A favourite place

At number three in the 'scrapbook history of me' is 'A favourite place' featuring Basil.

I mentioned how difficult I found this layout on the previous post. I found it so tough. I think one of my problems (I have loads!) is that I am very hard on myself, I want perfection immediately. I am an avid reader of just about everything, but certainly card and scrapbooking magazines and also have somewhat of an addiction to UKS. The gallery on UKS is inspiring, amazing, fantastic and also a little intimidating for a beginner who can't even begin to determine what materials have been used, where to get them from, how to use them etc!

For this layout, I really wanted to try the idea of using a single photo within a simplistic layout. This photo of Basil on his climbing frame seemed perfect so I printed it off in various sizes to see which would be best. The moment I saw this paper (K and Company - Amy Butler), I knew it would be perfect for this layout. Everything seemed to be going really well until it became apparent that the paper is extremely limiting due to having large patterns in two corners. This affected the size of photo I could use and also how I was able to further embellish and add the necessary journalling to the layout.

I had bought the 'Queen and co' felt ribbon a while ago and just had to use it on this layout. This version isn't self adhesive so typically I had huge problems trying to work out how to adhere it invisably to the page! I tried everything - Xyron, PVA, glue dots, double sided tape etc, etc. I didn't want to use brads as it would have affected the whole presentation of the ribbon which I believed provided a great effect but only if it could be attached to the page without other adornments!

In the end UKS (as usual) provided the answer. The forum is an amazing source of information and there seem to be so many members that any questions asked receive an answer almost immediately!

I 'xyroned' the ribbon and with my 'pricking tool' then removed the excess glue from the holes in the ribbon. (Yep, as awful and ridiculous as it sounds).

Although I really struggled with this layout, I am pleased with the result. I tried very hard to keep the embellishing under control and the hidden journalling underneath the title was my solution to the issue of potentially cluttering up the layout with words.

I felt uneasy about 'space' though so had to fill it, but I hope I've not overdone it with the flowers (first time I've done these and I think they'll transfer well to cards too). What would I be without inspiration from magazines, websites and blogs?

My intention with all my layouts is to create something I can look at again and again and enjoy. I've started with my animals (how could I not) but eventually, I hope to scrap family photos from today, yesterday and tomorrow! My work rate is slow as my health is poor and interferes constantly. It's frustrating when to be occupied is so good for my head yet so bad for my body!

Never mind, slowly but surely and at least I eventually managed to get going after several years of trying and failing. I love scrapbooking though, all those memories, Trouble is more memories are created all the time, how on earth do we keep up when I need to go backwards as well as forwards!!!!