Scrap Challenge YOUrself Scrapbook Sketch Challenge

I was trying to find some challenges to participate in and I came across a scrapbook challenge at the Scrap Challenge Yourself blog.

I fell in love with the sketch and then checked out the challenge rules.  I knew exactly what picture I wanted to use to create this layout!

One of the rules was that I have to be in the picture.  This is a selfie I took with my son on a quick trip to Boston and a stop at Mystic Aquarium before hitting the ferry to come home.

I am not a terrific selfie taker and I felt lucky that he let me take a picture of us together that day.  He tends to be camera shy!  You can tell that it was a sunny, beautiful day!

I used a lot of different companies products on this page!  My stash has grown in the variety of what I have and I’m really enjoying experimenting with the new stuff.

I focused on two things for this layout…bright and colorful geometric designs and I wanted a stamp to show that we were at the aquarium.

For my aquarium stamp, I selected the Gina K Designs A Year of Borders.  I stamped it using my extra large MISTI and Catherine Pooler’s Aquatini ink.   I love this big scrapbook page sized MISTI.  Look how straight I was able to get my border stamp along the top.  I stamped it 3 times and that MISTI made it so much easier to do!

I used one of Catherine Pooler’s stencils called Square Dance along with 4 ink pads that I blended together to get a beautiful rainbow…I used Aquatini, Tuttti Frutti, Tiara, and Flirty Fuchsia which I believe are all part of the Party Collection of inks.  Aren’t they gorgeous?  They blend beautifully every time I use them.  And they stamp like a dream.

The sentiment is heat embossed in white and it comes from Gina K Designs Your Own Kind of Beautiful stamp set.  I love that sentiment because it was his birthday that day and it really expresses how proud I am of him and the man he is.

That fantastic die cut title along the side is from Concord & 9th.  It is a new release that just came out a couple of days ago.  I has a second sentiment die in the set and I love it!!  I die cut it in some blue glitter paper.

The triangle wood elements are from one of Altenew’s scrapbook kits.  That set of wood elements has gone a long way!

Those great little sequins are Studio Katia.  I love Studio Katia embellishments.

The washi tape is from Stampin’ Up!  I like to add the geometrics and the metallic elements when I’m making a layout for a guy.  I didn’t want this to be a flowery page like many of the pages I’ve created lately.  But I did want it to be colorful and my go to inks for bright, vibrant colors are the Catherine Pooler inks.

Here is the sketch that I started with:

I loved this sketch.  I was able to keep my layout very clean and simple with lots of white space.  I also love creating my own background papers and that fantastic stencil was perfect.

One new handy tool that I just got and have fallen in love with is the Gina K Designs Lint Free Tidy Towel for stamp cleaning.  I don’t have a sink in the basement yet near my craft room and this little towel is handy to keep in a plastic bag to clean off the stamps when I use the MISTI.

Thank you for stopping by today!  Happy crafting!