Scrap-Happy!

 I've always been into papercrafts, but started scrapbooking in earnest about a year ago. Due to time constraints, I haven’t managed to complete that many layouts, but I've had real fun putting pages together, preserving photos in a way that will be lovely to look back on in years to come! The two layouts here are from photos about 4 years old but scrapped at the end of 2011. I have included vintage styling in both, but the effect is completely different! 

With neutral colours and lots of stamping and distress inking, the Mad as a Hatter layout looks like an old piece. There is hidden journalling and another photo behind the main picture: I love to include interactive elements in pages. On both pages I've used Graphic 45 and Tim Holtz products. Both brands are great for vintage-look/ distressed-look pages, Graphic 45 producing exquisite papers, and Tim Holtz specialising in altered art products. I wanted a dramatic look for the Love Story layout, so while the page elements are still mainly in a neutral colour, a black textured background was used, with red accents to compliment the photo. I've also included some mushy journalling about my friends in the photo!

I didn’t want to fill up my posts with product and technical info, but if anyone would like information about the specific products or techniques used, I’m happy to share. Also, this is the first time I've photographed my scrapbook pages, so I'm still getting used to that and the photography isn't great! Still, you get the idea. Now I’m off to think up some scrappy ideas for the collection of Graphic 45 papers I bought recently, gorgeously entitled Steampunk Debutante!