(Non) Winning Artisan Entry 1

Well, here I am finally uncurled from the fetal position I've been in since I found out I didn't make the finalist list for the Artisan Award! OK...I'm exaggerating, but I must admit it was quite a let down after all the hard work I put into my entries...agonizing over every detail and then the excitement of waiting and hoping. Oh well...at least I tried, right?

This is the first year I have entered, because in previous years I was afraid to set myself up for failure. My family encouraged me to enter and I am really proud of myself for making the commitment and taking the chance. They say there's always at least one positive in any situation and in this one it's that at least I can share my projects with you now...so here goes...

I guess I'll start by sharing this scrapbook page. It was this page that initially made me consider entering the Artisan Award contest to begin with.

I just loved the way this page (which originally was part of a two page layout) turned out...so I decided to duplicate it for the scrapbook portion of the contest. Note to self: If you enter again next year, leave time (ha ha!) to make duplicate pages of all the layouts before sending them off. At least I wouldn't feel so empty handed right now. However, I do have the photos as inspiration to hopefully "some day" re-create them. Here's what the original 2 page layout looked like.

For my entry I decided to take out the die cut doily (maybe that's why I didn't win??? LOL) and I had to add some journaling for it to qualify so I raised the photo and added the names of the bride & groom along with their wedding date. (looking back, I do like my original page without the journaling better...maybe that's why I didn't win???) Can you sense a theme here...I'm picking apart my work even more so than normal looking for the weakest link...oh, well. Thanks to my beautiful niece and her handsome husband for being the inspiration for these pages. She was so excited that I was using photos of them for one of my entries.

Here's what I used to create this layout:

Stamps: Wedding Words Jumbo Wheel, Creative Elements, Tiny Tags & Letter It

Card stock: 12x12 Crumb Cake, 12 x 12 Very Vanilla, 12x12 Pink Pirouette Textured, Pink Pirouette Smooth, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink

Ink: VersaMark, Pretty in Pink

Tools & Accessories: Big Shot, Serif Essentials Alphabet Bigz Die, Hearts Framelits, Adorning Accents Edgelits, Adorning Accents Embossing Folder, Stripes Embossing Folder, Vintage Wallpaper Embossing Folder, Elegant Lines Embossing Folder, White Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Mat Pack, Paper Piercing Tool, Sponge Daubers, Tiny Tag Punch, Boho Blossom Punch, Antique Brads, Victoria Crochet Trim, White Organza Ribbon, Very Vanilla Grosgrain Ribbon, White Baker’s Twine & Basic Pearls

I'll be posting the remainder of my projects over the next two weeks. I hope you like what you see, and if so I'd love to hear what elements caught your eye.