Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Top 10 of 2011

So, I realize this post is two months late. Apparently, I've been a tiny bit preoccupied with something else. Anyways, I still wanted to get on here and post my favorite layouts of 2011. Unfortunately, I didn't get as much scrap time in 2011 as I would have liked. But, despite my lack of scrapping, I did find some that I consider some of my best yet. So without further ado, here they are in no particular order...

Time for a Stroll. This is one of many layouts I did for my cousin-in-law's daughter's first year album. You'll see a lot of Alexis in this post since her album was one of my big projects last year. I really like this particular layout because it's the first time I feel I was truly successful with the paint splatter technique. I also used solely scraps for this one as well - love that! Thanks to Sketchy Thursdays for the sketch I used to create this layout. Although Sketchy Thursdays is no more, you can still visit the blog and check out their past sketches if you need some inspiration.

Shave Ice Paradise. So, this layout is very special because I made this one for the April 2011 PageMaps newsletter. I cannot tell you how excited I was when I got that email from Becky Fleck. When she sent me the sketch to use, the wheels immediately started turning. I really wanted to do something bright, cheery and springy and felt these photos from our Kauai vacation were perfect!

My Adidas. Another Alexis layout! I totally love these photos of her and her brother Jack. Alexis' parents have so much fun staging cool photo shoots with the kids. This tribute to Run DMC was no different. I love this layout because of the layers, the cascade of stars and all the eyelets I used up. I still love eyelets - an old school favorite for sure. I again used up scraps on this layout - whoo-hoo! I also used an awesome sketch from Sketchabilities for this one.

Laura & Ed. I am totally in love with this layout. I created this one with one of my Crop Addict kits. I love all the layers and embellishing. This is also the first time I created my own paper roses. I also love that the background is patterned paper, yet it is so subtle.

Happy Birthday! Yet another layout for Alexis. I created this layout for an "It's All In The Details" challenge over at Memorable Seasons. I really tried to focus on lots of the details for the challenge. Some of the details include a stitched page border, an over-the-top embellished paper-pieced cupake, outlined elements, a layered banner and fussy-cut owls. I also used an old kit for this (one of many kits I still have yet to use).

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff. This was my New Year's Resolution layout I did for 2011. I love all the negative space on this layout and the fact that I used another old kit I had in my stash - actually a couple of old kits combined. This photo is also a favorite self-portrait I took on the beach in Kauai.

Born in the U.S.A. Yet another layout for Alexis' album which I love. I did this layout for a color challenge over at Memorable Seasons. I dug deep into my stash for the papers on this one and I think they worked perfectly for these photos and of course the Fourth of July theme.

2010: A Good Year. This was my 2010 recap layout. I had so much fun with all the 1.5" square photos and love the whole look of this page. I again used a fabulous Crop Addict kit to create this one. Can you tell I like to stitch borders on my pages?

Feb 11. This was obviously my February 2011 recap layout for Project 12. I still have a few months to do to finish off 2011 but this has been my favorite of all of them so far. I love the color combo which worked really well with all the different colors in my photos. I also liked how the vellum journaling block turned out - I really wanted the striped paper to show through.

From This Day Forward. One of my massive projects this past year was putting together my best friend Katie's wedding album. I chose to use white cardstock for the background of each page and Basic Grey's Wisteria collection throughout. This is one of my favorite layouts from her book. I love how the green teardrops highlight some of the leaves on the patterned paper, the fussy-cut dragonflies and leaves and the clusters of flowers.