Hello everyone! I'm happy that I get to host a challenge this month and very happy that it's the journaling challenge. Anyone who knows me and my style, knows I LOVE to journal, but I also realize that not everyone loves to journal and even others {gasp} hate to journal. SO, I'm not going to make you do a page with epic length journaling and I'm not going to even tell you WHAT to journal about. Instead, I'm going to challenge you to add journaling on those sometime tricky pages where there isn't a good place for journaling.... like those busy background layouts. I want you to use a patterned or busy background paper and then find a way to add journaling on top of it. Here of some possibilities: -add a solid color paint blob and journal on that -add a small piece of solid paper and journal on that -add a tag and journal on that -create a plain color shape (match one color of you background paper) and journal on that -journal on top of a photo -leave a photo spot empty, fill with paper and journal there instead Basically I want you to make journaling a priority and FIND A SPOT for it. I created this layout and kept trying to find a plain paper that I liked for my background so I could leave my journaling below the title. I kept coming back to this graph paper and finally decided to use it and figure out a way to isolate my journaling. I added a rounded corner rectangle and matched the off white color of the background and then I added a blue stroke to mimic one of the lines in the graph paper. Here's the before and then the after: I also could have just used a piece of paper: As always, please remember the monthly challenge rules: Your page must contain at least 75% Lilypad product. Your page should be posted to the Lilypad Gallery and then linked to the Challenge Layouts thread so it can be tracked, and to this thread. The Lilypad uses a percent system for our challenges; the number of challenges you participate in determines the store discount you will receive at the end of the month: 2 challenges = 10% off 4 challenges = 20% off 6 challenges = 30% off If you complete 7 challenges, you will receive a coupon for 30% off, plus you will be entered to win a guest spot on the Lilypad Creative Team! The first seven challenges will be posted on the first of the month; the eighth challenge is the BYOC challenge, which is posted on BYOC release day. Each page counts for one challenge (you cannot use one layout for multiple challenges).
@Karen Does it have to be a patterned paper for the background? I've made the busiest busy page you can immagine but used no papers at all...
I really want a busy background paper... however, if you feel that your layout is so busy that simply finding a spot for your journaling is a challenge, then I will allow it.
I laughed at pick a spot for journaling!! I saw Fiddle Dee Dee's templates with the June byoc, and said, thank you dear Cheryl for helping me find that spot for journaling! tee hee
Busy backgrounds and those with lots of embellishments are not easy for me nor or they my style. Nevertheless, here's mine. See if you can spot the journaling -- it IS there.
To read the text over the grid, I lighted painted behind the text with a brush using the same light color as the background. This is a great challenge because this is a challenge that we run into frequently. Great tips.
I had another idea in mind for this challenge. I was going to use one of Allison Pennington's vellum journal cards, but in the end, this is where I went: