Memorable Seasons Blog Hop!!!!

Hello and Welcome to my blog!

Today we are celebrating the beginning of a new season with the Step into Spring Blog Hop brought to you by the Design Team from MEMORABLE SEASONS! If you did not start your hop today on the MEMORABLE SEASONS blog...    please jump back over there so you do not miss anything.

Today we are looking at the word S-P-R-I-N-G and taking you through all the steps for creating a fabulous layout using an exclusive sketch created for this blog hop by Liz Chidester from The Scrappiest which was the first step!

S - Sketch (by Liz)
P - Patterned Paper & Photos (by me...Joni) -- YOU ARE HERE!

Keep hopping for the rest of the letters!!


R - Kristen
I - Megan
N - Tami
G - Telah

So, Now you are ready for the 2nd letter, 2nd step which is P.

P stands for Picking your Papers and your Photos.

I wanted to quickly discuss "patterns" ...  One general rule of thumb is to NOT use too much "small" (or tight) pattern or too  much "large" (loose) pattern.  One larger sized print piece of each (tight and loose pattern) is usually sufficient or if you want to use several small/tight patterns, be sure to use small sized pieces.  Too much of a good thing can be overwhelming to the viewer and distract from your photo.  Also, a key element to design is giving the eye a place to rest.... one good way to do that is with solid colors and/or VERY muted papers..ie..solid color with very light patterns.  --- But....Rules were made to be broken!!! 

I don't have too much to say about photos, except to use any pictures you want...don't worry if the shot isn't perfect....you can make up for that in the jounaling.  Can you imagine having a "bad photo" of your relatives from 100 years ago??  With the story telling about them??  You wouldn't care how bad the photo is, right?
Also, don't worry about trying to match the "clothes" all the time... good if you can, but that's not what it's all about right?....

Now, the info above is just that!!...there is no patterened paper or photo requirement for your finished layout on this Blog Hop Challenge...   (well, you should probably USE a photo and some pp, ..?? lol!!)
So here is Liz's sketch again:

So, for my layout, I knew I had to use the Jillibean Soup Chilled Strawberry Soup line because YES, I bought the paper to go with a photo I knew I already had...sound familiar anyone?? ...
So here is the line of paper and my photo -- Oh...that paper is just sooooo pretty...  how do you choose???  Also, I really liked the die cut that says "yummy" so I set that out too so I could make sure I brought that color into the layout and it didn't look weird.

So, I ended up choosing the Strawberry as my large pattern (for obvious reasons...see my son!)... and then I just laid each smaller/tighter pattern on top until I found the one that looked the best to me. It was this green plaid that I selected.   I also decided that my background was going to be red cardstock.     Still working with that little orange die cut...

Next, I cut everything to size ..

And deciding on the Circle for the sketch, none of the pp's looked good...they all made the layout WAAYYY too busy.  So I turned over one of the pp's and used the solid Kraft color for my circle. 
I have Circle Quilting rulers that I use to make circles...since this circle is a little off center, I used 2 different sizes, and traced around them and then "roughly" cut my circle...    (sorry for my messy mat...it is what it is!!... maybe time for a new one...lol!)

So here is my layout.... using S and P --- you'll have to go to the next blog to get the rest of the fun... and then you can see my completed layout at the end of the hop!!!  -- And notice that the orange "Yummy die cut" is gone?.... It doesn't come back...it didn't work...   that's ok.....  being flexible is good!!

Be sure to leave me a comment telling me what you think about this step.  By doing so, you will be one step closer to a fabulous Memorable Seasons prize as well as getting your name entered in for a RAK from me!  If you don't mind...can you also become a follower??  I'm really close to 100 ..and I think when I hit 100, I'll do an extra RAK!!!  So 2 chances to win.. (if you're already a follower, just mention that in your comment)...   Also, be sure to hop all the way until the end, where you will be taken back to the Memorable Seasons forum, where you will see a complete reveal of all the Design Team's finished layouts!

Now it's your turn to head on over to KRISTIN'S where she will be giving you the 3rd step in S-P-R-I-N-G!

Here is a list of all the blogs in case you get lost along the way:

Memorable Seasons blog: http://www.memorableseasons.blogspot.com/

Joni's blog: http://joniparkerstuff.blogspot.com/   (you are here!)

Kristin's blog: http://memoriesbythepageful-kristin.blogspot.com/

Megan's blog: http://www.made-by-design.blogspot.com/

Tami's blog: http://tami-lifeinthewhitehouse.blogspot.com/

Telah's blog: http://bamabuttercupscraps.blogspot.com/