Everyday Matters || May Challenge || Kathy McElfresh

There couldn't be a more "everyday" photo than this one of my hubby painstakingly scrubbing travertine tiles that had been stored outside but now were needed for our kitchen floor! I love this memory for so many reasons and I knew I wanted to use it for this month's challenge, but the vivid green of the chair and the fern coupled with the dark red of his shirt just weren't suited for a monochrome challenge! So I started with the Prisma app on my phone looking for a filter that would soften the colors but not take it totally black and white. When I got there I edited it again to lessen the contrast til everything looked appropriately muted. I matted the photo and the cut-apart cards in that same subtle pink from an old 5th & Frolic paper pad from Dear Lizzy.

So now I was ready for the challenge -- one of my favorite approaches to scrapbooking -- a monochromatic color scheme! Using the now-pinkish color of my hardworking hubby's shirt as my starting point and accent color, I decided on Cocoa Vanilla Studio's "These Days" collection for its range of pale to vivid peachy pinks. Then I started with my Fox Cut #10 Stencil to make an ethereal background. I chose Distress Oxides in "Tattered Rose" and "Worn Lipstick" to create horizontal lines of shadowy "bubbles" and a line of abstract "grass" or "paved road", depending on which side of my scene you're looking at!

In this photo you can see how I created shadowing as I stenciled, offsetting the stencil and lightly brushing on a darker color after the lighter one. Seemed like a great spot for a tiny car from the Travel Icons Set! And I know that greenish door is "cheating" on the "one accent color" rule but I was hoping my sketchy doodles would sort of neutralize the green and make it look grey!

I'd saved a few circles with etched hearts and sentiments from the February FoxBox and found this perfect pink with the perfect sentiment for this page. My hubby truly was "the best" and scrubbing tiles is just one example! I remember this day with a smile every time I look at that kitchen floor! And speaking of "the best", I've been a FoxBox subbie from the beginning and it's truly the best way to get a variety of designs including some that are exclusive to subscribers -- check out the details HERE. To reinforce the "bubbly" mood set by the stencil I added "Dahlia Delight" (only the pinks!) sequins from SpiegelMom Scraps.

I just love adding dimension to my pages and flair is one way I do that. Perspextives, even subtle ones like the star/circle above just add so much to a cluster, especially around your photos. I tried to place this one so that the stenciled "bubbles" would show through the open part of the circle and through the cut-out star. And my b&w grid flair from Dotty About Flair provided the perfect resting place for my two-tone-pink butterfly!

What I love about BrambleFox title pieces is the dimension and the sheen, whether glossy, matte or mirrored. It's what makes this piece from my stash stand out even though it's white-on-white. Adding a cute pink geotag from the Travel Icons set also helps draw attention to the title, just as the black arrow from my older stash points to the action in the photo.

I hope you'll try your hand at this month's challenge in our Bramble Fox Friends Facebook Group for a chance at a nice discount in the shop! We'd love to see your creations so tag BrambleFox on your Instagram posts!

So here I am, repeating the lead-off photo of the completed layout, just so I can illustrate the monochromatic look I hoped to achieve, and so I can point you to the Paper Snip resting on my other flair, because the everyday stuff IS the GOOD STUFF and scrapping is so special when it captures that good stuff! And did you notice that the Challenge Team strip also fits my peachy pink color scheme!?!