Hey, Hey! Have you ever looked at a collection and LOVED it, but knew that the theme may be a little hard for you to use? Well today we're continuing in our new series called "Off-Theme Thursday" where we give you examples of how we approach using a themed collection outside of its theme!

Today we're working with Hocus Pocus, a Halloween, witchy themed collection that I challenged Cheryl, Heather, Danica and Melinda to use in a non-Halloween way! The colors and illustrations of Hocus Pocus lend themselves to a very feminine vibe, so they ran with it!

I think this post is proof that you can create magic off-theme with any collection!

Cheryl

Hocus Pocus is such a fun collection for Halloween themed layouts, but it's also extremely versatile. The colors are perfect for spring photos. I pulled two photos of my daughter posing in front of the azaleas in my mother's yard, and then began adding floral embellishments and foliage. Adding the pops of black throughout the page grounds all the riotous color. I did take some time at the end of creating my page to edit a few of the embellishments to bring in some of the other colors from the azaleas in the photos. I used a Hue/Saturation adjustment to quickly change the colors.

Heather

Not going to lie, when I signed up for this project, I didn’t think coming up with an idea for a page would be that difficult, but it turns out that I was challenged. I had seen a youtube video in which the creator used cut files to create a tone on tone background so I started looking for photos that would work with the Hocus Pocus collection. My daughter’s prom dress was an extremely sparkly fabric with a purplish base, so from here the layout was born. I cut out florals to make the background, and then I went over the top extra with glitter. I chose a few of the patterned papers to create a photo mat, and then added some aqua thickers to play on the fact that her hair was purple and green. Sparkle was the obvious title, and I finished it off by adding sequins, and mini glitter stars. I’ll be adding journaling on the back about how this prom came about due to covid restrictions. It wasn’t the prom that my daughter’s senior class planned on, but given that they didn’t have one at all in 2020, we were thankful for this experience.

Danica

Using a Halloween kit for a birthday layout? You betcha! Traci’s Hocus Pocus collection is filled to the brim with themed elements but there are plenty of florals and bits in there to make an off theme non Halloween page. For my layout I used mostly the purples and pinks in the collection since they worked really well with my photo. I also recolored the orange rolled flower to pink. After that the layout came together very easily. I used a template from Brook Magee called Oh Holy Night which happens to be a Christmas template. Use your stash to your advantage.

Melinda

Once I laid eyes on the single butterfly in the Hocus Pocus collection I knew I had this collection of Caterpillar to Butterfly photos from 2021 that I wanted to document.
I'm a bit of a girly-girl and bugs are NOT my thing - even the magestic butterfly and the magic of the transformation - so I HAD to find a way to include a little bit of spooky and I love the subtle reference I've managed to add in, after all these are our stories from MY point of view!!
I've used that butterfly from the digital embellishments across both the front & back of the spread and though I am not a lover of purple it works beautiful not only in theme but in contrast with all the greens in my photos.