Chasin' Jason Layout, or What I Did This Weekend...

Had an idea for a layout.. wanted to scrap the "I can sleep when I'm dead weekend".. using maps as part of the background of the page.. I wanted to  outline the route we took that weekend, and have a few pictures from everything we did. So I picked up an atlas to have maps from IL, MO, and IA.

Funny thing about atlases.... the maps are all different sizes.  So if you want to try this at home, I'd recommend getting a rolled up wall map or something instead. I ended up taking a page out of another atlas that was bigger, so MO was actually fairly close in size with IA and IL. {hopefully, we won't be needing that page from the atlas anytime soon.....}

Spent about an hour cutting out and piecing the map together. Didn't really want to leave out St. Louis... or Bowling Green.. so the LO evolved to include all the JMC concerts I've been to. There have only been 5, and they were all within 300 miles of home.. so.. how hard can it be....?

Well, incidentally.. THIS particular map was too tall to contain the layout on one 12x12 page. And not wide enough to make sense on a normal {HA!} 2 page layout. So.... what to do...

As they say in scrapbook organization - Go Vertical! Yeah! That will work! I think....

The only other problem I ran into, was not planning ahead and making smaller {2x3} photos. That would have been nice... Ah well.  I am still hoping to do the weekend layout {since it involved more than just JMC}.. sooooo... So much for my route outlines... Ah well, at least the important information is on there.. The other thing I wish I had done {hindsight being 20/20...} is set the map a little higher on the page, since three of the shows were to the south.. and two of those shows are the ones from which I have the most photos...

And, needless to say.. my desk isn't really set up for a 24x12 layout... so that made matching things up a little interesting. But I managed.

What I ended up with is a tri-fold vertical layout. It actually involved making four 6x12 layouts, and one 12x12 layout. Eventually I will have to figure out how to put page protectos around it.. but I figured since I don't put my layouts in albums anyway {insert rolling eyes smiley here}, I'd worry about that later.

I didn't want to leave much room for journaling on the inside, so I put all the journling on the outside of the layout.

Here is the front of the layout (unopened).

The background paper is from the DCWV Rockstar stack {which I use on all my JMC layouts}. The very cool title letters are from Creative Imaginations. I love them, and wish I had more of them. But luckily, I found enough letters in 1 package for the title I wanted. {And NO, Chasin should not have a G on the end, that would ruin the rhyme! I do wish the set came with an apostrophe though!} I inked the edges and added some mini gems. The stars were punched from the hot pink lips paper - they were attached over the stars on the background paper. Also added gems and glittery stuff to the background pattern. One of the reasons I chose this paper and these letters.. they go Oh so well with Jason's shirts.

The journaling, for once, I actually wrote ahead of time in my notebook -  usually I just wing it, but I wanted to highlight words with the MM tiny alphas, and knew I had limited space. The journaling I wrote didn't fit, so it was modified a bit, but it is pretty close. Got all the important info I wanted to put in there. Stamped the flourishes and inked the paper edges before doing the journaling, then started working on it. Took me forever, since I had to ink the edges of all the tiny alphas. But I really like the way it turned out, so it was worth it.

Closeups of the front pages:

{and yep, I know I have to add an L to Carroll... I ran out!}

{If you click on the photos, you will get a bigger one, which means you can actually read the journaling, if you want to!}

Incidentally, I actually did these pages last.. part of the reason was to cover up the brad prongs from the photo side of the layout. I also added some paper hinges to keep the pages together until I figure out how to handle the page protectors.

Here is what the inside looks like:

 This time, the stars were punched from the hot pink heart paper, and the hearts from the lips paper. Each star marks a concert, except for one, which marks home. The tags attached to the stars indicate the {one-way} mileage to that concert. The flowers are from Prima. I used the tiny letters for the place and date, as well as for Tim, Richie, and Shaun. This layout includes some of my favorite photos, though not all of them {the whole resizing issue again} And as much time as I spent on the stupid map, it's hardly visible, but really, I'm ok with that. The important parts are still showing, and I think it still gives a good idea of distance.

Here are the closeups of the inner pages:

I am pretty pleased with this layout.. I like how it came together, and I really like that it has all the concerts on it. I'll be really pleased once I figure out how to put the page protectors on it so the layout can be opened and still be protected. I'm sure that tape will be involved.

Oh, and this is what my daughter came up with today.

She wanted me to take a picture with my phone to send it to Jason. I laughed and said we'd better use the regular camera, since I don't have Jason's phone number. Then we posted it on Twitter.

Here's Jason's reply:

JMCOfficial “Hey Jason, this is from my daughter! :D @JMCOfficial http://bit.ly/3Wb4AS -@jmcarrollfan <-- Awesome! I'll try darlin!

Yeah, she was about as thrilled as I was :D