We’re past the halfway mark now! In the home stretch. And if you haven’t started already it’s not too late to join in!

This week we’re on week number six and Create-a-Book No. 6

And I’m thinking my Ireland book is going to be more than 20 pages and I’m going to have to step it up because I have so many photos I want to showcase!

Here’s my 6th spread and for the journaling I wanted to included I used one of the photo areas as a clipping mask to make a journal spot.

layout details here and here

And I’m continuing the story of jack’s visit!

layout details here and here

I’m at CHA now so not too many links in here but be sure to check out all the other books that are being created in 10 Weeks 2 Treasure Gallery!

This striking page by Cindy really caught my eye in the gallery. I love its sharp design with the blocked look and the BIG title as a major design element. Great use of those stripes too.

What I love about this week’s lifts is that one follows the same graphic style of Cindy’s original page, while the other takes a more traditional and feminine approach - and they both look stunning. Check them out:

Credits: layout by Sara, Sloppy alpha brushes and stamps by Katie Pertiet, Lucky One supplement paperpack, Title and journaling blocks No.1 by Ali Edwards.

Credits: layout by Merrilee, Shanghai kit by Lynn Grieveson, Stamped stitched frame by Katie Pertiet, Clean and Serene paperpack 2, Title and journaling block by Ali Edwards, Staple its by Pattie Knox.

And look at all these fabulous layouts inspired by last week’s page:

~Lynn

I’m thinking that y’all have taken ALOT of summer photos and that (just perhaps… hehehe) you might have a need to scrap all those photos. So, this week’s terrific template can easily accomodate six or seven photos… it’s a new template from Anna Aspnes: MultiFoto Single Layered Template No. 2.

It’s a simple blocked layout with incredible versatility! Check it out and see what you can do with all those blocks and white space!

Our Guest CTer, Kayleigh, has been rockin’ the gallery during her “reign” and she’s jumped into the template challenge this week, too! And, I must say, this is a fabulously creative use of Anna’s template… first of all, she turned the template one rotation. She only used one photo, choosing to replace the rest of the blocks with Anna’s lovely new Monoblendz “Bananas & Custard” paper, but check it out… Kayleigh SHRUNK the template to layer on her 12x12 layout! So clever! And I love the soft colors… paired with Pattie’s fabulous felts, it’s a total winner in my book!

Sarah also took a bit of a creative license with the template and changed its size, too…just slightly reducing it to create a smaller canvas on her 12x12 layout of her beautiful daughter. A perfect balance! Like Kayleigh, Sarah used the largest block for her focal photo, but she added one more supporting photo to one of the smaller blocks. Keeping the palette of the layout in those beautiful pink-brown tones create a soft sweet background for her darling photos.

Every single block in the template has been filled with photos in Katrina’s cool layout! I LOVE how she enlarged the focal photo and tucked it behind the bottom three photos! So clever! This left her with a smaller area for journaling, but she still had plenty of space to tell her story! Don’t you just love the simplicity of her layout? The photos truly take center stage!

Like Kayleigh, I only used one photo on my layout and I filled the other blocks with bright patterned papers. Like Sarah, I kept the original orientation of the template, but like Katrina, I kept the template in Anna’s original 12x12 size! Also, like Katrina, I used the template’s title treatment and font, simply turning it to fill the “white space” on my photo and coloring a select few letters. Since I had quite the story to tell, I loved having all that space on the bottom for journaling!

So, let’s see what you can do with Anna’s terrific template! Remember to post your layouts in the DD “Template Challenge” gallery!

Make sure to checkout our Thrifty Thursday specials today.  There are 137 items marked down 30% for today only!

I got way behind the 8-ball this week, so this week’s challenge is simple and wide-open for your interpretation and creativity!

Your challenge: SUBSTITUTION… use a decorative element in lieu of a letter or word. There are endless possibilities here, but you need to make sure your chosen element supports your theme or it will look awkward and out of place!

As you can see, I’ve simply used a glitter heart instead of the word “love” in my title. Taking the “substitution factor” one step further, I used a simple “u” instead of the entire word “you”. Another idea I had for this layout, but didn’t use was to include a soccer ball in place of the “o” in the word “soccer”... I just couldn’t come up with a clever title! LOL

Some ideas to start you off… you can replace the letter “a” with a star, “o” with any kind of ball or circular element (flowers are cute!), “t” with branches or a tree. You could use a needle or pin in lieu of an “i” or “l” on a sewing layout. Or one of those clever portholes from Katie in place of an “o” on a sailing or beach layout. And, don’t stop at the title… you could replace words in journaling with a simple element. Think of flowers for every time you talk about the “flowers” or a cute felt bird instead of typing the whole word. There really are TONS of possibilities to be had!

So, let’s see your “substitution” layout this week! Remember to post your layout in the “Just My Type” gallery at DD! Can’t wait to see how creative you get!