Friday, May 31, 2019

My Hero


In my last post, I told a story about the album that my father kept while serving in World War II. Most of the photos were of family and friends “back home”, but he also included a lot from his life in the Army Air Force: various bases, leisure time, planes that came back damaged and his fellow crew members, on the B-17 “Esky”. There is a series of single photos of each of the members, dressed in flying gear, across several pages, with names and ranks inked in. Dad inserted his own photo in this group; he captioned this “My Hero”, hence the title that I chose for my layout.


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I decided to print out my photo “as is”, with the photo corners and the caption in my father’s handwriting included. I did change the color to a sepia shade to blend in with the colors of the layout.

The Lemon Craft Grow Old with Me collection that was included in the May Très Jolie kit is filled with pinks and peaches and images of flowers and laces, with just enough vintage rustic elements to make it perfect for feminine layouts. I selected the “B” side of sheet 06 for my layout and let myself be guided by the colors and design…
I knew that my final layout would be heavy with metals and mediums, so after coating both sides of the paper with clear gesso, I used Scor Tape to adhere it to a heavy piece of packaging so that it would end up with a minimum of warping.
I took another piece of that heavy packaging, cut it to fit as matting, and ripped it down one side. Before I taped it to the page, I tore off most of the top layer to expose the corrugate underneath.
And now the fun began… I used gel medium to adhere layers of metals and buttons under the matting and allowed it to set. I placed the die cut half left over from a previous layout down the side and embellished it with a clock face and star from my stash.
I used two sizes of Art Stones to add texture and interest here and there around the layout, starting with the larger ones and allowing them to set before adding the smaller stones.
 Next, I went over all of the metals and stones and some of the corrugate with Rust Effect Paste, starting with a heavy application of the darkest color, and dry brushing the succeeding layers to allow all of the varied hues to come through.






Before adding my photo, I watered down a little of the dark paste and used a fan brush to create splatters all around the page.
As a finishing touch, I added a metal band to the bottom corner…

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*****Supplies*****

***Paper***
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – 06 #LP-GROW06

***Embellishments***
Prima – Wood Embellishments – Decorative Clocks #554613
Hobby Lobby – Rusted Metal Star – Small
Metal Clocks and Gears
Buttons

***Mediums***
Prima – Finnabair – Art Basics – Clear Gesso #961466
Prima – Finnabair – Art Basics – 3D Matte Gel #961398
Prima – Finnabair – Art Ingredients – Art Stones #963705
Prima – Finnabair – Art Ingredients – Mega Art Stones #964672
Prima – Finnabair – Art Extravagance – Rust Paste Set #963576

***Tools***
Sizzix – Tim Holtz – Alterations Collection – Bigz Die – Weathered Clock #657190

***Other***
Corrugated Packaging
Scor-Tape – ½”
Beacon – 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue

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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Mary Jane 1942


During World War II, my father served as a waist gunner in the Eighth Air Force on a B-17 Flying Fortress. While he was stationed in England, he kept a photo album filled with pictures of his companions, the planes that came back damaged, and most of all, of friends and family back home.
One of my nephews spent countless hours scanning the album as well as a pocket diary and a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings that my grandmother put together.
I’ve selected this image from my father's album for this year’s Mother’s Day layout. It’s simply captioned “Mary Jane 1942”.


When I opened my May Kit from Très Jolie and started examining the pretties, I immediately put this sheet to one side, knowing that I’d want to use it for this page. I love the design, with the weathered frame and background of equally weathered whitewashed boards and flowers and lace on top.


My first step, after deciding where to place the photo and that large flower, was to figure how to arrange one of the corner chippies that came in the kit. I ended up cutting it into three pieces and colored it with Color Bloom mist and Sparks paint from my stash. 


While that was drying, I cut a slit on the edge of the “frame” and slid one side of the fussy-cut border piece (part of the 035 ephemera sheet) underneath, so that the other side would end under the flower.
Next, I cut three of the images from the back of the cover sheet, inked them, and fanned them out to fit behind the photo. 


Once that was done, I began to embellish my page, using more flowers from the kit along with a fussy cut clock and butterflies from the ephemera sheets.


The larger flower and the vintage lace are left over from the March kit.


