The second layout...

This next layout is a very simple one - both in style and in the execution. Simple is unusual for me. I rarely scrapbook simple. I love putting all the details in my layouts, little bits and pieces that draw a person in, making them want to know what I'm trying to say.

So why did I go simple and easy with this one?

Well...it's not a fancy answer, I'm afraid. It's actually a rather practical answer. You see, I was planning a workshop for a hostess who was looking to get into scrapbooking. Nothing will turn a newbie off this hobby faster than throwing gobs of embellishments onto a page. I didn't start out that way and no one else I know did, either!

I decided to go with bright colors and fun pictures since those would make the layout visually stronger. Next, I planned out a simple but cute design using a Simply Scrappin' Kit (this particular kit, Friends & Flowers, was a hostess item in the previous Stampin' UP catalog). In this post here I talked about a class I had using one of the kits to make cards and a co-ordinating card box. This layout above shows how you can use them for their obvious purpose. And the Simply Scrappin' Kits really do make scrappin' simple! There are a LOT of fun choices in the current catalog. I especially like Winter Bright - how fast could you make up those Christmas cards? Each Kit's cover sheet comes with layout ideas for different sized scrapbook pages, cards, and 3-D items, so you have some help getting your creative juices flowing.

This entire layout is from the Friends & Flowers Simply Scrappin' Kit, except for the title. I used the On Board Simon Lower chipboard letters (I left them naked, but you could use Whisper White Craft Ink to stamp little images on them or tie bunches of Ribbon Originals around them). I had already used the "i" and "l" on another layout so, using the leftover punched out space as a template (otherwise known as negative space), I sponge daubered Certainly Celery ink. I tied some linen thread through a button (Fresh Favorites II) then adhered it with a glue dot as the dot of my "i".

I did not come up with this layout all on my own. I saw a similar one in Stampin' Success, the magazine I receive as a Stampin' UP demonstrator. I loved how large the title was and how the photos could really pop on this design. I knew it would be perfect for a workshop.

It really is ok to "steal" inspiration! When I look at just about everything I've created, it almost always began with a technique or color combination or stamped image or something that I saw on someone else' s project. I take that one little idea and it snowballs for me into my own creation. In this case, I had to break out of my usual style and so I turned to trusted sources for ideas - and I really really liked it! Who knew simple could be so nice?

Now go create!

-Nicole