2012 has been a great year for me as a scrapbooker. I've created over 150 projects this year, and each one has been meaningful for me in some way, which makes it difficult to create any sort of hierarchical "top-this" or "top-that" kind of list. Instead, I've gathered together twelve layouts that reveal the scrappy self that emerged in 2012.
Stamp Acts
This year, I actually put my stamps to good use, and started to experiment more with them, cutting some apart, stamping on different surfaces, and trying different kinds of inks.
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| "Every Single Day" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
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| "Cleo" (for Technique Tuesday/Studio AE) |
Divide and Conquer
At times, rather than place all of the journaling in one specific area, I divided it into separate sections and distributed it across the layout. This works really well for journaling that is based on fragments (such as a list or a collection of quotations), so that it can be read in any order.
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| "My Loves" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
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| "What They Say" (for October Afternoon) |
Such Great Heights
If nothing else, 2012 has been the year of the pop dot. This tiny dimensional wonder performs its magic behind the scenes. I used pop dots fairly constantly all year in conjunction with my circle cutter and die-cut machine to give my layouts a boost. The extra lift allows for the addition of color and accents in the little "homes" that are created in the resulting negative space.
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| "My Three People" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
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| "How We Do Birthdays" (for October Afternoon) |
Do It with Flair
This year also saw an ever-expanding selection of flair and metal badges, a bunch of which found its way onto my layouts. It's tough to just use one -- I like to cluster many together, especially since they really help to enhance the theme of a page.
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| "Shape Your World" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
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| "Found" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
The Go-To Grid
The most fun that I experience when it comes to creating layouts usually occurs when I am working on a grid layout, because I don't find myself overthinking the process. The grid is a simple design, but it allows for the inclusion of many different kinds of accents and papers, not to mention a bunch of photos. It can be a real stash-buster! A title placed where the lines in the rule of thirds intersect finishes the layout.
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| "Staycation" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
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| "Fifteen" (©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
Every single layout that I created this year attests to my belief that a layout just isn't complete without journaling. I still find myself waiting until the end of my creative process to add journaling, but that's fine -- the point is that I do add it, and what I add isn't just an afterthought, but something meaningful, something that helps to tell the story or convey the emotion at the heart of the page. Granted, not all journaling needs to be poignant and moving. Some of my favorite layouts of the year contain journaling that's just plain silly -- and I don't know if I'd love them as much if those words weren't there to complete them.
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| "Happy Fourth of July" (Using JBS "Wren" line/(©Two Peas in a Bucket) |
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| "Oh Joy" (for October Afternoon) |
There you have it -- my 2012, in layouts. I'm curious to see what 2013 holds!
