Oh me of little faith! When I wrote last week that I thought I'd try doing two pages a week till I caught up again, most of my brain was standing by with one eyebrow raised saying, "oh, yes?" And yet here we are, a week later, with two layouts to post. Better yet, they're of photos that have been sitting on the desk for nearly a year, waiting for inspiration to strike. Decided I'd just have to do without inspiration, picked a colour, pulled out some stuff I liked and started sticking it down. Here's Twenty-Four:

 I really love taking a photo and finding something a bit deeper to say about the subject. This was going to be a page about the way Mike spent literally hours on that beach holiday just running up and down the beach. But I think that's why it was so hard to put together for so long; it was a funny memory of the holiday for us, but got less significant as time went on. The photo began to mean something else to me - the sheer energy which which Mike throws himself into everything he does - but I was still trying to scrap the old idea. Once I let go of that, it was much easier.

Here's Twenty-Five:

Funnily enough, this was another example of holding onto an idea that wasn't working....Hello, my name is Danielle, and I can't scrap purple. Oh I tried, I really did. But the same layout with purple bits just made me want to chuck it all in and take up macrame or something instead. Why purple? Because of Beth's top in the photo. But here's the problem - I wasn't actually looking at the photo itself. I was seeing what I expected to see: purple top, beige fence, blonde hair. But once I had a good look at it, I noticed the some of the fence actually had a dull teal tone to it, which matched Beth's eyes. Problem solved! I jettisoned the purple stuff (why do I even have a purple section??) and gleefully pulled out all the teal and beigey-grey bits I could find. Much happier. Ooh - there's a neat little link into the One Little Word, come to think of it...

Oh dear. Just noticed my last post was closer to two weeks ago. So instead of catching up slowly, I guess I'm actually just holding steady. Never mind - at least it's not going backwards.

Have a wonderful week :)

Back Again

Ouch. I knew I hadn’t posted for some time, but hadn’t realised it’s been two months. You know how sometimes the longer you leave something undone, the harder it is to go back to? That’s been me and my layouts.

So. Am officially behind goal again. Think I’ll go and get a pile of recent photos printed; that usually helps me get back in the mood again.

Meanwhile I’ve got two pages to post: Twenty-Two and Twenty-Three. (what are we up to – week 35? Could be worse, I guess) Here’s the first:

Photo is an Instagram one. (which I’ve just discovered and am loving.) The quote in the top corner was from a Frankie magazine, and that’s what really sparked off the layout. It came out a little differently than I planned, mainly because the mist spray wasn’t aiming where I thought it was. After a momentary internal panic at my blue-faced son, I decided I quite liked the effect and sprayed the other two photos too. (A little less enthusiastically though.) Here’s to happy accidents!

And the second:

I must have got out every sheet of blue and aqua paper and cardstock I own for this, and detested every last one of them. And all the while my neutrals pile was quietly waiting for me to come to my senses. I apologised to it for straying, then the page came together in a matter of minutes. I liked the yellow as an accent colour against the blue, although I’m still not entirely sure what “Life’s a stitch” means, even if it is a neat little nod to the theme. (It actually makes less sense the more you think about it…)

So there we are. I think I’ll try to do two pages a week for a while, and catch up that way. New photos will help. Surely…

Have a wonderful week J