Trends: Ombre & Smashing!

One thing I love about the Scrappy World, is all of the fun trends that pop up in crafting.  I would not consider myself a "trend-setter", but I love keeping up with new trends and incorporating them into my layouts.  

Something that has been popping up recently, is the Ombre trend.   "Ombre (with an accent over the e) is defined as having colors or tones that shade into each other."-quoted from the ScrapFIT Blog.  I've been wanting to give this a try and lo and behold, there were two Ombre challenges posted this week on two different sites.  ScrapFIT is hosting an Ombre challenge for their Step Class #5 and Sheila shows you a fun way to incorporate it into your layout.  Club CK also has some Ombre inspiration on their Pinterest challenge this week, so I thought it would be great to do one layout for both of these challenges.

I used the Ombre in two ways on this page.  I knew I wanted to use this technique somehow on my title treatment, but couldn't decided how to do it.  I thought the easiest way would probably be to use my Desktop Publishing program.  So I used the rectangle tool to draw 6 shapes across my page and then I varied the shades of blue for each box.  I moved each of the boxes right below one another, to have a solid rectangle shape with no white spacing showing.  Next, I opend WordArt and used the Arial Black font to type the word "raindrops".  Then I selected a thicker line for the word, turned the line white, and cleared out the center of the letters so the ombre background would show through.  I decided to print the word out on photo paper for a more glossy look and then just cut out each of the letters.

For the second treatment, I took some inspiration from the fabulously talented Amy Tan.  She has an awesome video on her Blog where she uses the Studio Calico Chevron mask and some Mister Huey's spray mist, to whip up a totally adorable page.  I didn't have the chevron mask on hand, but I have the cute circle mask (my friend and I bought one of the circles and one of the chevron, so we could swap them out when we get together for crops)!  So, I used the circle mask on a white background and sprayed the upper part with Sun Kissed Smooch Spritz and the lower part with Carrot Cake Smooch Spritz.  After my mist dried (which it does pretty quickly), I just cut it out into a rectangular shape and used it as a layer behind my photo.  

Products Used:  Cardstock:  The Paper Studio; Patterned Paper:  Bella Blvd.; Circle Mask:  Studio Calico; Smooch Spritz:  Clear Snap; Mini Alphabet Stickers:  MLS; Thickers:  American Crafts:  Fonts:  Arial Black & CK Emily; Washi Tape:  Heidi Swapp; Baker's Twine:  The Twinery; Button:  Michael's; Rhinestones:  Close to My Heart; Pen:  Sharpie

The second trend that has popped up is SMASH Books.  This trend has been out for a little longer, but I hate to admit that I've had my book sitting on my desk for about 6 months and I've just now started using it!!  Smashing is a little difficult for me, because the randomness is something that I have trouble with.  I am usually always in layout zone, where I have to have some kind of structure to my page with photos, title, and journaling.  So, working on my SMASH book is somewhat out of my comfort zone.  But, I FINALLY got a phone that works correctly and lets me download all the cool kid apps - which meant I was able to get Instagram!!!  :)  I thought this would be the perfect motivation to start working in my SMASH book.  So far, I've only completed three pages, so here they are:

    
It will definitely be a work in progress, of letting go of my preconceived notions on having every page "perfect", but I think I'll get the hang of it as I go along.  When these little baby's first came out, it was pretty hard to get your hands on one.  But if you are thinking about getting into the SMASH craze, you can now pick up the books and accessories at Michael's and Hobby Lobby.  The books usually run around $12.99 and most of the coordinating products are anywhere from $2-$4.  There is a lot of fun stuff to go a long with the books, especially the teal washi tape and the black & white polka dot washi tape!

And just one last thing to share today:  Frosted Designs will be hosting a Crafting Space Blog Hop starting Friday, June 15, at 6PM (CST).  Come join in the fun and check out all of the Creative Spaces for the Frosted Designs Team Members.  There will also be organizational tips and some giveaways hosted at the various Blogs.  I hope you will stop by to check out my space and see where all of my crafty "magic" happens!!  :)