July Birds of a Feather Kit

It's another HOT and HUMID day for us here in southern Ohio, and I have to admit, I'm getting so tired of all this heat! We've had weeks of this stuff, and that's so unusual for us, even in the middle of August. Thankfully, we don't have much to do, so I'm thinking playing in the pool and scrapping are in my future!

Like I said in my last post, I have more layouts to share with you, and today I want to share those layouts that I've created using the July Birds of a Feather kit:

Now, when I first saw this kit, I was overwhelmed; I got stuck on the whole red, white and blue/patriotic theme. So, I decided to run with that idea for one layout, then pushed myself to look beyond the theme for all my other layouts. 

This first layout uses a picture I took of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC. I decided to add one of the many pictures that I had of the tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery, too. I then grabbed a Page Map sketch and went to work.  I tried to keep the layout pretty simple, to let the pictures be the star of the layout.

This second layout came about because the star and Jillibean Soup papers all had stars on them, which reminded me of a sports layout. The large CI die cut star was the perfect accent piece for this design, which also started with a sketch (this time from Creative Scrappers). The #16 is there because that is Zack's number, both for the high school team and for his Pride team, and I loved the varsity feel of them.

Here is a close up of the title. I used the blue alphas in the blue star, and really liked the way it looked. 

This third layout came about after Tuesday's counseling session. The counselor told me that Kal just isn't wired the way that we are (something I've said for a long time now). She went on to say that we now need to help Kal discover just WHO is Kaleb Michael. And thus, this layout was created. I loved all the stars that were included in the kit, so ran with that theme when thinking up a title. 

And a couple of close ups:

Now, this last layout was inspired by the quilted and chevron looks that I've been seeing on Pinterest and all over the internet. It was also inspired by a layout from a fellow XOXO DT member,  Christa Uttley. I created the random background using punched squares that I cut in two. I created the bunched "ribbon" along the bottom by simply folding a strip of patterned paper. Finally, I used a fussy cut heart and two different alphas (from the kit and add-ons) to create my title.

And a close up of the title:

Now that I've pushed myself outside my comfort zone with this kit, I'm REALLY having fun! And that, my followers, is why I love being part of this team. I am given a kit, and no matter what, I have to create with it. And to be honest, those kits that push me the hardest out of my comfort zone, are the ones that yield some of my favorite layouts :)