Explore

Ok, I just got home from work so I'm a little later than expected with this post but it's worth the wait!

I get to blow my own horn a little as a couple of months ago I surprisingly (more like totally astonishingly!!) won the monthly challenge over at Scrap Around The World!!!!

I don't know if you're familiar with this challenge blog but I drop in pretty regularly to ooooh and ahhhh over the DT creations and equally awesome entries from scrappers all over the world and occasionally, when I have the time I'll link up my own effort.

The first time I entered I managed to snag an 'Honourable Mention" which believe me pleased me no end, but the second time I actually won!

After my initial disbelief, then happy dance, came the reality that I'd be invited as a Guest Designer, and that's when the panic set in.

The SATW blog is constantly full of the most amazing creations which are totally inspiring, so my only hope is that I wouldn't embarrass myself! Lol

Anyhow, here is the current Mood Board I was given for inspiration:

Gorgeous it is too.

I could have gone so many routes with this, but in the end I decided to take a little from each of the photographs.

Here's my interpretation:

Lots of layers behind the photo's including paper, die cuts, embossed chipboard and thread, and just to mess up that gorgeous 'map' background paper a little, I added texture paste through a stencil and inked coffee mug stains.

A vintage style photo slide seemed the perfect place to tuck a little wooden bicycle.......

.........and the title was created by using my Cameo to cut 4 layers of cardstock, glue them together for a little extra dimension then inked to match the colour scheme.

Finally, a great little quote in the top corner which I've always liked, and I thought it would be fun to place it on 'signpost' style strips.

I think that's about all and I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome.......think I can hold my head up!

There's still time to join in with this months Mood Board Challenge so feel free to link up your own interpretation......there's always a whole bunch of fabulous prizes up for grabs.

A big thanks to the SATW team for the honour of winning and the awesome Guest DT opportunity.  I'll definitely be stopping by on a regular basis for my dose of inspiration.

Have a great weekend and I'll see you next week,
Jayne.x.

Inspiration Elevator - A Fond Farewell!

After some thought and consideration, the time has come to retire Inspiration Elevator. But before we go, we need to hold a big retirement party, so we've invited everyone who's been involved with Inspiration Elevator back for one last reveal, and to our delight most were able to accept! We are so delighted to have so many IE alumni along this month! Thank you to each of you for helping us end our elevator ride with so much fun and creative energy!

This month's challenge is posed by one of IE's co-creators and team admin, Ann.

This month's challenge is simple, but I hope, challenging as well. 
Here's the challenge: Inspiration Elevator launched on May 15, 2012 and at that time, we explained our purpose as, "Welcome to Inspiration Elevator! What a thrilling day! Today is the launch of Inspiration Elevator (IE), a challenge blog created by my dear friend Christa Uttley and me. We chose the name Inspiration Elevator because it is our intent to raise our creativity to heights through challenges issued every month. We want to raise our designs from the ordinary to the extraordinary. We hope you'll join us on our journey!

IE is a group of like minded scrappy friends who want to raise the bar in their own creative process through unique challenges that we issue to each other once a month. These won't be run of the mill challenges and we hope you'll join us each month and be inspired by the creative designs we've created." 
That vision has remained unchanged over the last (almost) 3 years. The challenge this month is to just create - no holds barred. Take some time, or challenge yourself to do it in 1/2 hour if time is tight, but think about what you'd like to create if there were no agenda, no design team requirement. In other words, create for you, and enjoy the process!

So there you have it.....one final no holds barred challenge from Inspiration Elevator!

So that's exactly what I did with my page.  
One totally messy, just for the fun of it, no worries about using a particular paper or product, just a get down and dirty kinda page.

And I had a blast!

Just Imagine

It all started with the photo I've hoarded for the last couple of years not quite knowing exactly what to do with it, and a challenge that was issued on the Scrap Around The World blog.  I'll get to that later.

I think the photo was taken by my youngest daughter whilst I was lying on my bed, and after a little play around with editing, it always gave me the impression of being underwater....the hair floating across the bed sheets!

So that was the start that inspired me to get creating with some absolutely gorgeous new beach/water themed papers I'd picked up a couple of weeks ago....the Sandy Toes collection from Kaisercraft.

I began with the background.....

I scrunched up a plastic bag and dabbed white Gesso here and there, followed by a layer of texture paste applied through a burlap stencil.  I then stamped in brown with a cross hatch kinda stamp, all around the paper placement.

Layers then came into play......

All of the papers and my photo were brushed with a little Gesso to create that whitewashed look.  I cut a lace trim using my Silhouette then tore chunks from it to distress a little.

The chicken wire chipboard was also attacked (in a loving way!) by cutting sections from it, brushing with Gesso then layered between the papers.

Finally, the embellies......

Lots of flowers, wooden leaves, Silhouette cut vines, dew drops, cheesecloth and more chipboard all finished with a covering of brushed Gesso and splatters of mist.

Love it!  So much fun.

We hope you'll take the time to hop through and visit each of our participant's blogs, beginning with our guests, then our current team, and finishing off with our co-founders. Feel free to leave comments and lavish each one with appreciation for all that they each brought to the Inspiration Elevator challenge over the last 3 years!

Audrey Yeager

Christy Riopel

Denise Morrison

Jodi Wilton

Laura Whitaker

Laurel Seabrook

Shelby Dwyer

             Jayne Morgan - that's me!

Joanne Burton

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen

Lisa Spiegel

Michelle Hernandez

Wendi Robinson

Christa Uttley

Ann Jobes

I would personally like to thank Ann and Christa for all their hard work over the last 3 years, and to the rest of my team mates who have continually challenged and inspired me to create to my limits.

Finally, a big thank you to YOU......everyone who has visited and encouraged me on my journey with IE, through comments and 'pins' etc.  I do hope you'll stick around in the future.

Before I go there's a few more deets I need to cover regarding a fabulous challenge over at Scrap Around The World, but needless to say.......have a great day,

Jayne.x.

----------------------------------------

Challenge Entered:

Scrap Around The World - Mood Board

So obviously my inspiration was not the colour green.....I am not a big 'green' fan!

However, my starting point was the hair (cue hoarded photo!)followed by the water, then all that lovely texture jumping right out of each and every photograph.

Finally.....the quote, which seemed to trigger the perfect title!