Inspiration Elevator July 2012

You may recall from last month's challenge that the purpose of Inspiration Elevator is to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow.

This month our challenger was the very talented Audrey Yeager. Audrey noticed (as you may have too) that most of us are single 12 x 12 inch page designers. So Audrey has challenged us to go outside our comfort zone and create a double page layout! We have also invited a valued guest designer to join us this month; her name is Scarlett Salamone.

Here's a bit of what Audrey had to say about her challenge this month:

"I take a lot of photos. Right now, I have been using 2 or 3 smaller photos on my layouts. But truth is, I have a lot of events where I would like to include a lot of photos on a larger spread so that you can see the details in the photos too. So I print out the photos with the intention of putting them on a 2-page spread. And they start to pile up, simply because…..I hate doing 2-pagers. I just can’t get it. I feel like I have a certain style, yet when I sit down to create a 2 pager, it feels nothing like “me”.

I have decided that the only way to overcome this is to practice making 2 pagers. I have to remember what techniques I love and how I would layout my photos if I were doing a single page LO. I have to say that I am starting to feel a bit more comfortable, but double pagers still are a challenge.

SOOOO, your next challenge is to create a double page layout. And I don’t mean just any double page. I want you to really think about your style and your design practices for single pagers (the first assignment helped us define our style, so think about those elements). Then take those ideas and try to apply them to a double pager."

This was an awesome challenge! I always used to do double-page layouts, but then I totally became a single-page scrapbooker over the past couple of years. The single-page canvas is small enough that I can take just one or two photos, use my favorite techniques and work with a few fun embellishments to create a design. For me to develop a double-page layout now seems to take me totally out of my comfort zone! That is why I love Inspiration Elevator. It truly does make us stretch and grow as scrapbookers!

This is my double-page design:

My first thought was that I wanted to do something bright and colorful! With all the fabulous summer collections out now, I also knew I wanted to do something summer themed. I chose to work with MME's On The Sunny Side. It is such a cheery line!

I began by flicking some Mister Huey's Color Mists on my background cardstock. I kept it simple as I did not want the ink to take your eye away from the papers and photos, but just add a bit of interest to the background.

I also wanted my photos to be the main focus, so I kept the papers to a minimum.

I did want to create a banner cluster on my layout and I had fun doing a layered banner! I cut some of my own strips of paper and then added some die-cuts from the collection. I strung the banner on bakers twine and I added a clip for fun!

I originally had another photo on page one, but then I could not figure out where to put the title! So off came the picture and out came my alpha stickers. It was fun rooting through my bin looking for the right color and size of alphas. I enjoyed combining a couple of different fonts - one from Basic Grey and the smaller ones from Echo Park.

While I chose not to add journaling to my layout, I did add some banner tags with the names of my nieces and son on them. I used a fabulous font called Crushed - one of my favs! Then last, but not least, a bit of machine stitching was added to my pages ♥

Here's the list of my IE friends, who have been working all month to create gorgeous and inspiring designs. I do hope you'll pop by each of their blogs to see what they have created and perhaps take a moment to leave a comment for them.

Ann Jobes

Audrey Yeager

Cathy Harper

Christa Uttley

Joanne Burton

Laura Whitaker

Laurel Seabrook

Lisa Moen

Lisa Spiegel

Sue Sykes

Scarlett Salamone - July Guest Designer

If you would like to take on this month's challenge, please do so! Just leave a link in the comment section below and I will be sure to take a look :)