Muddle Puddle: September 2013

Welcome to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members Blog Hop.

You should be arriving from Lesley at http://ohblogitifyoucantbeatthem.blogspot.co.uk

If not, you may want to go to Counterfeit Kit Challenge and start at the beginning. http://www.counterfeitkitchallenge.blogspot.com/

The challenge was to pick a project that is either not finished or something that you always intended to start and FINISH IT!

I began with the goal of finishing my daughter’s wedding album. A daunting task, for certain. Usually I work in non-chronological order, creating a layout or two with whatever photos or papers are calling to me at the moment. Might be a current event or one from three or four years ago. And my style may change from one day to the next so that the layouts in most my albums do not relate to each other. They are each one, a unique individual canvas or short story.

Wedding albums, by their nature of being one (major) event with lots and lots of photos, have the inherent requirement of some sort of coordination amongst the pages. They require forethought and planning. And God forbid that you find a couple of new photographs after you have it all organized. (cough…cough)

The easy part of this album is that it is not the main, showcase for the event. My daughter has completed her story already in two albums. With two hundred pages of photos and journaling, the day has been well documented. So then why am I making this album? Well, for several reasons. I made one for her sister’s wedding, so I feel somewhat obligated to give fair time. Those two beautiful albums she made reside at her home, not mine. And because there was a large stack of photos, duplicates and out takes that didn’t make it into her albums. Always inspired to work with what I have, my personal challenge was to create a story book that doesn’t look like it was made from left overs.

Now for confession time. I did not complete the project as called for by the challenge. The album is not yet ready to be put on the shelf and viewed by visitors. It is, however much, much further along than it was at the start of the month. I can lay claim that I have finished some of the steps towards completion.

The pages were all designed using the power layout system. This approach uses your time effectively and your paper efficiently. It produces albums in a clean, classic design. The secret to power layout is its assembly line process and standardized measurements. This results in a reduced number of design decisions. Seconds are saved at every point which can add up to hours saved at the completion of an album.

Once the photos and papers were chosen and cut for each page, they were then glued down. Next step, I assembled the album. Then I began adding titles, and embellishments. As I am treating this as a photo book, there will not be much, if any, journaling in it. At the moment, more than half the pages are sporting pretty bits, charming titles and poignant prose. So while the album is not fully complete, most of it is ready for its page protectors. And I take comfort in the knowledge that every small decision made on each page takes me a step closer to the final, finished production.

Maybe you would like to have a peek at it?


78 pages

Cover page

Example of the results of the Power Layout System


Cute little clusters

The November wedding had an autumnal colour scheme. I used Creative Memories Divine power pallet and incorporated lots of different stickers, rub-ons, and bling that had found their way into my wedding stash. Using the paper line gave continuity to the pages while the eclectic clusters gives personality to each layout without ending up with a matchy-matchy feel.

Fabric leaves that had decorated the carpet in the chapel were saved to be worked into clusters, either featured whole as in the example above or cut to fit in layers, as in the example below.

There were some duplicates of colour photos that offered the opportunity for dimension by fussy cutting one and layering it over the other.

Confession time again. One page has not been designed. Need to secure an enlargement of the bride entering the chapel.

Now here's a lovely cluster that contains no less than six different manufacturer's product.

I also pulled out my cuttlebug and put it to good use. Here the wings were made from a scrap strip and Tim Holtz embossing folder.

Throughout the album I used these Creative Memories Wedding Accents, Paper Titles and Frames. No idea how old they are but they probably belong in a paper trend museum. I put the frames through the cuttlebug to give them the swiss dot effect and left the titles, smooth.