The main part of this trinket from the April kit is actually cork. I altered it to blend in with the rest of my page by stamping it with chalk ink.

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*****Supplies*****

***Paper***
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – 04 #LP-GROW04
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – 12 x 12 Cover Sheet #LZP-GROW01

***Embellishments***
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – Vintage Time Ephemera 035 #LZP-GROW01
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – Vintage Time Ephemera 037 #LP-VT037
Prima – Lifetime Collection – Flower Embellishments – Brown #564476
Prima – Divine Collection – Fabric Flower Embellishments – Peach #564612
Prima – Pretty Pale Collection – Flower Embellishments – Meadows #637682
Prima Marketing – Zella Teal Collection – Flower Embellishments – Made with Love #597177
Creative Embellishments – Laser Cut Chipboard – Rose Page Corners
Prima – Vintage Trinkets – Wood Dangles with Beads #560829
Très Jolie – Vintage Doily
***Mediums***
Prima – Ingvild Bolme – Chalk Fluid Edger – Pastel Peach #891756
Prima – Color Bloom – Spray Mist –  Sultry Shimmer – Lime Wedge #573850
Prima – Finnabair – Art Alchemy – Sparks Acrylic Paint – Butterfly Spells #964122
Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Vintage Photo #40262

***Tools***
Prima – Rosarian Collection – Clear Acrylic Stamps – Mix 2 #559489
EK Success – Cutter Bee – Scissors EK-CB01

***Other***
Scor-Tape – ½”
Beacon – 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue

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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

Friday, May 24, 2019

Art Journaling: Looking Up


Kim decided to do something different with the May Cards, Tags and More… Kit from Très Jolie; instead of those cards and tags, she went for “more” and supplied us with the beginnings of an art journal, featuring Finnabair’s new Journal Daily line.

I’ve always loved art journaling. It’s a quick and easy way to try out new ideas and techniques and mediums before committing myself to a larger project. If something turns out as “well, that wasn’t what I had in mind…”, no worries: I just turn the page and start something new.

I realize that this should be a two-pager, but I love the quote from Benjamin Spock on the first page. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Dr. Spock, here’s a bit of background. Dr. Benjamin Spock (who is absolutely NOT pictured here) was a pediatrician who wrote “Baby and Child Care”, the must have manual for new parents, starting in 1946. (I believe that it’s still in print, btw.) The quote itself is actually the first line in the book, a reassuring message to all of us first-time parents and a reminder that we really should trust our instincts.
And so, I thought I would let that page be and simply start on the facing sheet. Here’s what I came up with.



I like to coat both sides of my paper with clear gesso. It strengthens the paper and gives it “teeth” that will enable any medium to adhere to it.
As the gesso was drying, I began to select all of the things that would go into my journal page. I started with the first quote card in the stack that came with the album and started to gather things that I thought I could use. I’ve wanted to use some of the images from the Stamperia Blue Stars collection for some time and I decided that this one would be perfect. Next, I selected a stencil and texture paste for my background. I allowed it to air dry while pondering “what’s next”. I pulled a few acrylic paints from my stash and because I wanted to preserve the background print, decided to dry brush Impasto paint up and down over the page. I followed this by blending a small amount of Deco Art paint with the Impasto and dry brushing until I had covered the stenciled images and created streaks of varied hues in the background.
It wouldn’t be art journaling without stamps and I selected a couple of my favorites: one to apply to my quote card and another to print text images around the page.
I used matte medium to adhere my components to the page, coating under and over each piece. To finish my page, I placed a metal wand in my little girl’s hands…


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*****Supplies*****

***Très Jolie May Cards, Tags and More Kit***
Prima – Finnabair – Art Daily Collection – Chipboard Album Cover – 58 Pcs #964771
Prima – Finnabair – Art Daily Planner Collection – Booklet – Creation – 6 x 7.7 #964962
Prima – Finnabair – Art Daily Planner Collection – Sticker Pad – Sentiments #964849
Prima – Finnabair – Art Daily Planner Collection – Victorian Bookmarks #964863

