Jumpstart 4 with Marcy Penner

So, you all know that I love challenges, right?

Well, I couldn't pass up Marcy Penner's latest Jumpstart this week!  I frequently have the desire to create something (like every.single.day), and her challenge was perfect because a) I needed to clean up my desk and b) I already had a photo printed and ready to go.  Printing photos often gets in my way of "making stuff".  I've contemplated getting the Epson Picturemate for some time now, but haven't quite taken that leap yet.  

Here is my "clean off your desk" layout!  

I used Maggie Holmes' Styleboard collection for this page.  I had lots of bits and pieces scattered all over my desk from a project I had just finished and I knew it would good perfectly with my photo.  I started by building a paper layer base onto my background. I love paper layers and actually wonder why I don't do this method more often.  I love how you can see little bits of the patterned papers and colors, but that it's not too overwhelming or distracting from my photo.  My typical layering pattern consists of neutral-bold pattern-neutral-photo.  Using smaller scraps of paper in this combo created such a fun and playful background, I think!!

All of the embellishments were on my desk, as well and I just grabbed and placed...trying not to overthink their placement!

And that's it! My Jumpstart layout all finished and ready to be placed in an album (or maybe just placed on top of my ever-growing piles of layouts).