Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The Colors of My World

Hola Amigos!

I have returned from a warm and sunny Mexico after a much needed Christmas break!

Spending 8 days on a tropical vacation has made me reflect on the powerful impact of color in my life. So I've decided to share a few thoughts... and a number of photos... about the dramatic contrast of living with and without color.

And I also have a simple but colorful layout to change things up from all the wintry pages I've been creating.

Here's the view outside my front door today....
Just love those glamorous birch trees in the winter...along with some brown grass peeking through snow.
And a look behind my home today....
Thank heavens we landscaped with mostly spruce trees.....so in winter they don't look NAKED.
Here is the view outside my hotel room in Mexico....

Palm trees, blue sky, swimming pool...aaaaahhhh
 Check out the difference in paint colors...
The exterior stucco and stone wall of my home
Honestly....this is the OUTSIDE wall of our hotel room!!
Architecture....wow....
Our front window
Our Mexican hotel window

 Walking through town, we saw even more colorful windows...

Don't you love the gold ceramic doves perched in the wrought iron?
And a comparison of doors....
My Canadian front door...
such lovely Mexican doors...




Upon seeing this next doorway, the scrapbooker inside of me was thinking, "I wish my daughters were wearing white flowing dresses....instead of cut offs and tank tops."  sigh.

Hmmm...maybe I could photoshop some white flowing dresses onto my daughters....
 At the marketplace, I found even more colorful inspiration...
A random wall mural on a rather dingy and dirty street

I'm thinking scrapbook storage...for embellishments ??

Wish I had bought this colorful fellow for my kitchen window

Time to preserve those memories today...because according to this Mayan calendar, we don't have much time left!

Even the wrestling masks are small works of art

These decorative plates would brighten any kitchen wall..and make you smile everyday :)
 Even the food and drinks are colorful....
No explanation necessary

Blue margherita anyone?
 Here's the salad I made for my lunch today....
Two wilted cucumbers and some ICEBERG lettuce.  ICE  BERG.
 Honestly, after Mexico I had to brighten up my salad...so I added yellow peppers.  Not bad.
That's better.
 But it doesn't compare to my lunch in Mexico....everyday I enjoyed fresh tortilla chips and salsa...
I miss you SOOOO much :(
 And our final day ended perfectly with the most beautiful sunset over the ocean....


I haven't had time to scrapbook any photos from this vacation, but I decided to celebrate color today with a bright and happy layout of BabyOfTheFamily.  This is her back-to-school photo from September and it's also the first photo where she looks a little grown up...sniff sniff.  
I used the Three Bugs in a Rug collection "Ashtyn"
 I designed this page for the Winter 2011 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker magazine, for the Dymo Tape challenge.  Nothing fancy in terms of techniques....this Three Bugs collection practically designs by itself with all the wonderful die cut elements that match the papers beautifully.  

I also used Harmonie tiles bordering the yellow quotation strip and painted the Twiddleybitz chipboard fence with Silver Fox Smooch by ClearSnap.


The "Bloom" title is created with rub-on alpha letters.

Flowers are simply fussy cut from 3 Bugs Ashtyn patterned paper. I printed the journaling on the computer and cut into strips, adding several Dymo tape words.

This border is created with a Martha Stewart edge punch, then accented with Kaisercraft pink bling.
 Do you see those blue and orange stripes in BOF's hair?  Those are really sweet feather extensions...something to make her feel special and pretty going into Grade 6. 

I have to say that this is a much simpler layout than I usually make...but I'm in love with the colors in the design...and hope it has brightened your day too :)
 
 


21 comments:

  1. what a great post and lo... your front door is cool (for a Canadian one, LOL)

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  2. Love all your photos of the holidays and it is kind of sad that we have to look at drab and dreary all day long here instead of all those wonderful colors! Love the layout too! So bright and fun!

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  3. Loved your comparisons and the very pretty layout.

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  4. Great post and I love your layout! Glad you enjoyed your trip!

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  5. You always make the most fun posts!!!! I really love to visit your blog!!!

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  6. I just loved this post Kelly. Your so right! We need to add colour to our lives. I just looked out my studio window..and realized there is not much colour out there today. Love the bright fun layout... Now I think I need to add some colour to my house, lol. P.S. Great pics of Mexico!

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  7. You are tooooo funny my friend! very hilarious post kelly! Your pics are awesome and I "almost' felt warm looking at them! LOL Gorgeous bright coulors! such a stark contrast to our drab winters for sure. Looking forward to seeing more of your trip photos!