***Paper***
Stamperia – Blue Star Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper

***Embellishments***
Advantus – Tim Holtz – Idea-ology Collection – Adornments – Treasures #TH93572
Advantus – Tim Holtz – Idea-ology Collection – Design Tape - Remnants #TH93671

***Mediums***
Prima – Finnabair – Art Basics – Clear Gesso #961466
Prima – Finnabair – Art Extravagance – Texture Paste – White Sand #961473
Prima – Finnabair – Art Alchemy – Impasto Paint – Linen #966355
Deco Art – Americana – Acrylic Paint – Calypso Blue #DA234
ColorBox – Graphic 45 – Decades Inkpads – Dark Cashmere #41003
Liquitex – Professional – Matte Gel – Matte Medium

***Tools***
Prima – Royal Menagerie Collection – Stencil – 6 x 6 – DĂ©cor 1 #582975
Prima – Almanac Collection – Cling Mounted Rubber Stamps #555146
Prima – Wood Mounted Stamps – Find a Way #962159


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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.

Thursday, May 23, 2019

My Pretty Dress


Back in June 2009, my Daughter-In-Law sent me a few photos of a three-week old Sophia in her pretty dress. I actually scrapped one of them and coughed up the courage to post it online – my first upload to the scrappy world. https://www.scrapbook.com/galleries/332343/view/2201257/-1/360/0.html
Ten years later, I decided to create a re-do and the May Kit from Très Jolie with the beautiful papers from Lemon Craft gave me the perfect opportunity.

Here's how my re-do came together:

 After selecting on my base paper (and deciding to turn it sideways), I selected a second sheet to create most of my embellishments. I started by using a circle cutter to cut out the clock image in the center.


Next, I fussy cut the flowers from each side of the page, being sure to include the brown-tinted clusters on the bottom.

I cut a few pieces from my scraps and added two bags that came packed with goodies from The Funkie Junkie. How perfect are these? Just the right size, just the right color and – yes – just the right polka dots to match Sophia’s dress…
After inking all of my elements, I played around with them until I was satisfied with the arrangement. Using a combination of staples, chipboard and glue, I adhered all of the parts together and put it aside.

I wanted to use the pretty stamp that came in the kit, but lightly because the paper design is somewhat busy. I determined where I would place the edges of my fussy cut flowers and using chalk ink, I stamped an image to the side and heat embossed it with clear powder. I repeated this step on the other side.

I used the same chalk ink to treat one of the Creative Embellishments chipboard filigree pieces, giving it a soft peach color.

I began to assemble my page. I backed some chipboard with Scor-Tape and adhered it to my base paper. This allowed me to glue my matting piece down without warping the paper underneath. (I prefer to use glue for this step; it gives me a chance to make sure that I don’t end up with a lopsided design!)
Next came the photo, backed with chipboard and matted and backed again with a smaller bit of chipboard in the middle to ensure that it would lie flat. Once that was done, I placed the altered filigree piece on the bottom, easing the top under the photo.

A few finishing touches: One of the planner clips that came in the kit…

…and a few butterflies, fussy cut, inked, and mounted on tiny bits of chipboard for dimension.


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*****Supplies*****

***Paper***
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – 01 #LP-GROW01
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – 02 #LP-GROW02
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – 12 x 12 Double Sided Paper – 08 #LP-GROW08

***Embellishments***
Lemon Craft – Grow Old with Me Collection – Vintage Time Ephemera 037 #LP-VT037
Prima – My Prima Planner Collection – Clips – Sweet Toffee #593773
Creative Embellishments – Laser Cut Chipboard – Filigree Set 3
The Funkie Junkie – Kraft Treat Bags

***Mediums***
Prima – Ingvild Bolme – Chalk Fluid Edger – Pastel Peach #891756
Range Ink – Basics Embossing Powder – Super Fine – Clear #EPJ37385
Ranger Ink – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Vintage Photo #40262

***Tools***
Prima – Rosarian Collection – Clear Acrylic Stamps – Mix 2 #559489
EK Success – Cutter Bee – Scissors EK-CB01
Kreaxions – Circle Cutter

***Other***
Scor-Tape – ½”
Duncan Enterprises – Aleen’s Original Tacky Glue


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As always, I want to thank you for peeking into my blog; your visits mean a lot to me.