Palouse Falls State Park and a Freebie!!

I ended up creating a second page to show more of the park and a complete photo of the falls since you really can’t get an idea of what the park really looks like from the one photo that I used in the first layout. I tell you the more I see of this kit the more I love it.

In fact the more I think about it the more it reminds me of the colors that Melissa Daniels and Neverland Scraps used on their “End of Summer” Collab Kit a few years back. I’ve posted a preview image from the kit to the right so you can get an idea of what I’m talking about.  I’m pretty sure that they have retired this kit but it has one of my favorite ribbon borders of all time. I know that the colors are a bit more muted in the older kit but both kits are based on combinations of  pink, green and orange withe a neutral color thrown in to help balance everthing.

Back to the April Designer’s Challenge Kit that’s emerging from Hummiesworld.com and I almost completely forgot to mention one other designer that needs to be credited. I utilized a “tear” that Shannon Fahrnsbach designed for her “On the Edge” kit.  Of course it is an item that she designed years ago when she was over at Divine Digital and I think I actually got it as a freebie when I popped in on one of the chat’s on National Scrapbooking Day a couple years ago. To be totally honest I don’t think she’s even designing anymore because I can’t find her stuff anywhere and her blog hasn’t been updated since mid 2008.

I decided to utilize the right page of the layout to focus on the amazing views at the state park. Apparently there is tent camping permitted there and there even is a trail down to the river and base of the falls. But since we were there just before sunset (park closes at dusk) we didn’t get a chance to explore the park. You literally drive 2 miles down a gravel road to get to the 105 acre park itself. There isn’t much at the park other than the falls and the lookout. So it’s more of a day use park than anything.

One of the things I had started doing (before being distracted by  a couple of Facebook applications) was create quickpages to give away as freebies. I found that I enjoyed doing “One Kit” Creative Team calls and that many of the designers were more than happy to allow me to create a quickpage for them and post it on my blog and I would let them include it in a mini-kit or add-on to a kit. One of the fun things about Hummie’s Designer Challenges is that anyone can participate in them in anyway. She realizes that some can design individual items and that some design quickpages and such. So anyone can participate in a way that works best for them. Since I like creating quickpages I decided to utilize various items that were contributed to it as of this week and create a quickpage out of the first layout I created with the kit. I hope you enjoy it and if you really like it go get the rest of the kit by CLICKING HERE to download it.

Quickpage DOWNLOAD LINK here

The challenge and art of clustering

Okay…clusters of photos are easy for me. Yet there is a clustering technique that I’m finding very challenging even after several tries. I really admire those layouts that have a cluster of flowers, leaves, ephemra, ribbon and such but I’m having a hard time with mastering it. I’m pretty sure it’s a style that you can’t just take a class called “The Principles of Clustering Elements” at your favorite digiscrapping site. But it seems to be one of those techniques that just come with practice or study of layouts where someone used it and it caught your eye. I’ve posted simple credits but due to the volume of designers and items used I’m not including actual links. I’ve attempted it a couple of times. Once was basically a premade cluster from that I added a couple of elements to.

Credits: End of Summer Kit by Melissa Daniel and Neverland Scraps
Photo Frame: Iced Mocha Divine Digital Feb 2008 Collab Kit
Bracket Mats & Grey Mat: DivineDigital Birthday Kit
Burgundy Mat: I Just Love Her Kit by Royanna Fritschman from DivineDigital.com
Alpha: Antique Alpha by LBCreations from JustForTheScrapOfIt.com
Font: Pea Olson from KevinAndAmanda.com

My second attempt was an ADSR 4 Challenge where we had to scraplift a layout that inspired us. I found a layout that had clustering and didn’t copy it per se but used it as a guideline. So even though I created the cluster by myself I used another layout as a guide. Here is the link to the original layout . Here is my version:

Digital Kit:Feeling Lucky designed by Royanna Fritschmann
Word Art:Express Yourself designed by Ronna Penner
Star Swirls:Some Gave All designed by Heather Manning
Circle Stitching:O So Thankful designed by Anita Steriou
Stitched Flower Border:Road Less Traveled designed by Theresa Hernandez

On Sunday I created one where I used a background paper that had a “cluster” as part of it already. I “enlarged” the cluster and “expanded upon it” so to speak. Although I used a ton of elements in making it I really don’t consider it an original quite yet because the background paper was my inspiration and guide.

Background Paper, Flower Clusters, Frame:designed by Eirene_07 for the Digital Scrapbook Day 08 Treasure Hunt
Matting Papers: Boys Rule designed by Melissa Daniels
Envelope, Yellow Ribbon Curl and Angel Stamp: Imagination Collab Kit from Digitals
items designed by Tallula Moon, Kathryn Estry, Beth Rimmer
Gold Charm: The Vintage Gypsy designed by Stacey Crossley
Blue Clock Brad: Angel by Royanna Fritschmann
Notebook Paper: Simplement Maryse designed by Maryse Vincent
Heart Charm:designed by Bel Vidotti Scraps for the Twisted Convoy Valentine Convoy
Raindrops: designed by Booland Scraps for the Christmas Around The World 2008 Kit
Victorian Bookmark: from TwistedPapers.com

So the next step in my journey to master “clustered layouts” will be doing one completely from scratch. But I think I’ll continue “practicing” like I have been. After all…..practice makes perfect!