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  8. A bright and cheery page for a not so bright winters day...perfect! Loved reading this and seeing all the wonderful photo..I love Mexico for many reasons and color is one of them! Thanks for sharing..it a nice bit of inspiration!

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  9. Your blog post reminds me of the question I ask myself every winter: "Why do I live here when there are places that have decent weather all year round?" Love the photos from Mexico - they have a real happy feel. The layout is a great example of using colour and simple embellishments successfully.

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  10. Beautiful colors in your layout and Mexico. I too like the pine trees in your back yard! Glad you had a great trip!

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  11. I so enjoyed going through those pictures. About two years I was in Mexico myself with the hubby & this brought back memories. Our hotel wasn't as colorful as yours though!! It was so bright! I'd need shades 24/7 there--but it was oh so pretty! Loved all your different takes and that pretty layout you wrapped your post up with. Glad to see you had a great vacation!

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  12. I wondered what the feathers were! She is gorgeous Kelly! You best get out yer rockin' chair and shotgun as my father in law always says ROFL. I think he will set up a permanent station on our front porch when Emily turns 16 ;) Anyway, THANK u sooooooooo much for bringing a little piece of Heaven to me today - these pictures are so beautiful and summery.. reminds me also of the time I went to Mexico as a child, so much shopping!!!! If I went there today I would bankrupt myself lol! P.S. LO is gorgeous, love the dyno tapes and all the journaling words! And I was laughing at your "glamourous birch trees and WOW's when describing your house (even though your house IS pretty, but yeah.. the humor cracked me up!) Hugs!

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  13. It looks like you had a wonderful, colorful trip, Kelly. Great pics. Which city did you visit? And I have to say: your backyard may not be colorful, but it is spectacular! What a view.

    Great layout. I love the punches of color against the neutral background. BOF is lovely. They do grow up too fast. Sniff, indeed.

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  14. Hi Kelly sounds and looks like you had a brilliant time. The postman popped a package through my door today, Wow, what an adorable blog giveaway, funny I had just made a layout at the weekend with some of that paper. So much in the envelope, I think I will make a mini album with all your lovely goodness and thank you for my adorable card. Take care and thanks so much, Doreen x

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  15. Oh Kelly. Love your pics! Love your explanation too! Your home in Canada looks amazing but where I live it doesn't snow (it takes about 4 hours to see snow when the time of the year is right lol) I think I would love a holiday there - especially for Christmas!!! Love your LO and my your daughter has grown up!! Take care my friend - and thank you for my little message on SB.com - haven't been around much - must get back to it though.. xxx Kaz

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  16. It's 1:35 a.m. and your tortilla chips and salsa are making me SO HUNGRY, Kelly......are you trying to torture us here in blog land?!!! Just pulling your leg! Hugs to YOU! Patty

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  17. Your layout is an eyepopper, I LOVE IT! You are so right, it is just DRAB out their right now, I am just across the border in Minnesota and it looks exactly the same. BLAH! Glad you had a great time in Mexico... I only wished I didn't put on all those Holiday pounds, I might have fit in your suitcase! Happy New Year my friend, I look forward to spending some time with you and to see what wonderful projects you come up with...and I could use a really good laugh!! Your sense of humor, not your projects, let's get that straight! hehehe!!!!
    Crafty Hugs,
    Pendra

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  18. Oh MAN! the wall shots really bring the point home!! I LOVE Mexican design and color- the magentas, reds and turquoise tones all together- LOVE! Great photos on this post and you made me laugh with your photoshop flowery dresses onto my girls remark- I see myself thinking the same thing in a few years! Thanks for swinging by my blog today- you made me smile. ;)

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  19. Oh my goodnes, Kelly! I can't even begin to tell you how much your post made me smile this morning. I had to call in sick tody - I have laryngitis and can barely talk! So feeling a little sad, I decided to stop by my bloggy friends - and yours really made me SMILE!!!!! Thanks so much for sharing your Mexican memories and your beautiful photos outside your home, too!

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  20. Great photos!! We are off to Mexico in mid February for two weeks....after seeing your photos, I'm even more excited to go!! I could use a good dose of color right now...not to mention sun, sand and pina colodas!!

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  21. thanks so much for the CELEBRATION of Color. Loved all your wonderful photos and explanations.

    Lovely lo too. Your DD is quite the beautiful young lady.

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