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Congrats to @Janisn - you are the winner for this challenge!
(i'll send you your prize code as soon via conversation as i receive it)
Welcome to Week 6 of Summer School where we are focusing on STEM this week. This is our final week and we hope you have enjoyed playing along and learning with us!
STEM in Education stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths and this week's tutorial and challenge are (loosely) Engineering based.
As someone married to a University academic in Engineering, I will freely admit that I don't understand all the equations and calculations that go in to, among other things, ensuring a bridge or skyscraper building will not fail and can support over and above the demands that us humans and the environment throw at it, but I can appreciate them. Over the last 20-something years, I've also witnessed a lot of that analytical thinking (?over-thinking) in every home, garden and garage building project, from big renovations to simply hanging a picture frame or putting up a basic floating shelf.
This week, we are going to build our own shelves that will support product on a digital layout. First, relax! A structurally sound shelf is probably less important in scrapping than engineering, so there will be no serious ramifications for creating a shelf without the appropriate real-world risk assessments nor any real calculations on it's ability to withstand load and forces. It will need to be horizontal though (a shelf that is on even a slight angle is not an Engineer's friend! Plus your precious items will likely slide off it!) Your shelf will be a horizontal anchor piece and support at least 3 different items that would sit on a shelf. This can include photos, title words or a cluster of similar or different elements (eg. 3 different plants but not 3 duplicates of the same plant).
You are welcome to add extra elements (and photos and papers etc) on the page as well, and using templates is allowed as long as the shelf and 3 items requirement is met.
When decorating a shelf, interior design principles often quoted to keep in mind include:
- the rule of 3 and odd numbers working better in clusters
- For cohesion, use similar coloured and textured objects on your shelf
- For visual interest, vary heights, shapes and size of objects on your shelf
- For dimension, layer items both vertically and horizontally and play with layering objects or shelf design to give the illusion of depth
Here is a visual guide to help you start planning and effectively dressing your shelf. Hopefully you can see this challenge can work with a range of layout styles, from realistic and 'filled' through to more artsy and minimal. The amount of breathing room in between items can give them space to shine or clustered together they become more of a whole vignette. Each shelf itself started as a rectangle I dragged out in Photoshop. To add depth and realism to 3 & 5, I used the Perspective option in the Transform menu (more on that and how I made each shelf in the blog this week).
UPDATED TO ADD BLOG POST LINK: some more 'how' info on my process of making some of the shelves I showed below is now here https://the-lilypad.com/build-a-shelf-anchor-elements/
)All the items on the shelves came from kits available in the store linked below (I haven't shadowed them but this is just to kickstart your thinking) but there really are so many possibilities.
credits:
1 ForeverJoy | Weekend Vibes
2 Becca Bonneville | Snuggle Season; Mommyish | Just the Basics- Wood II layer style
3 Kristen Aagard | Home Renovation
4 Britt-ish Designs & Sahlin Studio | Project Mouse (Belle); Elif Sahin | Table for Two Stamps; Mommyish | MPM Spirit Velvet gold layer style
5 A Whimsical Adventure | Academy for Magic
6 Rachel Etrog | A Book & A Mug stamps
(Wood Papers used on Shelves 1,3,5 are from WoodBeGood vol 1. | Allison Pennington)
Challenge: Create a horizontal surface to act as a shelf on your layout and support at least 3 items.
Shelf Construction Ideas:
You could:
- create a 2D digital version of a real shelf with a strip of woodgrain paper
- add support with additional pieces beneath your horizontal strip
- add depth and perspective to make your shelf more 3D
- tie a bundle of branches or twigs ( tied together for extra strength!)
- use a large chunky title or wordart as your shelf
- use an alternate paper, ribbons or washi tape to create your horizontal strip
- add hardware fasteners (like screws or brads) or metal styles to add realism or a more contemporary look
- include a single shelf or a series of shelves (more like a set of bookshelves)
You could display:
- framed art or photos, inspirational messages, a collection of some kind, plants/vases, cups and crockery, books horizontally stacked or vertically grouped, toys like teddy bears, stationery items, a small pet (a bird or cat might work on a shelf but an elephant or giraffe not so much unless it's a statue), knick knacks like candles and souvenirs, pantry items, holiday decor (maybe an elf)
- hopefully you can see many possibilities and if you look around your home you might find other ideas in your own styling.
Layout Examples:
This is an older page I made that uses a shelf design and ForeverJoy's Shiplap Style( the Fancy Pants version but the TLP version even has a ready made shelf element in the kit)
This is a wooden floating shelf that has a photo, vase and bird on it with the journal tag kind of hanging off it, like you may hang Christmas stockings from a mantle. Each item is fairly isolated to give them room to be appreciated.
And this is a more minimalist December edition shelf- again a floating shelf. I started with a template and then dragged a rectangle out in Photoshop and clipped a wooden paper to it & then added a bunch of Christmas-y stuff on top of the shelf and used some scallop stitching to hang a garland off it that ties in with my little elf in the photo draping the red beaded garland around the tree. I used different sized, shaped and coloured pieces on the shelf to add visual interest and contrast but the repetition of the star & silver tones also gives it some cohesiveness and this is definitely a more clustered design!
Now it's your turn!
Rules Recap:
- Deadline is: August 11 at 11:59pm EDT
- Your new page must include a horizontal shelf of some kind that has at least 3 different items on it.
- If you use 3 of the same type of item, they need to be different (for example: 3 different plants is fine, but not 3 duplicates of the same plant; or 3 books are fine on your shelf if they are different books)
- Additional elements on the page as well as templates are allowed as long as the shelf requirement is met. Feel free to add a shelf to a template and make it your own!
- Page must be posted to the Lilypad Gallery and posted/linked in this challenge thread to enter. GALLERY RULES: Layouts must contain at least 50% TLP products. (Templates count as 15%.) Uploads must be less than 250k. List all credits (including the alpha); no off-site linking allowed.
- No double dipping - page should be created for this challenge alone.
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and I placed 3 elements on the table element too. Nice weekend 
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