Birthday Challenge.

I can't pass up a good challenge. There are some great scrapbooking groups that offer weekly challenges - some with prizes like gift cards or supplies. Scrapbook magazines also post challenges for submitting projects based on a theme. Challenges are great for motivation, and can move you out of your comfort zone. 

My latest submission:

Birthday Challenge

Birthday pages come naturally to many, but not to me. I don't have children to make birthday pages for every year. Ironically, I have tons of supplies for creating birthday pages or cards. Most of my Cricut Cartridges have birthday elements to them. I have several stamping packets with birthday themes (for cards). Paper packs will sometimes include birthday materials. I want to use them all!

Therefore, I asked a friend with a young daughter to send me some photos of her first birthday, and the ideas started flowing.

First Birthday

As soon as I knew that the party had a giraffe theme, I wanted to digitally cut a fabulous giraffe. I used Cricut, Create a Critter and set the size to 9 inches! It seemed like the back of the giraffe would perfectly hold a stack of presents, so I cut out the presents in a bright glittery cardstock (The Paper Studio, Eat Cake) from the cartridge, Celebrations (Cricut). The giraffe theme meant that there was a lot of orange, yellow, and brown everywhere, so the pop of blue worked well. I trimmed an 8 x 8 piece of patterned paper (red with balloons floating in various colors) from DCWV Scrapbook Kit in a Stack, Birthday Anniversaire. Those colors dramatically changed the color palatte. With so much color on the layout, I decided to go for a white, crisp background. Two stamps finished off the layout. Blowing Birthday Wishes (Stampendous, Birthday Brackets) was stamped in espresso ink from Color Box and embossed with a clear embossing powder. At the very bottom on the right side, I stamped Hooray for You (Clearly Wordsworth, Everyday Whimsy) in the same espresso ink and clear embossing powder. 

I had an entire folder of photos to choose from, so how did I decide on which photos to use. When I looked at the photos, I noticed many that showcased the giraffe theme. Since I wanted to use a giraffe, I wanted the photos to explain why. The main photo was perfect: mom, dad, baby in a giraffe party hat. 

How do you handle color palatte issues when you have many stand-out colors? 

Did I hit the mark with choosing the white background? 

Now, it's your turn. Find inspiration for a unique birthday layout.