February PL - part 2 Valentine's Day

 

So happy to be cracking on with my February PL as well!  Making some good progress.  Above is the detail on my page dedicated to Valentines Day.

I wanted this picture to be roughly 5x7 but unfortunately Simple Stories does not carry or make a 5x7 pocket page and I didn't want it to sit within a 6x8 pocket.  As well, I kinda wanted the page to be more like an insert than in a pocket, to stand on its own so I did a little bit more of my creative custom pages (like in this post here).  I printed this picture of the restaurant we went to for Valentines Day onto white cardstock then sewed it onto the strip cut off from a pocket page insert (the bit of the strip with the holes).  I had been hearing about this place in High Wycombe called Bluegrass that was meant to be like "proper" American BBQ.  As there aren't that many places around here like that I desperately wanted to give it a go and what better time than Valentines, right, cuz what says "I love you" more than American BBQ does?!  ; )

On the back I printed a copy of the picture I took of the menu. Along the side I glued on a file tab that says "Captured" by Pink Paislee.

 

This is my page dedicated to Valentines Day!  I had an image in my head and wanted to create a sort of collage along with using a photo strip of some of our silly pics.  As much as I do remember to take pictures, I also sometimes have a bad habit of going out of the house without making sure my phone is completely charged.  Then when it comes time to take some pictures for my PL my phone is too flat or on occasion even dead so that I can't take ANY pictures!  I stupidly made that mistake on Valentines Day so I was only able to snap a few pics of us by the end of the evening.  

SUPPLIES | The pink hearts background paper is by Studio Calico and is from the Sugar Rush kit. The white & gray Bluegrass slow-cooked paper is simply a scan of the placemat paper from the restaurant which I then printed onto white cardstock. I wanted to include this somewhere in the layout. I had originally put it into a 3x4 pocket but didn't like the look of it. The photo strip and the big picture I created myself after altering the pictures in BeFunky. The pink & red vellum hearts are from the Studio Calico Sugar Rush kit. The red "heart you" acetate overlay is from the original Simple Stories 12x12 kit, have had this tucked away & never used any of them. The "Loved", "So Happy" & "Sweet" stickers are all Simple Stories.  The Valentines themed chipboard button is by Jenni Bowlin.

 

The pink cardstock strip behind the photo strip with the love hearts painted on it is something I was inspired to try after reading another one of Kelly Xeno's posts (here).  I have to say that I never knew there was such a thing as water colour pencils, yes water colours, but not water colour pencils. (Maybe I need to get out more) I thought what she created with her cards were so beautiful and unique that I would give it go. Now, my attempt is nowhere near as good as what she created but I had fun with the process, so that's all that matters, right?!  I'm sure the more I play with it, the better I will get, or at least I'm hoping!
 

Of course, I had to include photos of the food, as I do!! On the top left pocket, I took a picture of the backside of the menu as it sat on the table. I'm getting bad now because even as it sat on the table I thought to myself, if I leave some space down the right hand side, when I print the pic I can include some text right on the picture. The pic on the top (on the right) is of the bar at Bluegrass, which they styled like a tin corrugated roof on a wooden shack. They did quite well with the theme!  And yes, the bottom pic is of the pulled pork sandwich which was to die for!!  So yummy!

I tried text directly on the photo (in the bottom pocket) but didn't like the way it looked and wanted to add a bit more texture, so printed off the text on natural cardstock and then cut it into strips, gluing it to the outside of the pocket. 

For the page below I simply enlarged one of the graphics on the menu and printed it on a piece of tan cardstock. On the right is a picture of Simon's meal - he tried the trio of sandwiches, a sampling of the various different roast sandwiches.  For the bottom pic I realised we hadn't taken any pics of us yet and my phone was about to die.  This was as we were on the way back to the car so I quickly took a snap or two, this was the best of the two, which isn't saying much. The picture was already a bit blurry as I took it so quickly so tried to make it look a bit better by adding a filter with one of my editing apps (starting to realise how much I use those...) Also decided to go B&W with it. I used the same heart paper as on the main Valentines page and then added the top of a PL card from the Honey line with the "Love This" tab down the left hand side.

I  loved that they served the cocktails in little mason jars, or Tennessee jars as we know them!  They had some of the good ole proper southern style cocktails as well - Cherry Cola Cooler, which I had - Amaretto & Coke.  Plus a So Co Lo (Southern Comfort & Lemonade) and The Jack (this one needing no explanation), the Low & Sloe and finally Oak & Coke (Oakheart Rum & Coke).   Simon probably hates having his picture taken even more than me, even though he is more photogenic, by far!  I told him to smile and he pulled his Koala face, like Sheldon - only Big Bang fans will get the reference here. The "Good Times" insert card on the bottom right is Project Life and the glitter puffy sticker is a no name brand that a friend from the US sent me from Big Lots years ago. 

The card in the upper right hand corner of this page (of which there is a close up below) the one with the topper "Memories", I struggled with for aaagges!  After dinner we went to a special Valentine's Day viewing of Sleepless in Seattle, one of my favourite romantic comedy's, so it had to be seen.  I didn't know how to reflect that here in my pocket scrapbooking, thought about including a shot of the film poster and the actual movie ticket, among other ideas but didn't like anything and tried so many!  Eventually I cut up (2) PL cards, one that was lined & originally said "Good Story" on the top and instead stapled the "Memories" top bit onto it, after running it through my printer to get the text on it. 

SUPPLIES | The red heart is Simple Stories and the cinema ticket is by Crate Paper with the pink ticket underneath by October Afternoon. 

 

 

I am not really much of a cardmaker but this year I decided to make a Valentine for my Valentine! Try something different!  Below, on the left, is the PL insert card notating the date and a small bit of journaling for the Valentine Day card I made and on the right is a snapshot of the card.

(see original post here) 

 SUPPLIES | Insert card is Project Life, the pink hearts were punched out of another PL card, the pink enamel dot is by Freckled Fawn and the arrow strip is by Echo Park.  You can see I put the card in the pocket too soon and smeared the ink.  Oh well!

 

Thanks for stopping by to have a look!

Hope the post wasn't too long and I didn't ramble on too much!

 

Christine  : )