Let's Capture Our Memories: Inspiration Station

Good Monday to you! So happy to be here for another instalment of Let's Capture Our Memories' Inspiration Station - where we hopefully inspire you by what inspires us! This week, I thought I would talk about the infamous "white" space. The background of your layout. The real estate of your project. The acreage of your farm. Debbie Hodge explains it best here, "White space on scrapbook pages is not always white. It can be any color – it can even be patterned paper. The term white space refers to an area devoid of photos, embellishments, journaling, and title. White space provides a resting point for the eye and breathing room for the viewer taking in your photos and journaling. White space has a shape that can be active or passive."

But what does that MEAN, really? I needed to see more examples. By scouring the internet, I discovered amazing scrapbookers out there having made using "white" space a staple in their layouts (to see a variety of choices, click here). I began seeing work that talked more of the feeling behind the photo rather than telling what could already be seen in the photo. My eye started to always find those artists pulling the focus to one photo or two using lots of layering around the photo(s) so that all the attention was drawn to it. One of these scrappers is known as Purple_colourz (her gallery is right here). A digital scrapbooker, I not only love her way of using busier patterned paper for "white" space as opposed to plainer-looking patterned paper, but also her ease of using layering to bring the viewer in to her subject. And so, for the purpose of today's exercise, I thought I would use one of her layouts as inspiration. Here it is:

Don't you just love it? All that "white" space and those tiny touches, when layered one on top of each other, end up pulling all the focus to that sweet face. Here is my stab at it:

Used tons of My Mind's Eye on this one from the Collectable-Unforgettable line. I also dashed some Tattered Angels Glimmer Glaze, inked some paint splatters with a Tim Holtz stencil (and some Stampin' Up ink), and used some Kaisercraft rub-ons, a Maya Road metal butterfly clip, a Bo Bunny journalling piece, a Jillibean Soup word sticker and October Afternoon Mini Market alphas. I also added some stitching with my trusty Bazzill Basics stitching template and used a few tools - Stampin' Up's scalloped-border punch and EK Success' circle cutter.

Now, I admit it. I am not new to using "white" space. However, for those of you who know me, I almost always created "white"space using very plain patterned paper. This was my first time using a busier patterned paper as a background for my "white" space. The layering in this one was SO much fun. From rub-ons to fussy-cut elements to ink spots using stencils to stickers, I had a ball putting everything together. For me, the layering created a distraction for the busier background. Here are a few close-ups:

I hope today's Inspiration Station has inspired you to try something out of your usual scrappy habits. It's fun and exciting and at the end, you get to see yourself in a brand new way! For more information on "white" space, hop to another of Debbie Hodge's blog posts here where she lists four great reasons to give "white" space a try. I'm partial to the first one, but am so tempted by the fourth one... what about you? And remember, at the end of the day, "white" space has nothing to do with having a white background. It's all about letting your page breathe. And who doesn't like to breathe? ;)

Happy scrapping!