The Post in which she explains her absence with a minimum of fuss and fewer excuses than you might expect...

So.  We had Christmas since my last blog post.  A Christmas which I was fortunate enough to spend in Hawaii, since my younger daughter and her Air Force Captain have been posted there for the next three years.  It was exotic and fun and let's face it, I'm not a particular fan of long flights in tiny cramped seating, so there was some suffering coming and going, but worth it.  Then came the New Year and the coughs and colds we managed to collect on the journey.  That chewed up another ten days or so.  Then there was the just - completed trip back to Denver for my husband's LASIK eye surgery (a touch up to the original ten years ago).  Another week of fun mixed with lots of waiting and flanked on either end with a nine hour drive across the prairie...

So.  Back to normal, hopefully.  Which is a good thing, because all that fun was exhausting!

Before we left for Denver, I did release a fabulous set of Photo Project goodies.  It's something that I have been mulling over for ages, and finally pinned down in my head how I wanted to go about making the end result of all that cogitation.  I'm pretty pleased with the results and I know I am going to be entertained by playing with them for quite a while.

This is the first part.  Obviously Digital Scrapbookers have been using polaroid frames for ages, and I have used a few iterations of that myself.  But both of my daughters have Instax cameras and I was pretty fascinated by the smaller dimensioned photos and I wanted to create a realistic frame that I could play with in my own layouts.  And I added the polaroid because I have never made one that actually matched polaroid dimensions before.  Then I threw in an instagram-size frame just for versatility (even though I got too lazy for Instagram quite a while ago, I still liked the size and the effect of the filters).  All that remained was a need for a display mechanism.  Instax photos are relatively small, so even quite a few of them on a whole 12 inch by 12 inch layout looks cluttered and at the same time insignificant.  Not the look I had hoped to achieve, LOL.  And since my desire for interesting display of photos dates back to the very first Photo Project element pack, I chose to create a multi-faceted display board that would provide many options for creating an attractive layout.  Each element is included separately, so the scrapper can assemble whatever configuration she wants.  The chalkboard sections are great for journaling, but if you don't want the stark contrast, you can clip a paper to those layers.

After I reached this point, I realized I was pretty entranced with the display board.  So I created another set of two to offer lots of variety:

They are completely layered, so it's easy to clip a paper or photo to a section.  Or a journal card, for that matter.  You can turn off the wire, if you prefer that look, and I've included an optional corkboard section for each of the chalkboard spots, so you can get your creativity going without having to stop and fuss ;)

Here's the fun part - I turned my creative team loose with them and they completely rocked the project:

  Layout by Poki - I love this!  You could display favorite layouts, or projects, or even items in a collection.

  Layout by Chili - Love the variety of textures Kim used, especially the bird behind the wire!

 Layout by Jenni - such a dainty page, love the banner and the photo taped behind the wire. Really nifty shadows, too!

 Layout by Rae - such a beautiful heritage page; I just love the memorabilia touches

  Layout by Maria - I love the way she tucked the doily in at the top, and layered the bouquet behind the wire, as if preserving a special memento.

 Layout by Jennifer - What an awesome way to memorialize your children's accomplishments and artwork!

  Layout by Edna - I am such a fan of those sharp black and white photos - a perfect capture of special times with Grandpa!

 Layout by Anita - Such a fun layout about the family pets.  Notice the eyes on the paper cat, lower left.  So many clever details wherever you look!

I hope that gives you some great ideas for creating your own display for the photos and mementos that are meaningful to you and your family.  You can check out In An Instant and On Display here in my shop, and note the bundled option if you want to snag them both ;)  And because I was out of town, I've kept the introductory sale price active for just a bit longer!

I'll be back with one of my own layouts, and some ideas on making more realistic chalk writing in Photoshop, so stay tuned :)