I had been going through a bit of a scrapbooking/designing slump this summer and I found it really hard to be inside in front of the computer on a beautiful summer day.  The summers are short in Edmonton, so I wanted to spend as much time outside with the kids as I could.

All week at Scrapaneers, a great website to learn about digital scrapbook techniques, they have been celebrating their one year birthday with challenges and awesome prizes.  It was the draw of awesome prizes that gave my creativity a kick in the butt!  So after struggling all summer to even produce one layout a week, I managed to complete four layouts in four days!

Day 1 challenge was to scrap lift (i.e. find inspiration in someone else’s layout) a page from Traci Reed’s gallery.  This is the page I used for inspiration:

I simply turned her design on its side and used a digital kit from One Little Bird Designs called “One For the Album”:

Day 2 was a scrap lift from one of the peers at Scrapaneers.  I chose to use this layout from Lisa Corbin-Polack because of the birthday theme of past and present.

Since I have a big birthday coming up next month (sshh… it is the big 4-0!)  I decided to scan one of my baby photos and pair it with a recent photo.  Digital elements from “Billet Doux” and “One For the Album” by One Little Bird Designs.

Day 3 challenge required us to use three techniques that we learned from the Scrapaneers blog.  For this layout I learned an easy way to convert photos to black and white using the gradient map, how to extend a photo, and creative blending of background papers.  Digital elements  from “Krafternoon Delight” by Creashens, “Bits of Life” from Mye De Leon, and “One For the Album” by One Little Bird Designs.

And finally Day 4!  This was the most difficult of all the challenges for me because it forced me out of my design comfort zone – scrap lift an artsy layout from Anna Aspnes. This is the layout I used for inspiration:

I loved the blending of the background image with the paper and brushes, and the pop of framed photos.  My attempt at an artsy layout took a few hours to complete because I just wasn’t sure when to stop working on it!  Digital brushes for this layout from Tiffany Tillman, other elements from “A Boy’s Story” by Shawna Clingerman and Sugarplum Paperie, and “This Magic Moment” from One Little Bird Designs.

Now that I am finished creating layouts for the four challenges, I can relax and wait to hear if I have won any of the fantastic prizes.  I am crossing my fingers for the grand prize which is a Scrapaneers Scholarship that includes full access to one class a month for a whole year!!

I am hoping this flurry of creating layouts has broken my summer creativity slump.  Let’s hope so because I have several photo book projects to complete for clients and the final digital kit for the Hello 2014 series to design!

Enjoy the rest of summer,

Leah