Scheming Around

I took the Scheming Around class at CKC Hartford last week. The class, which is based on Donna Downey's book, A Photos-First Approach to Designing Layouts, required a lot of preparation to gather and cut pictures. It was also overcrowded, extremely fast paced (3 layouts in an hour!) and very noisy despite the fact that we were using "silent" setters to punch holes in out paper. I have to tell you that I left the class feeling a little disappointed and very stressed. However, once I got home and put Donna's approach to work with my own tools (a Big Bite!), paper and stamps (Technique Tuesday), I loved the results and am happy that I took the class.

So, here's the first layout. It's based on a sketch that uses eight pictures that were cut into 2.5" squares. Now anyone who knows how I obsess over picking the "right" paper to go with my photos will know how out-of-the-box it was for me to cut pictures ahead of time not knowing what my paper even looked like. I got lucky since some of the sunset pictures picked up the coral from the paper.

So, I finished the first layout in class (adding the letters was a personal touch I put on it at home) and began the second layout. Here's where my frustration set in. The design of the second layout centered around using the Dot All Around template from Crafter's Workshop. You can find it here http://shop.scrapbooks.com/cf-tcw78.html. Everyone had to share the few templates that circulated the room and, to make matters worse, they were not available for sale at the Vendor Fair. (If anyone from CKC is reading this, take note: I would rather pay a few extra dollars for the class and walk out with the template.) Okay, so once I drew the circles, I had to wait for one of the silent setters to become available. At my table, there were six people using two setters because the third setter was missing a mat. Many people turned to their Fiskars Eyelet setters which is what made this the noisiest class ever! (I started to use my Fiskars Eyelet setter but it always jams and there were so many holes to punch so I waited for the setter.) While we waited, we stamped the circle pattern on the paper using a Stampin' Up! stamp. However, the stamps were in desperate need of a cleaning so I wasn't happy with the result. To make a long story short, when I came home, I took my own cardstock and, using the class project as my template, I punched out the holes using my Big Bite, stamped the circles using stamps from Technique Tuesday's Back Rounds Medium set and added Thickers which I distressed with sandpaper. The result is one of my favorite layouts.

Journaling reads: Watkins Glen 2005...Watkins Glen 1966

If it wasn't for this class, I don't think I would have ever combined pictures from a childhood vacation with a recent one.

There was no time for the last layout in class which was not surprising. When I got home, I took the Bazzill watermelon cardstock (which was supposed to be the background for the second layout) and paired it with Around the Block's Maple Leaf patterned paper. I distressed the patterned paper with Cat's Eye charcoal ink and used the edge of my scissor to distress the cardstock.

Journaling reads: Instead of going to the CN Tower, we surprised the kids with tickets to a Yankees/Blue Jays game and went to the CN Tower the next day!

For this layout I used Technique Tuesday's Endless Summer stamps. The word "BALL" is not included in this set so I used the "B" from Barbeque, masked it and added the word "ALL." I just love my Technique Tuesday stamps!

I know this is a long post but I have one final tip to share. Since I was using such a big block of cardstock on this layout, I cut a 6"x6" square from the center of the patterned paper so that I could use it to embellish my layout. Here's how the layout looks from the back.

Ingredients: All supplies, except those noted, from CKC Scheming Around class kit.