Inspiration Elevator- A Photo from Behind

Welcome to our second Inspiration Elevator challenge. You may recall from last month`s challenge that the purpose of this challenge group was to take our scrapbooking to the next level; to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and grow. This month`s challenge was issued by the very talented Laura Whitaker. Here`s a sampling of what Laura asked us to do:

``For my challenge I wanted to get back to the root of scrapbooking a little bit, back to the preserving of memories; to encourage you to look at your photos a little more closely.  We all have cute photos of the sweet-faced children and beautiful family members, in our lives, that we can scrapbook.  But I want to challenge you to choose a photo that tells a story or evokes an emotion, something a little different than our children playing or family members posing.   We all have heard that a picture speaks a thousand words. Chose a photo that was taken from behind the subject, preferably one in which you cannot see their face.  Maybe you have chosen not to scrap a particular photo in past because you couldn’t see the subject’s face very well, this is the perfect time to use that photo. Then the story will be the focus and not the face.   Then tell the story that goes with the photo via your journaling.  This way when our families look back at this page years from now, they will truly be reminded of the moment.``

What an incredible challenge! My fellow group of artists have been working all month to create gorgeous and inspiring designs. Here`s the list of my IE friends and I hope you`ll pop by and see what they have created and perhaps take a moment to say a word or two.

Laura Whitaker

Christa Uttley

Audrey Yeager

Lisa Moen

Laurel Seabrook

Carolyn Wolff

Cathy Harper

Ann Jobes

Lisa Spiegel

Joanne Burton

Sue Sykes

So I am very excited to share my page with you!  I took this photo of Kyler on my iPad while he was trying to climb up our steps, which he has now mastered.  I didn't intentionally take this photo from behind for this challenge.  I took it and afterwards I thought, "this is perfect"! I used a recent line from We R called "Anthologie"...I just love the colors in this line!

I have also been trying to use some of the old things in my stash and try to find new uses for them.  I showed this peek last week of how I used some eyelets to create a grid of twine as a photo corner. I simply drew the crossed line pattern with a pencil, and then added an eyelet to the end of each line.  I used a needle and thread to easily add the twine.  I added these twine grids on a few other places on the page to create a visual triangle.

On the background of my page I used a chevron stencil and some distress stain (which is very watery and doesn't leave a great pattern with a stencil).  But I like the look it gave.  I also splattered some navy mist.  The ampersand is from a stencil that I sprayed on the text paper with a light blue mist and cut out.  I did the same with the heart that says "love", too, and I traced them both with my black pen.

I created the photo area and the jouranling area with some scraps from a large die cut piece of paper.  The fabric text buttons are from the We R line, and the stitched circles are a wood grain garland from Studio Calico.

Both the journaling area and the photo area are held closed by a tiny paper clip from Tim Holtz.

When you open the journaling pocket, here is what is inside.  I wrote out my journaling before I did my page and very soon after I took my photos.  I wrote about how calculating my little guy is and how he tries to figure things out, like climbing the steps.

So I cheated a little bit because I had a couple other photos that I really like that I wanted to include on my page, but i still wanted to use my "behind" shot as the focus of the layout.  So I hid my other photos in a little folder.

One photo is glued to the back of the door, one is glued to the base of the layout, and then there is a third that I just attached with a strip of paper glued on the back so that you can fold it open and closed.  I added some paper to the back of the photo and a little sentiment strip, too.

Phew!!!  I think this might be one of the most detailed pages I have done, and it is one of my favorites so far this year.  I love the photo, the story, and the page, too!!

If you are inspired by this post, or any other IE post, please share a link so I can leave some love!