See You See All

A Backwards Approach to My Scrap Routine


I love this photo of our daughter, taken when she was about 20 months. Something outside caught her eye, which doesn’t surprise me. That girl doesn’t miss a thing. I guess this photo reminds me of how early on she had such keen observation skills. If there is a sequin in the carpet, Abby will find it. A thread in the yarn bin…well, can’t say for sure as I don’t knit, but if I am missing a clear stamp, a brad, or anything small on my creatively “organized” workspace I just call Abby and she helps me out. She says she has "eagle eyes". (LOL)

This is probably the first time I began a layout without a theme in mind – no title, no journaling. I’ve had the photo and Wild Asparugus paper set aside for it for probably going on 2 years now- in a craft keeper waiting to be scrapped. Maybe I was waiting for the theme to come to me…but at any rate, it sat there.

When I received Glimmer Mist from the Scrapbook Playground June sponsor, Tattering Angels, in a purple color – I immediately thought of the papers and color scheme I had set aside for this photo. I created my own ribbon through the Fiskars “Leave it to Weaver” punch by cutting a 3/8” strip of a textured solid Wild Asparagus paper and sprayed heavily with the mist, after shaking it up good. The strip was sodden. I admit, I had to do this twice as the first time I did not allow the strip to dry thoroughly, and it tore as I wove it. The second time around I happened to be taking brownies out of the oven. As I propped open the oven door to allow the heat to escape, I looked down at my newspaper on the floor with the wet strip of glimmered paper – ah ha moment! I carefully lifted the strip and allowed excess liquid to drip off, and placed the strip on the edge of the oven door. Not only did it provide a fast drying time, but acted as an iron as well, flattening my faux ribbon perfectly. It’s hard to tell in the photos but I also sprayed my flowers with glimmer mist, as well as the little chipboard birds sent to me by Tattered Angels.


As you can see I had fun with my Fiskars “Threading Water” punch as well and made my 90 degree turns on this layout. I had trouble perfecting the bottom left corner…alas, the cover up. (LOL) My most fun in this page however, was creating my larger bird. I needed a left facing bird and had none. I spotted a Technique Tuesday tile in my stash and it was the perfect sized bird. I traced the bird on the tile onto the back side of Wild Asparagus patterned paper (I love how the back sides are a solid color with linen or other similar texture pattern). Cutting out the bird I then used my dotted texture plate from Fiskars and trusty EK Success Embosser tool to add texture to the shape. Having saved a “white crayon” from the Easter egg dye kit, I covered the face and feet of the bird with the wax to resist the Glimmer Mist. When I sprayed the bird the majority of the glimmer remained on top of the dots while the liquid rolled downward into the lower recesses. I allowed the bird to dry thoroughly, distressed the edges a bit with my favorite Coffee Bean ink and used a “Rain Dot” by Cloud 9 for the eye.


The branch was also created using the Technique Tuesday tile to trace onto cardstock, adjusting to fit my area. I decided to make the tree a spring blossoming one, and used more Rain Dots for the flower centers – I love the green contrast with the rest of the layout.

So now I had a completed layout, with no title or journaling. To me, a layout is not complete without some sort of written story. I contemplated titles but was very limited by the space I had left, and I knew I wanted to use the awesome “clear” brown letters by Making Memories that I had found a while back. Their elegance was perfect for this layout. I finally came up with the idea for the journaling, and decided to key in on Abby’s acute observation skills, then and now. I wrote:

I know that you are not missing a thing outside that window. Is it a bird? A leaf blowing in the wind? You are a remarkably observant child. I see you…and you see everything.

The title See You just came out of that journaling, it fit, and why not – I rather like it as it is kind of different, and you may think a little strange, but that’s ok. It’s art, right?

Today I want to encourage you to scrap a favorite photo you have had sitting around for a LONG time. Even if you have no idea for a direction of theme, scrap it, play with the layout…and when you have all your design elements in place, I am willing to almost guarantee that the title and words will come to you. For me, this approach was totally opposite my usual creative approach, but God took control and made it work. Praise Him for the mojo He gives me!
(and if you are still stuck on what to do with that photo bake some brownies!)