is and I love to include the little clips she takes in my scrapbook. This one is about thirty seconds of the clock playing, which I think will be a really fun thing to look back on in the future.

This card is also evidence of my major stamping fail. I am well aware that my stamping skills are pretty limited, so I usually confine it to text in black, gray, or dark blue. When the challenge required a colored ink, I dug out some small pads I probably bought about seven years ago to ink the edges of paper in traditional layouts. The only one with any hope of matching my layout was the lime green….it wasn’t even opened. The stamped card on the left side is cardstock and it worked beautifully. The two cards on the right side are photo paper and it worked not so much. I actually let them sit out for almost 24 hours and when there was still wet ink on the surface, I just dabbed it off and stuck it in the pocket. In real life it is still quite readable and it moves the green around the page so I think it counts. But I definitely wont use those inks on photo paper again. Ugghh.

This card was the only ‘journaling’ that was done when I started the page and it was actually just the caption I had put on Instagram. Every time I make a card like this I remind myself to do it more often, because the wide open space around a single sentence has so much possibility. Also, at what date do you think it is acceptable to start wearing those boot toppers again??

The Products

Cards: The two teal cards are from a very old Studio Calico kit (I think December 2015!) and I had placed them in the pockets some months ago when I went through in a final sweep before I broke up the set. Since I knew the stitching would add a lot of detail, I used plain white grid cards for three of the journaling spots. A couple times a year, I break down Studio Calico sets by color and store them separately from the complete sets (I keep all my PL cards in Tjena boxes from Ikea). When I needed cards for the remaining three pockets I just pulled out the grays and found cards that would work.

Stamps:  Elle’s Studio Date It and various phrases from my Citrus Twist grab bag stamps.

Other: The label with the date is this freebie, which I rediscovered when I was tidying up my stash. The heart and shorter section of cross stitch are from an Amy Tangerine template. I think I bought the small doily on clearance at Michael’s after Christmas several years ago, but it also made a reappearance after tidying. The gorgeous puffy stickers are from the ‘Tis the Season collection by Elle’s Studio, which was on sale when I bought with the date stamp.

The thing I really like about this layout is that though it feels quite seasonal and holly jolly, only the puffy stickers were actually marketed Christmas products. Furthermore, three of the four puffy stickers I used are completely generic. I plan to continue this look throughout the pages, mixing my outrageous amount of general supplies with a small number of Christmas specific goodies.

So. This challenge was so much fun that I ambitiously started the new Challenge Accepted series header for it. There isn’t really a schedule or plan for this, but when I am inspired by a challenge I will share it here. If you know any good challenges I should check out please let me know!