Crazy?

Good Wednesday Morning!

I finished a page last night and wanted to share it with you.  It's based off of Sketch 268, from Creative ScrappersSketch 268, from Creative Scrappers:








And here is my take:

Really, I did start off looking a lot like the sketch; until my loose circles fell to one side as I lifted the cardstock from the table.  As you can see, I really liked it.  Still, to be sure, I slept on it; put the circles back; turned the sketch on it's side and wound up putting it back the way The Powers That Be intended for it to be.  I really do like this sketch enough that I intend to keep playing with the general design. It might become my go-to sketch when I'm stuck.

I only took a couple close-ups but I want to mention several things about this page:

• The plain cardstock in the back was NOT making me happy.  Still, I knew I needed a large chunk of "white space" for the journaling that I'm adding, now that the pictures have been taken.  A bottle of Ranger mist has been sitting unloved for a couple years, so I combined that with my favorite stencil to create the slightest hint of interest in the background.  That was apparently my premission to have some fun.
• While I spent about 24 hours trying to decide on where I was going to put my circles, I fussed with each of them to start the layers as seen in the sketch above.  I managed to distress and ink the edges of the two navy circles before I left for a crazy-long appointment.  By the time I got home, I was tired and had forgotten to finishe the rest.  I'm telling myself that the outlining I did on two other circles AND the heart (also before the appointment) made that okay.
• Several days ago, I was finally brave enough to stop "loving" my foil paper and start cutting some of it up.  The bajillion gold and red stars are in a container, waiting for their turn, but I wasn't about to throw out the left overs.  Ergo, the red foil strip behind the circles.
• Sprinkled ink and sequins are slowly making their way into the "I Freaking Love This" category.

• What do you think about the paper airplanes?  I have been inspired by one of the sheets that Crate Paper released recently.  Then, I remembered that a couple other crafters used handmade paper airplanes on their pages within the last year.  I'm absolutely doing that again.

• Did you recognize the Dr. Seuss quote?  I LOVE that man, and about flipped my lid when I saw that Fancy Pants had a stencil with this quote.  Problem:  I only have the one stencil and am not yet prepared to attach IT to a single page.  Solution:  I popped out the letters inside the stencil for a furture page (that's one use).  I traced the inside of the stencil for this layout (that's 2 uses; but I can really do this as many times as I want).  When I start to get tired of looking at the thing, I can give myself permission to get the stencil messy by dabbing out the quote with inks, paint, etc (that's three/more uses).  Finally, when I'm REALLY done looking at the thing, I can just paint it; embellish it, do whatever I want with it and add the stencil itself to the page (that's four uses; and kills the stencil).  OH!  But check this!  I've still got the letters that I popped out, so I can pretty them up and use them as well (five/more uses to make that buck stretch.  Score!).
• That last (pretty empty) third of the page will be used for the lengthy journaling.  When The Boy starts to act overcome with energy, he will often ask me if he is crazy, or weird.  In that moment, I easily answer yes.  He quickly tells me, "Wrong answer."  My mom thinks I'm putting negative thoughts in his head.  I don't see it that way; so I want to explain to him how being crazy, or weird, is a VERY GOOD thing; that the world needs more weird people who aren't afraid to be creative, energetic, genuine, and true.  He's not "normal," and I love that about him.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

The quote in the top left is a stamp from Jillibean Soup.  It was the reason I bought the set.  It was time to start using it.  Oh, and the circles of stars are part of that same set.