Hello fellow adventurers, Meg here! As an avid travel scrapper you know I lost my mind a little over the July 2021 Kit and add-ons. All that outdoorsy goodness just waiting to tell my travel stories, even though I can still barely leave my house. It was love at first sight….
Supplies | July 2021 Kit, Tiny Shapes and Dots Puffy Stickers – Neutrals, Adventure Paper Stack, Summertime Tabs Stamp, The Great Outdoors Stamp, Adventure Notes Stamp, Parker Alphabet Stamp, Parker Alphabet Metal Die, Everyday Tabs Vol. 2 Metal Die
Do you ever have products you like so much that they inspire you to break out the ‘good photos’? You know, not just a run-of-the-mill adventure but something really special. That’s how I felt when I opened my July box—I didn’t want to hoard the supplies, I wanted to make something awesome. I instantly thought of the place: Petra, Jordan.
As part of my 2004–2005 Study Abroad album, these pictures have always occupied a precarious position in my documenting. I love each and every one of them but there are just so many and it was such a long time ago. Sound like anything you have floating around?
I also loved the July Kit and add-ons and it was time. I flipped through the 8+ pages of Petra I had in my album and decided to focus on completing one spread to establish the feel I’d like throughout. I particularly wanted to use techniques that could be repeated without fear of running low. I also wanted to keep it somewhat simple, both to emphasize the cool photos and to have a hope of completing the whole section someday soon.
One of the first projects I made with the Parker Alphabet Stamps and Metal Dies included gold embossed cork and I see no problem in repeating something good. This time I doubled down and added an additional layer of topographical map print from The Great Outdoors Stamp. I now have an unlimited supply of topographical gold cork alphas and frankly life has never been better. Swoon.
My photos here are mostly blue skies and red stone, so I jumped at the opportunity to inject a brightly colored striped tag from the July 2021 Kit, plus some more stamped cork using the Summertime Tabs Stamp because it is a whole vibe. Being so long ago, I had minimal journaling to include. However, if I know anything it is that I was thrilled to be in this place I knew through Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The professional archeologist in me may cringe a little, but my adventurer’s heart is still all for it.
The simplified approach to journaling was carried over to the right side of the spread, where I included a list of site areas and a personal life mantra. Yep, I’m basically a cartoon character, but I just had to follow the arrow to see where it went!
Having now established my go-to selections of gold embossed, topographical map stamped cork, I just kept mixing and matching. My list card has gold topography and relied entirely on an internet search. The ‘This Way’ arrow was just begging to be stamped on cork.
Last, but certainly not least, I had to use the Adventure Notes Stamp in a few places. The phrase/rectangle combo is just perfect to run off the edge if you don’t have anything to add to the space provided. To pull attention to the stamp even on this busy background, I paired it with a puffy star from the Tiny Shapes and Dots Puffy Stickers.
It may have taken me 16 years, but I finally have a Petra page that I love. Even better is that I’m excited to keep working on these memories and use the repetition of supplies and techniques with gold, the topography pattern and cork to coordinate my pages and get them finished. What project have you been putting off and what would it take to get you excited about it again?
Show us what adventures, near or far, you’ve been documenting using our July 2021 Kit and add-ons, or how Meg has inspired you to do so this week! Post your project on Instagram using the hashtag #EllesStudio, or join the Elle’s Studio Facebook Group and start a discussion with your project on the message board!