Embrace Imperfection

This BPS course wasn't quite what I expected.  I thought Karen made a lot of good points in Week One, but I really wasn't sure how it was going to affect/improve my personal scrapbooking. Until I sat down to do the mini-album for Week Two.  And realized that the reason I have so many unfinished projects is that the need to "get it right" and "have all the right materials" often prevents me from ever starting! It was somewhat of a personal revelation.

When I decided to really commit to the "Embrace Imperfection" mini album I also committed to creating with supplies and materials on hand - and just make whatever I had work.

Digging through my stash, I found a ziplock bag with this basic 6x6 paper album already cut and the cover page partiallly assembled.  All the matching papers (scraps) were in the bag, along with some cardstock diecuts and rub-ons.  All I had to do to complete the front cover was cover up the old title with a new one and add the bracket!  The paper line is "Tressie" from the out-of-business Top Line Creations. It was one of my favorite lines of all time and I still love working with it, so I was happy I had enough to complete this album!  And the upside-down "e" - was ON PURPOSE!

 As I started assembling pages, I tried to limit myself to 15-20 minutes a page and to not obsess over details.

But I absolutely HAD to include this quote from Brene Brown from her book "The Gifts of Imperfection."

The word tickets are by Tim Holtz.  Another one of those things in my stash that I never think to use!

And remember this photo from the Perfect Protest?  Yep, I kind of thought it was "perfect" for this project too!  I also played with purposefully putting things at odd angles and not centered.

I wish this quote had attribution. I'd love to read more by whoever wrote this! :)

Using Glimmer Mist caused the paper to warp and get all crinkly and uneven. Normally I would have tried pressing it in a book for days or ironing it... or just tossing it and starting over.  But since this is an exercise in imperfection, I let it be.  It still bugs me a little.

The plastic ticket (and bird) are Maya Road Office Sheers.  More cool stuff that I bought way too much of!

This quote has been passed around in the One Little Word classroom over at BPS.  Another one that really speaks volumes.

  The warped and wrinkled page above is the opposite side of this photo page.  It made adhering the photo a bit of a challenge. But I think the odd angles of the background papers hid the curve of the photo pretty well!

I inked the edges of almost everything that went into this album.  Making it "shabby chic" seemed to be the way to deal with intentional crookedness, hand cut word strips and uneven spacing.





The Tressie Rub-Ons. I love the addition of the little bits of bling to the flowers!
 

Have you noticed that the double page layouts alternate between blue background and white background? I was using both sides of a double-sided two-color cardstock. That was interesting to work with as well!




 

And last - a close up of the back cover.

I finished it off by binding with brads, first making a wrap-around binding so the brads and raw edges don't show.

The "pages" are roughly 6.5 x 6.5" and are scored at the binding edge so they open flat.

Overall, I was very happy with the finished project and somewhat surprised by what I learned about myself in the process.  I hope this new knowledge will allow me to finish up some of the other UFO's on my ever-growing list!