Good morning! We are Lisa and Marnie and we are so happy to see you today! How is your summer thus far? We are having a fun summer and hope you are, too!
Today, we have teamed together to bring you some "friend"ly fun!
Between us we have four little ladies, and spend lots of time watching them play. One of our favorite things is how quickly kids make friends. All they need is a playground in common and they are friends. Done. So we figured we have lots in common (making layouts, buying scrapbooking supplies, taking lots of pictures, making time for our hobby, not to mention we are Sound of Music sisters...) so we should just become friends.
(Did you notice that you have many of those things in common with us, too? More on that later...)
And isn't it always more fun to play with a friend? Our playground stretched from Ontario to Ohio and included three games.
I Like You, You Like Me.
Rules of this game? Find a layout you love from your friend, and let it inspire you. Or copy it exactly.
Lisa:
I was inspired by the most recent layout on Marnie's blog, "Crazy!". I loved the design, colour scheme, and short little lines of journaling. (I also covet her daughter's dress, but that's a different story.)
Here's the layout:
I kept pretty true to Marnie's layout, using this recent photo of my hubby and me. I used journaling strip stickers from Creative Imaginations that have been in my stash for years! Of course, I had to add bling, too. I love me some bling.
Marnie:
The hardest part of this was choosing just one. I love so many of Lisa's layouts. I spent hours pouring over her pretties but this one stopped me in my tracks.
I knew just the photo to use. But then I remembered how my computer crashed one day and took with it 5 months of my (un-backed up) baby's life. (I'm not ready to talk about it more than that yet. :( ) So rather than copy Lisa in every way, I replaced the nape of the neck shot with some eyelashes instead!!
I loved the design so much that I stuck to it v.e.r.y. closely. Why mess with perfection?
LET'S SHARE TOYS.
Rules of this game? Pick some scrapbook supplies that you both have and love and make a layout.
Lisa:
Marnie and I both love the "Hello Sunshine" line from American Crafts, and since we each had it in our stash we decided to each make a layout with this line. I took some of that yummy patterned kraft paper, then embellished with paper lanterns-- some are stickers mounted on paper, and others were cut out of another sheet and mounted on foam dots. This set of Sunset stickers is one of my faves, too, in this cheery green shade:
Marnie:
I am such a sucker for patterned paper. This line sang to me with its sky blues, tipped umbrellas, and clouds. Oooh, American Crafts is so good to me!
ps. Did you hear the news that Amy Tan has a new line coming out with American Crafts? Due in July. I can't wait!!
We Have Things in Common
Rules of this game? Create a layout using three common denominators.
Lisa:
We decided to pick three non-product items: (1) a black and white photo, (2) handwritten journaling (3) the journaling prompt, "Something I love you about you right now..." (from the list of 13 Everyday Journaling Prompts that Ali Edwards recently posted on her website).
Like many scrappers, I find Ali so inspiring. Her blog posts constantly bring me back to scrapping the whole story, and really thinking about my journaling. In this case I wanted to capture my daughters' relationship right at this moment. I often hand write on my pages, so that was comfortable for me-- I just searched my stash for some ledger paper, in this case from My Little Shoebox-- to create a journaling block.
Since the photo was black and white, I had license to pull out whatever colours struck my fancy. I took some brand new "Floral Lane" from Pebbles Inc, drawing inspiration from the flowers on the girls' sunhats. From there is was just a hop, skip and a jump to this layout:
Marnie:
Remember how this was a three item list? Three items. That's all. And then I ran out of photo paper. Which means I don't have a printed photo, which means that I had to bend a rule. Knowing I couldn't use my own handwriting, I tried to find a font that represents my handwriting well. (Remember that giveaway yesterday? One more reason I need to turn my handwriting into a font!! Darcy might have a new customer soon! Oh, and do you think I could sneak Emily's and Monika's handwriting in to be made into fonts, too? Oooh, tell me how much we would ALL love that!!)
Back to the game...
Ali, my brilliant friend, you made a great list. I am hoping to make 13 layouts this summer: one using each prompt. This challenge with Lisa takes care of number 7.
I love how a common starting point can lead to such different ends. I also love that we were each so true to our own styles.
(Just as a little aside, it took me many many years to not covet the layouts of others and to realize that mine had their place. (Similarly, it took me a long time to stop wanting to look like my friends. Have you seen Lisa in a dress? She is an absolute knockout in a dress. My favorite? Her yellow one. She even looks great in dresses she repurposes herself! On the other hand, dresses are a laughable affair for me. I must stick to skirts. But when I add in a colorful cardigan, it's all me.)
Lisa's layouts are like her dresses: snazzy, dressy, and perfect for her. Mine are simple, dressed down, and reflect me well. I love that I have learned to appreciate my friends for their sense of style, be it fashion or scrapbooking, and know that the differences are worth celebrating, not coveting.)
Back to game 3, I do love how quickly this layout came together. I knew what I needed and got right to it. I am so much faster when I have boundaries and a friend urging me on!! I hope that you will find a friend, or be ours, and make your three item layout!!
What a fun playdate we had. Remember when we said that you have some things in common with us? We really meant it. So feel free to jump in! Play along! We would love to see your layouts on Flickr!! If you do post, please leave us a link in the comments so we can be sure to see it!
And for the future, if you ever have a scrapping girl crush, email her, and tell her. Chances are it will be just the icebreaker needed to make a new playground friend!!
Happy Friday! Don't forget to visit tomorrow to see who is hosting tomorrow and to learn if you were the lucky number!
