The Alligator Game

This is a game Shaan made up with the kids using a pillow that Aaron got for Christmas from Grandma. The pillow is an alligator, so Shaan asks the alligator if he's hungry, then answers for him in a gruff voice: uh-huh. "Do you want a car?" "Nuh-uh." "Uh, a book?" "Nuh-uh." "Well, what do you want?" "People, of course!" "Well, there's Julia, and there's Aaron. Green or purple?" The alligator will look back and forth mumbling "Green or purple?" then make a decision: "Green!" and attacks the green-shirted child. Then Julia gets a chance to be the alligator, and it continues until Daddy says it's time to quit.

I made this using a PageMaps layout and entered it in their 2-year-anniversary contest, but I couldn't post it until after the winners were contacted. Since it's after the notification date and I have received no e-mail, I'm guessing it's safe to post now. (The winners will be formally announced on the PageMaps website on June 1.)

Supplies: Patterned paper, brown and green cardstock purchased from Hobby Lobby; CTMH White Daisy cardstock and textured cardstock; CTMH Moonstruck cardstock; a few cardstock scraps; CTMH In the Wild stamp set using New England Ivy and Cocoa inkpads (the latter tissued over the former before stamping); CTMH Speckled Backgrounds stamp set (retired) using Cocoa inkpad; journaling on computer using Andy MT (found on internet) and Articula Display SSK (from a commercial font disc); edge titles use URW Gothic (which comes with our Linux OS); the alligator is paper-pieced with help from an enlarged (several times) piece of clip art.

I will add that, inspired by my friend, Jeanne, I made a light box using items from around the house (all I had to buy was the poster board) and the instructions from a link on her blog, and used it for the first time taking pictures of this layout. I had to brighten them a bit on the computer (because I need a longer box for a 12x12 page) but it makes for a great background (and tweaking it on the computer really isn't that hard). Thanks for the great idea, Jeanne!

Enjoy!