Six months of 2012 have zoomed by already

I got a bit side tracked this month with life so have included some of the double page layouts from my Double Take class towards my TWELVE count, who said there was anything wrong with double dipping? hehe

First off though I want to share a 'layout' I created in reply to a challenge by Jenni Bowlin on the Autumn Escape facebook page, even if you aren't attending the Autumn Escape or Spring Escape retreats you can join in with this challenge by Liking their page and submitting your layout before 4 July, so you better get creating! I was inspired by Jenni Bowlin's layout with the grid background and the placement of embellishments (in my case embellishments and words). I used a large print scrabble board as my background and the wooden letter tiles to spell out our names. I have added a 5x7 photo of us on the mini clipboard. Whilst this photo was taken in 2010 I am hoping to get a new family photo soon to pop in. The photo is totally removable and the Jenni Bowlin chipboard numbers are glue on with repositionable glue so they can be swapped out as necessary. I love this new 'art' for our home.

Places - layout created in May for the Double Take class - I love this layout where I used some older photos and added some crochet flowers that I made myself. I quite like my tree element too =)

Fun - another double take class layout - I like the flow of the smaller photos across the pages to the large focal photo.

Holidays - no this is not a holiday layout but I am including celebration layouts in with this theme as I have a few birthdays to get scrapped. You have seen this layout before which is another one from the Double Take class.

The following layouts have all been created in June, and with the school hols now in session I hope to get 12 layouts (plus June's Photo I Love) layout created on time, so no more double dipping...

Family Stories - this topic is more about TJ's caring personality and his love for his Nan. Using my category drawers (physical and digital) I found a lot of photos for my layout.

Me - this is one for my album and have to add some journalling. I am so happy to have a good friend with equally good taste in clothes (mind you our husbands might disagree about those floral capris!!)

Personality - a very quick and easy layout design with a large faux envelope.

Things - the Webb Ellis cup came to school/work and even though I only watched the last game of the Rugby World Cup I felt very proud to be a Kiwi both on the night of the final and again at the viewing at school. (journalling on the back includes the RWC info from Wikipedia) I am going to make a companion layout to include more personal journalling about how I watched the game alone whilst munching on chip n dip, jaffas and coke and how excited I got even though I don't know the rules of the game etc LOL.

Inspiration - this super easy layout was inspired by a trigger pic Stacy provided of a row of frisbees hence the circles.

Everyday Life - I hate the title element but instead of starting again I have popped the layout in the album and called it done! Ross has a whole heap of funny sayings so I can see more layouts on this topic in the future. =)

People - this is about Natalie who was the wonderful lady who recommended me for the library job that I started this year and the bouquet I got through GrabOne as a thank you gift.

Seasons - TJ's softball season was relatively short lived (2 years) but I have another couple of layouts to create, this one was so quick and easy (so typical of me I know!) about his favourite position in the game.

Rituals - yes you have seen this set of photos twice before all with the same design just different patterned papers (1 layout for each of the kids albums). This layout is for my album and looking at the pic now I see I have forgotten to add the embellishments! 

I'm doing a double take here...

DOUBLE TAKE is another BigPictureClasses class that I am taking hosted by May Flaum and Nic Howard. They provide four double page sketches each week to inspire us and boy are they inspiring. I am LOVING double page sketches and for too long have been only creating single pagers. I have been working with older photos too that have been sitting in my storage binders for way too long. I am hoping to sit down with DD Alyse soon to get her take on the journalling and then they can go in the albums. remember you can click on any of the layouts to see them larger.

Year Six Lunch - I think I need a lot more practise making these pennant flag thingees, this was my first time and just quietly I am thinking of changing them, any suggestions what to do to improve them? Pen lining, matting???

Six - firstly it is probably just as well I used ring binder albums, cos then the frightful lining up of the red/pink strips won't be so glaringly OFF! other than that I am kinda happy with this layout, the long pink pp is for the journalling. Do you like how I used a pretty cupcake case for my 'flower' embellishment in the lower left corner ;)

Rocks @ Cray Bay - I have had these photos printed for ages but all different sizes so when I saw this sketch got them all printed 6x4. The title element I made a long time ago and the journalling too, slipping them in with the original photos in my storage binder, so instead of creating something more impressive I slapped it on the layout and called it done. (those little tag things are post-it note strips from Typo).

10th birthday - another great sketch for 6x4 photos with a bit of cropping here and there and voila! Any of the  photos could be swapped out with the journalling block. When I added the gift embellies (cut from the pp) they sort of disappeared into the layout so I simply added the circles to make them pop (plus some foam dots).

4th birthday - this double page layout no longer resembles the original sketch (not that you would know that unless you are taking the class too), but I was totally inspired by the large circle title block. I am NOT happy with how the photos look on the layout now but I am going to pop it in the album and move on (oh once the journalling is done of course). I have more sketches to get done for this class so am a little behind but that is ok with me.