Let’s see….do I have everything?

Did I have you wondering at all? Or did the title “September Challenge” give it away?

The very end of the month, like August 30-31, I sat there wondering what the challenge for September was going to be. … … … couldn’t think of a thing. I knew after having a big one for July-August I wanted to keep this one simple. Especially with the kids going back to school and everybody having to figure out their new routines again.

I don’t know what it was that made me think of it but “something old, something new, etc” just popped into my head. Maybe it’s because our wedding anniversary is this month. Not that we stuck with traditions when we got married. I don’t recall having anything old or borrowed. There was lots of new stuff, it is a wedding after all lol; and my garter had blue in it. The bridesmaids dresses were navy. I guess you could say my husband's tux was borrowed, it was a rental…lol, but that was it. Nothing ‘old’ I can think of.

Anyway…I brushed the idea off thinking the borrowed part just wouldn’t work. We don’t all have arty friends nearby. And if we borrowed something arty, we wouldn’t want to give it back! lol But the idea just wouldn’t leave me. Whenever I tried to think of something else to do, all I could hear was “something old, something new…” So we are going to make it work!

I don’t know about you but I have plenty of “something old”! I have heaps of scrapbook paper, stickers, alphas and embellishments. So finding something old definitely was not a problem.

For my something old I chose a product from Heidi Swapp. I actually have three sets of these. lol Michael’s had a clearance on a bunch of Heidi Swapp stuff years and years ago and I stocked up. This is a pack of 5 tabbed pages to make an album. I paid $2.50 for it! They have a shiny design on them which resist mediums! Great for sprays!

Now this may not be brand spankin new, it’s been out for a while. But it’s new to me! This was my first time using it. The stamp set is called Be Willing, it’s by Dina Wakley. I purchased it mostly for the leaves.

I don’t have arty friends nearby so I thought of a different way to ‘borrow’. I dipped into my trash can. And the trash can won’t ask for it back! This baby wipe is full of pretty sprays from cleaning up (which I actually ended up not using). There’s cardboard from packaging that I thought had a really pretty pattern on it. Then I have strips of canvas that I cut off from doing my Print to Project for Gel Press.

As mentioned when speaking of ‘something old’, I have heaps of scrapbook paper. I was able to choose my ‘blue’ from this supply! I would have also been able to find lots of blue among other hoarded treasures as well.

These papers are also from Heidi Swapp. You guessed it, another Michael’s purchase!

Now I could have kept it simple and just did a page in my journal, or a tag, or even just ONE of these tabbed pages. But NOOOO. I had to add more to my plate by making an entire mini album. Of course! Why not? I don’t have lots to do right now. Nope, not at all.

So on with the album….

Using my Distress Stain Sprays I sprayed the sides of the tabbed pages with the resist pattern. See how pretty it looks and how well the pattern resist the sprays!!!

On the backs of the pages I glued the Heidi Swapp patterned paper.

I then stamped out some of the images from the Dina Wakley stamp set Be Willing, in Distress Inks and Oxides.

Once all that was done I began to work on the pages individually adding embellishments like stickers, small cards, stamped images, etc. I often pulled from my stash of old supplies.

Maybe that should be next months challenge - ONLY USE OLD SUPPLIES! lol

Once the pages seemed complete I put the album together using Tim Holtz’s idea-ology mini book rings. They were the perfect size for this album. Then I gave it another look through adding where I felt something was missing.

To watch how the album was completed you can head to my YouTube channel and watch the video.

Here are the pages of the album. Not what you would normally see from me at all.

I have to be honest. I started this project super excited. Then I got extremely frustrated and had to walk away from it. This was a little out of my comfort zone. I’m not use to working in this style anymore. It kinda reminded me of scrapbooking but there were no photos. I think it would have been much easier if I did have photos. Something to work around.

Do I love how it turned out?

LOL

Hey, I’m being honest. I don’t hate it but it’s not something I want to show off. lol It was kinda nice to do something different though.

Now remember, you don’t have to do a mini album. It was just ‘something old’ I came across and thought it would be great to use! I somehow thought it would be easier. Funny. I do love making mini albums though.

Okay! So you have your challenge:

Don’t forget, you can watch the process video on my YouTube channel.
Have fun with the challenge!
Can’t wait to see what you all create!

Use the hashtags #deniselushinspired and #deniselushchallenge4

And please join in on the fun in our Facebook Group, Lush’s Creative Peeps where we share our challenge makes and lots of other arty goodness!