Focus on Photos ~ Photo Swap

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Hello blog friends!  It’s Kim here today with a fun post I hope you will enjoy!  A little while back, one of the Shabby team members thought it would be fun to have a photo swap and share it here with you.  The idea was that we would each send in a photo or photos along with any journaling we would want included on a layout.  Then the photos would be given to someone else on the team and they would create the layout.  Sounds like fun, right?!  It was a chance for us all to take a photo we were looking for a little inspiration to scrap and see what someone else would do with it.

So… here’s what happened when the team swapped photos.  I would say it was a random swap… except that it wasn’t exactly!  I tried when I gave out the photos to give us each something we wouldn’t normally get to scrap.  And the first thing I had to be sure and do was give Jenelle a chance to do a girly layout!  Here is what Jenelle created to scrap a photo of Casharina’s girls.

It looks like Jenelle enjoyed creating this girly layout!  All those bright colors perfectly compliment the photo too.  When I asked her about the experience of scrapping Casharina’s photo, she said “I was so excited to be scrapping pages about girls, but then thought to myself – ‘hang on a minute – I have pretty much no experience scrapping girl layouts – where do I start???  Too much pink?  Too many hearts and bows and flowers??’”  It may be that Jenelle was uncertain at first, but I think the result is perfectly lovely!

Jenelle wasn’t the only one getting to step out of her comfort zone in the photo swap.  I also wanted to be sure Casharina got a chance to do a boy layout!  Here is her layout of fun facts about Rosy’s cute little guy.

Love it!  It’s perfectly boy, but still has Casharina’s style all over it!  Here’s what Casharina said about her experience: “My biggest fear was that she wouldn’t like it, or that I wouldn’t make it boyish enough.  I’ve NEVER done an ALL boy page and I must say it was quite challenging!  Creating a layout for Rosy has inspired me though, as I’ve wanted to do a 10 reasons why/about forever and I couldn’t bring myself to put one together.  But now that I have I’m VERY excited to try one for my girls!!”  Sounds like trying something new for someone else has inspired Casharina to try it for herself too!

Next up we have Rosy, who was given three of my photos from our backyard adventures.  I really enjoy Rosy’s style and don’t think I can pull it off myself, so I was thrilled to see this layout with my photos.

I love how Rosy has taken three photos that don’t look alike (except that they were all taken in my backyard) and pulled them all together in this layout.  She picked perfect colors and elements to do this.  Thank you so much, Rosy, for helping me capture one of our everyday moments in this layout.  I think part of the fun of this photo swap was seeing my pictures all wrapped up in a design with someone else’s style!

Moving on, it was my turn to take on the photo swap challenge.  I scrapped this layout with a photo from Kylie of her cute nieces.  They make such great subjects for a layout, and here’s what I did with the photo.

I have to admit my first thought was that I was intimidated to scrap for someone as talented as Kylie!  AND… the place and event was something I had no idea about since I have never been to Australia!  BUT… part of the fun is in the challenge.  So as a starting point, I used my good friend google to look up Lorne Pier and Australia Day.  And one search led to another (because I’m kind-of a nerd and get interested in learning things).  Somehow I ended up looking more closely at the Australian flag than I ever have before, which led to me having to know why it has the seven-pointed star on it, which led to me having to put one in the layout… you see where this is going!  Point of this story: One of the fun parts of the swap for me was scrapping a photo from something that my family hasn’t done or experienced!

Kylie is up next with another stunning layout, created for Beckie with her beautiful bluebonnet photo.  I laughed when Beckie sent me the photo because I had been thinking of putting in a bluebonnet photo for the swap too.  Seems like both of us were looking for some inspiration for our endless bluebonnet photos.  What a great reason for a photo swap… looking for a new perspective on a layout theme you’ve done a lot of.  Here’s Kylie’s take on a bluebonnet layout.

Kylie said: “I felt the pressure scrapping someone else’s precious pics!! But I loved it…there’s a certain joy that comes with working on a page for someone else!!  I get the same buzz when I’m gift-giving!!”  I love that comment.  Sharing in the photo swap was a bit like gift giving!  And on the other side, you were receiving a gift too!

To complete the circle of our photo swap, we have a layout by Beckie.  She was given the task of scrapping one of Jenelle’s sons as a baby.  Did it take you back in time to when yours were that little, Beckie?

This is a truly sweet baby layout.  Who wouldn’t have been inspired to go sweet with the layout when looking at those big baby blue eyes?!  I love all the different elements Beckie found to cluster around the photos in this layout – a work of art!  Since that is one of the things I love so much about this layout, I found it interesting that Beckie said this: “I had no idea how nerve wracking it would be to scrap for someone else!  When I scrap for myself I just kind of throw it all on there and stop when I think it looks ok.  But I was so worried Jenelle wouldn’t like the page! LOL.  So I kept messing with it, adding stuff, etc.”  Beckie, I think you found the perfect balance with this layout!!

I hope this post gave you all a glimpse into our fun – and left you with some inspiration too!  I think after going through the swap, we all agree with these thoughts shared by Kylie:  “I probably took a bit longer to get started and must have gone through a million different paper combinations before I was 100% happy!  It was also hard to know whether to leave the photos full size or not, and if cropping them would make a difference to the story or the memories.  I also umm’d and ahh’d about the title – big or small??  When you have no real connection to the pics the story-telling through your choice of papers, elements, title options etc is definitely harder – you have to purely rely on what you see in the photo…but that’s half the FUN!!  On the flip-side, receiving a page crafted by someone else is even more exciting!!  When you see it you love it – it’s perfect!  I’m soooo critical of my own pages so it’s lovely to have a gorgeous page with your photos that you don’t find fault with!!”  Thank you for sharing those thoughts, Kylie!  I couldn’t have wrapped up the experience better myself!

That’s all for today, but Kylie will be back on the blog tomorrow to share the Project Scrap 2012 MAY templates!  I know SP’s sneak peek has us all anticipating them… only one more day to go!

KimInspiration, Photography, Uncategorized 5 Comments