scrappy goings-on

yes, I do still use all the scrapping supplies in my craft room... not always for SB pages, but I have gotten some photos printed, and am slowly getting my scrapping mojo back... it helps to have great photos of some really beautiful scenery, too! (you can click on any of the photos to see them larger.) this is a 2-page layout that evolved over the course of a couple weeks-- I just love how our photos of the San Xavier del Bac mission turned out; it's such a beautiful place, I don't think you could get a bad photo! We visited there when we took a short trip thru SW Arizona last Christmas... it was started during the 1600s, and was finished in 1797, and sits in the middle of the Tohono O'odham (which means Desert People) Reservation just outside Tucson. I've never even been inside anyplace that old before; the history of the place was astounding to me. (it's still a working Catholic church, even today!)

This 5x7 photo was my first inspiration; I really love how the photo captured the glow of the whitewashed adobe, and the sandstone carvings on the facade. I wanted to show off the photo, but also do something a bit "artistic" with the page. I started with a page layout sketch I found on the internet (I think it was from the Pencil Lines blog, but I'm not sure, since I lost my notes), and changed it up a bit. Since the "nickname" of the church is The White Dove of the Desert, I decided to use a chipboard bird accent. The brown patterned paper was chosen to bring out the sandstone color on the building, and I really liked the look of the fabric on the page. At the bottom, I used some really small sticker letters to spell out "San Xavier del Bac Mission" across both pages- they're only about 1/4 inch across, so they were a bit of a pain to put in place, but I like the look.

Here's the second page of the layout-- it has another chipboard accent, a bit more of the fabric, the same patterned paper, and more rickrack.

This 2-page layout is photos of the interior-- the inside of the church is chock-full of paintings and statues, all the way up the walls and ceiling. There's so many ornate carvings, statues, and paintings that you couldn't possibly hope to see all of it, or take really good photos of some of it, but we tried.

The focal point of the lefthand page is the main sanctuary of the church facing the altar; it was decorated for Christmas when we went. I decided to use blue and red, to accent the photos-- I also used a patterned paper that looks like peeling paint to play up the age. I used a few chipboard shapes painted gold, to match the pattern on the red paper. I also decided to write my journaling with gold pen (which may not have been the best choice for this page, since it's kinda hard to read).

The other page of this layout-- more of the "peeling paint" paper as a border, and a bit of the red and gold scroll paper used as a photo corner. I cropped some close-ups of statues, and had them printed as 2x3 wallet sized photos, which I lined up on the border. (The gold writing looks tons better on the dark blue, doesn't it??) I also used the teeny letter stickers to identify my photos for journaling purposes. I have tons more photos from the mission, but they're just going to go into a regular photo album, I think. Now, I just have to work on layouts from our visit to Tombstone, AZ and the ostrich ranch. (yes, I wrote ostrich ranch... check it out here. Ostriches are kinda scary close up, but it was a hoot to see the place!)