Cropped Round 1

I entered the Cropped competition again at Pixels and Company. There are some changes this year that seem really exciting. Only 5 rounds instead of 6. That's nice. And it looks like the final (5th) round will have ten participants (only 2 last year), so more people get to go further into the competition. And if you want to play along for fun, or after you have been eliminated, you can win random prizes. Oh, and everyone who registered received an amazing collab kit (which was awesome, considering the requirements of the first challenge).

Here is my Round 1 entry. The challenge was to use the 4 mystery basket items, and also to "mix things up, and include items from at least ten (10) different P&Co designers."

I have to say that I really struggled with this one. I LOVE Scrapping with Liz templates and use them for most of my pages. But I can't use her templates in this contest. Boy did I flounder around. I really prefer using templates! Of course I could use templates from Pixels and Company, but it's usually only Liz's templates that I really want.

Cropped Round 1 Mystery Ingredients; Heart Art: Whitewashed by Sugarplum Paperie; Neutral Basics by
Robyn Meierotto; Bermuda Triangle by P&Co Designers; Something Wonderful by Wishing Well Creations and Mari Koegelenberg; Collaborate by P&Co Designers; Everyday Storytellers No. 3 by Karla Dudley; Pocket Journal Card
Templates - Framed and Shapely by Simply Tiffany Studios; Krafternoon Delight Add-On by creashens; Wildwood
by Celeste Knight; In Good Company by P&Co Designers

I decided to "mix things up" by using different concepts to hold my photos. Specifically, I mixed up the plastic pocket with a more traditional paper-type pocket. I also mixed color photos with black and white. And I "mixed up" my journaling by using the present tense voice, which is something I rarely do.

I feel like round one is very intense because there were no specific "design" type instructions. Using 10 items is a very loose basis for judging each layout against the next. It feels like each person's natural style is being judged. I'll know if I made it to Round 2 in a couple of days.