30 Minute Page Challenge
October 06, 2010
Eeek!
30 minutes is clearly not enough time for me to endlessly fiddle with stuff and paint everything in sight.
But I love a good challenge!
Diane (dpayne) over at Studio Calico challenged us all to create a layout in 30 minutes or less. (You can see the rest of the participants' layouts here.) I printed my photo and then set the timer on my cell phone. I spent the first five minutes or so trying to get a basic design together.
In the end I chose the design second from the bottom on the left. And after 30 minutes of intense scrapping, this is what I had:
Ooooops! Didn't manage to finish. And I thought that I was being *so* good and moving so fast. I did almost make it. Just missing a title and journaling. Sort of.
I spent an additional 20 minutes playing around and here's the finished layout:
I added the title, journaling, a bit more washi tape, moved and reduced the butterflies, and stitched together the banner. Even though I didn't make it in under 30 minutes, I'm still pretty pleased that I managed to get a layout done in under an hour!
Here are the details:
I love, love, love how cute this banner turned out. Here's a quick tip: Use removable tape (like washi tape - indicated in the photo with red arrows) to secure the pieces of your banner in place...
...and then slip your page into the sewing machine! I simply stitched across the tops of the pennants.
I think I probably wasted too much of my precious 30 minutes on the embossing and painting (3 layers) of this little chipboard frame. But it's so cute all textured and painted, don't you think? And for the "milk" I got to use my new Martha Stewart alphabet punch. Love those tiny letters!
This is a punched butterfly popped up on foam adhesive with a little rhinestone to give it some spark. You can just see the "t" from the stitched "retreat" that goes across the top of the layout. That was a last minute decision and I haven't decided whether I like it or not. What do you think?
Here's what I learned:
- Assembling something may only take a brief period of time (I'm sure that I could replicate this layout in under 30 minutes) but designing just takes me longer. I like to move stuff around and think about it.
- The only thing that enabled me to come even close to finishing on time was working from a kit. I didn't have to pull together embellishments or paper or anything like that -- it was all in front of me! Even if you don't buy kits, I think it's worth making little kits.
- Creating quickly ends up in the creation of a huge mess. I was in such a rush that I didn't want to waste time putting anything away. I lost my scissors in the piles at least twice!
- Simple is really effective. I think I tend to overdo stuff. I subscribe to the "more is more" concept. And sometimes it's okay to just do a little less. (I'm feeling like maybe that stitched "retreat" was too much.)
- I *can* create a layout without almost any paint. Lately I've been wondering whether or not that's true.
Thanks for stopping by!