Taking inspiration to the next level.

Did I tell you that I bought 7 sheets of patterned paper last week?  well I did.  Rohan had a soccer game in the same suburb as my fave local shop, so I whipped over during the warmup and headed straight for the 99c rack.  I've been going back for more of the "Fine and Dandy" range by My Mind's Eye.  So when I saw this "inspired by" challenge at Scrapbook Challenges, I immediately thought of the new papers I had bought.  This is another level of challenge for me, it's not just putting things in the right spot, like a sketch, or purely a colour combination - it's the feel and the theme you are trying to use.

 I really wanted to use this small scrap of blue floral paper but it wasn't big enough to use as a photo mat. I ended up cutting three motifs out to use as embellishments! Awesome!

I got about half way through the construction of this page, which was going to be about my scrapbook room, when I finally realized, I love the colours of the page and I love the story that goes with this photo . . . they just don't go together!  I then dived into my photo albums to see if I had another photo which would work on this page . . . NOT the way I usually work as you probably know!  I had to go right back to 2007 but I found it, a photo of the first truly collectible Christmas decoration I ever bought.  The first of a (so far very small) collection.  Funnily enough I never in a million years would have put that photo in a blue and orange colour scheme, but I think it is perfect!  Who would have thought? 

Anyway, my next dilemma was the title.  My first attempt of stamping the title was in grey, but it didn't stand out enough on the orange.  Next I stamped over the top in black, but didn't think black was right on the page, which was why I went with grey in the first place.  Finally I white-embossed on another scrap of orange (yes of course everything is scrap except the backing sheet).  After much agonizing, I then outlined the while letters in brown and called it done!  Finally, how to do the journalling.  Again, I didn't want to use black and nothing else was going to show up on the orange.  I ended up scattering it around on the blue strips around the page, using the same brown pen.  And here it is, the finished page: