Go Crop Yourself!

Recently I was looking back through all my albums and all the scrapbook pages I've done and it became quite obvious to me that mostly what I do is about my kids.  I am sure I am not alone in that discovery.  My kids mean everything to me and are always the most fun pictures or memories to capture.  Aside from my scrapbooks, I also have utilized the triangular wall created by the staircase in my living room as a sort of framed collage of family photos.  There are alot of kids on that wall too.  Not many of my mom or my mother in law, because, like me, they are usually the ones capturing the memories.

I've seen many others do layouts that capture the things that are important to them, their top ten favorite things or moments in time that they can pinpoint as make or break decisions in their life.  But I'm not one for journaling.  Still, the idea of doing a layout that was just me, was, although a bit narcissistic, intriguing all the same.

Simultaneously, my husband got a new camera and would learn about a technique and jump to try it out, me being the most available model.  However, his timing was usually inopportune...I was in the middle of something, wearing "around the house comfy clothes" that aren't necessarily flattering, no makeup, wild hair, preoccupied expressions on my face, all combined with bad lighting and busy backgrounds too distracting for a good photo.  In short, most of those pictures were deleted at my insistance!  He started taking online tutorials and I told him if he wants to practice, he needs to give me 'notice' so I can clean myself up for decent photos.

Every once in a while I am thrown a set of unrelated things and try to make something of them.  One day we were at Walmart (honestly, it's a rare occurance, but sometimes it's the only place that has what you're looking for) and were walking through several aisles of clearance.  I stumbled upong a packet of quilting squares is a totally cute yellow, black and grey set of patterns.  I don't quilt.  Frankly if it can't be done in a day, it doesn't happen.  But...I did think of making something.  *Ding* went that lighbulb of creativity and suddenly I HAD to have those quilting squares.  The next day I went to Kohls and got a plain grey v-neck t-shirt.  An idea was formulating!  Then my Tim Holtz Tattered Flowers Sizzix die arrived in the mail and I just knew what I had to do!

A quick trip to JoAnn's for some double faced interfacing and some buttons in various sizes in black, grey & yellow and I was ready.  First I ironed the interfacing to the squares then ironed them together, to make double sided squares of fabric.  Next, I used the Tim Holtz die and my Cutlebug to cut out all the flowers. 

{Did you know you could cut fabric using your Cuttlebug, Sizzix, etc?  Fabric, Felt, whatever!  Simply figure out which set of cutting plates you need to roll your die through the machine.  Place your die, cutting side UP, then place your fabric over the die, put a piece of scrapbook paper (I usually use scraps) over the fabric, then your top cutting plate and roll on!  And as the French say, 'Et Voila'!  I keep the paper cuts in a box for future use, along with any unused fabric cuts.}

I arranged the flowers on the t-shirt to cascade down from my left shoulder and pinned then into place until I sewed them in place using the buttons.  I left the petals of the flowers loose, and only secured the centers.  I also had a little Sizzix Bumble Bee die and cut a little Bumble Bee out too.  I placed him on the shoulder and secured him, leaving his wings loose.  I used some black thread and embroidered a little bumble bee trail and added a few more bumble bee trails here and there on the shirt as well.  It turned out kinda cute, I think.

I needed a picture of the shirt to post and decided that since hubby could use the photo practice, we'd kill two birds with one stone!  We picked a beautiful day and went to a local park and he took al sorts of pictures.  Remarkably, I was happy with most of them!  So happy, I decided to do an "All About Me" layout using them. 


This is the resulting t-shirt.



Then I selected a number of pictures from the set of photos he took; some I printed in the collage format, so they were smaller and a couple I left at 4x6.  I looked through my stash and found a set of old papers from American Crafts called "Moda Bella".  They were all in yellow and grey.  The scalloped paper was originally only grey and white and I took a sharpie marker in yellow to add color to the centers of the flowers.  I used an EK Success embossing punch to make the scallops.  I pulled a couple of sheets of Bazill Basics swiss dot in "Black Cow" to use as the foundation.  On another trip to JoAnn's I found rag ribbon that matched the fabric, so used that to embellish the circle! I used Recollections glittery buttons and crystals in the centers of the flowers and the black crystal flourishes are also from Recollections. The "K" is my first name monogram and I used my Storybook cricut cartridge to cut it out of a piece of silvery grey cardstock.  The felt bird was in my stash from some clearance rack find a couple of years ago. And of course, the flowers I used, were left over from the t-shirt, plus some little yellow felt blossoms from Recollections.



2 Page Layout



Detail of left side of layout



Detail of right side of layout

 Now my challenge to everyone is to go out and create a layout of you, that captures you.  It doesn't have to be a two page layout or multiple pictures (I just couldn't choose one!).  Make it a layout about you, doing something you love...playing with your kids or crafting or whatever.  Someday someone further down your family tree will be looking through your albums wondering where all the pictures of you are!

I know I usually ends my posts this way, but this time I really mean it... until next time... Go Crop Yourself!!