so… i was just thinking about how much i suck at blogging.
like REALLY.
i’ve had the same browser tab open for 24 hours with the same text in a post that kept autosaving all day. and i didn’t like it one bit. there was not one point today when i could just sit down and words would just start coming out of my brain that didn’t sound like a cheeseball, sales pitchy, uber-happy, fakey repetitive overuse of affirmation and excitement. nope. nada. non. FAIL. instead, i said, “since the very first time i saw one of those 7gypsies photo trays i’ve been all over it!!!” like what, gravy on taters? psh. that thing has been on a shelf since June. i’ve been wayyy too busy pinning ideas for it on Pinterest. but i finally got to that point where i’d had all i could take of my laptop and i was starting to get a nervous twitch on my right side from a lack of doing something crafty.
i resolved to do the photo tray, after a long period of looking over others’ photo trays and pinning them, then getting sidetracked by reorganizing my Pins, and then remembering that i was sick of the computer and that i had intended to sit at my craft table and DO SOMETHING… so, i didn’t get the fancy 7gypsies one that i had my eye on (i really want one of the Printers’ Letterblock Trays with the various sized boxes!!!) … i got the Hobby Lobby version that was 50% off back in June instead. no complaints, though! as far as i can tell the only difference is the orientation of the photos – which worked out great for me because i tend to take more wide shots than long ones, and i generally prefer a horizontal canvas over a vertical one. no idea why, seems like more space to me, even when it’s the same size either way! (digress). after a brief announcement that i was going to sit in my space and should anyone further prefer my company they would have to come along, i marched in and set up shop.
i decided to go with a vintagey-retroish theme, since that stuff is all the rage these days. i don’t generally work with “shabby”or “vintage” … i tend to lean toward “loud” or “rainbowy” … but lately as i’ve been working with Paper Lovelies and perusing the latest products, i find myself being more and more attracted to the styles of Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon, My Mind’s Eye, Echo Park… i could go on {and on}. i’ve definitely been expanding my palette lately and LOVING it. i find myself being drawn to the trendy mixture of turquoise/aqua and a bright color like yellow or red, and lots of greys and raw browns, or shamelessly ogling chevrons and floral patterns and vintage ephemera. it’s therapeutically nostalgic for some reason. the first thing i did was decide on a theme and what pictures i was going to use. i ended up only using one – my favorite recent picture of Travis and I. since it was a very contrasty black & white photo, i shuffled it into Photoshop real quick and ran an antiquing action over it to give it more of a brownish-yellowy tint to match the theme. i then spent about two hours rummaging around in my personal craft store, picking out papers and digging out all the stickers and embellishments i thought i might want to use for this project. keys, wings, hearts, flowers… anything i could find that had a vintagey look to it. i spread out some papers i’ve been dying to work with and decided on the six that would look best together as backgrounds for the trays, then took a deep breath and started cutting.
and that’s what ended up happening. i will spare all the gory details. i couldn’t for the LIFE of me seem to get a good picture of it, though. sunlight or no, and several different backdrops, none seemed to do this justice. the closeup shots turned out a lot better than the whole picture!
*I* think it’s pretty sick, actually. well… i mean… i think i could have done better but i still really like it. after i had about 75% of it done i thought maybe i should have tried to deck it out with a little more – like layers or something. i had to give up on that idea, though, since most everything was already stuck down and i was really showcasing some of those papers, i felt like they were too pretty to just cover up! i really loved working on this, though. i got to use a lot of supplies that i was hanging onto for an “exclusive project”, which was pretty gratifying since i got to use a whole bunch of stuff i like a lot on one project! i would definitely be open to making another one of these sometime – who knows, maybe i’ll finally get the 7gypsies Printers’ Tray before it’s sold out and gone forever 
thanks for stopping by!
SUPPLIES:
- Patterned Paper - October Afternoon “5 & Dime”, My Mind’s Eye “Lost & Found – Portabello Road Buddies”, DCWV “Hittin’ the Books” Glitter Stack, October Afternoon “The Thrift Shop”, Crate Paper “Portrait”, Cosmo Cricket “Joy Ride”
- Embellishments - me & my BIG ideas (fabric tag), My Mind’s Eye “Stella & Rose – Hattie Happy” (“so happy” sticker), October Afternoon “The Thrift Shop” (“take note” journal card), Jillibean Soup (butterflies/pennants), Jenni Bowlin Studio (bingo card/”know this”), Divine Twine, Li’l Davis (bottle cap), Melissa Frances (keyhole), Creative Imaginations (canvas tag), Colorbok “Paper Crush” (brackets/wings), K&Company (“2″/frame), Walmart (zipper flower/blue bling), Hobby Lobby (red bow/pearls/yellow bling/glass vial/blue ribbon/glitter hearts)
- Alphas - American Crafts (felt), Li’l Davis (glitter blue)
it’s a really great group so far, and i can’t wait to get to know the other ladies better and start making some AMAZING cards for their challenges!
