Dreaming of Spring

For the first April project, we did a Spring Scavenger Hunt. Well, here in Minnesota, I've only been dreaming of spring...hence the title "Dreams of Spring". Here is a picture of my backyard taken just last weekend...April 5th!

Sad, isn't it?! THANKFULLY, Tami allowed us to use "old" photos for this hunt. It was still quite the hunt, believe me! A few of the photos ARE new...but most are from "real" spring days!

Here is a list of the items we were to find:

something pink
something yellow
something baby blue
something lavender
Strawberries (cropped to one!)
rainbow (combined with the rain clouds)
tree buds
new leaves
close up of crocus flowers or pansies
group of daffodils or tulips
cherry or pear tree blossoms (I have a weeping cherry tree!)
dew drops on grass or leaves
bunny
baby ducks or chicks
a bee on a blossom
a robin *
sprouting plants
baskets
garden tools (Still hanging in the garage!)
flower pots (in my window!)
seed packets
rain clouds (see above)
reflections in puddles *
umbrella
rain boots

I think I have 22 of them..though you can see that the robin is a cornerstone (we don't get many robins in my neighborhood) and the reflection is in a small pond that formed after a rainstorm!! I've lined through the ones I didn't have.

Here is page 1:

And page 2:

We were also to use one of the following elements: a twig, small labels or tags, or torn paper. I took the torn paper to another level for this challenge, going back to a technique I learned years ago. My torn paper is featured in the homemade cornerstones and the top of my title. This is really pretty easy to do!

First, tear little bits of paper. I then run mine through the Xyron sticker maker. Stick the pieces to a piece of cardstock randomly. I let a little of the blue cardstock show through, too.Then, cut out your square, rectangle or whatever shape you'd like! You can make a really neat color block in this way! I also added a few paper bits to the top of the title and cut the title out of the same paper for consistency in the page.

I used the Emerald grid paper...most of my photos are brighter, so I thought that worked better than a lighter green. The patterened paper (except for the yellow) is from a pack from Close to My Heart...and it's two sided, so gave me even more variety on my blocks! I used apple crush and cyclamin pink paper tiles as well.

Here is the full 2-page layout.