Three fun challenges

Here is the first page I want to share with you: it came together really quickly the other night after Masterchef.  I already had the photo and the journalling ready to go, and decided that the Pick of the Week (July, week 2) was the look I was after.  And I decided that the Aunt Gertie's Garden papers strewn across my desk would work really well!  This page is almost 100%Aunt Gertie - papers, rub-ons and ribbon.  And yes, they are off-cuts this time.  In fact the brown circle you can see is actually the outside of the circle from the "Hannah" layout on my last post! (Reverse side)




And now, a question for you: how do you take decent photos of a 12 year old boy who has braces and is very sensitive about his looks?
Answer: I have no idea, but in the meantime, download his photos from his Facebook page!  As a basis for this page I used a fun sketch idea, also from Scrapbook Challenges (SS11 by Natalie Jane)  And I do mean fun! Note to self: must use stamps on layouts more often!

The stamps are all really different, but they work together simply by being all stamped in the same ink. The order I constructed this page was: paper circles and title stuck down first, photos roughly positioned.  Then large collage stamp.  Arrow stamp next, to link journalling to photos.  After that, it was just a matter of stamping largest image to smallest, then adhering journalling dots and strips over the top.
I was quite apprehensive showing this page to Rohan - he didn't even know I had printed the photos out!  His response? "Put that on the internet!"
wow! You don't get much higher praise than that!

And finally, my version of the Scrap our Stash pagerize challenge, where we were challenged to use memorabilia on a page.  I have been saving clothing labels for a while, so I used a whole bunch of them peeking out from under this photo of me.  I think I was originally planning some indepth reflective journalling on this page about "facing 40", but in the end I quickly jotted down some things that came to me quickly, and fit them around the page.  For example, "I'd rather do craft than housework".  Sound familiar, anyone?
On a construction note, some of the labels are quite thick.

I ended up attaching the photo using a couple of generous strips of foam mounting tape in the middle, enabling me to put it down first, then tuck the labels behind, one by one.