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 :)