It’s time to be inspired by the Australian Outback!

The Ark Encounter: The Voyage Begins Again

This week’s theme has brought back many fond memories. I’ve never traveled Down Under except through movies and TV. How about you? Do you remember watching Skippy the Bush Kangaroo? What Flipper did for Florida, Skippy did for the Australian Outback. Or perhaps it was Crocodile Dundee or Quigley Down Under that gave you your first look at the vast outback. So, where do you start?

I thought about some of the things that stood out to me…those wide open spaces, miles and miles of seemingly nothing. Then you have the colors, bold reds against bright blue skies. There’s the art of the Aboriginal tribes and the poetry of Banjo Patterson…you may be familiar with his song “Waltzing Matilda” or the poem “The Man from Snowy River.” My inspiration boards give you a sampling of what you’ll find on the Pinterest board Inspiration: Australian Outback.

• Aussie Art

• Aussie Color

• Aussie Landscapes

• Aussie Travel Posters

• Aussie TV

• Aussie Uniqueness

• Aussie Wildlife

• Aussie Windmills

For the layout I had a few ideas brewing, but it wasn’t until we were at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky did I know what would be perfect for this Outback theme. It needed to be something BIG…and it was! I know a few of you were also there for the opening ceremonies and maybe you’ve already scrapped your photos, but no doubt you have hundreds like I do, over 600 photos and no I won’t be scrapping them all here! Maybe you’ll incorporate a few of these Aussie touches into your layouts.

So let me show you how the Outback got incorporated into the life-sized Ark.

I used the Inspiration in colors and designs in the art to guide me in the direction for this simple layout. I’ve used no additional embellishments.

Colors for grids to fit theme: gold, orange, caramel, butternut Squash, mango, pumpkin, deep terra cotta, paprika, chili pepper, chocolate milk, deep creamy cocoa, cocoa

I began with our new Chili Pepper Grid paper, several photos from the opening program events and a digital scrapbook kit Zoobilee Outback by Megan’s Creations, making this a hybrid project.

I printed several of the pattern papers on photo paper for a glossy finish. I loved the glossy look! I did the circles pattern paper on an 8.5” x 11” sheet and several others on 4×6’s.

In addition I used a brown and rustic yellow cardstock for both of the die cut pieces from the Point the Way Die and the Three Circles Die. In addition the 4×6 1” squares die provided all my 1” tiles.

I chose Patterns # 214 a columns pattern and #261 a strips pattern. The strips pattern allowed me to show off the full length of the Ark against the blue sky.

 

Using the Point the Way Die was perfect for jotting down a few facts and figures for the day. I inlaid the right end with a section of the dark arrow paper.

The Three Circles Die was going to be used for journaling until I tried another photo of the ark from a distance that included some of the event tents and the zip lines tower. The die let me tie in the circle pattern that is in one of the pattern papers.

There are so many more exciting things inside the Ark to scrap about on this adventure we went on, but that’s for another day! So many patterns, designs and details to inspire, there’s so much more and so many more pages to finish!

Take a look at the boards and see what inspires you to incorporate The Australian Outback into your scrapbook pages.

Andrea Fisher