Have you taken inventory lately?

I know it may be strange, but I noticed one day (probably after tripping over some of them) that the shoes in our house tell a lot about who's home and who's not. My boys have always gone barefoot in the house and as soon as they walk in the back door, they take their shoes off. So if they're home their shoes are in the kitchen; if their shoes aren't there, they're not home. This summer there tend to be a lot of shoes by our back door because Nathan and Zack are home for the summer - Yeah!!
So when I was assigned a layout with the subject of "Inventory" for Get It Scrapped, I knew this would be perfect. As I started to put it together, I decided that since I had several photos I would keep things simple and let the shoes speak for themselves - by using speech bubbles, of course! I had a bunch of speech bubbles from Studio Calico and I used some of those. But I also needed more that were, perhaps, a different color or needed to be pointing in a different direction; so I also cut some of them freehand - really very simple! I also outlined all of them to give a little more definition and punch and also to make them all a bit more cohesive. Here's the result:

My favorite one is the "shoe graveyard" on our back porch. It does get out of hand at times, and sometimes I'm annoyed by the mess. But then I remember that like most kid messes, it won't always be there...and then I'll be sad (sort of :P). In a few short weeks the pathway into the house will again be clear---not necessarily a good thing, since it will mean that summer is over and the boys have gone back to Minneapolis for college. But I know that, at least for a little while longer, it will return again at Christmas time :D

Check out how other designers at Get It Scrapped have interpreted this assignment in this article: Ideas for Scrapbooking Inventory Photos that Record Your Everyday Life. There are some very clever ways to take inventory.

Then leave me a comment - what do your things say about YOUR life?