Spread Your Wings and Fly

Hello Hello

How was your weekend?
I apologize for the late post, I'm just trying to 'get it all done', I'm sure you know how that goes.
so...

Were you able to get anything creative done?

 I had the opportunity to get some things organized that desperately needed the attention so I got very little in the way of crafting done, but I do have a cleaner scrap room now which lets me breathe a little easier when I walk in here.

Now granted by no means is it put together with everything in it's place...oh hell no...I still have twenty of the same thing in thirty different spots but that's only 'cuz I couldn't find them. The way I figure it...eventually everything will figure out where it goes and just magically end up there.

***haahaaahaahhaa***

Now what did happen however is that I got a real good look at some of the crap that I have, different things I've collected over the past 10+ years and have only just now really figured out what to do with them. The answer?

Mixed Media

And I'll tell it'll be really fun getting my hands into some of the 'lost things' I found...can't hardly wait...ooo and I'll make sure to share whatever I create.

For now though I thought that I'd share the next layout with you. This is from last Fall when I went on my weekend binge and did like 9 layouts in 2 1/2 days...

yeah it was completely crazy

for someone who 'doesn't do' layouts...

But I can tell you with 95% certainty that this one is probably my favorite!
I mean that little face, oh and her little bitty hands, and her sweet, sweet smile...
Yes I am bias, after all she is my baby but oh my goodness!

As for the paper I went way out of my comfort zone and used a sheet that had a lot of visual weight on it already, but I used the images to my advantage. Around the larger bird in the bottom left hand corner I added in some flowers along with a border strip on the vertical line (our eyes naturally read bold patterns and the horizontal and vertical lines are two of the most common, plus it helps to lead the eye the way you want your audience to read it) then I also made a small cluster of embellishments + photo + journaling pocket off center and a tad to the right. When I added the border strips on I made sure to bring one in from the right side about a 1/3 of the way up from the bottom of the page ( this is that visual weight thing working again here-also working within thirds is another really good way to achieve a balanced visual weight-just an FYI) having that strip essentially grounds the elements so that they don't look like they're floating in space. 

Okay so there you have it, I did add in a few other random elements that help support the overall piece and also help tell the story. Eventually I will get back in here and add the date possibly along with my journaling but for now I am quite happy with this layout...as I mentioned earlier, I think this one may be my most favorite at the moment. Let alone for the photo but also because I stepped outside of the 'box' for me-as if doing layouts wasn't enough outside of the box already. Anyways I hope this helps you to try stepping out yourself and maybe think about how you can use some of those 'visually weighted' pattern papers. If you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment.
As always I greatly enjoy sharing things with you and I thank you for visiting. Later this week I plan on sharing a few more layouts and quite possibly even a new mixed media piece.
Don't forget this Saturday - do something 'scrappy' as it is

 National Scrapbook Day!

Until next time...
just B