I’ll admit that I was hesitant to attempt a Scraptastic!-inspired page.  I adore the lovely and artistic layouts in the book, but Ashley Calder's style is not my own and I’m not at all comfortable with supplies like acrylic paint and gold leaf. But I had these adorable photos of my niece to scrap and couldn’t ignore the fact that they would make for a great Scraptastic! layout.

The inspiration for my layout (below) was a card Ashley made (see right), with images stamped into modeling paste. So I dug around the supply cabinets, and set to work experimenting and giving myself permission to be messy and play. Here’s the result:

 

(The journaling is from a quote on the side of a Starbucks cup, which I had be saving for such a page as this: “Childhood is like a country of cake breath and grass stains where what you do instead of work is spin until you’re dizzy.")

And to the right is a better view of the stamped image.  I didn't color my leaves since several of them ended up with pink paper peeking through.

I have to say that for all of you who are intimated by art supplies, tend to stick to a particular style, or get frustrated when trying new techniques, give Scraptastic! layouts a try! Pushing yourself is fun, and Ashley’s techniqes really can be adapted to a variety of scrapbooking styles. While slightly more “messy,”  my layout still looks like mine, clean and bright with few embellishments. As Ashley says in her interview, “I hope more than anything that my fellow scrapbookers will read this book and realize, “I can do this!” and then go to the art supply store and come home ready to have fun.”  Thanks, Ashley!

And don’t forget to leave a comment on the post below for a chance to win a free copy of Scraptastic!

Kristin