Hello, my name is Meg and today I’ll be your guide through the endless stream of inspiration that is the Elle’s Studio blog. A couple months ago, I broke down how I translate inspiration From Sketch To Finish Vol. 6 into pocket pages and thoroughly enjoyed the process. You can find that post HERE. I thought I’d keep rolling with that today and embrace Throwback Thursday, drawing from what is already available right here!   

Supplies | August 2021 Kit, August 2021 Cut Files, Note To Self Printables, Proud Of You Die Cuts, Chipboard Circle Stickers, Navy Puffy Alphabet Stickers, Good Times Paper Stack, Lined Labels Stamp, Lizzy Alphabet Stamp, You Got This Stamp, Dated Stamp, Nesting Tags Metal Die 

There are so many amazing past projects that it can be difficult to know where to start, so I made it easy on myself and just jumped back a year to August 2020. Because I’m converting ideas to pockets AND I’m rubbish at committing, I actually chose three different inspiration projects and pulled my favorite bits from each. This is your friendly reminder to be inspired by the smallest details. 

Since I want to play with the concepts rather than replicate a page, I don’t have to worry about page size or number of pictures, etc. Instead, I went hunting for a spread that would work well with the vibe of the August release and ended up in a week of late summer life from my 2016 album. It had just the right balance of fun, colorful photos and empty pockets with room to play.   

This 4 x 6 inch tag is one of my favorite pieces from the August Kit and had to be used immediately. I love that the ‘label’ portion is large enough to hold a significant amount of journaling or stacking the Dated Stamp with embellishments. You may also note that not only is July 13–31 more than a single week, it isn’t actually evenly split into weeks at all. Not a problem! I aim for week-to-week documentation, but sometimes I just follow the photos I have.  

I was smitten with the use of tags in Homecomin’ by Tracey Fox and since I now have the Nesting Tags Metal Die in my life I’m pretty much unstoppable. I loved the interaction of the cut-out words in Tracey’s spread, so I used the digital August 2021 Cut Files on a journaling tag in conjunction with the metal die. I’m always looking for reminders to use my digital files and this was an easy way to customize exactly what I envisioned. Here’s a look at Tracey’s original page:

Another August 2020 project I absolutely needed to work with was You Make the Sunshine Brighter by Steph Grimes. There were several elements I considered borrowing, but the layering of torn sections was most applicable to my pockets. I started with the striped tag on the left page as the most direct comparison to Steph’s, then carried the technique across the middle row with two more tags. Tearing is not something my type-A scrappy personality often considers and it was fun to give myself permission to just play.  

This teal star tag from the Note To Self Printables, was just begging me to print my QR code right in the middle of it. I like to upload video clips to my private YouTube account as ‘unlisted’ and add the links in my scrapbooks. The way technology evolves, who knows how long this approach will be viable, but for now it’s better than having them lost on my hard drive.  

I was obsessing over the cascade of colored labels on You Make the Sun Shine Brighter by Katarina Prevendarova, but just couldn’t find the space. It was still in my head when the rest of the spread was completed and I decided to minimize it to a cluster of tags and a Chipboard Circle Sticker smack in the middle of a couple photos. It doesn’t pack the same punch as Katarina’s striking page, but I reserve the right to return to that inspiration again.  

And here’s a look at Katerina’s layout:

If you’re feeling a little sluggish about your weekly/monthly documenting by this time of the year, shake it up with this fun and easy challenge. Grab your new goodies and head to the blog (hey, you’re already here!) to see what jumps out at you from this season of past years. Want to up the stakes some more? Pick a month at random from the Archives filter and make it work! We always want to see what you are creating, so make sure you are using the #ellesstudio hashtag. If you do play along with a Throwback Thursday challenge of your own, let us know what project or projects were your inspiration!