LOAD - So Much for Basic

I thought about starting this post with a whole thing about Labor Day - but then I realized - it's not celebrated everywhere.  So - here's just a quick Happy Labor Day to those of you that celebrate this day otherwise known as my first three day weekend of the school year.  Moving on...I would love to say I finished Day 4 on Day 4 - and trust me it was the right day and time in another place - on the west coast even.  So let's just go with it.

Part of the LOAD process includes weekly structure.  Sundays are designated as a day for getting back to basics. Initially - I thought about going back to some of my first layouts where I was more fearless and didn't care about any "rules."  I decided against that - the thought of some of those layouts make me cringe - and went back to what I learned in Finding Your Way and from Ali Edwards book, Life Artist.  Words and photos is all I need - right?  Not so much.

This is my "basic layout" and I have no idea what came over me.  It doesn't feel like me at all.  I got inspiration from a layout in a magazine - which I ran with.  I'm not sure how I came up with this finished product and I'm not sure I like it.  It didn't do the story justice.  The great thing about the digital age is that I still have the picture and the opportunity to tell the story in another way...the harlequin pattern on it's side is driving me CRAZY!  This is what you get when you do a layout at 11:00 pm with Men in Black on in the background - craziness.  I'm all over the place here.

So - let's talk products.  This layout is almost all Echo Park all the time in terms of paper.  The buttons are from a friend.  The scallop border sticker is also Echo Park.  The flowers are Prima and Heidi Grace. The letters are from Bo Bunny and Webster's Pages.  Last but not least - the word stickers are from Making Memories - I'm not sure they make these anymore.  I actually used them to cover up journaling from a teal pen that had dried out without my knowledge.  I think I might need to sit down and look at this layout and do an autopsy - figure out where I went wrong.  I already know a few things.  Hey - maybe that can be a weekly post - layout autopsy.  We'll see.  

I hope everyone has a lovely Monday wherever you are at in the world.  I hope it brings joy and a day off work.  I plan on hitting Borders for the third time in as many days and stopping by Target.  Big fun over here.  Until then...

BTW: If there was one class in the world I would encourage everyone to take, it would be Finding Your Way by Karen Grunberg.  Challenges and structure are fun - but knowing what you really want from your pages is priceless!