Game Day!

Before you start, I've got to warn you - this post got really long.  Hope you stick with it.  The layout at the end is one of my favorites.

The first game of Nicholas's senior season was tonight and what better way to celebrate than to share a soccer layout (or two).  The first was inspired by this picture from Moxie Fab World where the trigger was called "Autumn Awaits."  The picture reminded me of some soccer themed paper that had been in my stash forever.  And autumn inevitably brings soccer at our house.  So here's the soccer layout I put together.

I love the bright and different color palette - its the only soccer page I've ever done with these colors -- and I even have a couple of tips to stretch your stash.

• Invest in cardstock with texture - it makes a huge difference in the feel of your layouts. Here I used textured cardstock both for the brown base and to cut letters with my cricut.

• Look for opportunities to cut your patterned paper to create embellishments.  This list of words for soccer in different languages comes from the paper that served as my inspiration, but acts as an embellishment on the layout.

• Invest in one or two large scale embellishments for maximum impact for your money.  This soccer embellishment cost about the same a a sticker sheet but packs way more punch than scattered small embellishments.

After I had this layout ready to share, I came across a scraplift challenge at My Scraps and More.  Here is the beautiful layout that provided inspiration for the lift.  I love the layered circles and simple design.

And it just so happened I had a black and white photo of Hartley's team sitting on my table waiting for a project.  Last night as I was thinking about the start of Nicholas's senior year, I was inspired to use the scraplift as inspiration for a quick one page layout about the beginning of the season.  The feel of my layout is much different, but the core design elements come from the inspiration piece.

I used lots of odds and ends to put this together but love the result. 

I had a great night - Hartley won the season opener!  I hope you had a great Tuesday too!