Love Where You Live - Week 4

Signs and Signals.  Seems easy enough doesn't it - taking pictures of signs that are meaningful to you and where you live.   This is a great wrap up prompt so you can end by documenting your local roads, favorite hangout or just the simple things that make where you live unique, something that every town may not have.

For this prompt I knew I could just as easily slip some pictures into the sleeves with a few journaling cards and call it done.  Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that approach, and I have been known to be in get'er done mode too.

But...

Let's finish strong.  Let's think outside our simple pocket pages or whatever type of album you're working on and make something creative with our sign pictures.  I'll show you what I did and I'll give you some ideas on how to create yours along the way.

I felt like each week deserved it's own title page under the LWYL umbrella.  This Week 4 was  brighter than my normal color pallet but thought it represented all those neon lights in our lives quite well.

I rarely use so many journaling cards in one spread layout but somehow it all worked to set the stage for this week. I created 2 cards from @tuquoiseavenue digital hexagons and @theteallimepress digital papers and stamps.  They are mega talented artists in their own right and we all are lucky enough to have them to design exclusive products sold in the LPP store. Then I finished it off with a picture from the old library theater here in town and some additional journal cards from Laurel Lane Designs.

I really wanted to use my fuse tool to add something special to this album.  Cutting 2 pictures in ransom widths made for some interesting pocket sizes to fuse.  Being that they have the same colors they worked well together as a unit.  But remember, when using the fuse tool in an album to seal separate pockets together, making sure there is a backside is paramount.  In this instance I backed each picture before slicing.

Here is the backside to the outdoor park pics.  

 Although monochromatic minimalist album looks are stunning, fabulous and something I'm always looking at with much admiration, I always try to keep the reader engaged in my albums by making sharp contrasts from page to page. Making sure the whole album is grounded I used only one line of paper (everyday edition) and only a couple makers of journal cards.  Paper collections have a wide range of colors and styles, with cohesion, so there is no reason my album can't do the same:) 

Using the straight tip on the fuse tool.  I then cut a slit in the finished pocket strips to add a little paper clip and additional pictures.

With the paper journal card there I didn't have to worry about melting all the way through to the other side.

Again more signs that are meaningful to me but I wanted to present them in an nontraditional way.  Circle cutting the signs instead of a straight edge shape add some visual interest to the page, don't you think?

My last page is something of a first for me, I used someone else's photgraph.  My friend Carla posted this picture of this rainy, blurry White Stag sign on her Instagram.  I loved everything that wasn't perfect about it. It represents where we live, our environment, our situation,  all those things that aren't perfect but are still beautiful because we think they are! That is the most important part of loving where we live, right?

Knowing this project has come to an end symbolizes the end of loving where I love to venture on a new home. By the time this is posted I will have left my beloved home. We are moving across the country to a new community, new state, a new home and I look forward to documenting it with as much love and curiosity as I have with this place where I have loved and lived.