My Summer Vacation challenge

This month at the Inspiration Journal, the challenge is all about travels and journeys. You can create projects about specific trips or just traveling in general. I decided to catch up a bit on some scrapping of our summer vacations. Last summer we went to Legoland with the whole family and had a blast. My Lego loving eldest son was especially enthralled by the experience and wants to go back of course.

The main photo is one of my favorite pictures I took there. I love how excited Jon is and that we also happened to get Greg and my brother and sister-in-law in the background. Greg looks pretty excited too! This was the Bionicle ride (Lego robot characters) so I wanted to have lots of metal and gears on the page but still make it bright and cheery. I put metal foil tape onto paper and embossed it. I painted it with various colors of Distress Paint (love how it goes on metal!) and then gave it a light sanding when dry so the metal would show through. The chipboard gears I painted with Brushed Pewter paint and then applied Distress Stains over the top. I sealed it all in with a coat of clear embossing powder.

For the background, I used Super Heavy Gel and a stencil to make the raised punchinella pattern. After it was dry I brushed on the Silk Acrylic Glaze and added some misting and spatters. Fun stuff!

You can join in the challenge too and have a chance to win $50 to spend at Inspiration Emporium! Just link up your project here by August 30th and you'll be in the running. We can't wait to see what you come up with!

Most of the supplies I've used on my layout can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE to save 10% if you go shopping.

Challenge #31!

Here we are with the Scrapping Everyday Miracles challenge #31! Can you believe it's August already? This summer is really flying by. I have been trying to get a lot of things accomplished and that is the theme of this month's challenge - creating a project about your's or a loved one's accomplishment. One of my big things I've been working on is taking better control of my health, and to do that I have been participating in an online boot camp exercise program. I have been really sticking with it and am seeing slow and steady results (hurray!) This is tying into other changes in my life too (read the journaling below). Whew, God is really working on me!

Journaling:
I’m continuing to work on transformation and getting unstuck. My life has trials right now, but I want to stop feeling beaten down by them and instead, by God’s grace and strengthening, experience growth and victory through them. For me, this is happening mentally and physically. I realized I needed to get healthier in body so I joined a boot camp exercise program and have been following it faithfully for four weeks! It is tough but I am feeling better already and I know that being a healthier me will help when facing challenges. This boot camp program also has a mental component where you complete assignments to help get rid of “stinking thinking” to make better choices. I know God is working on me. I pray that I will learn well.

The scrappy twist for the challenge is to use a metallic element. I immediately thought of a technique that Tammy Tutterow just shared recently on her blog about stamping and coloring on foil. That is how I did the butterflies and I really like how they turned out! Check out the link to Tammy's tutorial to try it for yourself.

I encourage you to go check out the challenge at SEM and see all the cool layouts the DT has created to inspire you. You can enter the challenge by linking up your project by the end of the month and you'll be entered into the drawing for a $35 gift certificate from our sponsor Daysigns.

Most of the supplies I've used on my card can be found at Inspiration Emporium. Follow the links below and use my code JUICE to save 10% if you go shopping.