CTMH Picture-Less Layout

Happy Friday! Its overcast and dreary here this morning, but the weather network is telling me its going to be a warm and sunny day. I’m looking forward to it. If the weather warms up as much as they say it is, I’ll take the kids on a picnic tomorrow to the local splash pad and we can spend the afternoon there. Fingers crossed its nice enough!

I’m switching gears today. I have a layout to share, but its a picture less one. Its picture less because 2014 and 2015 on my computer go absolutely haywire. This was about the time that I began having problem with my computer (if you can remember way back to before I quit blogging for a time at the end of 2016/start of 2017). My desktop computer was having issues, and finally got resolved (I thought), and then I began having problems uploading my Android cell phone to my computer AND problems again with my desktop. It resulted in my desktop computer dying and a new one being bought. Apple transferred everything on the old computer to the new, but it didn’t translate. I’m missing all of 2014, and the little of it that I do have, somehow took place in 2015. And, I know they didn’t happen in 2015. This is the reason I’ve created a layout without pictures.

I know of one other event that I need to scrapbook that will be picture less- when my husband was diagnosed with a tumor on his pituitary, and the subsequent health diagnoses he’s had in the time since this initial diagnosis. The tumor is benign; hormone replacement therapy has been managing it quite well, so nothing else is needed for the time being. Now, rather than visiting his endocrinologist once every 6 months, we only need to see her yearly or every year and a half. Its great news! Now he just needs to get the rest of his health straightened out! (And, it can all be reversed if he just changed his lifestyle. It hasn’t happened yet…I’m hoping that’ll come).

So, back to the layout I want to share today. What have you done when you’ve run into a problem such as the one I’m dealing with? How did you overcome it? I’ve learned that I should refer frequently to my Instagram and Facebook pages, because they are better timeline references than my photos folder on my desktop computer. There’s way more pictures there- and there’s pictures there that I’d love to have printed but don’t! Argh! As a result, I’ve also learned that I should be printing pictures from Facebook at the moment rather than from my photos folder! Live and learn. So, my mindset now is to turn this negative into a positive, so I’m planning to make a mini album of the ‘missing years’ after I’ve scrapbooked the pictures I already printed from my photos folder.

Is your head spinning yet? Mine sure is. I’m pretty choked up that my memories are gone, but I’m thankful that there’s still a few left to scrapbook. All is not lost. Thank heavens there’s social media platforms like Facebook and Insta- if they didn’t exist, I’d have next to nothing to scrapbook!

I had Facebook in the back of my mind when I created this layout. I wanted to recreate an ‘unknown’ profile picture such as you’d see on Facebook if someone doesn’t have a profile picture uploaded to their personal page. I found a girl silhouette image on my cricut, and cut it out from Glacier card stock. I also cut a large question mark and layered it behind the girl silhouette. I chose the girl because 99% of my layouts are about my children. I only thought it fitting for this layout. I wasn’t sure people would realize that I had tried placing a question mark behind the silhouette, so I stamped a second smaller one onto the silhouette. (My daughter immediately clarified for me that people *would* understand what it was…she told me she liked it after I’d finished it. Phew!)

I filled in the two empty journaling mats with stamping and inked the edges with Sea Glass ink. I matted the journaling spot with Sweet Leaf card stock and layered it over some scrap Kraft and sponged White daisy card stock that were floating around on my desk. I sure love this technique! I think I’ll try to incorporate a lot of this technique into most of my layouts from now on. At least, until the novelty wears off. Ha!

I sponged part of my title too, so that it would stand out a bit better against the Kraft portion of paper that it covers. It was also cut from Kraft card stock, and it got kind of lost without the sponging. I just used a tone that was slightly darker than its original. I love the texture it adds!

I also paired all the stamping and CTMH products with a single sheet of patterned paper from Stampin’ Up. I like that the arrows kind of helps draw your eye down towards the centre of the page, or up from the bottom of the page. Mission accomplished!

Products Used:

-CTMH White Daisy Card stock 1385

-CTMH Kraft Card stock Z1375

-CTMH Sweet Leaf Card stock X5639

-CTMH Poppy Thick Twine Z3094

-CTMH Hopscotch My Acrylix Stamp Set D1638 (retired)

-CTMH For Always My Acrylix Stamp Set C1547 (retired)

-CTMH Sponge Daubers Value Pack Z1938

-CTMH Sorbet Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2864

-CTMH Desert Sand Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2818

-CTMH Glacier Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2841

-CTMH Bamboo Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2803

-CTMH Goldrush Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2823

-CTMH Sea Glass Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2813

-CTMH Chocolate Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad Z2811

I also have posted to my Facebook all the stamp sets I’d like to destash and part with. There’s nothing listed that’s more than $15 Canadian; I’ve also created some ‘bundles’ if you can call them that. One stamp set coordinates with a sheet of patterned paper I have, so I’ve listed them together. There’s also a set of three stamps that come together, so I’m selling them together, as well. View it here. I will share it in more detail here tomorrow…probably next week. Tomorrow is Saturday and I’m not sure I’ll make it here if my husband is home. I hope this will do until then! Some stamp sets have already sold as well (thank you to those that have purchased from me! I hope to see the rest of these go, as well!) If you live outside of Canada and you’re interested in broadening your acrylic stamp stash, give me a shout. Maybe we can work something out. Shipping charges will apply to both my Canadian friends and those abroad.