Journaling as a frame with Sandra

Happy Monday canaries, it's Sandra with you today. I've been playing with my November Memorandum scrapbooking kit (of which there are still some available!). And as you will see, there's an abundance of journaling on this layout.

This is a photo of my Dad and myself at his 60th birthday. The tie dye shirt was a gift from a friend, and it was so perfect for for my effervescent dad. I had forgotten my DSLR camera that evening so I was stuck with my phone camera, which unfortunately doesn't produce great quality photos at night in dark restaurants. But I remind myself that any photo is better than no photo, and I really do treasure this photo, as I don't have too many of him.I brightened and cleaned it up a little bit in Lightroom, and cropped out some of the distracting background after I'd printed it.

I had written the journaling and chosen the title about a month ago, waiting, with the photo, for the right paper to come along. When I saw the reverse of the Elle's Studio Autumn paper (with the 6x6 patterns), it reminded me of a rainbow which was perfect. I didn't use the grey strip, and the only colour missing was orange, but thankfully the Creative Agenda paper was in the kit, and would show the journaling but not let it overpower the layout. Writing the journaling on the paper was the very first thing I did. There are mistakes, but I'm not one to worry about them (especially when it takes so long to re-do this amount of journaling!), so I just continued and cleaned it up as best I could as I went along.

I created a bit of a mini-layout within a layout, by backing the photo and rainbow paper strips with some of the other papers, and "filling the frame". The layout was already quite busy with colours and words, so I kept the embellishments simple. The Amy Tangerine acrylic speech bubble worked perfectly, as the journaling was my thoughts and words, which were very heartfelt. I also used some of the Thickers to create little accents to flow throughout the layout.


I finished it with the title and a couple of strips of the washi, to repeat the colour strips from the "rainbow". Simple black alphabet stickers are so versatile, making them some of my go-to products.


I am so happy I was finally able to scrap this photo and move it from the to-do pile into an album! If you're like me and often have journaling and a photo ready to go, why not make it your goal in the the next couple of weeks to do the same. Good luck!

Before I sign off, I want to remind everyone that the Scrappy Canary 2015 Design Team call is closing THIS Sunday. If it's something you're considering, please hurry to get your submissions through, as I know you will have so much fun on this team!

Love and light,
Sandra