I admit it. I love a good challenge. I don’t like challenges that are overly constricting, though (like make a layout with 2 photos, black cardstock, 5 brads and some ribbon). I like broader challenges that allow you to bring a lot of yourself to the table. Challenges like scraplifting a page, using a certain item (in a general sense), and so forth.
Thanks to Shimelle’s weekend crop I managed quite a few challenges this week. She has 16 challenges total, of which I’ve now completed eight. Submissions are open until this coming weekend so you still have time to participate if you have the inkling.
Challenge number 1: Lift Jamie Warren’s layout.
Mine came out quite a bit different, but I still took a lot of inspiration from the layout including colour, title, single photo layout, and a few other minor details.
Challenge number 2: Design a layout using papers from three different collections.
I used Pink Paisley, October Afternoon, Chatterbox and Graphic 45.
Challenge number 3: Mix your style with someone else’s style and try something new.
I was inspired by Gluestickgirl and the way she often uses a top and/or bottom border or accent. This is something I never do. I usually add full borders or have all my stuff in the centre of the page, often in grids. I love how the resulting page turned out. It is still very much in my style, but also very much inspired by Gluestickgirl’s style.
Challenge number 4: Make a layout using yellow, grey, and one other colour.
This one was hard. I never use grey and rarely use yellow. I chose purple as my main colour.
Challenge number 5: Make a layout inspired by Wilna’s layout
And I pretty much just scraplifted the whole thing… except the scattered embellishments. I don’t have that many embellishments. (Comes from being a simple scrapper. And cheap.)
Challenge 6: Be inspired by a layout, but make a drastic change (example was to make a boy layout by being inspired by a girl page).
Again, I found this difficult as I don’t get inspired by themes. Just because it is pink and ruffly doesn’t mean it will inspire me to scrap pink and ruffly. I finally just bit the bullet and went for it. I was inspired by Moon Ko’s baby layout and made a layout about food. I even went so far as to use a bold patterned paper. Yes. I live on the edge.
Challenge 7: Use a pocket or envelope to house something worth keeping.
I knew exactly what I was going to do as soon as I read this challenge. I pulled some an old postcard, letter and note written by my nan and wrote about how difficult it is to read her writing.
Challenge 8: Use a stamp that you should use more often.
I pulled a stamp I bought in Canada but hadn’t used. (At least until I did the previous layout. I used a part of the stamp on that. It was sitting on my desk. It’s how I work.) Very little journalling, which is unusual, but in this case I thought fewer words got the point across just fine.
Earlier in the week I also did a few other challenges.
Glitter Girl Adventure 15: Use old and new product together on a page.
Which I thought was easy until I realised my newest paper was from 2009. I added in some washi tape, flower and letter stickers (all bought in 2012) to adhere to the challenge requirements.
And finally, the weekly challenge at Two Peas: Create a layout about the places you visit around your hometown.
We haven’t lived here long enough to have any favourite places, so I did a layout about our favourite places in Northeast England.
I may have been busy this week. However, I also learned a lot about myself during these endeavours. I prefer simple pages. I work better when I start with a story. (Even if I’m actually inspired by the photos. If I don’t have a story, I just can’t get the page to come together.) I’m not very good at scrapping with pink, but I’m trying. Limiting the choices of colour or to a specific product makes it much harder for me to put a layout together (that’s not to say I can’t scrap with product, just that it isn’t my inspiration). I tend to gravitate to using whatever happens to be on my desk.
There are eight more challenges for the crop. I may do them all, I may not. The one that requires printing is going to be problematic since I don’t have a printer. I guess that’s why it’s a challenge. :)